Salsa Dip

Salsa Dip
Dorcas Annette Walker

It seems like yesterday that our house phone buzzed nonstop with teenage conversations- back in the dark ages before cell phones and wireless phones. In fact I seldom answered the kitchen phone as there was always a teenage grabbing the headpiece as soon as the phone rang, with a surprised look of amazement when a caller actually wanted my husband or me. Since I didn’t believe in letting my teenagers have a phone of their own, much less in their bedroom, the cord was stretched to maximum tautness with the headpiece attached to my daughter’s ear as she’d walk down the hallway talking nonstop. Those were the days when the constant ringing of the phone became normal background noise. My younger son complained that all his sister ever did was talk and giggle on the phone with her friends. He thought it was quite boring and dumb. When Dawn started going with Randy, who lived in Nashville, the only communication we could get with our daughter was between intense private talks on the phone that somehow she managed to stretch to her closed bedroom doorway. Each chat with her boyfriend meant more analyzed and dissected discussions of feedback from her closest friends. It probably would have been more appropriate to have had the florist use phone cords instead of trailing ivy in our daughter’s bridal bouquet.

My husband and I thought that after our daughter was married we would once again have the use of the house phone to ourselves, but lo and behold if our son, who usually didn’t talk much, hit the teenage stage and he became attached to the phone head piece. All kinds of friends called for long and debated conversations ranging around car and truck parts and how many miles a gallon a certain vehicle got. Interestingly enough when I compared all the earlier girl giggles to the present boisterous boy laughter they seemed just about evenly matched and the length of the phone calls remained just the same. So after our son got married it was quite a shock to suddenly discover that when the phone rang we had to answer it. Since then our house has been quite silent without the continual ringing of a phone in the background.

The only way I survived those hectic teenage days was with my Salsa Dip and plenty of tortilla chips during sleepovers. Today there are a variety of tortilla chips that you can use. You can also add or substitute chopped red & green peppers, mushrooms, onions, sausage refried beans, black olives, or serve with sour cream. Heat the dip in the microwave or keep in a Crockpot on low for instant use. My Salsa Dip takes about fifteen minutes to prepare and this recipes makes around six cups of dip.

Salsa Dip

1 lb hamburger
1 pint of medium salsa
15.5 oz jar of salsa cheese or cheese whiz

Brown, chop fine, and drain hamburger. Mix together in a medium bowl the hamburger, salsa, and cheese. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator!

Weekly tip: Use mugs or foam cups instead of bowls or plates for dips, and paper towels as an alternative to napkins for holding chips!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com