Joe's Cheese Boat

When football season started this year, my parents and I decided to switch hosting watching the Broncos at our houses. I happened to get our Monday night game against the Houston Texans. We were coming off a two weekends in a row losing streak, so we needed a win. The Broncos did win and so did this dish!

I've had (Uncle) Joe's Cheese Boat several times growing up, but had never made it myself. I thought that watching a football game was the perfect time to make it! It was pretty easy and delicious! The only thing that took a while was the prep work. There's a lot of chopping and dicing that goes into this yummy dip! Never fear though! I have a handy dandy chopper. Mine is from Princess House and one of my favorite gadgets in the kitchen. I use it all the time! Here are a couple similar ones at Bed Bath and Beyond and Target. My chopper has two different dicing sizes. I used the bigger one for the green pepper and onion and the smaller one for the jalapenos. Since everything was going to be mixed together anyway, I let the chopper store it all until I was ready for it. It saves me lots of time and annoyance!

Matt missed out since he was working, but my parents and I enjoyed it. I will definitely be making this again and maybe one day I'll be able to make it as good as my Uncle Joe!

Joe's Cheese Boat

Ingredients:
1 large loaf French or Italian bread
1 large package scoop Fritoes
2 eight ounce packs cream cheese (softened)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 medium to large tomato, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 three ounce pkgs thin sliced corn beef
3 to 5 jalapeno peppers, diced and/or several drops of hot sauce to taste

Directions:

Hollow out the loaf of bread. Mix all ingredients from the cream cheese down. Place in hollowed out loaf and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If not hot enough cover and bake a few minutes longer. Serve with bread cubes and Fritoes.

Lasagna Dip

Since moving my job to a new department in the company and my co-workers are now four grown men, I've been given the opportunity (and reason) to try more new recipes. They love being my "guinea pigs".

One recipe that I've already made twice in the month and a half that I've worked in my new position is Lasagna Dip. It's roughly based on this recipe from closetcooking.com, but mine is FAR less healthy.

This recipe is the definition of comfort food. It makes you feel full and happy even at work which is where I put this together both times I made it. I usually start putting it together around 9am and the guys have my crock-pot empty by 11am. We've had it with Triscuits and Ritz Crackers, but their favorite dipping utensil was Tostitos Fajita Scoops.  

Lasagna Dip

Servings: 16 (or lunch for 4 grown men)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour and 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground Italian sausage
• garlic salt to taste
• Italian seasoning to taste
• 16 oz ricotta cheese 
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 (16 oz) jars of tomato pasta sauce (I usually just get whatever is bogo at Publix)
• 2 c mozzarella cheese
• box/bag of your favorite crackers/chips

Directions:
1. Brown ground beef and ground Italian sausage with the garlic salt and Italian seasoning until done.
2. Throw in the browned meat, ricotta cheese, cream cheese, and pasta sauce in your slow cooker. Mix together.
3. Top mixture with mozzarella cheese.
4. Place lid on top and cook on high for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until cheese has melted and started bubbling.