Cheesy Shrimp Dip

This dip was a HUGE crowd pleaser.  I multiplied this recipe by five (5!!) for 60 people and they could've kept eating it all night if I hadn't run out.

The recipe originally comes from the Crock Pot Girl.  I didn't modify it too much, but here's how it went...

Ingredients:
2 slices of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
3 medium onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
4 jumbo shrimp, peeled/deveined (I used pre-cooked as well)
1 large Roma tomato, seeded and chopped
3 C Monterey jack cheese shreds (I used a Mexican 4 cheese mix)
1/4+ tsp cayenne pepper
4-8 drops Tabasco sauce
freshly ground black pepper to taste
* Serve with chips or crackers of choice


Directions:
1. Cook bacon until crisp, drain, and crumble.
2. Saute onion and garlic in bacon drippings, drain.
3. Coarsely chop shirmp
4. Transfer all dip ingredients to crock pot
5. Cover and cook on low for 1 hour, occasionally stirring, until cheese is melted.

* If need be, you can thin out the dip with a little milk.

Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta

 Here's an amazingly quick pasta for a week night.  It's a creamy sausage and tomato recipe.  I had most of the ingredients in the house, although I did have to get the sausage (which Thomas made as I was putting everything else together).

Mix the sauce ingredients together, and simmer for the pasta cooking time, if you'd like a thicker sauce.

 Mix your sauce in with your pasta and toss in the cooked and sliced Italian sausage.

I added about one half cup of Parmesan shreds to the top of the pasta before serving.  It helps to thicken the sauce just a bit.

Thomas liked this recipe since it wasn't overtly tomato based, and it wasn't so saucy that you missed the flavors in the pasta.  Fair play.  I'll definitely make this one again!