recipes

Sun Dried Tomato Dip

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sun dried tomato dip

I needed a festive dip to take with me to a friend’s house, so I pulled out the recipe for my old friend, sun dried tomato dip (courtesy of Ina Garten). The dip originally appeared in my Labor Day Potluck Dinner post. After assembling the dip and the veggie tray, I realized how perfect this dip is for the holidays. The dip is a pinky red color, and I used several red and green raw vegetables. The finished product is quite merry and bright.

Need a quick bite for family members who will be milling around your house for Christmas or something tasty for football viewing? Sun dried tomato dip has got your back. Happy holidays and happy dipping readers!

food processing sun dried tomato dip

Ingredients

  • ¼ c. sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped (get plain oil, any seasoning changes the dip flavor)
  • 8-oz. cream cheese, room temperature
  • ½ c. sour cream
  • ½ c. good mayonnaise
  • 10 dashes Louisiana hot sauce or Tabasco
  • 1 t. kosher salt
  • ¾ t. black pepper
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)

Directions

  • Puree the tomatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, hot sauce, salt, and pepper in a food processor fitted with a metal blade.
  • Add the scallions and pulse twice. Set aside a pinch of scallions to garnish the top of the dip when serving.
  • Serve at room temperature with sugar snap peas, celery sticks, carrot sticks, pretzel sticks, pita chips, etc.

sun dried tomato dip bite

Notes

  • Make sure cream cheese is at room temperature to get the ingredients to blend together smoothly.
  • Sugar snap peas are my favorite raw vegetable for this dip.
  • Pita chips and Snyder’s pretzel dipping rods are my favorite cracker-y vehicle for getting this dip to your mouth.

sun dried tomato dip 2

Mason Jar Cookie Mixes

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M&M Mason Jar Cookie Mix

My fourth grade students sold Mason jar cookie mixes as a class fundraiser. It is a great project for integrating skills from a bunch of different academic areas. It is also a great project for creating a lot of extra work for the teacher. My teammate and I are exhausted and are not feeling nearly as charitable as we were at the beginning of this business project. However, it is a project that works well for groups of children. If you need a service project for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or your classroom, this might be something to consider. Like the soup mixes I am giving as teacher gifts, these are also something you can make at home with your kids to give to teachers, neighbors and friends over the holidays.

mason jar cookie mixes

The students kicked off the project by voting on a variety of recipes (oatmeal was out but after testing cookie samples, they approved the M&M White Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix Recipe). Once we selected two recipes, we priced ingredients and estimated sales. We limited production to ~200 jars, and the students calculated the ingredient amounts for that number of mixes. I recommend limiting sales to a specific number you think is possible for your group, so you do not over commit.

cookie assembly line

The adults have to gather many supplies, and quality control needs to be monitored closely. Most of the stations need funnels, which we made by loosely rolling a piece of copy paper. The baking soda station needs a dedicated adult! With 34 students on 5 assembly lines, we had all of the mixes assembled in about 1 1/2 hours. We spent another half day tying labels and delivering.

mason jar cookie mix labels

If you can buy the ingredients in bulk, it costs between $4 and $5 to make one jar of cookie mix, and we sold our mixes for $8.50. The biggest cost is the chocolate chips and M&Ms. One warning– during the holidays, Mason jars are hard to find. We needed 17 dozen 1-quart jars. If you are buying jars in the Charleston area, stores are sold out (so I have heard). If we decide to repeat this project next year, we will be purchasing our jars in August! Click here for the M&M White Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix Recipe, and click here for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix Recipe.

200 mason jar cookie mixes

Mason Jar Holiday Gift

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mason jar soup labels

Each year I like to have a gift idea I can produce in bulk to give to the “extra” teachers at school, support staff, neighbors, hosts at any Christmas parties we might attend, the mailman, etc…

Sewing Sister assembled cookie mixes in Mason jars a few years ago for teacher gifts, and I wanted to do something similar. My 4th grade students are running a Mason jar holiday cookie mix business to raise money for Water Missions International, so I did not want to double up on the cookies. Instead, I mass produced soup mixes. I think these will work well since every parent (adult?) I know loves to have an easy low prep weeknight meal on hand.

Apparently, I was not the only one with the Mason jar idea. Mason jar supplies were wiped out when I shopped this weekend. So, make sure you can purchase the jars before starting this project. Once you have sourced your supplies, gather your cheap labor (in my case, Mr. Star Wars and Miss Priss) and begin.

mason jar soup ingredients

  • Click here for the Farmhouse Soup Mix in a Jar ingredient list.
  • Pour ingredients in various mixing bowls and set up an assembly line in the correct order.

mason jar soup assembly line

  • Roll a piece of 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper loosely and make a funnel with a wide opening but not too wide, so it will fit in the top of the jars. Tape the handmade funnel, so the shape will hold.

mason jar soup funnels

  • Give each assistant a 1/2 measuring cup and have them go down the line in order adding 1/2 cup of each ingredient. After each ingredient, lightly tap the jar on a flat surface to level the ingredient before adding the next item.
  • When it is time to add the macaroni noodles, add 1/2 cup then add up to 1/2 c. more until the noodles are about one inch under the neck of the jar. You need space to add the zip-type baggie of herbs before sealing with the lid.
  • We did all of the above steps first and left the jars open, then assembled the seasonings.

mason jar soup herbs

  • I delved into my massive collection of zip bags that I get from the bead department at Michael’s Crafts. I used 3″ x 5″ baggies and did most of the seasoning assembly since the herbs sort of static to the sides of the bag, and it was messier than the jar assembly. I know we have a few vegetarian teachers, so I separated the beef bouillon from the other herbs and had two zip bags in a few of the jars.

mason jar soup herbs bagged

  • Add a seasoning packet to the top of the jar and seal.

mason jar soup filled

  • I printed labels on white and green cardstock. One side had the preparation instructions, and the other side had a holiday greeting. I am not a fan of play-on-word cutesy notes for teacher gifts, but I am a fan of “professional” looking labels in coordinating colors. If you are up for this extra time suck detail, you really need to invest in a paper cutter. We hole punched the corners of the tags and attached with curly ribbon. Alternately, you could print the directions on adhesive labels and stick them to the sides of the jars.

mason jar soup labelsWe also made chicken noodle soup mix in 1 pint jars. The smaller sized jars were much easier to find. We followed roughly the same procedure. Any teachers with young children are getting the chicken noodle soup mix. Click here for the Chicken Noodle Soup Mix in a Jar ingredient list and directions.

mason jar chicken noodleIs anyone else working on a gift in bulk to have on hand this holiday? There were many tasty looking mixes when I Googled “mason jar recipes” so you could take this idea and run with it.

Charleston Cheese Dip

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charleston cheese dip

We grilled hamburgers with a few friends after the Thanksgiving eat-a-thon last week, and I needed a little snacky bite while people were waiting for dinner. Since I had not consumed enough rich, calorie filled food prior to the hamburger dinner (ha!), I decided we needed a really good dip with lots of melted cheese. I made a Charleston Cheese Dip that is incredible. The consumption rate may have been faster than the Hot Vidalia Onion Dip, which I did not think possible.

charleston cheese dip pre baked

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c. mayonnaise
  • 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
  • 1 c. grated sharp Cheddar cheese (I used Cracker Barrel)
  • 1/2 to 1 c. Monterey Jack cheese
  • 2 green onions, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 dash cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 8 butter crackers, crushed (I used Ritz)
  • 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
  • Frito scoop chips, more Ritz crackers, or pita chips for serving

charleston cheese dip close

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a medium bowl, mix the mayonnaise, cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, green onions, minced garlic, and cayenne pepper (if using).
  • Transfer the mixture to a shallow baking dish. I used a quiche dish. A 9-inch pie pan will work too.
  • Top the mixture with cracker crumbs and bake until heated through, browned on the top, and bubbly around the edges.
  • Remove from the oven and top with the bacon.
  • Serve immediately with chips or crackers.

charleston cheese dip bite

Thanksgiving Stuffing

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sausage stuffing

Growing up, I always had a pretty traditional Thanksgiving meal that included a cornbread stuffing with chopped hard boiled eggs. I am not sure what region or style that sort of stuffing (dressing?) is, but it was never my favorite part of our Thanksgiving meal (sorry TheRoomMomMom). My parents are from a small town in Kansas, and I know it is the recipe TheRoomMomGrandmom always made. After spending Thanksgiving with TheRoomDad’s family, I found a new stuffing that I love. Thankfully, TheRoomDadMom shared her recipe with me many years ago. It is now my favorite part of the meal.

I know I am posting this stuffing recipe too late for you to enjoy at this Thanksgiving, but I couldn’t get pictures for you before today. Be sure to file it for Christmas dinner and have a great Thanksgiving with your family, friends, and other loved ones!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 c. chopped onion
  • 1 c. chopped celery, leaves included
  • 1/2 c. butter
  • 1/2 lb. ground pork sausage meat (I like Jimmy Dean)
  • 1/2 c. coarsely chopped mushrooms
  • 8 c. unseasoned bread crumbs (from 1-2 loaves of pre-sliced Italian or other crusty bread)
  • 1 T. kosher salt
  • 1/2 t. ground pepper
  • 1 t. rubbed dried sage
  • 1/2 t. dried thyme
  • 1/2 t. dried rosemary
  • 1/2 t. nutmeg
  • 1/2 c. chicken stock (plus more– at least 1 c.)
  • 1/2 c. dry white wine
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 c. chopped dried apricots

Directions

  • A day or two before you need the stuffing, cut sliced Italian bread into 1/4 in. chunks and spread in one layer on a jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned and toasted. It usually takes about 15 minutes or so. Move the bread around the pan several times during baking. Let cool and store in an airtight container or a Ziploc bag.

bread crumbs

  • In a skillet, saute onion and celery in butter until tender. Set aside in a large mixing bowl.
  • In the same skillet, cook sausage and mushrooms. Pour off any fat and add celery and onion mixture back into the sausage and mushrooms.

sausage and mushrooms add onions celery

  • Put bread crumbs in the large mixing bowl you used to hold the celery and onions. Pour sausage mixture on top and add all of the seasonings.

mix bread crumbs with ingredients

  • Moisten bread crumb mix with 1/2 c. white wine and 1/2 c. chicken stock. Mix thoroughly.
  • Add a little chicken stock to the beaten egg to thin. Add the egg and apricots to the sausage bread crumb mix. Stir well.

sausage stuffing mix thoroughly

  • Add more chicken stock if the mix seems dry. All of the crouton pieces should be moistened, but there should not be liquid in the bottom of the bowl. Do not over saturate.
  • Pour mix into a greased casserole dish. Bake uncovered at 325 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes. When the top is browned, remove from the oven.

Notes

  • If you can find pre-made unseasoned bread cubes, you can use those instead of making your own bread cubes/croutons.
  • White wine can be eliminated and replaced with chicken stock.
  • You can use fresh herbs or a combination of fresh and dried. Increase the amount if using fresh to taste.
  • I pour a little chicken stock on the top after the mix is in the casserole dish before baking.
  • I usually use 1/2 c. white wine plus one 15-oz can of chicken stock total by the time I finish prepping it all.
  • I like a round casserole dish with high sides like a 3-quart with a lid.

onions celery mushrooms