Taco Dip

We attended a BYU Send-Off party tonight for two young friends who are heading off to BYU in a few weeks.  Each family was asked to bring a treat to share.  One of the families (the host family) have two members with Celiac's disease (they can't eat wheat/gluten) and I wanted to bring treats that everyone could eat and that I didn't have to go buy specialty flours.  After browsing the internet, I finally came up with two recipes from my recipe box that we've made tons of times.  The first recipe was fudge which my husband makes.  Tonight I'm sharing the second recipe - Taco Dip.  This recipe came from a co-worked when I worked in Florida.  She brought it to work one day and I had to get her recipe.  I've made it many times over the years and it's always a hit.

Taco Dip

12 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 c. sour cream
2 t. chili powder
1 1/2 t. cumin
1 1/28 t. red pepper
1/2 c. salsa

Combine ingredients and place in serving dish (I use a glass pie plate).

Toppings:
Cheddar Cheese
Monterey Jack
Diced tomatoes
green onion
black and green olives

Sprinkle toppings over dip.  Serve with tortilla chips.


Tonight's seemed a little spicier than normal and as I typed this out I realized why - when I read the recipe I saw 1 1/2 t red pepper instead of 1 1/8 teaspoon.  But I was out of chili powder so it probably really wasn't any spicier.

Another change for tonight was that I used the "Mexican" blend of shredded cheese rather than the cheddar and monterey.  I also didn't have green onions or olives to put on (we don't normally do the olives since no one in my family eats them).  In the past, I have put some green or orange peppers on it for more color.