Charleston Cheese Dip

I was looking at Mommy’s Kitchen’s blog on New Year’s Eve on New Year’s Eve.  She had listed a cheese dip named the Charleston cheese dip.  The name alone intrigued me because Charleston, South Carolina, is on my list of favorite places to visit.  My mother-in-law was born there and would spend summers there while growing up.

Two months after I married my Hubby, we traveled to Charleston to Charleston with my mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law.  We stayed in a beach house on Folly Beach with Hubby’s grandma.  I quickly got to know the family during that week.  I met Hubby’s family, who lives down there.  Most of all, I fell in love with Charleston.  It is a beautiful city rich in history.

Since then, I have been down there 3 more times.  The boys have been there 2 of the times.  Once when the Wee One was only 2 months old, and the Imaginative One was 2 years old.  The other time was almost 3 years ago.  One of our not-so-good memories from that trip was the Wee One sticking his finger in the shower drain.  Fortunately, my in-laws were also visiting Charleston that week and were down the road.  My sister-in-law came down and checked over his cut finger and determined the cut was not deep enough to warrant a visit to the ER.

Another memory from that trip was the Imaginative One’s fear of the ocean.  His cousin, 22 months older, told him that jellyfish were in the ocean.  The Imaginative One refused to get into the ocean again because he was afraid he would get stung by jellyfish.  So aggravating!  One day he and I went over to the beach and played by these concrete barriers.  He got up and has dog poop all over him.  Visitors could have dogs on the beach as long as they cleaned up after them.  This visitor just covered the poop with sand.  That was disgusting to clean up.

Anyway, back to the recipe.  I was looking at Mommy’s Kitchen’s blog entry and saw Charleston Cheese Dip and decided I would make it for New Year’s Eve.  It was easy to whip up and delicious to boot.  I didn’t have any Monterey jack cheese,, so I used extra sharp cheddar cheese instead.  Since we don’t like spicy foods around here, I did not use any cayenne pepper.  Plus, I don’t think we even have any in the house.

Charleston Cheese Dip

Mommy’s Kitchen

Stars of the recipe:

• 1/2 c. mayonnaise
• 1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softened
• 1 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 c. grated Monterey jack cheese
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• 8 Ritz crackers, crushed
• 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the mayonnaise, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Monterey jack cheese, green onions, and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl.
3. Transfer the mixture to a shallow baking dish.
4. Top mixture with cracker crumbs and bake for 15 minutes or until heated through.
5. Remove the pan from the oven and top with the bacon.
6. Serve immediately with corn chips, bagel chips, or crackers.

Printable Recipe

This post is linked up to Ingredient Spotlight.