A lot of you write in to me and say, “Hey, Tim.  How about sharing your recipe for your famous seven-layer dip?”  I’ve been so inundated with requests for this recipe, that I figured I would finally post it.

Ingredients:

• 1 can refried beans (I use fat-free)
• 1 container Breakstone Sour Cream (I definitely don’t use fat-free)
• Guacamole
• 1 head lettuce, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• cheddar cheese, finely shredded
• Salsa (I use Newman’s Own, Medium)

In a small pan, heat up the refried beans.  While that’s heating up, chop up your lettuce and tomato.

Spoon the heated-up refried beans into the bottom of a glass (transparent) dish.  Let this cool slightly before proceeding to the next step.  Otherwise, you’ll cook the lettuce.

Add a layer of chopped lettuce.  

Add a layer of chopped tomato.

Add a layer of guacamole.  Now, you can, of course, purchase pre-made guacamole, but I prefer to make mine, combining avocados, red onion, cilantro, lime (or lemon) juice, a small amount of chopped tomato (which is a bit redundant in this dish, but you get the idea), about a teaspoon of chili powder, a little salt, and a bit of pepper.  Try hard to keep this layer smooth, and don’t let it smear the glass dish.

Add a layer of  sour cream.  Do this carefully, so it remains a separate layer from the guacamole.  

Add a layer of shredded cheddar cheese.

Top with salsa.

Place two large serving spoons in either side of the dish, and serve with tortilla chips.  And remember:  the name of this dish is Tim’s Famous Seven-Layer Dip.

Enjoy!

It’s funny, but I’ve always considered “Superbowl” to be one word. “Are you going to watch the Superbowl?” “Went to a great Superbowl Party last night.” “The Cardinals haven never been to a Superbowl.” I mean, when you think about it, it’s not a bowl that’s super and, unlike the college bowl games, there’s only one of them. I know, I know, one easily could argue that if Superbowl is one word, then Orangebowl and Sugarbowl and Southerncaliforniastyledcornchipsanddipbowl and all the others should be as well. But somehow, I’ve treated Superbowl differently.

Firefox agrees with me. If you type “superbowl” in a Web form, it puts those familiar red squiggles beneath the word and tells you the S must be capitalized–”Superbowl”–for the word to be legitimate. Microsoft, however, is pretty adamant that “Superbowl” is not a word, even if the S is capitalized. When you type the word “Superbowl,” Microsoft offers two alternatives to correct what it perceives to be your misspelling.

1. Super bowl. As in: “My, what a super bowl.”

2. Superb owl. As in: “My, what a superb owl.”

Personally, I found the latter mildly amuzing. “Are you going to watch the superb owl?” “Went to a great superb owl party last night.” “The cardinals have never been to a superb owl.” Okay, that last one doesn’t work so well, but you get the idea.

Naturally, owls can be superb; I remember seeing a superb owl at Corkscrew Swamp in Florida a few years ago. But that doesn’t make it any less funny. At least, I don’t think so.

One last note: I just ran WordPress’s spellcheck against this post. It allowed “Superbowl,” but not “superbowl.”