Want to wow your guests during this year’s round of holiday parties?  Serve them this Smoked Tuna Dip and watch the compliments flood in. They’ll never know that you whipped it up ten minutes before they arrived!

I first tasted this Smoked Tuna Dip at a restaurant in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. We were there for a military function of some sort and this dip was set out on the appetizer table. We could not stop eating it and by the end of the night, my friend and I had pestered the owner enough that he finally gave up the recipe.

Well, he didn’t give us the actual recipe, but I did the leave the party with a list of ingredients scribbled on a piece of paper. He wouldn’t give exact amounts, and for all I know, he left out some magical secret ingredient. But this version that I put together this morning tastes amazing and I really think you should give it a try.

This dip is as easy to put together as a ranch dip or spinach dip, but I think it’s a great option when you want to change things up a bit. Serve it with your favorite crackers, or even pita chips and your guests will love you for it!

Feel free to adjust the ingredients to suit your own taste.

Smoked Tuna Dip

1 small can albacore tuna, drained well
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened slightly
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
1 teaspoon worcestershire
scant 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
dash or two of pepper sauce (like Tabasco)
paprika or smoked paprika (optional)

Blend all ingredients together well using a stand mixer or hand mixer. Taste, and adjust seasonings to your liking. Be careful adding more liquid smoke, a little goes a long way! When ready to serve, try adding a light sprinkling of paprika over the top for decoration.

yield: about 1 1/2 cups of dip.

I want to add a quick note to say thanks to everyone who was so supportive yesterday while I was having technical issues with the blog. It’s hard to describe what it feels like to see almost two weeks of my life disappear in an instant (I say ‘my life’ because I’ve been doing absolutely nothing but work on the blog for the past month). And the worst part was that apparently someone at my hosting company made a mistake and restored the database on the wrong site. I’m not sure how that can even happen, and I have yet to receive even an apology from the company.

All I can say is thank goodness I had copies of everything, and thank goodness I only lost eleven days worth of work. I want to remind everyone to be extra fastidious about backing up your work, regardless of what it is. This is especially true of your digital photos.  Accidents happen.

Again, thanks for all the supportive e-mails and messages I received yesterday. Everything is back up and back to normal, as far as I can tell. And I will now be making back up copies of my blog even more frequently!

And yes, although I almost threw in the towel last night, I am still going to finish out this month of NaBloPoMo and continue to share one recipe a day until November 30.

And a quick reminder that it’s not too late to enter the knife giveaway! For those of you who left a comment before yesterday’s disaster, you’ll have to leave one again in order to participate. For those of you just hearing about it, I am giving away a 9-inch Chef’s Knife compliments of New West KnifeWorks. To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling us your favorite thing to eat during the holidays. A winner will be chosen at random.  Good luck!

Related Recipes:

• Black Bean Dip with Whole Wheat Pita Chips
• Homemade Chili Garlic Corn Chips
• Spinach and Feta Turnovers
• Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus
• Easy Deviled Eggs