"Nicky" > wrote in message
...
> There's an evening barn dance organised by the local Diabetes UK group
> in a couple of weekend's time, and I promised I'd make dips - someone
> else is bringing veggies as dippers - for up to 100 people.
>
> I was thinking of doing hummous - I have a chick-pea mountain in my
> pantry already - and possibly salsa, and a cream cheese/yoghurt dip.
> They've got to be easy and quick, and do-able the day before - I'm
> currently spending my leisure time, including the day of the dance,
> running my eldest round university Open Days.
>
> Any ideas?

A favorite I used to make isn't so much a recipe but something I did by
taste. Start with some cottage cheese then add some sharp cheddar shredded
and whiz it up with an immersion blender. Add some black pepper and finely
chopped purple onion. This was served at a party I went to with black
bread, but I like it with vegetables.

If you have a crockpot you can make espinaca con queso. You can do part of
this the day before. Start with some processed cheese food (Velveeta in
this country) and some cream cheese. I use about half of each. Cut it in
cubes. Mix in some salsa to thin it down. This part can be done the day
before. Then heat it in the crockpot or on a low heat on the stove. When
the cheese is melted, add plenty of finely chopped spinach and stir it
through. The spinach cooks in about a minute.

Another thing I used to eat a lot of was bean dip. This could be done in
the crockpot too. I used refried beans either from a can or made from
scratch. To make them I used cooked pinto beans with a bit of olive oil
added and then mashed them with a potato masher. Warm up the beans, add
some salsa, shredded sharp cheese, maybe some chopped onions and hot peppers
if you want. Serve with chunks of bell pepper to dip into it.

One thing I never tried (didn't appeal to me) that they used to make where I
used to work was a block of cream cheese on a plate topped with a can of
small shrimp and a jar of cocktail sauce. This was served with crackers
though. Not sure how well it would do with veggies.

Texas Caviar is always good but not sure if you can get the ingredients
there. There are plenty of recipes online but here is one:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,171,...240196,00.html

Another popular dip is chipped beef.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1615...236202,00.html

I'm not really sure what Accent is. Some kind of seasoning. This I know.
I suspect it might have MSG in it. I would leave that out.