Super Bowl Food or Cooking with Aunt Robin: Part One

Aunt Robin is not actually my aunt, but my dear friend. I started calling her aunt Robin because her adorable toddler niece calls her aunt Robin and it's cute. So, Aunt Robin it is.

Aunt Robin is from the Midwest, Ohio to be exact. And being from the Midwest, she eats some funny things. Not funny to her, funny to me. Back when we worked together oh so many weeks ago, Robin would bring in casseroles, dips, hot dishes, and desserts that I had never heard or conceived of. Many of them were family recipes that she had grown up eating. At first I was skeptical of Robin's strange foods, absent of whole grains and with mysterious cans of soup involved, but you know what? Her food is damn good. How could I not like a dessert called Magic Cookie Bars?

I have two favorite Aunt Robin recipes, one of which I am going to share now. It is Robin's family dip, and oh my goodness is it good. Addictive. You can never just have one bite. You go back again and again until your tummy hurts. And then maybe one more time after that. It's a very simple and forgiving recipe, easily adjusted to suit different tastes. And oh, is it yummy.

I will be bringing this to the super bowl party I will be attending tomorrow. Yes, I am going to a super bowl party. I will be watching football on HD TV, one of the most amazing inventions of our time (you can see every blade of grass! and the lines and colors are so sharp! and it's shiny!).

Aunt Robin's dip

2 80z packages cream cheese, softened
2 or more tablespoons ketchup
10-20 green olives, chopped
1/2 white onion, finely chopped.

Mix together ketchup and cream cheese. Stir in olives and onions. Chill until firm.

Some notes: You can play with the quantities of ingredients as much as you like. I think ketchup is gross, so I put in less than Robin does. Both of us like olives, so we used a lot of them. Robin's little bro doesn't like onions or olives and just likes it as cream cheese and ketchup. And yes, you really should chill it a while. It's kind of yucky when it's at room temperature. We're not sure why.

A special thank you to Robin's lovely family for their recipe. Sorry I wrote "damn" earlier.