MMmmm, sausage and pepperoni pizza. The staple food of College kids everywhere. How about making it into a dip? Serve this up with
some crusty french bread slices and you'll think you had a bite of a popular frozen French Bread pizza.
I actually discovered the orginal version of this from Rachael Ray. It's part of what I'm going to serve for New Year's. Enjoy!
Sausage and Pepperoni Dip
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound bulk Italian sweet or hot sausage
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 - 8 ounce pkgs cream cheese, softened
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
about 1 1/3 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons dried italian seasoning
1/2 pound pepperoni (in sticks, if you can find them), finely chopped
2 cups pasta sauce (homemade leftover sauce or 1 jar really good sauce)
french bread
Directions:
In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil, over medium-high heat. Cook the sausage, breaking it up into little bits, until browned. Drain off all but a few tablespoons of fat from the sausage. Reduce heat to medium, push the sausage to the sides of the pan, add the onion and garlic to the center and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Mix with the sausage and remove the pan from heat.
Preheat the broiler with the rack set 8 to 10 inches away from the heat. Combine cream cheese with half the mozzarella and half the Parm. Stir in the italian seasoning and then fold the sausage and pepperoni into the combined cheeses. Spread the mixture into a casserole dish (8x8 dish). Top with the pasta sauce and remaining cheeses. Tent with foil and broil 2 minutes, then removeand broil until bubbling, about 5 minutes. Serve with french bread slices.
It's also great with cheese-flavored or herb-flavored crackers.