Happy Thursday, my friends! I hope you are having a great week! I had a mom-daughter date – with MY mom – to go see the ballet The Red Shoes earlier this week. We grabbed some Spanish tapas beforehand and just had a fun night together! And I’m excited for a date night with my husband tomorrow night to see our Charlotte Symphony Orchestra perform the score to the first Harry Potter movie. It’s going to be an annual thing and I can’t wait to see it! I’ve also got a gender reveal on Saturday for a friend (we all think it’s gonna be a girl but she thinks a boy), J has a birthday party and we’re hoping to make our annual family trip to the pumpkin farm, which also has a hay ride and petting zoo. So many fun things going on! And today I’m excited to share one of my favorite cold dips for tailgating and game days!
Now, some chili dips are warm, full of beans and meat, and basically a mini dinner, served in snack form. I’ve got nothing against that at all! But this cold chili cheese dip is way lighter and perfect for munching on during game day, at a tailgate, for parties or anytime you just need a yummy bite! It’s also gluten-free and vegetarian, which is great for an easy cold party dip for serving a crowd. And my family, we DEVOUR this dip! I adore it with bell pepper scoops, my family loves it with tortilla chips, and it also would be yummy with cucumbers, carrots, celery - any of your favorite dipping veggies!
It also seems appropriate to be sharing this cheesy dip after my Ohio visit with the American Dairy Association Mideast, where we got to watch and journey along with dairy from farm to table. LOTS of good eats on this trip! We learned about cheese + wine pairings, traveled to a 700+ cow dairy farm where I got to see the entire process of milking – and found out milk goes from cow to your grocery store in as little as 48 hours! We saw the behind-the-scenes of the Miceli cheese manufacturing plant and made our own pizzas in their huge wood-fired oven. We even got to tour Mitchell’s, a famous Cleveland hand-crafted ice cream shop. They let us taste as many flavors as we wanted and we pretty much all felt like kids again! I have to say though, my favorite part was the cows, especially the little ones!
Notes on making this cold chili cheese dip:
I use plain Greek yogurt but you could substitute sour cream if you’d prefer. This recipe, as written, is pretty mild. If you want to spice it up, you can add some finely diced jalapeño, substitute fire-roasted diced tomatoes, add a few dashes of hot sauce and/or use pepper jack or jalapeño jack cheese. ❤️ This recipe can be served immediately but it also keeps really well if you want to make it a day or two ahead. You can easily double or triple this recipe if you’re serving a big crowd. (Or if you want leftovers!)
Need some other game day snacks? My southwestern baked egg rolls, cheesy baked black bean dip and bourbon bacon jam are always a hit. I also have my eye on this broccoli and bacon beer cheese dip and this cranberry walnut cream cheese dip. I hope your team wins. I hope you have fun friends around you to celebrate. And I hope you have delicious eats to fuel you through all the cheers and excitement! XO, Kathryn
I use plain Greek yogurt but you could substitute sour cream if you’d prefer. This recipe, as written, is pretty mild. If you want to spice it up, you can add some finely diced jalapeño, substitute fire-roasted diced tomatoes, add a few dashes of hot sauce and/or use pepper jack or jalapeño jack cheese. This recipe can be served immediately but it also keeps really well if you want to make it ahead a day or two. You can easily double or triple this recipe if you’re serving a big crowd.
