Well, I think we can all agree that it’s a glorious time of year. In addition to the fact that fall is just around the corner and September is blessedly, unseasonably cool so far, college football is now underway. In fact, as I’m writing this post Boise State and Oregon are playing on ESPN, and even thought I am always a wee bit puzzled by Boise State’s blue football field, I am TICKLED TO PIECES to see them on my TV screen tonight.

Because where college football leads, dips will most always follow.

Hallelujah. Give the Lord a handclap of praise.

I don’t think I’ve ever – EVER – met a dip that I didn’t like, and as far as I’m concerned there’s no more perfect gameday menu than about four or five dips and an assortment of chips. And I think it goes without saying that at least one of those bag-o-chips needs to be Fritos.

I adore a Frito.

Anyway, whenever my beloved Mississippi State Bulldogs play a televised game, you can rest assured that a couple of things will be happening in our house: 1) I will be vacuuming, because I get very, VERY nervous when the Bulldogs play and there’s something about vacuuming that soothes my nerves, not to mention that all my yelling isn’t nearly as obnoxious when the vacuum drowns it out and 2) I will be eating cheese dip. Well, and 3) I will be drinking diet Coke over ice.

And 4) I will be calling my sister at least 5 or 20 times.

We’re sort of enthusiastic about our Bulldogs around here.

So in the spirit of fall and football season and fun times with family and friends, here are a few dips that I love to make for college gamedays.

Caramelized Onion Dip
from Come On In

Saute’ onion in butter and oil until caramelized (takes about 15-20 minutes). Cool and combine with remaining ingredients. Mix well and chill for at least 1 hour. Serve with chips or crackers – or both if you’re feeling crazy. Serves 6.

Asian Style Dip
from Epicurious

Cover and refrigerate. Serve with assorted cut-up vegetables (carrots, red bell peppers, sugar snap peas, cucumber, broccoli – whatever you like). Serves 6.

And finally, I’ve posted this recipe before, but OH MY WORD it bears repeating, mainly because it will change your life forever.

White Rotel Dip
from my sister-in-law Janie

Serve with tortilla chips. And as I said the first time I posted it, if you’re worried about eating cream cheese AND sausage in the same dish, don’t worry because the tomatoes are TOTALLY healthy, and therefore you’ll be just fine.

I hope y’all have a great time looking through all the recipes today – I cannot WAIT to find some cheese-laden treasures. And remember: when you add your post to the Mr. Linky, please link to your specific post – not your general blog URL.

Happy DipTacular, y’all!

Today was just a typical summer day for us – a little swimming, a little errand running, a little resting, a little playing – and I was honestly wondering how in the sam hill I was going to write a blog post tonight considering the deep level of mundane we’ve got going on over here. I mean, would you like to hear about the new sunscreen I bought today at Target? Or the pile of towels I haven’t folded? Or how I can’t seem to get the water out of my ears and keep asking people to repeat things? Or how I pulled out the Windex this morning because our coffee table glass is all smudgy and here it is sixteen hours later and that coffee table has still not seen fit to grab hold of that Windex and CLEAN ITS OWN DADGUM SELF, CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE THE NERVE?

But tonight I was flipping between HGTV and Food Network – as I tend to do on all the days that end in “y” – and do you know what show was about to come on Food Network? DO YOU KNOW?

A show called “The Best Thing I Ever Ate – With Bacon.”

(!!!)

It was like I had died and gone to fried pork heaven, y’all.

(And do you know what you do in fried pork heaven? You talk incessantly about bacon. THEN YOU EAT IT.)

I won’t spoil all the delightful bacon-related details in case you haven’t seen the show yet, but I didn’t just watch that show: I talked back to it. I almost shouted “AMEN” one time, but I caught myself and just said “YESSIR” instead. However, I’m pretty sure that if I’d had a handkerchief in my hand I would’ve waved it. And a couple of times the food looked so good that I thought about standing up and stomping my feet in affirmation, but I figured my husband was probably disturbed enough that I was talking back to a TV show about bacon, so I erred on the side of restraint.

Anyway, watching the show made me think about the best thing I’ve ever eaten with bacon, and initially I decided that I’m a purist – someone who likes thick-sliced bacon fried really crispy, the end. But then I remembered the first time I cooked Spicy Barbecued Shrimp – eight or nine years ago, probably – and after I tasted it I thought oh, the bacon TOTALLY transforms the flavor of this dish. To this day it’s one of my favorite recipes, and in light of tonight’s TV show, I thought I’d share it with y’all.

And this is not an original recipe, mind you. It’s from Southern Living, but since I can’t find it on SL’s recipe site anymore, I’ll just type it out here. Because apparently it’s very important to me that we all enjoy the bacon.

Saute’ bacon a large skillet until crisp. Add butter and next 4 ingredients, and cook over medium heat until onion is tender. Stir in lemon juice and shrimp; cook, stirring often, 5 to 7 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Serve with French bread. Makes 3 to 4 main dish servings or 8 appetizer servings.

One amendment to the recipe: after you eat all your shrimp, you really need to sop up the remaining butter and bacon grease and seasoning with your French bread. I just want to encourage you to do that, okay? It’s BACON-INFUSED BUTTER, for crying out loud. There’s just no good reason to be timid. Except for the sake of your cholesterol, of course, but you can worry about that another time.

And by all means, if you have any bacon-related recipes (or lo, even bacon-related memories) that you’d like to share with the class, I think I can speak for all of us and say THE INTERNET WOULD BE SO GRATEFUL.

In fact, if I may paraphrase something that Duff from “Ace of Cakes” said during tonight’s show: it’ll be a “celebacon.”

Why yes. Yes it will be.

And I for one could not be more delighted.

I’m not very good about organizing the recipes I post here in any sort of easy-to-locate fashion, so when holidays roll around I usually get emails with subject lines that say things like “Coffee Cake Recipe?” or “Breakfast Casserole Recipe?” or “WOMAN, WHY CAN’T YOU FILE THINGS SO WE CAN FIND THEM?”

Maybe notsomuch that last one. But I bet y’all think it.

Anyway, most of the requests are for breakfast dishes (I am such a fan of the two-meal option when there’s company in the house; I love to fix a big breakfast and then supper late in the afternoon…at lunch guests can have snacks or leftovers or air, it’s totally up to them), so I thought I’d put them all in one spot for you hostesses with the mostestses.

Quick Oatmeal Granola
Cheese Grits
Breakfast Casserole
Apple-Craisin French Toast Casserole
Granite Steps Coffee Cake
Crescent Roll Breakfast Casserole
Angela’s Chocolate Gravy
Pound Cake (if you have never had pound cake for breakfast, you have no idea what you’re missing)
Coconut Cake (I mean, WHY NOT? Coconut is a fruit, and I think fruit always qualifies as a breakfast food.)
Fig Preserves Cake (again, IT’S A FRUIT)

And as always, you can never go wrong with identifiable meat.

Hope you enjoy All The Butter, y’all.

Edited to add the Chocolate Gravy link – and I corrected the salt amount on the fig preserves cake, just FYI.

When I was a little girl we spent many Wednesday nights at Family Night Supper. It was almost always a potluck affair, and while Poplar Springs Methodist wasn’t the largest congregation in my hometown, I PROMISE that we had the best cooks. I’d put them up against any other church in Mississippi – even the Baptist ones.

I mean, y’all know the Baptists can throw down with some potluck. It’s their collective spiritual gift.

It’s funny when I look back on that time and realize that I always knew whose dishes to look for as we walked through the potluck line. Miss Kitty made a chicken pie that I loved. Mrs. Julia made scalloped potatoes, and anything Miss Ruth made was delicious. Ditto for Martha and my mama, who never showed up for Family Night Supper without a freshly baked cake or pie, with the exception of that one time Martha took an Edward’s Key Lime Pie because “you just can’t make them any better than they do! You can’t! They’re just so light and creamy and tart but not tarty tart, not so tart that your lips pucker but tart so that it’s just so refreshing, you know it’s refreshing! It’s a refreshing tart!”

So all that to say: I have a thing for food that reminds me of Family Night Supper. I don’t make a lot of casseroles these days because we sort of burned out on them last year, but every once in awhile I’ll run across a casserole recipe that I can’t wait to try. And that happened to me this past weekend in Memphis when I was looking through one of Janie’s Paula Deen magazines – because as soon as I saw the picture that accompanied the recipe, I knew it was some Serious Family Night Fare.

Why? BECAUSE THERE WERE TATER TOTS ON TOP.

I had most of the ingredients in my pantry, and since the recipe makes 8-10 servings, I knew the three of us could eat the casserole for several meals. And while I was expecting to be underwhelmed, the dish did not disappoint. It’s simple, hearty, tasty and 100% comfort food. Provided that you have happy Family Night memories, of course.

(Thanks, Poplar Springs, for the happy family night memories!)

1 1/2 pounds ground chuck
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (10.75-ounce) can cream of celery soup
1 (10.75-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (15-ounce) can niblet corn, drained
1 (15-ounce) can English peas, drained
3 tablespoons browning sauce (I didn’t know what this was so I left it out)
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (I used hot sauce)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon poultry seasoning (left it out because it seemed weird)
1/8 teaspoon sage (left out the sage, too)
(I also added about 1/4 cup sour cream because I just felt like it)
1 (32-ounce) package frozen tater tots

Makes 8 – 10 servings.

When I took it out of the oven I had such a Family Night Supper Flashback that I had to take a picture. It looks like a big dish of gray and beige – which, come to think of it, I guess it was – but oh, did we ever enjoy it.

It doesn’t even have cheese or bacon (I KNOW!), and still, it was delicious.

Do any of you have Family Night Supper favorites? If so, share the recipe or a link to the recipe in the comments – I have a feeling that Campbell’s Soups are about to be well-represented.

Bon tater tot, y’all.