Cincinnati chili dip

So with the holidays, I have many recipes to share with you...but first I thought I'd share the easiest one ever.  I made this for New Year's Eve.  It had been several years since I had it and it was every bit as delicious as what I remembered!  Of course, the version I made was lightened up and therefore slightly less bad for you than what I had in my youth.

So this brings me to - Skyline chili dip!  Skyline Chili is a very special kind of chili found in Cincinnati, Ohio.  It is in fact known as "Cincinnati style" chili.  Now, I grew up on this stuff so I think it's wonderful, but for those expecting a traditional chili....well it's definitely different.  It's thin and soupy, the meat is super tender, and you can taste cloves instead of the normal chili powder as a dominant flavor.  You can read more about it here.  I always tell people to not expect a regular chili when they try it as it is really quite distinct.  If you go in expecting a thick Texas chili I can imagine the surprise.

Now that I'm in North Carolina I can't get my beloved Skyline fresh, but they do sell it frozen and in cans at Kroger.  I also have a knock-off recipe that I've made which is pretty good - I'll post that here someday.  But today, the dip!

Ingredients

1 can of Skyline chili

12 ounces of reduced fat cream cheese (also called Neufchatel cheese), softened

1/4 cup finely diced onions

8 oz reduced fat finely shredded mild cheddar cheese

Procedure

Smear the cream cheese evenly across the bottom of an oven safe pan (I used an 8 x 8 glass baking dish).

Sprinkle the onions evenly over this.

Spread the chili evenly over the onions.

Sprinkle the cheese evenly over this.

Bake at 350 until the cheese has melted.  Serve with tortilla chips.  So good.
I didn't take a picture when I made it on New Year's but here's one from the internet: