Dips!
I’m a minimalist when it comes to ingredients. When I make five or six different dishes for tailgate spreads on Sundays, the last thing I want is a counter full of 50 ingredients.
Natally is my “football friend.” She comes over every single Steelers game. That’s not an exaggeration. If she or I are not attending the game, we are at my house watching the game. Fun fact: We ran into each other in the middle of the summer one year and barely recognized each other without Steelers gear.
Her favorite dip has two ingredients. Hot breakfast sausage and a jar of cheese dip. You can use mild sausage if you don’t prefer heat. I’ve had plenty of queso-type dips and this one is a flavor bomb. We’ve all had a can of rotel and Velveeta cheese. Rotel is a better ingredient for queso because it has better consistency than Velveeta. With Velveeta, you have to be a scientist to keep it melted without it burning your taste buds off or getting a thick film on top of it.
I eat a mainly keto diet so my vessel of choice for dips is pork rinds but it’s also really good with corn chips or tortilla chips. I also may have put it in an omelette for breakfast and it may have been amazing.
Outside of that easy one, my most requested dip is pickle dip. Have you ever had a piece of salami spread with cream cheese with a pickle spear wrapped up? I tried those at a fantasy football draft party one year (thanks, Abbey). The crunch of the pickle and the creaminess of the cheese wrapped in the saltiness of salami? I was sold with one bite. At most of my tailgate spreads, you will either see those or the dip version.
I originally made it with dill relish which takes out the prep of chopping pickles, but I really do like the crunch of the chopped-up pickles, so that’s what I tend to use. This dip goes exceptionally well with pretzel crackers and I prefer the townhouse brand that go on sale fairly regularly. This is another dip that is good with pork rinds, and also fine with plain tortilla chips.
I have a lot of simple dip recipes. Stay tuned.
Ingredients:
1 lb of breakfast sausage (hot or mild)
1 jar of cheese dip(If you’re into brands, you can use Tostitos, but store brand or whatever is on sale works for me.)
Directions:
Brown the ground sausage.
Open jar of cheese.
Pour cheese into the pan with sausage.
Stir.
Eat with dip vessel of choice. (pork rinds, corn chips or tortilla chips recommended)
Pickle Dip
Ingredients:
½ lb of sliced salami
1 brick of cream cheese
1 jar of either pickles or dill relish
1 tbsp. of either mayo/sour cream/greek yogurt
Directions:
Set cream cheese out to soften.
Chop the salami.
If you are doing pickles instead of relish, you can use the spears or the slices and chop them up.
Combine all ingredients and chill until ready to eat.
As I mentioned, this is great with the pretzel crackers but also good with pork rinds or tortilla chips.
