Taco Dip

This weekend I was in charge of bringing an appetizer to a pool party. I thought about chicken wings, stuffed mushrooms, spring rolls, and a few other items, however I decided to chose something I rarely make, and something that I wanted to put my twist on for people. I chose taco dip. Now you are guilty of making the taco dip, or you have had it time and time again at parties and, at least in my world, they are always the same; cream cheese, salsa, cheese, tomato, and lettuce. Well, mine has those ingredients, but much more, and has a much better bang in flavor.

Ingredients:

• 3 8 oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup of sour cream
• 1 package of taco seasoning
• 3 chipotle peppers, seeds removed
• 3 tbs adobo sauce (sauce that the chipotle peppers sit in)
• 1 small can of sliced black olives
• 1 cup of cooked and cooled corn
• 1 cup of cooked black beans, cooled
• 1 head of lettuce, shredded
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 4 cups of shredded cheese
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 tbs red chili flakes
• Tortilla chips

Did I mention how easy this one is to make? Probably not, but trust me, it is so easy. Let’s get started.

In a mixing bowl, add the cream cheese, sour cream, taco seasoning, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce and mix to thoroughly combine all ingredients. Now the trick is to find your serviing dish. You will want something long and deep enough to hold all of your ingredients as you will begin to layer everything. I used something close to a 13 x 9 x 4 and it held everything nicely. Take your spiced cream cheese mixture out of the bowl and place inside your serving dish. You will want to use a tool, like a spatula, to spread everything nicely. Next, begin to think about how you want to layer your ingredients. I used the shredded lettuce, tomato, cheese, cilantro, black olives, corn, black beans, and more cheese.  What’s next? Dig in. Get your chips, and dig in. This was a sure bet at the party, and as several quoted “this is addicting”. Good stuff.