Baked Cheese Dip with Tomato and Basil

I'm excited about this years Superbowl, yes, me, excited lol. And of course it has nothing to do with football but more so for the sole fact that Beyonce will be performing during halftime, yay! Anywho, whether I'm into the game itself or not I always enjoy cooking things to snack on during that highly anticipated Sunday. Instead of making a big dinner I prefer whipping up a variety of small dishes such as appetizers. I've never tried a homemade cheese dip before and this one caught my attention because of the pretty garnish lol. You can dip this in veggies, chips, bread, basically whatever you see fit, enjoy!

Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook Time: 25 mins | Total Time: 30 mins | Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:
1 cup (233 grams) sour cream
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
8 ounces (227 grams) shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)
12 ounces (340 grams) shredded Monterey Jack cheese (about 2 cups)
1 cup basil leaves, chopped
1 tomato, diced
Extra basil leaves

Method:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Stir sour cream, mustard powder and thyme in a large bowl then add mozzarella, Monterey Jack and the cup of chopped basil leaves. Stir then add to a small baking dish or pie dish. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese has melted and is bubbling. After baking the cheese dip, turn oven to broil and broil the cheese dip 2 to 4 minutes until golden brown on top.

Notes:
I'm still on the fence about the basil. Maybe I should've chopped it up smaller (or used basil spice instead) but it has a very dominant taste that almost overpowers the dip. I think I may try cilantro next time just to play around with taste. Other than that it's a really tasty dip with lots of potential!

Recipe from Inspired Taste. 

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Sweet 'N Spicy Garlic Honey BBQ Wings

I particularly love cooking on the holidays so I'm always looking for snazzy recipes to try. I especially love simple dishes with minimum ingredients in case I want to whip up something really quick. As I was thinking of what I wanted to cook to ring in the new year I remembered a recipe from one of my favorite beauty blogs that I had previously  made a mental note to try one day.

You really can't go wrong with wings in general because there are so many ways they can be prepared. Whether you're entertaining guests or just in need of a quick solution for dinner These Sweet 'N Spicy Garlic Honey BBQ Wings will truly have you licking your fingers in pure bliss. And best of all? They are super easy to make!

Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook Time: 30 mins | Total Time: 35 mins | Serves: 5-6 

Ingredients:
1 lb frozen chicken wingettes or fresh wings, halved
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp Adobo w/ Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 packet Goya Sazon Seasoning
1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 bottle of Honey BBQ Sauce
6 tsp Sriracha Sauce
1 tbsp Minced Garlic

Method:
Preheat oven to 400°. Soak wings in lemon juice and water for 10 minutes. Remove any feathers and fat, rinse and pat dry. Season with adobo, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and old bay, cover and let sit in the fridge for a few hours. I leave mine overnight. In a small bowl, mix the bbq sauce, sriracha sauce and minced garlic, set aside. Turn your oven to the broiler setting, line your broiler pan with aluminum foil, place wings on the pan and put into the bottom of oven to broil. Cook for 10-15 minutes until a little crispy, turn over and cook for another 10-15 minutes. I do this in batches of about 15 pieces. Remove wings from the broiler pan and place them in a baking dish.

Notes: I'm queen of taking shortcuts so instead of allowing the wings to sit overnight with the seasoning I just skipped that part to cut the time in half. Also, I left out the adoba seasoning, the highlight of this recipe is predominantly in the sauce so you can prep the chicken with seasoning of your choice whichever you prefer.

Recipe from The Glamorous Gleam

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