One of the attendees of Jim & Lisa’s 5th Annual Super Bowl Spectacular sent me a message on Facebook, asking for the recipes for a couple of the dips we served.
Instead of replying to him directly on Facebook, I thought I’d post them here to share with everyone:
WHITE PIZZA DIP
1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Savory Herb with Garlic Soup Mix
1 container (16 oz.) sour cream
1 cup (8 oz.) ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz.)
1/4 cup (1 oz.) chopped pepperoni (optional)
1 loaf Italian or French bread, sliced
1. Preheat oven to 350°. In shallow 1-quart casserole, combine Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Savory Herb with Garlic Soup Mix, sour cream, ricotta cheese, 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and pepperoni.
2. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese.
3. Bake uncovered 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with bread.
We usually make this a slightly different way: we combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, pour it into one of the mini Crock Pots and top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. We then cook it on HIGH for 1 hour or until bubbly, then kick it back to LOW.
BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP
2 (10 ounce) cans of chunk chicken, drained
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup ranch dressing
¾ cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce
1½ cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
Heat chicken and hot sauce in a large pan over medium heat until heated through, breaking the chicken into smaller chunks if necessary. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Continue to stir until dip is well blended and warm. Mix in half the shredded Cheddar, then pour the dip into a Crock Pot. Top with remaining cheese and cook on LOW until bubbly.
Serve with anything you like. The original recipe called for celery sticks or (how’s this for genius?) Chicken in a Biskit crackers. Lisa finds the whole idea behind Chicken in a Biskit “bizarre” (“Seriously? Chicken flavored crackers?”). Although I can’t argue with her logic, I like them anyway.
WAIKIKI MEATBALLS
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup brown sugar; packed
1 large (20oz?) can pineapple chunks in juice, drained (save juice for sauce!)
2/3 cup vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 large peppers (any color), chopped into large chunks
2 sweet onions, chopped into large chunks
1 large (160 count) package of pre-cooked meatballs.
2 small cans, pineapple juice (optional, read below before cooking)
Mix cornstarch and sugar with a plastic whisk in a large sauce pan. Stir in reserved pineapple juice (but NOT the small cans yet), vinegar, and soy sauce until smooth. Heat mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until just boiling. Remove from heat.
Pour sauce over vegetables in a large stock pot. Heat until almost done, then add meatballs & heat through.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THIS RECIPE: I love this recipe, but it’s actually all messed up. The recipe listed above is supposed to cover 160 meatballs. In my experience, I’ve found that this recipe doesn’t even make enough sauce for a 72 count bag of meatballs. At my most recent Super Bowl party, I made the recipe almost exactly as you see it above, and there wasn’t nearly enough sauce for all of the 84 meatballs, so I added an additional 20oz. can of pineapple chunks. That’s why I’ve added the optional two small cans of pineapple juice at the end of the recipe. If you make this yourself and find yourself running low on sauce (or if you’re going to leave this in a Crock Pot for several hours and need to occasionally “top off” the sauce), add a can of juice as needed.
You can also make the sauce a day in advance if you’d like. Just let it cool completely and store in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, heat for around a minute in the microwave, then pour over the frozen meatballs and chopped onions and peppers in a Crock Pot. Stir well and heat on HIGH for at least an hour, then kick down to LOW.