Game Day Week Recipe #4: Southwestern Corn Dip

Directions

Some recipes are favorites just because they’re delicious. Others, we keep making for sentimental reasons. Maybe a good friend gave us the recipe or it’s something Mom used to whip up on a rainy day. Isn’t it nice when delicious and sentimental go hand in hand? This recipe for a quick and easy corn dip is just that for me. It seems like yesterday, but was actually years ago, when we lived on an Army post just outside of Washington D.C. The years we spent there were very special. Our oldest daughter, Emily, was born there and our lives have never been the same! (In a good way, of course!) Not only was it a special time for our family as a unit, it was also a time when we were very lucky to live in a wonderful community where we made lifelong friends.

I remember impromptu neighborhood dinners, where everyone whipped up whatever was in the kitchen and we met up in our giant, communal back yard, watching the kids play until the stars came out. We had block parties, Easter Egg Hunts and Halloween parades. It was a little slice of old-fashioned Americana. Since every neighborhood get-together culminated in a giant pot-luck, it made perfect sense that we all got together and published a neighborhood cookbook. I pull it out from time to time and can’t help but think of my dear friends who worked with me to put it together.

This is one of the recipes from our little Fairfax Village cookbook. I don’t remember a get-together without it, back then. It was the perfect thing to bring to a munchie pot-luck. It’s easy, very good and can feed a crowd. In our house, it also qualifies as perfect Game Day fare.

You’ll start with three cans of Mexi Corn. You’ll find Mexi Corn with the regular canned corn. It does come in a smaller (11 oz.) can than most canned vegetables. Mexi Corn is a combination of regular corn and some red and green peppers.

This recipe takes about 5 minutes to put together. The most difficult part, and it’s not that hard, is that you need to chop up some fresh jalapeno peppers. The recipe calls for three peppers. As I’ve mentioned before, we like things on the spicy side, so I always add more. This time, I added five! I still didn’t find it very spicy at all. It might be that I’ve just grown accustomed to the spice of jalapenos, but it seems to me that they aren’t as spicy as they used to be. Or, it could be that the sour cream just balances it out. If you want to, feel free to add some cayenne pepper to the dip as well. That should spice it up!

When slicing jalapenos, I always try to avoid touching the pepper as much as possible. There aren’t many things worse than forgetting that you have spicy pepper juice on your hands and then rubbing your eyes. Been there. Done that. Really don’t ever want to do that again. You can wear kitchen gloves while you scrape the seeds out and slice them, or if you’re always forgetting to purchase kitchen gloves like I am, you can hold the pepper down with a fork as you work. Once you’re done, immediately wash you hands…just in case.

Chop up some green onions, throw in a few other quick ingredients and you’re done. Just let the dip chill for a little while before you serve it. This dip can be made a day ahead of time, if you want.

The dip is thick and chunky. It goes perfectly with Fritos Scoops, so grab a couple of bags and dig in! I hope that you can share it with some of your friends and make wonderful memories of your own.