Cheesy Red Pepper Dip

Submitted by Heather

I don't know why I do this to myself, but whenever I'm on a diet I find myself looking and drooling at recipes that would be terrible for me to eat considering the diet's food restrictions.  Which are, namely, nothing cheesy or dippy or yummy.  Soon I find myself trying to find reasons to make some of those delicious foods and bring them to others.  It's as if by watching someone ELSE eat them, I'm deriving some sort of pleasure myself.  Yeah, I'm pretty mixed up.  

So this dip was made for one of those occasions.  I couldn't help myself this time, though.  I had to try it, if only in the name of "testing recipes".  It was a deadly good bite.  I didn't get a chance to take a picture while the dip was still warm and bubbly, but trust me, the pictures don't do it justice.  It was really delicious and at any other time in my life I could have sat down and finished off the bowl.  Take this to your next book club or girls' night and they'll love you!

Ingredients:

7 oz jar roasted red peppers (about 1C diced) 

4 C grated pepper jack cheese (3/4 lb)
8 oz cream cheese (I use low-fat)
3/4 C mayonnaise
2 T minced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350. Remove peppers from jar and blot excess water with paper towels. You want to make sure they are dry so they don’t add moisture to the dip. Then dice them up.

In a bowl, soften the cream cheese in the microwave so it will be easier to stir. Add in mayo, onion, garlic, and dijon. Stir to combine and then add in grated cheese and the diced peppers. Place in an 8×8-ish dish (pie plate works). At this point you can pop it in the fridge if you’re going to cook it later and you can even make it a couple of days ahead of time. Place in the oven and cook for 30-45 minutes. Baking time depends on the dish. It will start to bubble and brown on the outside edge, and you want it to be bubbly all the way through to the center. It will be nice and golden brown on top, especially around the edges. Mine usually takes 40-45 min.

Serve immediately. Keep it warm in the oven, and if you need to reheat it, reheat it in the oven (microwaves do strange things to it).  Serve with any of the following: tortilla chips, pita chips, crackers (choose a plain flavored one), veggies or warm baguette slices.

Recipe Source: Our Best Bites cookbook