Pizza Foundue

J. and I love eating at the Melting Pot (a fondue chain restaurant near us). Here's a cheap way to bring fondue home. This recipe made a large pot of fondue and would have been a good meal for about four people. You could serve this with a variety of pizza toppings, we served it as an appetizer and just used bread for dipping.

More fondue recipes: Mozzarella Pesto Fondue, Melting Pot's Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue and Baked Italian Fontina.

This recipe comes from Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body.

Ingredients:
-1 tsp olive oil
-2 garlic cloves
-1 jar (24 ounces) marinara sauce
-3 cups mozzarella
-1 cup cheddar
-1 cup parmesan
-1 tbsp cornstarch
-1/4 cup white wine
-2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

In a medium-large sized pot saute the garlic and olive oil over medium heat for about 30 seconds.

Add the white wine and marinara sauce, bring to a boil (watch carefully though because it will start to really bubble, mine made a little bit of a mess), then reduce the heat to medium.

In a large bowl mix the cheese and cornstarch (this will help the cheese melt better). Slowly add the cheese to the marinara mix, stirring each time until melted. Add the fresh basil if desired.

If you have a fondue pot you can then pour it into the fondue pot, we served it right in the pot I used to make the fondue in.

   

This made so much fondue! If you're serving it just as an appetizer and you're not serving a lot of people, I recommend cutting the recipe in half. I think if the recipe would have been cut in half we probably would have finished all of it. We had probably about a cup leftover, which I ate for a few days as a snack so it will keep well, when you reheat it just make sure to stir it well. 

A Hamless Holiday -- Melting Pot's Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue

Happy Christmas Week!

Starting today and going through Tuesday the daily blog post will be "A Hamless Holiday" post. Those five blogs all together will form a holiday meal. Keep checking back daily to find out another course of the meal. The theme for the Christmas meal is red, green and white and these dishes all go fantastic together making a feast for your eyes and taste buds.

I did a similar blog series called "A Turkeyless Thanksgiving" during the five days leading up to Thanksgiving and it was a hit. Hopefully this series will be as well. You can find the Thanksgiving posts here: appetizer, main dish, drink, side dish, dessert.

Today's post is the appetizer and is a recipe from the blog Favorite Family Recipes and is a copy-cat recipe for the Melting Pot's Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue. If you have never been to the Melting Pot before find your nearest restaurant and go celebrate something! I will warn you it is a little pricey, but it is great for birthday's or anniversaries -- J and I celebrated our two year anniversary there this past September and we had such a great time.

A Hamless Holiday:
Appetizer: The Melting Pot's Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue

Ingredients:
-3 oz. vegetable broth
-1-2 oz. fresh spinach, chopped
-1-2 oz. artichoke hearts, chopped
-1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
-2 1/2 oz. Butterkäse cheese
-2 1/2 oz. Fontina cheese
-1 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese
-a small amount of flour
-dash Tabasco sauce

All of the fondue appetizers from the Melting Pot call for Butterkäse cheese which Becky had no problem finding at the grocery store....if you can't find it check out the original post for alternatives.

Heat the vegetable broth (ideally you do this in a fondue pot, I don't own one, I just did it on the stove top).

You want the broth to be hot, NOT BOILING!

Add the spinach, artichoke and garlic.

Combine both cheeses and lightly flour them.
I used a few tablespoons of flour for this. 

Slowly incorporate the cheese stirring in a figure-eight motion.
Once melted stir in the parmesean and hot sauce.

Then you'll have fondue!

We enjoyed the fondue with bread and apples.

Fondue time is always a great time.

This is a great appetizer for any party and is best served in a fondue pot, however, I'm sure that you could also keep it warm in a crockpot in order to make it more accessible than my pot which was heated by the stove. This tasted exactly like the fondue which is served at the Melting Pot. The green from the spinach is sure to tie in nicely with the other blogs this week.

Check back tomorrow!