Double Dip

Hey Drew, are we doing a number theme on the post titles?  TBA, but in the mean time, let's talk dip.  I'll admit it, I'm a chip man.  I love chips-potato, pita, beet-doesn't matter.  But every chip needs a partner in crime, and dip is where it's at.  While dip is appropriate and encouraged to be consumed throughout the year, it tastes the best during college football season, so with a full schedule of college football on Saturday, it was time for dip.

Yes, that's Nathan Scheelhaase, Illinois sophomore quarterback who went 11/15 in the Illini's third straight victory over the then ranked #22 Arizona State Sun Devils.  Nathan, keep it up & there's always a bowl of dip for you at the Keiser house.


With Illinois playing a night game, we elected to watch the Michigan State v. Notre Dame game Saturday afternoon, and in honor of both teams, we started with something green:  guacamole.


Making guacamole starts at the grocery store level.  Avocados are a fruit/vegetable (?) that will continue to ripen after being harvested; however, with that said, picking avocados can be a bit of a crap shoot.  If you're planning to use your avocados at a later date, you can go with an avocado that is still hard to the squeeze (and put in a brown paper grocery sack to ripen quicker), but if you're using it right away, you'll want an avocado that is semi-mushy to the squeeze, but not overly so, or else the inside will have some areas that are black.  If you're making guacamole, while your at the store picking out the perfect avocados, also grab a white onion, limes, a couple of tomatoes (romas work great), one bunch of cilantro, and a jalapeno (if you're feeling saucy).

Our motto is Midwestern Mild when it comes to most cooking, so we left the jalapeno at the store for the "Native Texans" to buy and went with the essentials-2 ripe avocados, 2 vine tomatoes, lime juice, 1 bunch of cilantro, and a white onion.

After washing & drying the cilantro, we separated the leaves from the larger/thicker stems, and set about finely chopping the cilantro before dicing the onion and tomatoes; all three were then added to our mixing bowl along with the flesh of the avocados, easily removed by scoring the perimeter of the avocado with a sharp knife & removing the flesh with a spoon.  As for the brown pit in the middle, we removed it, but it's been said that leaving the pit in the finished product will help prevent browning.  I remember the first time I tried to make guacamole in 4th grade-the attempt was doomed to fail as the avocados were rock hard and we only had saltine crackers to eat the final product with ( a suggestion from the classic, red & white checkered Better Homes & Gardens cookbook), but what I remember most is peeling the avocados like a potato to remove the flesh.

With all the ingredients in the mixing bowl, mash the contents with a potato masher or a large fork until the desired consistency is reached.  Finish with black pepper, a healthy dose of kosher salt (to taste), and lime juice.  We thought we were ok using bottled lime juice, but this was false-despite claiming to be real lime juice, the bottled lime juice gave the final product an artificial taste, so we highly advocate for using real limes!

The final product was much like the Michigan State offensive-good attempt, but not a game winner.  The lesson learned here was two-fold:  practice what you preach and whenever possible, use fresh ingredients, two mantras I advocate, but failed to deliver upon in the guacamole.

With Notre Dame ending their 2 game skid to Michigan State, the lull between the 2:30 game and the 6:30 game provided us time to make a dip to take to watch the Illinois and Ohio State games at a friend's viewing party.  In the spirit of college football we decided on making buffalo wing dip, a recipe that a fraternity brother used to bring to Sigma Pi Superbowl parties (shout out to Decker!).

The full recipe makes a large quantity, so we halved the recipe for our party (therefore if you double our measurements, you'll get the full recipe).


Half way through the 3rd quarter of the MSU/ND game, we baked 2 chicken breasts in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes, and when they cooled, chopped them into tiny pieces.  With the cutting board out, 1/2 a bunch of celery got a fine dice.

After the game we melted one 1/3 less fat bar of cream cheese, a 1/2 cup of ranch dressing, and 1 cup of Frank's Red Hot hot sauce in a medium sauce pan over low heat, stirring occasionally.  At this point, the real recipe calls for the melted ingredients to go in a crock pot with a the diced chicken & celery, along with cubed jack cheese, to simmer on low for 3-5 hours with an occasional stir.  Not wanting to travel with a crock pot, we modified the recipe by adding the chicken, celery, and 4 ounces of cubed Kraft Monterrey jack cheese to the sauce pan & melted the mix over low, low heat for 90 minutes.

If the end product is chunky, the recipe calls for a quick mash with a potato masher or stick blender, but our end result was smooth and creamy.  As Liz & I are part of the Illini nation, we brought blue corn tortilla chips to be served with our orange dip, but as the night wore on (and the Illini found the end zone more than ASU), I thought it might be fun to dye the celery and chicken blue to concoct a true Illini dip. The dip was a hit at the party and had a nice tang from the hot sauce.  When we usually make this, taking a que from Decker, we like to substitute the Franks for Buffalo Wild Wings Spicy Garlic hot sauce (available at $3.99/bottle at your local BDubs), but any favorite hot sauce will work well!


Well, the Bears got beat by the Saints and with that weekend comes to a close.  Have a great week everyone!