moon Archives - For the Love of Food

Solar Eclipse Party Creamy Beef Queso Dip

Nicole Hood — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 16:28:40 +0000

I made this themed appetizer for dinner inspired by the recent Total Solar Eclipse.

Four ingredients are melted together to make the ultimate easy, cheesy, and creamy dip that is a little eclipse of heaven!

We drove to the middle of the state to experience the total eclipse April 8th, and it was such an amazing experience to see in person.

We stopped in Clarksville at the city park and got a good spot on the lawn to watch the hour long event.

At 1:50, the sky darkened, it got cooler, and everyone cheered!

We watched the eclipse in its Totality for 3 1/2 min.

It really was an experience of a lifetime, and I am glad I got to see it was my kids and husband!

Solar Eclipse Party Creamy Beef Queso Dip

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground beef
10 oz can Rotel tomatoes I used fire roasted
8 oz package cream cheese softened and cubed
2 cups shredded Mexican mix cheese
black bean chips for topping and dipping
orange tortilla or nacho chips for topping and dipping

Instructions

Add ground beef to a large skillet over medium heat.
Cook, breaking up, until no longer pink.
Drain grease and turn heat down to medium low.
Pour in Rotel and cubed cream cheese.
Cook, stirring until melted and completely combined.
Remove from the heat and stir in 2 cups of shredded cheese until creamy and melted.
Pour into a round pan for the sun shape like a pie dish or cast iron.
Top with black bean chips on half, slightly crushed then add the orange chips, slightly crushed in a crescent moon shape.
Fill in any open space with the black bean chips so it resembles an Eclipse!
Serve queso warm with additional tortilla chips in a bowl on the side.

I love how easy this appetizer is and in my opinion there are a few special ingredients that really “make” this queso over the moon (ha get it?!).

The fire roasted Rotel, which isn’t spicy but more sweet and lightly smokey is my favorite. Then of course, cream cheese, my old go to for making dip rich and creamy. And finally, these Beanitos black bean tortilla chips. I needed black chips for the Eclipse look. These look great but also taste delicious. My daughters compare the taste to Sun Chips!

Add ground beef to a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, breaking up, until no longer pink.

Drain grease and turn heat down to medium low.

Pour in Rotel and cubed cream cheese.

Cook, stirring until melted.

When completely combined, remove from heat.

Remove from the heat and stir in 2 cups of shredded cheese until creamy and melted.

Pour into a round pan for the sun shape like a pie dish or cast iron.

Top with black bean chips on half, slightly crushed then add the orange chips, slightly crushed in a crescent moon shape.

Fill in any open space with the black bean chips so it resembles an Eclipse!

Serve queso warm with additional tortilla chips in a bowl on the side.

The post Solar Eclipse Party Creamy Beef Queso Dip appeared first on For the Love of Food.

Total Eclipse Half Moon Cookies

Nicole Hood — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 19:12:58 +0000

This upcoming Monday April 8th is the Solar Eclipse!

This astronomical phenomenon, where the Moon will cast a shadow over the sun, is expected to create a 117.9-mile-wide path of totality. For those lucky enough to be in the center of the path, a mesmerizing four minutes of total darkness will unfold. – https://www.arkansashouse.org/

We are lucky enough to live in The Natural State, aka Arkansas, where the path of totality runs through and I am excited to see it with my family in a few days!

To celebrate and explain the upcoming eclipse to my kids I made these Total Eclipse Half Moon Cookies to show the stages of the stunning experience.

These can be made with any cookie and all you need is two tubes of cookie icing.

Check out the details below and have fun experiencing this unique event on April 8th.

Total Eclipse Half Moon Cookies

Ingredients

8 baked round cookies I recommend light colored like sugar or white chocolate
7 oz tube black cookie icing
7 oz tube white or yellow cookie icing

Instructions

Once you bake your cookies let them cool completely.
Following my examples above in the chart and cookie photos above, decorate the eight cookies with the two icing colors showing the stages of coverage.
Wipe edges of cookies if icing spreads and let dry completely.
Use a round platter and arrange the cookies in the stages to display and serve.

You can use any round cookie but light colored work best for decorating.

I like sugar cookies or white chocolate macadamia nut.

Bake your cookies and let cool completely.

I always bake a couple extra in case one breaks or I mess up.

You need two tube of cookie icing.

I used white and black but you could always use yellow instead of white to represent the sun.

The cookie icing is thinner than regular jarred cake frosting and spreads better in my opinion.

But be prepared because it can get messy!

Following my examples above in the chart and cookie photos above,

decorate the cookies with the two icing colors showing the stages of coverage.

You need 8 decorated cookies total.

Let them dry completely.