"onion dip" news and stories

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• Getting the big O -- Cat Cora has a new TV show in the works.
• Shocking, we know: an onion dip recipe that's better than anything from a packet.
• These facts are fizzy.
• Pork is always in season and pairs perfectly with rosemary when grilled.
• Selecting wedding wines doesn't have to be as painful as the post-nuptial hangover.
• Say fuggedaboutit with cherry esplanade, an Absolut Brooklyn cocktail.

Craving party or bar foods? Make it at home with real, honest to good ingredients! Most store-bought party foods have little or none of the real ingredients that would make it flavorful. These recipes are the perfect way to get the holiday spirit going into the new year while sticking to your New Year's resolutions.

Cheesy Bites

Zucchini Bites are a nice alternative to your run-of-the-mill cheese and crackers. Compliment the juicy texture of zucchini by combining it with a light layer of salty, flavorful tapenade. It can be assembled ahead of time and popped in the oven while you are serving your guests' drinks.

More recipes after the jump.

With potato chips, you can go in a few different directions -- thick, plain potato chips with dip; skip the dip and serve flavored potato chips; or get all kinds of flavor-crazy and serve flavored potato chips with dip!

I am fickle when it comes to potato chips, so I actually do need to have several different options available. Sometimes I love those horrible Lay's potato chips that are nothing more than pieces of potato paper, but most of the time, I love thick, hard, crunchy kettle-cooked potato chips with an obscene scoop of French Onion Dip. You can make it from scratch, but I have to confess that I have a soft spot for the French Onion Dip made from dried soup mix and sour cream.

I know, you're thinking, an onion dip? That's rather boring. But there has to be an onion dip of some sort at a football party, and I think this one adds a little more zip than the typical bowl. As the title says, it's not just onion, it's really onion. Hot sauce adds more kick too.

As a bonus, this is from Food Network's Sara's Secrets. I really wish Sara Moulton was on still on the channel. (Update: I got an e-mail from someone who used to work with Sara who informs me that she has a new show premiering on PBS this April titled Sara's Secrets For Weeknight Meals - thanks for the tip Lesley!)

Sarah Gim says Pittsburgh kicks Seattle's butt. OH YEAH? I'll take Pike Place over Polish sausage any day. Here's why:

1. Costco was born right outside of Seattle. You're talking the world's largest* producer of bulk butter, deli counter muffins, five-pound logs of goat cheese, and free samples. Top that, Giant Eagle!
2. Sure, a Polish sausage might beat up an oyster in a fight. But a 10-pound wild salmon would beat up both of y'all. It swims upstream, avoiding bears and dangerous man-made obstacles, just to procreate. Even the most impressive sausage... is just a bunch of ground meat wrapped in pig intestine! Eww!
3. Iron City beer is better than Starbucks coffee... when you're coming home from the swing shift at the steel factory. Those smarty pants at Microsoft and Amazon.com need coffee to wake up in the morning for a hard days' work dominating the universe! Yeah!
4. Seattle's cuisine is influenced by Vietnam. Pittsburgh's cuisine is influenced by Poland. My Communist cuisine is so much better than your post-Communist cuisine!
5. Right, Pike Place Market! They throw seafood there. Do they throw seafood at you in Pittsburgh? I didn't think so.
6. Smoked salmon dip or Heinz ketchup - which would YOU rather dip your chips in? That's what I thought!
7. Let's have a cheese off: I'll take Cougar Gold, you take... umm... American cheese?
8. You think Washington apples are boring? Try a Walla-Walla Sweet onion. Slice one, cook it up reeall slow in butter over medium-low heat, add a 1/2 teaspoon of paprika and 1/4 teaspoon of chipotle pepper, mix with 1/2 cup mayonnaise and 1 cup sour cream in Cuisinart, salt to taste, and wow! Seattle Onion Dip.

* I have no evidence to back up this claim. [Photo Sarah Gilbert]