Four Cheese and Hot Sauce Dip

This is just my take on Buffalo Hot Wing Dip, but since I don’t use chicken in it, I couldn’t really use that term, could I? I like some crunch in this, so I added celery and water chestnuts.

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

¼ cup good blue cheese salad dressing

1/2 cup Frank’s ® Original Hot Sauce (or more, depends on your taste)

1 large stalk of celery, thinly sliced and diced

1 (8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts, diced

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar

1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

¼ cup crumbled blue cheese (optional, but what’s a little more cheese at this point?)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a shallow casserole dish (about 1.3 quarts) or a pie plate with cooking spray. In one small bowl, combine cream cheese, dressing and hot sauce. In another small bowl, mix the cheddar and jack cheese together. Add the celery and water chestnuts to the cream cheese mixture and add one half of the cheddar/jack mix to it. Spoon into the casserole and top with the rest of the cheddar/jack mix.  Scatter the crumbled blue cheese over the top. Place the casserole on a baking sheet to prevent spill over.  Bake for 45 minutes until bubbling and gooey (check at 30 minutes to make sure the cheese on top isn’t burning). Cool for a few minutes before serving (if you can). Serve with cut up veggies like celery, carrots and jicama and/or tortilla chips, crackers, whatever you have. PS-grapes are a great accompaniment  with this. They really balance the hot, spicy, creamy goodness with crisp, cold sweetness.

Get creative on me: Please, get creative here—I seriously toyed with adding chopped green onions and artichoke hearts, changing the cheeses to all cheddar or mozzarella. I went light on the hot sauce for friends who like a little spice, but not too much. You can always put a bottle of hot sauce out for those who want more.