My melting pots of deliciousness.

It's fondue and dip week! An entire week of dipping into some crockpotted yumminess. Why? Why not? The Melting Pot is one of my favorite restaurants and we'd go there more often if it didn't cost so darn much. I'm already drooling over this week's meal plan. 

I started off the week with one of each. Dinner was a vegetarian dip because a "pescatarian" friend came over for dinner tonight. (Hi Amanda!) This is possibly my favorite vegetarian dip when done correctly (whatever that means). It's right up there next to spinach and artichoke dip (which I won't be making this week, but will some day). My other half made a non-crockpotted version of this a few years ago, but it didn't turn out as well as we thought it would because the recipe was vague and we misunderstood the directions. I was kinda bummed that the only ingredient you actually put in the crock pot for THIS recipe is the eggplant, but I got over that quickly. I guess doing it this way would be convenient to do if you had to be out of the house for 3 hours or didn't want to do the 45 minutes in the oven thing for whatever reason...like going to the gym or having a screaming clingy 6 month old...or something. This recipe is my own. I found a handful of recipes and picked out my favorite parts. 


"Baba Ganoush" (6 quart pot)


~1 large eggplant (I had to use 3 smaller ones because Safeway was completely out of any size, shape, and color aubergine.  Lauer's to the rescue! Sidenote: They also had a boatload of  small cans of pumpkin! *squee* I bought 4 of 'em...)
~1/4 c tahini (Hint: Safeway carries it. Look near the peanut butter.)
~3 garlic cloves, minced (I found recipes with anywhere from 1 to 3 cloves. We like things garlic-y, so I did 3. (and a half. Shh...)
~juice of one lemon (it ended up being about 1/4 cup)
~pinch ground cumin
~pinch of salt
~pinch of pepper
~1 T extra virgin olive oil
~1 T dried parsley


Wash and dry eggplant. Poke several holes in eggplant with a fork.
Place eggplant in crock pot. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.
Remove eggplant from crock pot using tongs. Discard skin and seeds.
Place remaining flesh and all other ingredients into a blender and blend. 
Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.
Serve with...stuff. I went a little crazy. We had fresh broccoli, cauliflower, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, portabello mushrooms, baby carrots, celery, sourdough pretzels, sourdough bread, garlic breadsticks, and tollhouse whole grain crackers. 

Soooo good. This is how baba ganoush is supposed to taste. It was, however, super garlic-y, so you may want to decrease it (a little or a lot) depending on your preference or if you're not trying to ward off vampires. My other half thinks it was a bit too garlic-y (and I agree).  Next time, I'll do three cloves and skip the extra half. 


AND THEN because having company gives me an extra excuse to crock up a dessert, I made rocky road fondue. I love rocky road ice cream. I was dying to make this when I found the recipe in one of my cookbooks. Tonight was my chance!


"Rocky Road Fondue" (6 quart pot)


~1 1/2 T butter
~1 10 oz chocolate bar with almonds (I used 37 pieces of Dove almond dark chocolate silky smooth promises.)
~1 1/2 c mini marshmallows
~3 T milk
~1/2 cup heavy cream


Add butter, chocolate, marshmallows, and milk to crock pot.
Cover and cook on high for 1.5 hours.
Stir every 30 minutes.
Gradually add heavy cream.
Keep on warm for up to 2 hours.
Serve with...stuff.  We had strawberries, pineapple, banana, pound cake, mini macaroons, and marshmallows.

Oh man. The crock pot was literally licked clean.