Martha Stewart is trying to kill us all!

And, by extension, i tried to kill my graduate students and myself at a Thursday night party. 

That bowl in the middle is this squash dip that i loved when i visited a friend's knitting night last month. So i thought i'd make it and test it out on the 17 students in my fall newsgathering class. i laughed when my friend sent me the Martha Stewart link. 

It was the first time i'd ever cooked squash (go ahead, laugh), and that seems healthy enough. The chipotle chilis add a great kick. But then there's the 10 tablespoons of butter, the 8 ounces of cream cheese, the 2 cups of sour cream (i only used 1 cup and it was lite). This isn't the first time i've cooked with Martha - her mac and cheese is also great tasting, but potentially heart stopping.

That morning's New York Times inspired my other new party dish (past students know i always test out a couple of new things on them):  Chex Mix, the new contest winning Buffalo mix to be specific. This was not the greatest success, but it was OK. Guess i need more Chex Mix practice, and that's entirely possible since i have all these leftover ingredients.


There was some healthy food: Indian peanut butter dip and salmon mousse from a Jane Brody book. Plenty of veggies (they ate them all!). The prosciutto rolls in the foreground, well, maybe not so healthy. There's also chocolate fudge (with marshmallows adding to the richness) and chocolate truffle cookies - and strawberries!


And i'm still munching on that leftover squash dip. The recipe makes way too much.