Taco Dip "In Proportion"

We have looked at the idea of "In Proportion" this is the process of creating a fraction or decimal comparison between 2 things. In Algebra and Geometry, the idea comes up many times, Some examples are: Slope, Dilations, Similar shapes, Correlation, and many others.

This skill can be applied multiple ways in real life, even the most beginner of jobs can use this concept, and understanding it can help you know how to understand a process and even improvise how to use it in an emergency or difficult situation.
As we lead up to Thanksgiving i wanted to do something FUN, something relevant to real life, and something festive.

Basic Layered Taco Dip

This first assignment i want to share with you is a recipe we have handed down and its great for family gatherings at sports games, or movies, or just for the holidays. the way i learned it it filled up a 9 x 13 casserole dish the recipe is as follows:

2 x 15 oz cans of Hormel Chili with beans OR 30 oz of homemade chili (recommended)

2 x 8 oz Bars of Philadelphia Cream Cheese

16 oz of your favorite Salsa or Taco Sauce I use Ortega medium taco sauce

16 oz of shredded cheddar or preferred mexican cheeses

26 oz of yellow corn chips to serve with.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Slice the cream cheese and line the bottom of the casserole dish with chunks of cream cheese.

3. Pour the chili over the cream cheese and use a spatula or knife to level the top.

4. Pour on your favorite taco sauce/ or Salsa

5. Top with shredded cheese.

6. Place in the middle rack in the oven and cook until it simmers and there is light crisping of the cheese topping around the edge of the pan.

7. Take out of the oven and serve with yellow corn tortilla chips for dipping.

One of the first things i found out is that this serving doesn't work for every situation. Originally it was just me and my wife and it was way too much, so i wanted to make a "half batch" Only problem is the next sized Casserole dish that is commonly sold is 8 x 8 not perfectly 1/2

I feel like this decision was made by the same people who sell hot dogs and hot dog buns ..... but anyway as i had jobs as a cook sometimes we had to improvise with what ingredients we had left.

And wouldn't you know it but one of the ways this can be done is by comparing the AREA of the first pan (Rectangle) to the area of the second Pan (Square)

so 9 x 13 = 117
and 8 x 8 = 64

So Just like a dilation or similar side you can take "the Image's" area 64 and divide by 117 The "Original's" area and get about .55 rounded you can then multiply that ratio by each ingredient to get a reasonably close estimation of how much you need even though it's a different shape

Multiple Choice

So Using our Dilation Factor or ratio of pan sizes of .55 how much chili do we need for the smaller pan ?

Our original recipe called for 2 x 15 oz cans, or 30 oz.

• 15 oz

• 1650 oz.

• 16 oz

• 16.5 oz

Multiple Choice

Our original Recipe calls for 2 x 8 oz bars of cream cheese

what would we multiply our scale factor of .55 against to know how much cream cheese ?

• 2

• 8

• It doesn't matter Multiplication is Commutative

  2 or 8 or 16

• 16

Multiple Choice

If you look closely the cream cheese, the salsa, and shredded cheese all say 16 oz ....

Does this mean we will need the same of each when shrinking or growing the recipe ?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

With our original pan size of 117 and half batch at 64 how much Corn chips should we expect to need

The original recipe called for 26 oz. (round the scale factor to 2 decimals)

• 13.4

• 14.3

• 143

• 13

Multiple Select

What if we needed to Create two 8 x 8 sized pans to put at different tables at a party from our original 9 x 13 pan? what steps could we use to find out how much of each ingredient we need ?

• Find the scale factor for the smaller pan (.55)

• Multiply the scale factor (.55) times each ingredient.

• Multiply each ingredient by 2 to represent the second pan

Multiple Choice

which are of the following steps could you take to make two big pans (9 x 13) and smaller pan (8 x 8) for a big family gathering ?

• 1.multiply the original ingredients by 2 for the two full pans

  2. then find the scale factor for the 8 x 8

  3.multiply that by the original ingredients and add it on

• 1.Find the scale factor of the

  8 x 8 pan

  2.Multiply the ingredients byt he scale factor

  3.Multiply the Ingredients again by 5 because 2 smaller pans make a big pan and then theres 1 leftover small pan

• Multiply the ingredients by 2.5