Superbowl 45 - Pizza Dip

While I am not a football fan, I do appreciate some aspects of the Superbowl. I love the idea that millions of people are watching the same thing at the same. It's very unifying. I read this on Wikipedia: " Super Bowl XLIV, played on February 7, 2010 between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, became the most-watched American television program in history, drawing an average audience of 106.5 million viewers and taking over the spot held for twenty-seven years by the final episode of M*A*S*H." 

Which leads me to my next favorite thing: the commercials! Most of them hilarious or touching, as well as obscenely expensive (we could several third world countries with that kind of green!), and coupled with the fact that all those people are watching it with you, you'll have something to talk about on Facebook and with your co-workers the next day.

And of course, there is the food. Today, our menu consists of Pizza Dip, Chicken Enchilda Dip, and Tyson's Buffalo Chicken Bite Anytizers. For drinks, we have Sam Adams Boston Lager (for Studdly Hubby), and Lemon Drop and Pomegranate Martinis for moi. Plenty of food for 2 adults. 

My first recipe that I will be sharing with you today (as you may have guessed already by the title) is the Pizza Dip. I did not create this recipe...I don't really create any recipe, but I do tweak them to my liking/pocketbook. This one comes from my college friend Adam Barkley. Where he got it I do not know. But I begged him for the recipe over Facebook and he kindly shared it with me. O happy day!!

Here are 2 specific ingredients I have found helpful for this recipe:

Pizza sauce in a squeeze bottle and mini pepperoni.
Really. It doesn't take much to impress me!

Ok, here we go. The first thing you want to do is mix together some cream cheese with Italian seasoning. Once that is thoroughly combined, spread it in the bottom of a greased baking dish.

Can you see those little puddles of yellow in the corners?
That's from where I realized I did NOT grease the pan and sprayed
it around the edges still visible. Oops.

With that complete, mix together some Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese. Then sprinkle half the mixture onto the cream cheese.This is where the magic begins.

Cheese mixed with cheese sprinkled on top of cheese.
Sounds like a winner so far!

Next, layer your favorite pizza sauce over the cheeses.

It should look something like this:

But wait, we're still not done!

This is the point where I add my mini pepperonis.

Do you see how I tried to be all cute and daintily sprinkle them on from the bag? Bad idea. They kind of stick together, so then you have to pick them up out of the sauce and separate them. After the pepperoni is applied (evenly!) then you can finish it off with...drumroll please...more cheese!

Here she is, ready for the oven.
Ok, that's a lie, I added a little extra mozzarella after this. :-)

Put that in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes and you get this:

That wasn't good enough for me, so I switch the oven to broil and left it for 2 more minutes. The results:

O yes. I can dig into this.

That's it! Serve with chips, crackers or your favorite bread/breadsticks. I chose a loaf from Meijer:

ENJOY!!

Recipe:

Ingredients

-1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened.
-1 tsp Italian seasoning.
-1 Cup shredded mozzarella cheese.
-3/4 Cup Parmesean cheese
-1 8 oz. jar (or squeeze bottle!) pizza sauce
-a handful of mini pepperonis and/or any other toppings you would prefer
-breadsticks ( Your favorite)

Instructions:

-Preheat oven to 350.
-Combine in bowl, the cream cheese and Italian seasoning. Mix well.
-Spread in bottom of greased ( with Pam or cooking spray) glass baking dish.
-Combine cheeses, sprinkle half of the cheese mixture over cream cheese.
-Spread pizza sauce evenly over , then top with the remaining cheese , peppers and onions.
-Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until melted and mixture is bubbling around the edges.
-Serve with breadsticks or whatever you like to use for dipping.

-Devour!!