I love hosting big family holidays. I have a blast choosing a menu, shopping and waking up early to start the cooking festivities. It’s really rewarding when you see all of your loved ones gathered around and enjoying the food that YOU made! Never in my college day Lean Cuisine eating dreams did I think I could ever host a family holiday, but we have…quite a few times.

One of the big perks to cooking up a huge holiday meals is that you can sneak a taste or two of a few dishes as you’re cooking them up without getting smacked on the wrist by your momma. Sadly, I actually end up filling up on appetizers and taking small tastes before serving everyone! (whoops!) By the time everyone has their huge plates of food, I find myself sitting down and struggling to eat one plate. Oh well…

This past Christmas and Easter, I had this spinach artichoke dip to blame for the pre-meal full feeling. My friend, who blogs at Wine and Shoes, gave me this recipe after trying this dip at a party, and it’s just fabulous! I like to have this in a crockpot (to help the dip stay warm) where the appetizers are, which is sadly my kitchen island. All I have to do is take a step or two to sneak a cracker full of this stuff every couple of minutes. I’m not the only one who found it dangerous, either. As people started arriving, I noticed a little crowd was forming, and it certainly wasn’t for the cheese tray.

I especially love this dip, because there is no mayo. 90% of you will disagree with me, but I think mayo is gross. It smells terrible, looks nasty and because of that, I just can’t stomach the idea of eating ANYTHING containing mayo. Sorry to the mayo lovers…

Spicy Spinach Artichoke Dip
Source: Wine and Shoes (originally from Tabasco)

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 med onion, chopped finely
• 2-10 oz packs frozen spinach, thawed and well drained
• 1-14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 8 oz sour cream
• 1 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded & divided
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated & divided
• 2 tbsp. Tabasco sauce
• salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in large saucepan on medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté the butter and onions until they are translucent and soft, about 5 minutes.  Add in the spinach, artichokes, cream cheese, sour cream, ¾ cup of the parmesan and ¾ cup of the Monterey jack, Tabasco and salt (to taste).  Cook until well mixed.
2. Pour the mixture into a smaller crockpot and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
3. Add the lid to the crockpot and heat on low for about 20 minutes, until the cheese is just melted. Then, keep the crockpot on low throughout serving.

My husband and I really love a good bowl of queso blanco. Whenever we go to a tex-mex restaurant, we have to order the queso, and it never fails to just hit the spot. Sometimes, I even wonder why I order a dinner…it’s the queso that I’m really after!

I really wanted to know what type of cheese was in the queso, so I’d research and various folks would mention mexican cheeses that I’ve never worked with, so I was intimidated. Plus, I tend to have trouble trusting people on random forums, like Yahoo! Answers. Why waste my time. Then, I saw a post on Confessions of a Foodie Bride about making this infamous queso, but the cheese totally threw me for a loop. White American? Really…that’s it? So, I had to give this a try, because I love Shawnda’s blog, and I knew she wouldn’t steer me wrong here.

Y’all, this is restaurant queso blanco. I’m not lying. If you want queso blanco at home, make this…you won’t regret it. We definitely loved this recipe and it couldn’t be easier to make!

Restaurant Style Queso Blanco
Source: mildly adapted from Confessions of a Foodie Bride

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp cooking oil (veggie, olive, canola – whatever you have)
• 1/4 cup white onion, diced
• 1 large jalapeno or serrano, seeds and stem removed; diced
• 12 oz white American cheese, shredded
• 4 oz Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded (not pre-shredded…grate this yourself)
• 1/4-2/3 cup cream, half-and-half, or whole milk

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a pot. Add the onion and pepper and cook until until softened and reduce heat to medium-low.
2. Add the shredded cheese and 1/4 cup of the cream. Stir until well combined and mostly melted.
3. Add in additional cream a little at a time until you reach desired consistency.

I love cheese. There, I said it. When recipes say “sprinkle” cheese, I COVER it in cheese. Cheese is just awesome. One of my favorite foods that involve cheese is fondue!  Whenever I go out for fondue, which is rare, I go crazy on the cheese fondue. It’s so fluffy, stringy and warm..oh, nom nom nom! Sadly, hubs hates fondue. He can’t stand it. So, I do not own a fondue set. It would be really useless to own a set knowing that I’m only going to eat off of it.

For the party, I wanted to bring in a dangerously cheesy dish, and what is more cheesy than fondue? I searched the Internet like crazy, and found a recipe that sounded simple and had great reviews. I wanted something that tasted like it came straight from a restaurant, so I wanted it to be authentic and have a swiss cheese base.

I also knew fondue involved wine, and I will admit, I am the furthest away from being knowledgeable about wine. I need things spelled out for me in a recipe. “Dry White Wine” as an ingredient  in a recipe didn’t help me, so I asked a few friends for help. It was a toss-up between using a sauvignon blanc and an unoaked chardonnay. My cheap self couldn’t find an unoaked chardonnay for less than $10 (at least the label didn’t say unoaked), so I settled for some Barefoot Sauvignon Blanc ($6 a bottle and it had seemingly good reviews for a frugal wine on the Internet). In the end, I couldn’t even taste the wine. I just don’t have a sensitive palate, I guess..all I tasted was cheese, cheese, cheese! This dish was a HIT!

Just to note, I ended up making this in a non-stick pot on low heat until it came together, then I threw it in a small crock-pot on low, since we don’t own a fondue set. It worked well at keeping the cheese warm.

Cheese Fondue
Source: adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry white wine (I used sauvignon blanc)
• 1/2 pound shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 pound shredded Gruyere cheese
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• french bread, cut into cubes
• broccoli florets
• baby carrots
• apple slices

Directions:

1. Simmer wine in a small pot. Add Swiss cheese, Gruyere cheese, 1/4 pound at a time. Stir after each addition of cheese until melted.  Note: It might not look like it’s coming together at this point. Just keep stirring and add the flour. That’s when my fondue came together.
2. Stir in flour. When all the cheese has melted, stir in salt. Place in a small crockpot on low heat to serve. Serve with bread cubes, broccoli, carrots and apples.