Hot Macadamia Dip

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend." (Melody Beattie) More so than at any other time of the year, the Thanksgiving season encourages all of us to reflect on and openly share the things in life and people we are most thankful for. Many of us include on this list friends, family, and those guardian angels who have come into our lives for sometimes not immediately known reasons. Some of us extend our gratefulness out to those we may not know, but whom we value for their sacrifices, contributions, or heroic actions. Shifting to the 'things' in life, what comes to mind may be somewhat dependent on our age, perspective, values, and/or life experiences. Maybe our health, running water, access to education, our freedom, and open spaces make the list of those things we openly admit to being most grateful for. Secretly our list might include things like chocolate, ice cream, and Netflix.

For a myriad of reasons, I find focusing on the more substantial and thoughtful aspects of gratitude in the days leading up to Thanksgiving to be a bit challenging this year. As at the moment, my gratitude short list is nothing short of what might be considered somewhat superficial. And what might be on this ostensibly half-baked list? Well, movies, books and wine. More important than the 'things' on this list, are the reasons, or rather reason, why. Not only do they happen to be much needed distractions, albeit temporary, from all of the angry rhetoric expressed in the months prior to and days after the recent Presidential election, they are enabling me to keep my sanity as well as the ability to remember all the things I really do like about the people I call friends. My over the top immersion into books, movies and wine is not so much a means of escaping from reality or putting my head in the sand, but rather the means to enable me to regain some perspective on who and what matters to me, on who and what I am genuinely grateful for. By the time Thanksgiving gets here, I want to be in a place where it feels good to be able to count all of my blessings. Call me naive or call me Pollyanna, but I continue to have faith that sooner rather than later we all will give ourselves the opportunity to take a deep breath, to take pause, to decide how to contribute to the greater collective good, and to take some solace in remembering there are endless possibilities in life when we decide to live a life filled with hope. And maybe for some of us, it will only take a few bottles of wine for this to happen.

Rather than drink alone, I convinced some of my friends to be my partners in crime at a wine tasting event this past weekend. Being a 'good, not a completely bad influence' friend, I planned to make sure my potentially 'tipsy' friends had the opportunity to sober up with a yummy follow-up dinner at my house. Fortunately for me, this is a somewhat adventurous group of food and wine friends. So I always know I can try some new recipes. Of course in addition to food, there would be more wine. What kind of hostess would I be if I didn't keep the wine theme going? (Not a very good one.)

The first time I tasted this Hot Macadamia Dip was a lifetime ago (okay so it was a few decades back and that's as specific as I am going to be) at the home of a friend who taught me many things, including how to set a beautiful table. It immediately turned into one of those appetizer regulars. And then it became one of those recipes put on extended hiatus. A few weeks ago we had dinner at the home of some friends. And lo and behold the Hot Macadamia Dip reappeared like a divine intervention. There were only four of us but we devoured it. When planning the post wine tasting dinner I knew this dip had to make a reappearance.

They key to this dip's creaminess is starting with softened/room temperature cream cheese. I usually take the blocks of cream cheese out before going to bed to ensure it will be the right consistency for beating it with a hand held mixer.

Once all of the ingredients are blended together, the dip is spooned into an 8 inch ceramic dish or pie plate. This is one of those dips you can make the night before or early in the day making entertaining seem slightly effortless when guests arrive.

Macadamia nuts take the flavor of just about everything up a notch or two. It's definitely the icing on this cake.

A half cup of chopped macadamia nuts are mixed with 1 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter and then spread evenly over the top of the dip. 

In a preheated 350 degree (F) oven, the Hot Macadamia Dip bakes for 25-30 minutes or until bubbling hot on the sides as well as hot through the center. Because this is one of those hot dips served in the container it is baked in, use a ceramic dish or pie plate you love. On my recent trip to Michigan I saw a piece of pottery at the Khnemu Studio of Fernwood Farm in the town of Fennville and immediately thought it was destined to be the container for this Hot Macadamia Dip.

Served hot/warm with buttery crackers or cocktail rye breads, it is one of those appetizers winning the 'most likely to disappear' award. It's the perfect hot appetizer to serve at any gathering. It's creamy yet has a bit of crunch from the green peppers, onions and macadamia nuts. Especially ones where there wine or cocktails or both wine and cocktails are being served.

Recipe
Hot Macadamia Dip

Ingredients
11-12 ounces cream cheese, softened/room temperature
2 Tablespoons milk
2 small packages (2 ounce size) of Buddig's beef (thinly sliced and cut into 1 inch pieces)
1/3 cup finely chopped yellow or sweet Vidalia onion
1/3 cup finely chopped green pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Cocktail rye and/or pumpernickel bread and/or butter/Ritz crackers

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
2. In a medium sized bowl, blend the softened cream cheese and milk together until smooth using a hand held mixer.
3. Fold in black pepper, ground ginger, garlic, green pepper and onion. 
4. Mix in sliced, cut beef.
5. Fold in sour cream. Transfer mixture to an 8 inch ceramic dish or pie plate. Smooth top.
6. Mix together the chopped macadamia nuts and melted butter. Spread evenly over the top.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until completely heated through. Serve hot/warm with assorted crackers and/or small rye breads.

Notes: (1) The dip can be made the night before and/or hours before. Cover and chill in the refrigerator. To prevent the chilled ceramic dish and/or pie plate from breaking, put it in oven and then turn on oven temperature to 350 degrees (F). (2) Instead of the Buddig's beef can use the dried jarred beef. Rinse and dry before slicing and adding to the dip mixture.

Starved Rock State Park, Utica, Illinois (November 2016)