Mexican 7 Layer Dip

The Roman Numeral Installation outside of my office building.

Georgia Street – constructed in time for Super Bowl.

Minced black olives make the flavor more evenly distributed.

All 7-Layers complete

Today is Super Bowl Sunday! It's been such a fun time to live in Indy. Aaron and I work on Monument Circle and our company, ExactTarget, has been enjoying the festivities and helping take part in the marketing efforts. We took pictures in front of the roman numeral installation and we had a fun company party last Wednesday. All three of us had fun!

The entire city has been enjoying the Super Bowl Village and NFL experience. The zip line has been the major attraction along with the temporary party tents and outdoor live concerts. The Host Committee has also added breast cancer awareness and even the first ever lactation room in the village. It's been wonderful that they have planned for families!































We're heading to a friend's house to watch the game and I just made Mexican 7-Layer Dip. It's a recipe that my step-mom made when I was growing up for all the pool parties we'd have with the neighbors. I make it in a casserole dish so it serves a crowd. The dip has lots of flavor and the difference is taco seasoning is mixed in the sour cream.


Mexican 7-Layer Dip
Serves a crowd

Ingredients:

• 1-14oz can refried beans
• 1-16oz container sour cream
• 2 cups prepared guacamole
• 1 small packet of taco seasoning (or use a blend of chili powder, cumin, oregano, and cayenne)
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1-14oz can of whole black olives, minced
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preparation:

• Spread refried beans, guacamole, in the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish. Mix taco seasoning with sour cream and spread on top of the guacamole. 
• Add diced tomatoes, green onions, olives, and shredded cheddar cheese.

Serve with tortilla chips. The dip is so dense, it works best to offer a serving spoon for guest to scoop out the dip onto their plates. 

It's really easy to make and the dip is always a crowd pleasure!

Tomato-Zucchini-Feta Focaccia Bread

Last month, I made this focaccia bread for my La Leche League study group meeting that I hosted at my house. Since the group was coming over mid morning I decided to serve brunch foods. I made this focaccia bread, blueberry-oat muffins, and served sliced apples. Here's what was left of the bread after the moms, babies, and kids left that day. The night before, I made the focaccia bread, but we forgot to set the oven timer and it burnt to a crisp. So the next morning, I woke up early and make it again. I think it's better that way because it was fresh for when my guests arrived. My only regret was baking it on a cookie sheet instead of my pizza stone. It was a bit over done on the bottom from the cookie sheet in the convection setting of my oven.


The recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks Simply in Season. I used tomatoes, zucchini and feta because it's what I had on hand. You can experiment with different combination of toppings.

Focaccia Bread by Simply in Season
Serves 6

1 cup warm water
1tbs active dry yeast
Combine in a large bowl, stirring until yeast dissolves.

1 cup whole wheat bread flour
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
Mix in, stirring until smooth.

1 3/4 cup-2 1/2 cups bread flour
Add enough flour to make stiff dough. Knead 8-10 minutes until elastic (I used a stand mixer). Place in a greased bowl, turn to grease both sides, cover with a damp cloth, and allow to rise until doubled in size, 45 minutes.

Pat and stretch to fit a greased 10x15 jelly roll pan. Lightly rub top of dough with olive oil. Cover lightly with a damp cloth. Let rise 10 minutes. Top with the toppings below.

Topping:
2 tbs olive oil
Sea salt
1/4 cup feta
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup grape tomatoes, havled
1/2 cup zucchini, thinly sliced
Fresh or dried herbs. if desired (I used dried oregano).
Sprinkle with sea salt. Gently press toppings on the surface and sprinkle with cheese and herbs.. You can drizzle more olive oil on top if you'd like.

Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees until the crust is lightly browned, 12-20 minutes. If the bottom is down before the top is down, finish under the broiler. Serve immediately.

Easy Appetizer: Sun Dried Tomato Cheese Tray

We were up at the Lake this weekend at my in-law's house and we had family and friends staying over. Aaron's aunt and uncle hosted a steak dinner for their daughter's birthday and I made an appetizer tray and a veggie casserole with cauliflower, kale, peppers, and tomato slices with a Parmesan Bechamel sauce. I can't give you the recipe for the sauce because I didn't keep track of measurements, but it was thick from the roux and I added high quality parmesan cheese with grated nutmeg, paprika, crushed garlic, and salt and pepper. I poured it on top of the vegetables in a casserole dish and baked it in a 400 degree oven for 35 minutes. It was delicious, colorful and nutritious!

The appetizer tray that I made was super simple. It's was a Sun Dried Tomato Cheese Spread with Crackers, cut celery and baby carrots. I prefer sun dried tomatoes stored in olive oil and my favorite pick is from Trader Joe's because they are julienne cut so they are easy to use. I like to put sun dried tomatoes in pasta with peas and shrimp for example.

I made this cheese spread from scratch and it took about 10 minutes to put together including cutting the celery. It was super easy and it was ALL GONE! I should have taken a picture before I served it, but the gang was pretty hungry. You can make it ahead really easy and pack the cheese spread in a serving dish with plastic wrap before a party.

Prep:

• Two boxes - 80z cream cheese softened (leave out for about 1-hr)
• 1/4 cup chopped oil-packed sun dried tomatoes
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• Optional - minced black olive

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients with a spatula until evenly distributed. Transfer to serving dish. Serve with a variety of crackers and vegetables such as celery, carrots, or pepper strips. That's it!

**If you only can get sun dried tomatoes that are not packed in oil, you will have to rehydrate the tomatoes in hot water and steam them in a bowl covered in plastic wrap until they are tender. Then chop. You might want to toss them in a drizzle of olive oil for better flavor also.