More cold weather and two recipes

This weather is getting tiresome! Below zero temps, negative windchills--boy am I ready for spring to be here! The cowls I've been crocheted are really warm and am glad that I found the patterns and took the time to make them!
With the football playoffs and then the Super Bowl coming up, here's a couple of my favorite recipes to take to our "potlucks". I'll post a few more of my "party" recipes this week.


Crockpot Cheese Dip
2 pounds ground beef or ground venison
1 pound bacon, chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1/4 cup water
1 can black olives, chopped
1 box Velveeta cheese, cubed
2 pints salsa
1/2 cup milk
Brown the ground beef or venison with the bacon and onion. Drain grease and add taco seasoning and water. Put back on heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. While you're browning the meat, chop the black olives and Velveeta. Dump into a 5 quart crockpot that you've lined with a crockpot liner. Add the salsa and milk and turn on low. Give it a stir, and then add in the meat mixture. Stir occasionally until cheese is melted. Turn crockpot to keep warm setting. Serve with tortilla chips--scoops are the best!
NOTE: A crockpot liner is a must with this recipe--there's nothing worse than cleaning up cooked on cheese from a crockpot--plus if there's none left at the end of the party, you can throw the liner away and take home a clean crockpot!!


Barbecued Ham Sandwiches
1 Farmland ham, thinly sliced and then coarsely chopped
1 sweet onion, finely chopped--I use my mini food processor to finely chop it
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 heaping tablespoons sweet pickle relish
2 (12 ounce) bottles chili sauce--Heinz is best, but HyVee brand works well, also
1 cup water
Thinly slice the ham--I use my electric knife to thinly slice it--or have the store slice it for you. Chop ham coarsely into pieces.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients--I use some of the water to rinse the chili sauce out of the bottles. Put half of the ham pieces in a crockpot (use a liner); pour half of the sauce over the ham and stir. Put the rest of the ham pieces in and pour the rest of the sauce in. Stir to coat all pieces with the sauce. Cook on low until heated through--about 3-4 hours and then turn to keep warm setting. Stir occasionally. Makes about 25 sandwiches.