I love just putting out a spread of dips and snacks during the Summer. The kids love to do that for dinner at least one night a week. It makes it easy to come and go as you please, and they LOVE having a selection!
I decided to have fun with snack night this week and we are participating in the “Chopped at Home” contest from Sargento®
The challenge is to use
- Sargento® Chef Blends 4 State Cheddar
- Kale
- Oyster Crackers
- Bacon
to make create a Chopped-inspired dish and share it for your chance to win. The prize? $10,000, an appearance on Food Network*, plus a trip to the Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival! How fun!
I grabbed my ingredients including the Sargento Chef Blends 4 State Cheddar. YUM!
I got out my skillet and browned a few pieces of chopped bacon and about 2 cups of kale (that was pre-washed & chopped.
It did not take long for the kale to cook down. When It did I squeezed some fresh lemon juice over the top. I continued to cook to brown the bacon a bit more.
Once it was all crispy I mixed the bacon & kale with 2 packages of softened cream cheese and 1 cup of the Sargento 4 State Cheddar Cheese. I added a dash of garlic salt too.
After it was stirred well, I added it to my smallest crock pot on low. I really need to get one of those tiny dip crock pots.
I still needed to use the oyster crackers. I melted some butter with a little bit of garlic salt, and poured it over about 1 1/2 cups of broken up oyster crackers. Gave it a stir, and sprinkled it on top of the dip for some added crunch. I also sprinkled a little more of the Sargento 4 State Cheddar Cheese Blend cause....why not?
The result was something sinful and amazing! I served this dip with tortilla chips, but you could even use kale chips!
Ingredients
- 4-5 slices of bacon
- 2 cups kale; washed (chopped)
- Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
- 2 8 oz packages cream cheese (softened)
- 1 1/2 cups Sargento 4 State Cheddar Cheese Blend Shreds
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 1/2 cups oyster crackers
- 1 tbsp butter (melted)
- tortilla chips for serving
Instructions
- In a skillet heat bacon and kale until bacon is crispy and kale is wilted down. Squeeze 1/2 lemon over the kale & bacon.
- Stir bacon & kale into cream cheese and stir in 1 cup of the cheddar cheese. Add 1/2 tsp of the garlic salt and stir it in as well.
- Place the entire mix into a small crock pot preferably 2 qt and cook on low for 1-2 hours.
- While dip is cooking stir the other 1/2 tsp of garlic salt into the melted butter. Crush the oyster crackers and drizzle them with butter. Top the dip with the crackers for added crunch.
- Serve with Tortilla chips while warm, or serve right out of the crock pot on low/warm setting.
Do you have a great idea for the “Chopped at Home” contest from Sargento®? I would love to hear about it!
Available in 30 versatile varieties, unique blends and distinct cuts, Sargento Shredded Cheese is always cut from blocks of 100% real, natural cheese. For more inspiration, check out the Sargento Pinterest page Pinterest.com/sargentocheese/ or visit Sargento.com for more information. The Chopped at Home Challenge gives viewers a chance to create their best recipe using the selected basket ingredients, including Sargento Shredded Cheese, for a chance to win $10,000!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sargento. The opinions and text are all mine.
Amanda is a busy mom of 3 running her own business, homeschooling, and managing a household. She creates yummy crockpot recipes to help her spend less time in the kitchen and more time doing what she loves.
Questions? Comments?