Fried Onion Dip, or French Onion Dip, whichever you prefer to call it.

Aside from all the current happenings, baby planning, planning that shot-gun wedding, work, home, my best friend from Florida coming up; Football Sunday still remains.  As such, this requires snack foods, duh.  My dear friend Jenny (you know her as mom of the amazing Andrew) started a cook along for a fantastic new cookbook, The New Midwestern Table by Amy Thielen and I decided why not cook along? I need to try some new recipes, so I jumped on the wagon and ordered the book. You can too here (no I don’t get any credit, it’s just an awesome book)

Picture from Amazon.com

I had actually never heard of this book before Jenny posted about it on her blog. (I missed a post in Cookbook Junkies about it, I really need to check notifications more) Truth be told I don’t actually watch the food network… I know, crazy right?  A graduate (with honors) of the Culinary Institute of America, and I don’t watch the Food Network.  It’s just too, I don’t know, too “made for TV”, I miss the days of Sarah Moulton ,  Gale Gand and Julia; Gordon Elliott door knock dinners was the closest to reality cooking TV (or any reality TV) I am ever willing to get.  If there is a special or something that is sciecitific or if Ruhlman‘s fine self is going to be on and I have a heads up I MIGHT set the DVR.  I really don’t watch a lot of TV. For your own reading pleasure I will share with you the shows I DO watch. The Blacklist (hottest middle-aged bad guy with a heart of gold EVER!!!!) The Voice, because I remember Blake Shelton when he played the Dutchess County Fair and had long hair, and because I think Adam Levine is God’s gift to eyesight, even if he does need to eat a days worth of cheeseburgers, and because my friend Ron is his Vocal Coach, AND because he has an amazing voice and does things in concert to a microphone that are generally reserved for showtime afterhours.  Speaking of, I also love the show “Masters of Sex”, I watch it for the Pyrex sightings I swear 😉 I am obsessed with Homeland, LOVE that show, I got my 20-year-old sister addicted, I am quite proud of that. Also, I watch Revenge, simply because I started watching in the beginning and I want to see it through now.  I love Discovery Channel, History Channel, anything dorky or education and I am THERE!! I read a lot more than I watch TV, and I do house work more than both reading and TV combined!!!

Dip and Chips!

Anyhow, so the first recipe for us to all cook is Fried Onion Dip, and it is amazeballs. No joke. Chris LOVED the Lipton dip, like wanted it for every football sunday, and I loathed making it because I knew it was loaded with junk, I just didn’t know how to do it myself.  Now I do, nuff said. It is super easy, and can be made ahead even. I didn’t change anything too much really. I am currently not drinking so I just used some wine Sav Blanc I had picked up for a friend that was already in the fridge.  I am so looking forward to cooking through this book. We are doing 2 recipes per month, how easy is that?  If I have time to do it, you do too! We have 207 people cooking their way along so far (how great is that?!), you can join us at https://www.facebook.com/groups/203576403150384/  !

Onions Browning

Dip pre Chips

For the Dip recipe, check it out here http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/amy-thielen/fried-onion-dip-recipe/index.html

My shame spiral of snacking.

Food is wonderful, and I love it.  This is something you already know about me full well.  I like it far too much according to most US Standards. I am hungry ALL day long, seriously, I’m always hungry.  Maybe it is because I wake up at 4am each day, or maybe it is just because I like food. Either way, I always want to eat.  When I was in Highschool, if I was hungry I would chew on a stick of gum, Winter-fresh to be exact; now when I’m hungry, I eat. Talk about a change in priorities!

My favorite night time snack.

Here is my dilemma. I snake on things like triscuits and hummus, triscuits and peanut butter, triscuits and cheddar, pretzels, pretzels and cream cheese, or peanut butter.  Heavens help me if it’s night time, then I am a Haagen Dazs girl all the way! You see where this is heading. If I snack on an apple, I get half way through and I am bored.  I tried plain, roasted, unsalted almonds for a while, but my satisfaction level was “eh.” Maybe I should have dipped them in Hummus, or wrapped them in cheddar?

Please tell me I’m not alone in this shame spiral?!   Do you snack throughout the day, or stick strictly to eating during meal times? If you snack, what do you snack on?  I would like to alter my snacking habits, but it is just so hard, I am in dire need of some inspiration! 🙂

Baked Buffalo Chicken Dip Bites, Just In Time For Superbowl!

In our house, “Buffalo Chicken Dip” is a football favorite, but for only two people one batch makes much more than we could should ever eat in one sitting. I would make a batch and there would be so much left over, I hated seeing it go to waste.  Finally, I started making one regular sized recipe and then, before baking it, breaking it down into smaller portions that could be stored in the freezer to have another day.

With Superbowl Sunday just around the corner, the timing for these is kismet.  Everyone knows, aside from the commercials, the best thing about Superbowl Sunday is the snacks! (hence the entire pinterest board I devoted to the subject.)  This past weekend I was nose deep in a new book I am absolutely loving,   “The Faux Pastry Chef”, by Mimi Fix; I highly recommend it!  I wanted to make something that would be a perfect football sunday snack, but with minimal effort.  There was Buffalo Chicken Dip in the freezer, and Wonton Wrappers in the fridge, hmmmm what could I make?  In the interest of full disclosure, I actually always have Wonton Wrappers on hand, you never know when you will need to wrap, deep fry, or bake little pockets or rolls of tasty deliciousness.

There were a lot of “Buffalo Chicken Cups” on pinterest, but the ratio of filling to wonton surface was lacking; there was too much empty wonton.  Plus, once the wontons are baked they can be very hard, so to have jagged corners sticking up in can be a pain.  Seriously, have you ever accidentally stuck one directly into the roof of your mouth?  It hurts!   I thought I would give something a try.  Use the Muffin tins as a support system, but fold the wrapper down onto the dip, thus creating a little pocket!  Low and behold, it worked!  Of course,  this is provided you already have the buffalo chicken dip on hand, but you could very easily  make a batch, use what you like and freeze the rest to use another time!

How it looks folded down.

Baked Buffalo Chicken Bites:

Yield 24 pieces/bites

You will need:

• Half  a recipe of “Buffalo Chicken Dip“, recipe can be found here
• One package small wontons
• 2 Muffin tins
• Olive oil or cooking spray
• Ranch, Blue Cheese or Sour Cream for dipping

Method:

• Preheat oven to 375°
• Spray the  muffin pans with olive oil or cooking spray
• Push a wonton wrapper down into each muffin tin
• Place a generous tablespoon of buffalo chicken dip into the wonton in each tin
• Fold the edges of the wontons down onto the dip and push down just a bit to make sure they stick. If they pop up just push them down again.
• Bake for 20minutes or till golden brown
• Let sit in the pans for a few minutes just to cool off, then pop out onto a plate and enjoy!

All they need is some dip!