2017 Winning Superbowl recipe, Stuffed Mushroom Dip

This years winning Super Bowl 2017 recipe was the stuffed mushroom dip.  I put all the cheese in the dip vs. saving half for the topping along with panko part accident and partly because I thought the topping was additional cheese but I also didn't want it to have a hard top.  For the party I served it with fresh bread slices, today I baked the second dish and had it with baked baguette slices.  This was excellent, creamy, flavorful and cheesy.  The mushrooms were half of the Costco container and the sausage was from Sprouts Farmers market, it was a bit over the half pound at .7 lbs but that is not required since the mushrooms come across as meaty.  It is chock full of goodies.  This dip couldn't have been better.  It is a definite repeat offender. Offender because it is hard not to eat it all and my scale may be offended tomorrow.  Original recipe came from The Chew, Clinton Kelly.

I also made BBQ'ed pork (OK but dried out in the crock pot after hours), the Coney Island Chili sauce was better than my first attempt, more spicy but when people need to assemble there food it seems to not go over great.  I made it to go along with the Nacho/Tacho bar.  The Spicy Queso was a thick blob of cheese, tasted good but the texture wasn't right, way too thick and not smooth.  I wanted a pourable sauce to put on the Tachos along with the sour cream sauce, and pickled jalapenos.  I also made baked ham and cheese sandwiches, spicy pretzels, Caramelized Onion dip (an old favorite), guacamole (good but less cumin), cheeseburger muffins (better next day dipped in ketchup but otherwise I sausage balls are better, more flavor and less doughy)

STUFFED MUSHROOM DIP
Drizzle of EVOO
½ lb. Hot Italian sausage
1 lb. button mushrooms, chopped
½ onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, grated
1 T. fresh thyme, leaves pulled
4 oz. cream cheese
½ C. sour cream
2 C. Gruyère, shredded

Preheat oven to 350°F.  In a large saute pan, drizzle with oil and cook sausage until brown and cooked through.  Finely chop the mushrooms and onion.  Add to sausage, cook another 5 minutes to brown mushrooms and soften onions.  Add garlic, cook another minute.  Remove from heat, add thyme, cream cheese, sour cream and Gruyère.  Stir.  Transfer to two buttered 5x5" casserole dishes or one large.  Bake 30 minutes or cover and refrigerate till ready to bake.  Serve with baguette slices, fresh or drizzled with oil , S&P and baked in the oven till golden brown.