Conquer the College Kitchen

Today’s topic?  You guessed it… Superbowl food of course!  No nobody wants to spend their entire Sunday in the kitchen, and with a tight budget, planning a Superbowl menu for a bunch of hungry college kids can be difficult.  Now you can take the traditional route and head to the grocery store to purchase the frozen wings, mozzarella sticks and chips and salsa; or if you enjoy taking the extra time to cook, try out some of these tasty recipes my roommates and I used yesterday at our apartment.  I’m going to focus on the dips we made, since I think dips are perfect for groups of people, and you can never really have enough.  I know this year’s big game day has passed (Congratulations, Saints!), but these recipes work great for any game you and your friends get together to watch.  Feel free to share what you and your friends did for Superbowl in the comment section, I’d love to get some more ideas!

Chili-cheese dip is about the easiest thing you’ll ever make, next to toast.

You’ll need:

• One packet of shredded cheese: the mild orange cheddar, taco or pizza flavors work best
• One can of no bean chili
• One 8 oz packet of cream cheese
• A round or square oven-safe bowl or pan that’s about 9 x 9 if possible and only about an inch and a half or two tall
• Tortilla chips

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 Degrees
2. Microwave the entire packet of cream cheese for about 10 seconds or until it softens
3. Spread the cream cheese all over the bottom of the bowl/pan until it’s smooth and evenly spread
4. Pour the entire can of chili over the cream cheese and spread it until it’s an even layer
5. Pour the entire bag of shredded cheese over the chili and spread it out until it’s an even layer
6. Now it’s ready to pop in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted on top

When you take the dip out of the oven, make sure you let it cool for a few minutes before serving- it’s extremely hot!  Serve it with a bowl of tortilla chips: I find that Tostitos Gold or multi grain chips really work well since they’re a little bit thicker than the normal chips, and can hold the dip easier.  And that’s all, so easy and quick!

Here’s a video demonstrating how to make a similar version of the dip from MacysSocialon YouTube:

Next up, a Blended Spinach Dip: cheesy and delicious!

You’ll need:

• Romano cheese: about half a cup (try to find it already grated if you can)
• Shredded mozzarella cheese: about a cup
• One clove of garlic
• frozen spinach: about 10 ounces.  You’ll have to thaw and dry it
• One jar of artichokes (about six ounces).  You’ll have to drain and dry these too
• Eight ounces of chives cream cheese (if you can find it at your grocery store, otherwise regular works too) 
• Two eggs
• Tortilla chips
• A blender
• An oven-safe bowl or baking dish

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 Degrees
2. In the blender, put the garlic clove through to mince.  Then stop the blender and add the spinach, artichokes, cream cheese and eggs.  Process these ingredients until everything is fully blended
3. Transfer everything to your baking dish and fold in the romano and mozzarella cheeses.
4. Stick it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes until it’s thoroughly heated and a nice golden color.

Again, make sure this dip has time to cool down before serving.  You can stick with the tortilla chips for this one of course, or if you want to mix it up, serve it with chunks of Italian bread that you’ve thrown in the oven for a few minutes so it’s crispy and warm.

Want some other great dip recipes?  Check out these websites:

50 Game day dips from the Food Network

Dips and spreads from AllRecipes.com

Getting specific: chilled recipes from cooksrecipes.com

And here are the warm ones

Dip recipes are everywhere.  Whether you want to read them from a website, or watch a video on YouTube, you won’t having any trouble finding a dip that sounds good for you and your friends!  Enjoy!