Dip Night

So Evan and I decided to start a new tradition: Dip night! As I'm sure most of you that have kids know, the social life takes a turn down a completely different street when the little ones join the fam. We find ourselves home on the couch most weekends. Which is not bad, but since that is pretty much how things are going to be for the next 25 years or so, we decided that we wanted to start a tradition, just to spice things up a little bit! So from now on Saturday night is dip night! Every Saturday night we will have a new yummy dip and be able to enjoy it while we are also enjoying each others company. I love cooking and trying new things and Evan loves eating what I cook, so it works out pretty well. Anyway, it may not happen every single Saturday night because I'm hoping once in awhile we might get to go out on a date or something of the sort, but you can count on seeing a new dip recipe on here pretty regularly! So "dip" in and enjoy!

Here are the two we have done so far:

Warm Blue Cheese Dip
Source: Taste of Home.com

8 slices of hickory-smoked bacon, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
4 oz crumbled blue cheese
2 tbs chopped fresh chives
2 tbs chopped almonds (I think this is optional-I didn't do it and don't think it compromised the recipe)
Chips, crackers, trimmed fresh veggies, or sliced baguette for serving

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In nonstick skillet, cook bacon over medium-high heat about 8 minutes or until nearly crisp. Drain bacon and wipe skillet dry.
3. Return bacon to pan, add garlic, and cook over medium heat until bacon is crisp, about 3 minutes. Make sure garlic doesn't burn. Drain on paper towels.
4. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese in bowl until smooth. Add cream, beat well to mix. Fold in bacon, garlic, blue cheese, and chives.
5. Transfer to 2-cup baking dish, top evenly with almonds. Bake about 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve when warm.


Spinach Artichoke Dip
Source: 365daysofcrockpot.blogspot.com

1 can (14 oz) quartered artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 box (9 oz) frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed to drain
1 cup shredded swiss cheese (4 oz)
½ cup alfredo pasta sauce
½ cup mayo
¾ tsp garlic salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 loaf baguette French bread, cut into 40 slices (I bought a little bag of already slice baguettes)

1. in 1-11/2 quart slow cooker, mix all ingredients except bread.
2. Cover; cook on low heat setting 2-4 horus. Serve dip with sliced bread.