My first attempt at a “signature dish” (as mentioned in my 2007 goals) went pretty well. I hosted a Superbowl party last Sunday and decided I would try to make my family’s cheesy, meaty dip (wonder what’s it really called…). This was the first time I had ever attempted to make it, though I’ve done my share of eating! I called my dad for the recipe, went shopping for the ingredients, dusted off the crock pot and went to work. It took longer to prepare than expected, but only because I was new to it. It was fairly straightforward, so it was a good first recipe to try. It must have turned out okay - I got several compliments and it was all gone shortly after the game started!

I did learn a valuable lesson through this experience- the crock pot works much better with the lid on. It took me an hour to realize the cheese wasn’t melting like it should and then it dawned on me to use the lid. Doh! That worked wonders!

Next time, I’m going to double the recipe and try to make it a little less runny. I might try to spice it up a little more too. We’ll see…don’t want to push it too far yet.

Next up: a garlic cheese ball or something with bacon. Mmm, bacon.