Another Girls' Night - More Dip!

I am hosting this month's neighborhood girls' night and have turned it into a spa margarita party! My sister is a consultant for an at-home spa company and I took the opportunity to invite the neighborhood girls over for a night of margaritas and pampering.

I made a chicken spread tonight and popped it in the fridge for tomorrow.

This chicken spread literally takes 5 minutes to throw together (now that I'm thinking about it, I didn't really need to make it ahead... oh well, it's the planner in me!). It's a recipe that I received from my mom and one that is always popular at parties. I have received many requests for the recipe!

Chicken Spread (from my mom)

8-oz. cream cheese
Small onion, finely chopped
Small can (4.25-oz) canned chicken
1 T. mayonnaise
1 T. soy sauce

Blend all ingredients together with a hand mixer until creamy and combined.

Serve with your favorite crackers (I am partial to Ritz).

A Taste of Greece

Hummus is a traditional dip or spread that consists of mashed/pureed chickpeas and in its original form, tahini (a paste made of ground sesame seeds), lemon juice, and garlic. A popular way to serve hummus is as a dip with pita chips or cut up vegetables. It can also be slathered on flatbread or used as a spread on a veggie sandwich.

There are countless variations to classic hummus and I came across one that included roasted red peppers in a recent issue of Cooking Light magazine. Nick had asked me once before to try to replicate a roasted red pepper hummus that he had eaten while traveling in New Mexico. That attempt failed miserably! When I saw this recipe, I decided to give it another shot and tried to adapt the recipe to suit our tastes. This one worked and we'll definitely be keeping this recipe!


Red Pepper Hummus (adapted from a Cooking Light version)

1/2 red bell pepper
2 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 garlic clove, quartered
1 T. olive oil

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Cut bell pepper in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place one pepper half, skin side up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 10 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 10 minutes. Peel.

3. Place bell pepper and remaining ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth, slowly adding olive oil until desired consistency.

Girls Love their Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough!

What girl doesn't have a memory of licking the beaters or eating finger-scoops full of chocolate chip cookie batter while their mom was baking cookies? It just felt right. Then, "they" started saying we were going to die from doing that because of raw eggs. Well, that just ruined all the fun. Then last year a friend of mine introduced me to a dip that tastes EXACTLY like cookie dough. All the sinful fun without the raw eggs!

Each month the women in my neighborhood get together for a "girls night" and enjoy some non-husband, non-children fun. We rotate host houses and everyone brings a snack to share and their beverage of choice and we sit around and gab. I thought this cookie dough dip would be perfect for such an occasion. And it was - almost every single girl at the get together asked me for the recipe- it was a huge hit!

Be forewarned - this is super sweet and incredibly addicting!


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip (adapted from Recipezaar)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (8-oz) pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
3/4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Stir continuously, until the brown sugar dissolves. (You can also do this in the microwave but watch it closely. The butter/sugar mixture will boil over fast. Stir every 30 seconds or so.)

2. Remove from heat, whisk in vanilla extract and set aside to cool.

3. Beat the cream cheese and confectioner's sugar for 1 minute.

4. Slowly beat in the cooled butter mixture and beat again for another minute.

5. Stir in the chocolate chips.

6. Pour into a serving bowl and refrigerate.

7. Garnish with additional chips, if you choose.

Serve with Nilla wafers (my choice) or graham crackers.

**Note: after refrigerating the dip it will be pretty solid and un-dippable so make sure to remove it from the refrigerator about 15-30 minutes before you plan on serving it, so it has time to soften up.