Yummy appetizers...

This post kind of became a Part 2. 
Here at the appetizers from tonight....

BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breast, shredded
• 1/4 cup of ranch or blue cheese dressing
• 1/4 cup of buffalo sauce (I used Franks)
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• Preheat oven to 350°. Mix cream cheese, chicken, wing sauce, cheese and salad dressing into an ungreased shallow 1-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
• Bake, uncovered, 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with Tortilla Chips, Carrots & Celery or crackers.Yield: about 4 cups.

I think chips were my favorite!

AND lastly I made...

                 Cheddar Ranch Cheese Spread:

This was SUPER simple. A great thing to have on hand and whip up for a party. Obviously I love this stuff. I highly recommend serving it with Triscuits. The creamy cheese spread with crunchy Triscuits are fantastic. I prefer the ranch flavor, but you can also make this with Italian dressing mix. Equally as good and equally as addicting. It’s four ingredients, mix them together, and go. This could also be rolled into a cheeseball and covered with nuts if you want to get fancy. You can make this with low fat cream cheese and sour cream, but why bother? Serious snacking deserves the real stuff. Don’t even think about making this with fat free ingredients. It’s not the same taste at all.

Ingredients:

8oz cream cheese

1/2 c sour cream

0.7oz ranch dressing mix packet

1 c shredded cheddar

Mix all together and serve. I served it with Wheat Thins, Triscuits and Club Crackers

Thanks to So, how's it taste for this quick, easy and yummy recipe.There blog

Yummy Desserts from party tonight...

So it has been SO long since I have posted. Tonight I tried 4 recipes that I wanted to share. I had a 31 party  for a friend tonight and I had run across a few recipes I had been wanting to try so tonight was the perfect opportunity because whatever is left I will take to Mrs. Sandy's for our Wednesday swim day tomorrow. Everything was yummy and 2 thumbs up! I had a few even ask for recipes! That's when you know it is good. Here are the desserts...

• So tonight I made...                                              CHOCOLATE LASAGNA

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package regular Oreo cookies (Not Double Stuff) – about 36 cookies
• 6 Tablespoon butter, melted
• 1- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cold milk
• 1- 12 ounce tub Cool Whip, divided
• 2 – 3.9 ounce packages Chocolate Instant Pudding.
• 3 1/4 cups cold milk
• 1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Begin by crushing 36 Oreo cookies. I used my food processor for this, but you could also place them in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. When the Oreos have turned into fine crumbs, you are done.
2. Transfer the Oreo crumbs to a large bowl. Stir in 6 tablespoons melted butter and use a fork to incorporate the butter into the cookie crumbs. When the butter is distributed, transfer the mixture to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator while you work on the additional layers.
3. Mix the cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add in 2 Tablespoons of milk, and sugar, and mix well. Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups Cool Whip. Spread this mixture over the crust.
4. In a bowl, combine chocolate instant pudding with 3 and 1/4 cups cold milk. Whisk for several minutes until the pudding starts to thicken. Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the previous cream cheese layer. Allow the dessert to rest for about 5 minutes so that the pudding can firm up further.
5. Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top. Place in the freezer for 1 hour, or the refrigerator for 4 hours before servings
6. Chocolate Lasagna! Thanks to centercutcook.com

LEMON SQUARES

I also made some Lemon Squares. I had gotten this recipe from Sandy after eating them last week at the pool. They were so easy and yummy as well. I think I may add more lemon next time though. I like the tart lemon taste!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups of All Purpose Flour, divided

2 cups of sugar, divided

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Juice of 2 lemons

powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Whisk together 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Work softened butter into dough just until combined. Press the dough evenly into the greased 9x13 baking dish.

3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until dough is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

4. Combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of flour in a medium bowl, Whisk in eggs and lemon juice until smooth. Pour mixture over crust. Bake 20-25 minutes just until filling is set. Topping will firm up as bars cool. Cool completely.

5. Dust with powdered sugar, cut into 2-inch squares. Store in refrigerator up tp 3 days.

Easy 1 dish dinner

So I found this recipe on Pinterest, but the person who pinned it did not link it to a blog or anything just a picture with the directions and I thought sounds super simple not to try. So this is what I made. It was good, but the second time I made it I used a bag of frozen broccoli and it was the BOMB!! So good. We definitely recommend the broccoli. This is a weekly staple almost in our house

Before putting it in the oven with green beans

4-6 raw chicken breasts, new potatoes, green beans (fresh or canned-really any green veggie would work. Broccoli is our fav). Arrange in 9x13 dish. Sprinkle with a packet of Italian dressing mix and then top with a melted stick of butter. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Cooked and with broccoli

Seriously? Quick, Delish and One Dish

Honey Bun Cake

 If you love cinnamon and melt in your mouth cake, you will love this coffee cake.  This is made with a box of yellow cake mix and couldn't be any easier.  You could serve this cake as a coffee cake for breakfast, or as a dessert with a big scoop of ice cream.  Either way, you can't go wrong.  Yum!

1 package plain yellow cake mix
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs

1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon or pumpkin spice

2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly spray a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, sour cream, oil and eggs on low speed of an electric mixer for 1 minute.  Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more.  Pour into prepared pan.

Drizzle honey on top of batter, then sprinkle on the brown sugar and cinnamon or pumpkin spice.  With a knife, swirl topping to blend.

Bake 38-40 minutes.  Whisk together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.  Pour over warm cake.  Allow cake to cool at least 20 minutes before cutting. 
Thanks to plainchicken.com for this fabulously de-lish recipe

Mock Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster

See how yummy they look!!

I am still not 100% convinced they taste exactly the same, but they are a close second for sure and very yummy!!

2 cups Bisquick baking mix

2/3 cups milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 

1 tsp Garlic Powder

Mix all ingredients just until mixed (over mixing will cause tough biscuits)

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown

Topping:

1/2 stick butter melted

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix and brush on top of biscuits when they come out of the oven!

Enjoy!

Best Ever Buckeye Brownies

Gooseberry Patch's Buckeye Brownies. A "must-have" recipe. This will be your favorite "go-to" for any potluck, family get-together or holiday party. I promise!! They were a HUGE hit at our Christmas party. Grab a glass of milk and enjoy!! Thanks to an office potluck at Gooseberry Patch this recipe is here for us all to drool over! Gooseberry Patch shared it on their Facebook page!  They kindly shared the recipe from their, Almost Homemade cookbook.

Buckeye Brownies

19-1/2 oz. pkg. brownie mix I used Duncan Hines Double Fudge
2 c. powdered sugar 
1/2 c. plus 6 Tablespoons butter, softened and divided 
8-oz. jar creamy peanut butter 
6-oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Prepare and bake brownie mix in a greased 13"x9" baking pan according to package directions. Let cool. Mix powdered sugar, 1/2 cup butter and peanut butter. Mix well and spread over cooled brownies. The recipe said "Chill for one hour" but I didn't have an hour so I did about 25 mins and it was fine. Melt together chocolate chips and remaining butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Spread over brownies. Let cool about 15-20 mins, cut into squares. 
Makes 2+ dozen, since you cut them pretty small because of the richness.
ENJOY!!!

Thanks to cafescrapper-scrapsoflife.blogspot.com for this recipe.

Non traditional Thanksgiving

We did have a traditional Thanksgiving with my side of the family and I did not cook anything. My wonderful soul cooking Aunt Faye did and it was amazing!! On Friday night we got together with Casey's side of the family to watch the Arkansas vs. LSU game, family tradition. So since we had all eaten traditional food we decided to go casual and go more with tailgate kind of food. I made a pot of soup, chili cheese dip, chocolate cobbler and pumpkin dump cake. See, non-traditional. I wanted to share the recipes for the chili cheese dip and the pumpkin dump cake. I have previously shared the Bacon, Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup before, but I will post it on the bottom of this post as well.  Both of these recipes were Pinterest inspired!!

Chili Cheese Queso Dip

Here's what you'll need....
1 can of Hormel chili- No beans
16-ounce box Velveeta Cheese 
1 C. milk 
2 teaspoons paprika 
½ tsp. ground cayenne pepper 
4 tsp. chili powder 
1 tablespoon lime juice 
½ tsp. ground cumin

It's so simple. You can just dump it all in a crockpot and cook for about 4-6 hours OR if you are in a rush like me, just dump it all in large pot and melt on the stove top. It was a quick and easy hit.

                          For Dessert....Pumpkin Dump Cake

Ingredients

• 1 15 oz can Pumpkin Puree
• 1 10 oz can Evaporated Milk
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter melted
• 1 cup coarsely crushed graham crackers or pecans
• 1/2 cup toffee bits (optional)

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Spray a 9×13 baking pan lightly with cooking/baking spray
3. In a large bowl combine the pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, eggs and pumpkin pie spice. Stir to combine.
4. Pour into your prepared pan.
5. Sprinkle your entire box of cake mix on top, followed by your nuts or graham crackers and toffee chips.
6. Pour your melted butter evenly on top.
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes until center is set and edges are lightly browned.

For an extra richness eat it with vanilla ice cream!! :)))

Bacon, mushroom and wild rice soup: This recipe is from my friend Lori :)

1 lb. bacon fried and crumbled

1 lg. onion sautéed in bacon drippings (optional)

2 c. wild rice, cooked

2 cans cream of potato soup

2 cans (lg.) mushrooms & juice

8 oz. american deli slices

1 pt. ½ & ½

1 pt. water

Mix all ingredients except cheese; heat thoroughly & slowly. Add cheese last.