My Thanksgiving Contribution

We had Thanksgiving dinner this year with the Atkins family and I asked "Charleston's" mom if I could bring anything and she politely said no.  I couldn't take no for an answer (I know that shocks some of you :) ) so I decided to take over a couple appetizers since we would be hanging out for a little before dinner.

It was a no brainer on this first recipe.  It never fails when we go out to dinner, Barbara ("Charleston's" mom), will order some form of spinach dip and I am with her in that decision, it's one of my faves!  I have never made it before so after a short Pinterest search I found one that was super appealing:

Hot Spinach Dip

via Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more for baking dish
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds spinach, cleaned, trimmed, and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup milk
• 6 ounces reduced-fat bar cream cheese
• 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 3 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Baguette slices, bread sticks, or crackers, for serving
• **Blain's recipe tweeks:  I used about 1 1/2 cups mozzarella AND also added a half cup shredded Parmesan**

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat oil over medium. Add onion and garlic; cook until lightly browned, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add spinach in two additions, letting the first batch wilt before adding the next; cook until completely wilted, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a colander; drain, pressing to release all excess liquid.
3. In the same pot, warm milk over high heat. Whisk in cream cheese until melted, about 3 minutes. Add spinach, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and 1/4 cup mozzarella; stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into a lightly oiled 1 1/2-quart shallow baking dish; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella.
4. Bake until bubbly and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot with accompaniments, as desired.

Overall, EXCELLENT and super easy!
When I asked "Charleston" if I should take anything else he immediately said "Cocktail Weenies."  WTF its Thanksgiving! not the super bowl!
So lets back up a minute.  I made him watch an episode of Hungry Girl one day on Food Network and on the show she made Cocktail Weenies for a gathering.  Obviously those little puppies stuck in his head and he has been wanting them since.  I was very reluctant because who makes cocktail weenies for Thanksgiving but to please the man in my life, I did what I was told:

Pump-Up-The-Jam Cocktail Weenies

Ingredients 

• 14 hot dogs with about 40 calories and 1g fat or less each (like the kind by Hebrew National)
• 3/4 cup very finely chopped yellow onion
• 1 cup chili sauce (the kind found by the ketchup)
• 3/4 cup low-sugar grape preserves/jelly
• 1 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• Directions 

Cut each hot dog into thirds, leaving you with cocktail-sized franks. Place in a crock pot. Add onion to the crock pot as well. In a bowl, combine chili sauce, preserves/jelly, and mustard; mix well. Add to the crock pot and gently stir to coat. Cover and cook on low for 3 - 4 hours.Stir well and then serve up the hot dogs with extra sauce on top!

So we gathered that afternoon, ate spinach dip and cocktaili weenies, all the while I got picked on becuase it looked like my cooking expertise went no further then hot dogs! Yes they joked and picked on me the entire time BUT I will tell you that my crockpot was EMPTY when we were done.  Every weenie was gone.  Obviously they liked my cooking well enough, even if it was only hot dogs!