The Dallas - Fort Worth metropolitan area and more precisely, Arlington Texas, is about to host the 45th Annual Super Bowl Football Game. No surprise to anyone in the US not living under a rock someplace, this will probably be the biggest hyped-up media event to hit North Texas in decades. We have a fancy new stadium (home to the Dallas Cowboys, who unfortunately didn't make it to the big game again this year) and an economy which most certainly welcomes the influx of revenue from both Packers fans and Steelers fans.
For me, however, it's not so much about who's playing, or the fact that the game is being played virtually in our backyard. Okay, McKinney Texas is an hour's drive northeast of the game site and we don't have a backyard anymore since we moved into an apartment, but it sure seems close to us. No, Super Bowl weekend is important to me for another reason altogether. It gives me an opportunity to share a special recipe with folks and to enjoy the fruits of that recipe myself, while watching the big game.
Edna's Super Bowl Clam Dip became a tradition in our home years ago, and is often enjoyed on other special occasions as well. It's only been elevated to Super Bowl stature since Edna's passing in April of 2008. It has been shared with others from time to time, and has typically drawn rave reviews from those who have partaken of its goodness. I present it today in hopes that it will bring pleasure to your Super Bowl watching this year.
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Edna's Super Bowl Clam Dip
Ingredients:
8 bricks of cream cheese
8 cans of "minced" clams
4 packets of Lipton dry onion soup mix *
4 oz of Worcestershire sauce *
2 squirts of Tabasco sauce *
2 Family sized bags of Frito's Dipping Chips
Carrots, celery and cauliflower cut to dipping length
Prepare the day before the Super Bowl:
Place 4 bricks of cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and allow to reach room temperature.
Open 4 cans of minced clams and drain juice from 3 into a container and save.
Add 2 packets of Lipton dry onion soup mix to the bowl.
Add juice from fourth can and all four opened cans of minced clams into mixing bowl.
Add 2 oz of Worcestershire sauce to the bowl.
Mix cream cheese, dry soup mix, Worcestershire sauce and clams with a beater on slow speed.
Add 1 squirt of Tabasco sauce and continue to mix until all ingredients are combined to a thick dip.
Test flavor and consistency of dip with a Frito's dip chip. If chip breaks, add more clam juice.
Place resulting clam dip in a covered container in refrigerator to chill over night.
Place remaining clam juice in covered container in refrigerator to keep chilled.
Morning of the Super Bowl:
Removed chilled clam dip from refrigerator; open bag of Frito's dip chips and test consistency of dip.
If chip breaks, add a small amount of clam juice. Test consistency again until chips no longer break.
Continue testing dip until first bag of chips are gone.
Important: When this first batch is gone (usually hours before the game),
repeat mixing directions above using the remaining ingredients and refrigerate until game time.
Serve in large bowl on a tray, surrounded by dipping chips, and veggies.
Note: My Mother, Edna (1921-2008) would not have approved of finishing the first batch before game time, thus saving considerable expense.
* More or less can be added, according to personal taste.Ah yes, the naughty ingredients....even those have positives....so focus on those instead ...
cream cheese = Calcium
clams = Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron and quite low in Cholesterol
onion = Fiber
Worcestershire sauce = very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. Calcium, Copper, Vitamin C, Iron and Potassium.
Tabasco sauce = Pretty much nothing bad in it.. but does have Vitamin A and tastes so good it gets the heart going!
Chips..... Yes, well we shall ignore these... LOL.... Today's portion has had ALL the calories taken OUT! :D
Carrots, celery and cauliflower = ALL healthy!So you can excuse yourself and eat more, knowing its not that bad for you really.... (Wicked Grin!!)
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On the perchance that you don't give a damn about America's Super Bowl football game and you absolutely can't stand the thought of eating raw clams, allow me to share a few Random Thoughts from a Wandering Mind.
We're all aware of the old axiom (probably heard it in one of your high school English classes): "Never use a preposition to end a sentence with". That lesson was driven home recently by this short story (an old joke, I'd wager).
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On his 74th birthday, a man got a gift certificate from his wife. The certificate paid for a visit to a Cherokee medicine man living on a nearby reservation who was rumored to have a wonderful cure for erectile dysfunction. After being persuaded, he drove to the reservation, handed his ticket to the medicine man, and wondered what he was in for.
The old man slowly, methodically produced a potion, handed it to him, and with a grip on his shoulder, warned, 'This is a powerful medicine, and it must be respected. You take only a teaspoonful, and then say '1-2-3.' When you do that, you will become more manly than you have ever been in your life, and you can perform as long as you want."
The man was encouraged. As he walked away, he turned and asked, "How do I stop the medicine from working?"
"Your partner must say '1-2-3-4,'" he responded, "but when she does, the medicine will not work again until the next full moon."
He was very eager to see if it worked so he went home, showered, shaved, took a spoonful of the medicine, and then invited his wife to join him in the bedroom. When she came in, he took off his clothes and said, "1-2-3!"
Immediately, he was the manliest of men. His wife was excited and began throwing off her clothes, and then she asked, "What was the 1-2-3 for?"
And that, boys and girls, is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition, because we could end up with a dangling participle.
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Tetanus Shots - a MUST READ for you older folks:
The old man in his mid-eighties struggles to get up from the couch, then starts putting on his coat. His wife, seeing the unexpected behavior, asks, "Where are you going?"
He replies, "I'm going to the doctor." She says, "Why, are you sick?"
He says, "Nope, I'm going to get me some of that Viagra stuff."
Immediately the wife starts working and positioning herself to get out of her rocker and begins to put on her coat.
He says, "Where the hell are you going"?
She answers, "I'm going to the doctor, too."
He says, "Why, what do you need?"
The wife replies, “If you're going to start using that rusty old thing again, I'm getting a tetanus shot!”
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The foregoing were merely "Random Thoughts from a Wandering Mind" because "I let my mind wander and it didn't come back". I'll try to do better next time.
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