Diet Friendly Fast Food

 

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese

1 tablespoon jarred horseradish

1/3 cup apricot preserves

1/4 cup dried cranberries (the mini boxes are perfect!)

crackers or salted corn chips for serving

Use a 2-quart slow cooker. Unwrap the cream cheese and put it into your cooker. Top with the horseradish and preserves. Pour in the dried cranberries. Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours, or on high for 1-2. Serve with your favorite crackers (I used plain rice crackers, if youre gluten free, the Nut Thins by Blue Diamond are great, too) or corn chips. Pita chips (obviously not GF) would be good, too!

If you do not have a 2-quart slow cooker, thats okay! Put an oven safe dish directly into the stoneware insert--something like this or this or this. Then load your dip ingredients into it. Use oven mitts when removing the dish!

These ingredients sound *so* wonky, but I promise they melt together into a really savory dip with a sweet kick from the cranberries and apricot jam. My kids ate kind of a lot more than I expected them to, and Adam and my grandma really enjoyed it.

brie with candied pecans and cranberries

artichoke dip

taco dip

sundried tomato dip

mommy crack

crab dip

super duper garlic dip

Guess whats new at BlogHer? Today, were learning to decode your teens texting lingo and how to dissuade bullying, gossip, and all around bad phone etiquette. There are five discussions happening and every comment left equals a $0.50 donation to DoSomething.org. What are your thoughts on teen texting/cell phone use? Share your thoughts, feelings, and opinions!
I am helping to promote this program because BlogHer is paying me GREAT GOBS OF MONEY to do so, and I  : 1) like BlogHer,  2) like money, and 3) DoSomething.org is a worthwhile organization that helps teens start or find a social cause and then go DO SOMETHING about it. win-win-win!!

(Updated November 2013 - One of the best things about blogging is the amazing way that people you'll never meet in person can touch your life in the virtual world. This week the food blogging community was stunned and saddened to learn about the death of Lisa Cifelli, co-founder of The Daring Bakers, who died at the far-too-young age of 44.  Through The Daring Bakers, Lis encouraged others to challenge themselves with amazing recipes for baked creations of every type, and her enthusiasm and generosity was part of the reason this blogging event eventually had thousands of contributors every month.  I was never a Daring Baker, but I enjoyed following along each month as the bakers shared their posts, and I "knew" Lis through other events like the one featured below.  She will be greatly missed by all who knew her, and I'm dedicating this post to her memory.)  

My Italian is pretty basic, although I studied it a bit when I was going to be traveling to Italy, and I'm learning ingredient names from my great friend Ilva's blog. But I know enough Italian to guess that Festa al Fresco means something like a feast of fresh ingredients. So when I heard Ivonne of Creampuffs in Venice and Lis of La Mia Cucina were hosting La Festa al Fresco, I was excited about participating in the biggest virtual food bloggers picnic ever.