Giving Thanks | Caramel Cream Cheese Apple Dip

October 8, 2012 by 21 Comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

Today I will be making a concentrated effort to stuff myself to the gills with turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Actually, pumpkin this, which is what I will be contributing to tonight’s dinner. I can’t wait to try it! Oh, and I don’t doubt that there will be plenty of wine consumption as well. What is a day holiday without wine?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Thanksgiving, we are encouraged to think about what we are thankful for. I remember as a young child in grade school, art classes around this time of year were always focused on colorful leaves, turkeys, and giving thanks. Even now, twenty years later, I still take a moment to think about some of the wonderful things in my life at Thanksgiving.

Driving to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday (the first of two), I passed many houses with cars in the driveways and lining the streets. I thought of all of the families and friends gathering together to share a meal and give thanks for this beautiful life that we live. And I felt so thankful knowing that I had a house full of family waiting for me. I know that not everyone is so lucky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s kind of a shame that we don’t recognize all of these wonderful things more often. It’s so darn easy to get caught up in day-to-day life and to focus on negative things. How tired we are, how much work we have to do, how we don’t have the money to do this or buy that, and the list goes on. We live in a bit of a pessimistic society, no?

So today, I encourage you to think of five things in your own life that you are most thankful for. You don’t have to share them with anyone but yourself. But you might be surprised at just how much you’ve got goin’ on. You’re pretty awesome, in case you need to be reminded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whether you’re celebrating Thanksgiving today or not, I do encourage you to try this little number. This dip comes from one of my coworkers (thanks K!) – she brought it to a potluck at work and everyone raved about it. Apparently she always gets requests for “the apple dip” when attending potlucks, and I can see taste why. It is SO delicious! And incredibly simple. And a great way to enjoy Fall’s apple bounty! I brought it to dinner yesterday, and when we ran out of apples, we just used our fingers to finish it off. We’re classy like that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caramel Cream Cheese Apple Dip

8 oz. light cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup brown sugar, loosely packed

~1/3 to 1/2 cup caramel sauce

2 Skor bars, finely chopped

Mix the cream cheese and brown sugar together well. Spread evenly into the bottom of a shallow dish (~8 x 10″) or pie plate. Pour the caramel sauce over top and gently spread it out evenly. Feel free to add more or less caramel, depending on your tastes. Top with the chopped Skor bar. You could also top with shaved or chopped chocolate, if you prefer. Cover and refrigerate until consumption. Serve with sliced apples. Pears would be delicious too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take good care, friends! xoxo

Filed Under: Fruit, Snacks, Sweet Treats Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Dip It | Curried Cream Cheese Dip with Dried Cranberries, Pine Nuts, and Green Onion

April 25, 2011 by 37 Comments

Hello friends! Happy Monday. I hope you all had a lovely Easter/spring weekend filled with family, friends, good food, and sunshine. I sure as heck did. If you ate half as much food and chocolate as I did, you have probably been swimming in a food/sugar coma state, like me. And could there possibly be a better cure for such a coma than perusing and drooling over a new recipe? I think not.

Especially when it is an attack-the-tastebuds-in-a-good-way recipe. Enter this seemingly complex, colorful, flavor explosion dip.

Explaining this dip with words is impossible. But I’ll try anyway. It’s creamy, tangy, sweet, and spicy all at once. Plus chewy from dried cranberries and crunchy from toasted pine nuts. I first tried it at a work potluck a couple of years ago, but only recently rediscovered it. I don’t know where the recipe came from, or what the real name of this creation is, so I am calling it like it is.

Take this dip to your next potluck or serve it at your next party. Your guests won’t know what hit ’em.

In a good way of course.

Curried Cream Cheese Dip with Dried Cranberries, Pine Nuts, and Green Onions

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. curry powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 cup red pepper or red chile jelly, divided

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/4 cup green onions, chopped (about 3 green onions)

Combine the cream cheese, spices*, and 3 TBSP. of the jelly until smooth. An electric or hand mixer will make this easy. Spread the mixture into the bottom of a shallow dip dish (roughly 5″ x 7″). Spread the remaining jelly over top of the cream cheese mixture. Combine the dried cranberries, pine nuts, and green onions in a small bowl to mix, then sprinkle evenly over top of the dip. Chill until you serve. I think this dip tastes great with plain rice crackers, but any small cracker will do! Enjoy!

*You can adjust the amount of curry powder and cumin depending on the level of flavor you would like. If you don’t want such strong flavors, use just 1 tsp. of each. If you want the flavors to be very intense you can use up to 1 TBSP. of each, but I find 2 tsp. of each to be a happy medium.


What are some of your favorite potluck or appetizer recipes?

Filed Under: Appetizers, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,