Dippity Do Da!

I don’t know about your family, but Thanksgiving with my family is an all-day affair filled with preparing pies, turkey, and trimmings, watching some football, and getting everything ready for that moment when we all sit down at the table and eat until our pants begin to feel perhaps a little uncomfortable.

All that prep work makes us hungry long before that button thingy on the turkey pops (even if all we’re doing is watching someone else)! And so, usually I bring some sort of appetizer to tide us over until the big event. This year, not knowing when exactly we were eating, I opted to try 2 new recipes: Greek Layered Dip and Beer Cheese Spread.

And here I will toot my own horn (Toot, toot!) because I think they were both quite delicious. The layered dip was like your traditional Mexican 7-layer dip that has guacamole, beans, cheese, what have you, but instead has hummus, tzatziki sauce, ground lamb, feta and some tasty veggies. The Beer Cheese Spread was easy to whip up, made plenty, and can be stored for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

I found the recipe for the Greek Layered Dip in our latest issue of Food Network Magazine. I couldn’t find bottled tzatziki sauce, so we made our own using a recipe I found at food.com (recipe here). Also, I didn’t want to have to buy Greek seasoning, so I used a recipe I found online (recipe here). We had all the individual spices on hand already. We didn’t make the pita crisps, choosing instead to serve bagel chips instead. I might try the homemade crisps next time. I would recommend getting the magazine, but in the meantime, get it *here* on Food Network's Web site.

As a side note, we didn’t use all of our homemade tzatziki or Greek seasoning, so we made Homemade Gyros Saturday night. For ours, we sprinkled the lamb generously with the seasoning, the browned it in a skillet. (Drain off the excess fat.) Mike added a little more seasoning here. Then we just piled the lamb with the tzatziki, feta cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and red onion in pita pockets. Quite tasty and super-easy.

Here’s the recipe for the Beer Cheese Spread, which comes from Betty Sims’ newest book, Southern Scrumptious Favorites. (Find it at Cookbook Marketplace or Betty's site) I’m not even a fan of beer, but I thought it was quite tasty. We served it with bagel crisps and Ritz, but I think it would be good an any sturdy cracker. We still have some of this one left, and I’m trying to convince Mike to grill a couple bratwursts. As we were enjoying this Thursday, we had the idea that the dip would be tasty as a condiment with a grilled hot dog or brat on a bun. We sometimes get the Cheddar brats anyway, and we almost always marinate them in beer, so this would be the best of everything!

Beer Cheese Spread

32 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

1 small onion, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon hot sauce

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 (12-ounce) bottle amber beer, at room temperature (We used Newcastle)

Salt and black pepper to taste

Sprig of fresh thyme for garnish

Beat the cheese, onion, garlic, hot sauce and cayenne pepper at low speed in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer until blended. Add the beer gradually, beating well after each addition. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute or until creamy. Season with salt and black pepper. Chill, covered, for 2 hours. Garnish with the thyme. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Makes 5 cups