One of the struggles of being a food blogger is having to get good photos of the things I make. Nobody is going to want to try a recipe if the dish looks gross in the photos! Sometimes, though, I either forget to take a picture, or even worse, something is horribly un-photogenic.
I had some friends over for a shrimp & grits night a few weeks ago. I made crostini with pimento cheese and heirloom tomatoes. Those were a flop – the tomato counteracted the pimento cheese so much that they were absolutely bland. I might try them again, but amp up the pimento in the pimento cheese and add something else to the heirloom tomato topping. (Remember that the tagline for my blog includes, “and occasional disasters!”) I made this dip quickly once I realized the crostini were not going to work. We ate all of it, and one of my friends reminded me about 3 times to send her the recipe. (Kim, here is your recipe!)
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No-Name Southwestern/Tex-Mex Dip That Did Not Photograph Well
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp ancho chili paste
- 2 tsp dried minced onion (or Tastefully Simple Onion Onion seasoning)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ⅔ cup diced tomatoes
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup frozen corn
- Tortilla chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Mix the cream cheese, white pepper, ancho chili paste, cumin, dried onion, and garlic powder until well-combined. (I used the stand mixer with the flex edge beater and beat it on a medium-high speed to make sure the spices get really, really incorporated.)
- Add the tomatoes, cheese, and corn and stir until incorporated throughout. (I used a spatula and stirred it by by hand because I don’t want the beater to crush the tomatoes.)
- Transfer to a baking dish and bake until it's hot throughout, about 15 minutes.
- Serve with tortilla chips.