CAR-amelized Onion Dip

Is there a word that you mispronounce all the time…and you are fully aware of it?  For some reason, your mis-pronounciation sounds better to you, but to the rest of the world listening to you butcher the word you sound like a dufus?  For me, it is “caramelized.”  And no matter how many times I’ve told Nate I don’t care about how it is supposed to be said, every time I say it, he corrects me.  It really gets under his skin, and I actually find it hilarious!!  I pronounce caramelized CARE-amelized.  Nate says it is supposed to be CAR-amelized. Same difference!  Oh shoot, that phrase grinds his gears too!  

When we first started dating our senior year of high school, we got into some random conversation about hedge hogs.  Only I pronounced it and spelled it “Head Chog.”  I never thought anything of it until Nate said it slowly and I realized he was saying HEDGE HOG.  There is not a blond hair on this head, but for some reason I went through the first 18 years of my life saying “head chog” and no one noticed or corrected me!  But, head chog is still my preference.

Another one that comes to mind is a friend of mine growing up, instead of saying “freckles” she said “frackles!” Now that is just weird… 🙂  So I know I am not alone in word ridiculousness, what are your funny pronunciations???

Ok, sorry about getting side tracked on that random story, but after you read this recipe you’ll realize it wasn’t so random after all!  If you don’t like onions, please stop reading from this point on.  This dip is stuffed full of caramelized onions.  Once you’ve tried this, you’ll never buy the store bought french onion dip again!  And you can’t ignore that this recipe is basically fat-free…a healthier dip choice for all you Super Bowler’s!

Servings: 8-10
Weight Watcher Points Per Serving: 4-3

Ingredients
3 of the largest yellow/sweet onions, sliced thinly
8 oz fat-free cream cheese
8 oz fat-free or reduced fat sour cream
8 oz fat-free mayo
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon brown sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions
-In a large bowl mix the mayo, sour cream, cream cheese, and garlic powder together and set aside.  (The cream cheese will need to be room temperature to mix in, I pop mine in the microwave for about 15 seconds to help it out.  But do NOT microwave the metal wrapper!)

-In a large pot on medium heat, melt butter and olive oil.  

-Add all of the sliced onions, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and brown sugar to the pot. Toss to coat the onions evenly.

-Cook the onions until they are nice and caramelized…mine took about 20 minutes (To caramelize, you cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they shrink down and turn a gold / caramel color.  Refer to my picture above)

-Remove the onions on to your cutting board and let cool for 20-30 minutes.  Then roughly chop the enormous pile of onions and add them to the cream cheese mixture.

-Stir the dip until the onions are fully incorporated into the mix.  Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes or until ready to eat.

It maybe really hard for you to wait this 45 minutes, I suggest you lick the spoon.  If that doesn’t hold you over…grab another spoon, stir that dip some more, and lick that one too!

*This dip is great to make a day ahead, the flavors fully develop over night.
*Feel free to add other spices for a completely different flavor of dip.  Sometimes I add oregano, a bay leaf, celery seed, or onion powder.