When I dip, you dip, we dip.

Do your kids like to dip as much as mine?  

I decided on a slow Monday to do something fun for lunch for the boys.  I was completely out of bread, milk, eggs, cheese so I had to get creative.  I had hummous and Baba Ganouj in our fridge from Wegman's and I wanted to give it to them for lunch but I didn't know how well just a scoop of those and some pita bread would go over.  So I thought I would make it interesting.  

I put eight different dips down the middle of a mini muffin tin.  I just used what I had.  I don't always have hummous and baba ganouj type stuff at my house but all of the others were things I had on hand.  

Dips from top left to right:

1. spicy mustard

2. baba ganouj

3. hummous

4. salsa

Bottom left to right

5. ketchup

6. bbq sauce

7. blue Cheese dressing

8. sour cream

On each side I put items to dip with for each child.

I would have done more if I had them, but I didn't so I just used what I had.  

They had mini pita pockets cut in half, baby carrots quartered, thick julienned cucumbers, strips of flour tortillas.

They totally ate it all up.  Max got really into mixing flavor combinations  and would dip one item into three things.  I didn't care because they didn't care.  Let them experiment.  I think mustard & bbq sauce was his favorite combination.  

After the savory tin I brought out the sweet tin, a large muffin pan with sweeter items.

Dips from left to right: peanut buter, fruit dip, homemade peach freezer jam

Items: apples, clementines, whole grain coco pops  (I also got these from Wegman's -- have you tried them?  They are awesome and only 16 calories a piece! They come in a circle, I quartered them for dipping and they are incredible to watch being made --- look at that link)

Remember, this is just what I had on hand.  I know that clementines don't go with peanut butter, but they don't know that.

The main thing is that you are just using up what you have.  At first I didn't think I could pull it off, but I kept looking around and kept finding things that would work.

COST:  Whatever your food costs --- you shouldn't have to go out an buy anything unless you want to make it special

Variations:  


SAVORY DIPS:  hummous, mustard, ketchup, ranch, blue cheese, spaghetti sauce, balsamic vinegar,  sour cream , chip dips (like onion or dill), guacamole, salsa, spinach dip, artichoke dip, bean dip, bbq sauce, sweet and sour sauce, curry sauces, pesto sauce, honey musard, etc..........


SAVORY DIPPERS:  carrots, cucumber, green/red/yellow peppers, broccoli, green beans, snap peas, crackers, tortilla strips, chips, pita bread, cubed or sliced bread, pretzel sticks, you could cube up some cheese or deli meat and put it on toothpicks.....


SWEET DIPS: peanut butter, fruit dip (recipe below), jam, pudding, chocolate sauce, yogurt, nutella,  caramel, butterscotch, whipped cream........


SWEET DIPPERS: Apples, bananas, clementines, strawberries, pear, mini rice cakes, pretzels, graham crackers, grapes or berries on toothpicks,  sliced pancake or waffle pieces or even toast, 

Fruit Dip recipe:  

16 oz of sour cream or plain yogurt (or a mixture)

a small package of dry vanilla pudding

1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen OJ concentrate

If you are just going to do a small batch (to do a little dip) just mix a few heaping tablespoons of sour cream or plain yogurt with a tablespoon of dry vanilla pudding and a couple teaspoons of OJ concentrate. 

Please add to my list if you can think of anything.  I would love to double the size of these lists!

This is a lot of fun to make and serve and eat!  You will be pleasantly surprised at how many vegetables your child will eat doing this.  With my two year old I sat and watched and reminded him to bite and not just dip and lick off the dip and then dip again.  This may need some supervision until they get the hang of it.

Have fun!!!!!