Fondue For You

I volunteered to cook meals for Christmas Day. Since we usually have the big meal on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day was wide open for any food I pleased. For my wellness challenge, I was supposed to eat three meals a day (harder than it seems if you're pregnant), so this also helped me to be sure to eat meals.

For breakfast I made a non-Cupboard Project recipe that was very good (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/the-ultimate-breakfast-for-dinner-sausage-and-spinach-egg-strata-recipe/index.html) along with fruit soup. Yum! They were great, and there were leftovers for the next morning. I thought about making cinnamon rolls or French toast, but it was for Christmas morning, when I generally gorge on candy and sweets. This was a nice alternative.

For dinner I made two fondue recipes from a Taste of Home magazine. It made a nice easy-to-eat meal for a group.



Pizza Fondue

TOTAL TIME: Prep/Total Time: 25 min.
MAKES: 22 servings
Ingredients
1/2 pound ground beef
 1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
 1 medium onion, chopped
 1 garlic clove, minced
 1 tablespoon cornstarch
 1-1/2 teaspoons fennel seed
 1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
 2 cans (15 ounces each) pizza sauce
 2-1/2 cups (10 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
 2 tablespoons chopped ripe olives
 Breadsticks, bagel chips, baked pita chips and/or tortilla chips

Nutritional Facts
1/4 cup (calculated without breadsticks, bagel chips, baked pita chips or tortilla chips) equals 97 calories, 6 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 23 mg cholesterol, 222 mg sodium, 4 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 7 g protein.

Directions
In a large skillet, cook the beef, mushrooms and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain. Stir in the cornstarch, fennel, oregano and garlic powder until blended. Stir in pizza sauce.
Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Gradually stir in cheeses until melted. Stir in olives. Keep warm.
Serve with breadsticks, bagel chips, pita chips and/or tortilla chips. Yield: 5-1/2 cups.
Originally published as Pizza Fondue in Taste of Home December/January 2008, p49

For this one, we decided to leave out the meat since we had already eaten meat at like every meal. I made some breadsticks to go along with this, and it really did taste like pizza when you dipped a breadstick in the dip. I think it was too hot when I put the cheese in because some of the cheddar cheese cooked instead of melted. It still tasted good.

Super Sausage Dip

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 15 min. Cook: 35 min.
MAKES: 40 servings
Ingredients
1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1 package (8 ounces) PHILADELPHIA® Cream Cheese, cubed
2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
Tortilla chips

Directions
In a large skillet, cook the sausage, onion and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in tomatoes and chilies. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add cream cheese; stir until melted. Stir in sour cream; heat through. (Do not boil.) Transfer to a fondue pot and keep warm. Serve with chips. Yield: 5 cups.
Originally published as Super Sausage Dip in Taste of Home December/January 2008, p49

I think most people liked this one better. At least, more of it was gone. We had tortilla chips and pita chips to dip (and the breadsticks). Dad also liked this dip cold.