Dip Night

So Evan and I decided to start a new tradition: Dip night! As I'm sure most of you that have kids know, the social life takes a turn down a completely different street when the little ones join the fam. We find ourselves home on the couch most weekends. Which is not bad, but since that is pretty much how things are going to be for the next 25 years or so, we decided that we wanted to start a tradition, just to spice things up a little bit! So from now on Saturday night is dip night! Every Saturday night we will have a new yummy dip and be able to enjoy it while we are also enjoying each others company. I love cooking and trying new things and Evan loves eating what I cook, so it works out pretty well. Anyway, it may not happen every single Saturday night because I'm hoping once in awhile we might get to go out on a date or something of the sort, but you can count on seeing a new dip recipe on here pretty regularly! So "dip" in and enjoy!

Here are the two we have done so far:

Warm Blue Cheese Dip
Source: Taste of Home.com

8 slices of hickory-smoked bacon, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
4 oz crumbled blue cheese
2 tbs chopped fresh chives
2 tbs chopped almonds (I think this is optional-I didn't do it and don't think it compromised the recipe)
Chips, crackers, trimmed fresh veggies, or sliced baguette for serving

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In nonstick skillet, cook bacon over medium-high heat about 8 minutes or until nearly crisp. Drain bacon and wipe skillet dry.
3. Return bacon to pan, add garlic, and cook over medium heat until bacon is crisp, about 3 minutes. Make sure garlic doesn't burn. Drain on paper towels.
4. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese in bowl until smooth. Add cream, beat well to mix. Fold in bacon, garlic, blue cheese, and chives.
5. Transfer to 2-cup baking dish, top evenly with almonds. Bake about 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve when warm.


Spinach Artichoke Dip
Source: 365daysofcrockpot.blogspot.com

1 can (14 oz) quartered artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 box (9 oz) frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed to drain
1 cup shredded swiss cheese (4 oz)
½ cup alfredo pasta sauce
½ cup mayo
¾ tsp garlic salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 loaf baguette French bread, cut into 40 slices (I bought a little bag of already slice baguettes)

1. in 1-11/2 quart slow cooker, mix all ingredients except bread.
2. Cover; cook on low heat setting 2-4 horus. Serve dip with sliced bread.

Crock Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu

MMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDD!!!!!! There are no words for the yumminess of this dish! IT WAS SO DELICIOUS!!!!! Oh so so so so so good! Okay, enough of that, let's give you guys the recipe already! (Another fab from 365 Days of Slow Cooking!)


Chicken Cordon Bleu

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I didn't use that many-too much for us)

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp white pepper (I just used black pepper)

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

8 thin slices boiled ham

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 (16 oz) bag baby carrots

1 (16 oz) jar Alfredo sauce

1 (10 oz) can cream of chicken soup

2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and thyme. Wrap a slice of ham around each breast and secure with toothpicks.

2. Place onion, garlic, and carrots in a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker. Top with wrapped chicken breasts.
(I didn't use the carrots and onions. We had veggies on the side instead. I think it would be fine either way. I did use the garlic and just mixed it into the sauce.)

3. In medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Pour into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Serve chicken and carrots with sauce.(I didn't do this at the time but we thought that it would be great served over rice.)

Easy Beef Stew

Okay, I am not usually a beef stew fan but we had some veggies we needed to use and we had the meat so I figured why not. Surprisingly, it tasted great! Chad even gobbled it right up! I didn't really use a recipe but here is what I did:

Easy Beef Stew

1 Beef Stew Seasoning Packet
3 cups of water
1-2 lbs of stewed beef (I actually used cubed steaks then after they were cooked a while I cut them up. you could also use a roast and shred it after it is cooked)
4-5 cups of your choice of veggies (I used carrots, celery, and onions)

Coat meat in flour and then brown in a skillet. Put all ingredients in crock pot, and cook until done (I think I put mine on low for probably six hours).

Hope it works for you!

Garlic Lime Chicken

Mmmmm, mmmmm, good!
Another recipe from 365 Days of Slow Cooking-there are some goodies there!

Garlic Lime Chicken

5 chicken breast halves (I actually just used two whole chicken breasts)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4-1/3 cup lime juice, according to your taste preference (I like alot of lime taste-I used 1/4 cup and it seemed quite enough for me. But this could also depend on whether you squeeze a fresh lime or just the lime juice you buy already juiced-fresh is definitely stronger)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced or 1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cover. Cook on high 4-6 hours or on low 6-8 hours

*I served this over rice. So great. Enjoy!

Creamy Corn Chowder

Right now I am into hot foods and crock pot foods. Easy and so nice to eat something warm in this coldness!!

I got this recipe for Creamy Corn Chowder off the fabulous blog 365 Days of Slow Cooking. It's a great blog with lots and lots of fun recipes. I made a few teensy modifications, just because I found the recipe a little bit confusing so I made it easier to read for myself. Enjoy!

Creamy Corn Chowder
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 in. pieces (uncooked)
1 11 oz. can whole kernel corn w/ sweet peppers, drained (also called "Mexicorn")
1 can condensed cream potato soup
1 4 oz. can diced green chile peppers
2 TBSP snipped fresh cilantro (I decided this was optional-I'm not a huge cilantro fan so I didn't put it in and I think it was fine without it)
1 1.25 oz envelope taco seasoning mix
1 can chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
4 oz. pkg. cheese spread w/ jalapeno peppers, cubed (I just used plain cream cheese)
1 can black beans (this was optional but I included them and I wouldn't want to do it without)

Combine chicken, corn, soup, undrained chile peppers, cilantro, taco seasoning, and (if you want) black beans. Stir in chicken broth. Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 5-6 hours. Stir sour cream and cheese into the mixture in cooker; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until combined.

*I didn't have any at the time but we thought it might be yummy served with some tortilla chips or even rice!

Spicy Two Bean Chili

Oh my gosh! If you are a chili fan you will LOVE this! It was so so yummy! It makes alot-I just made it for my husband and I and there was ALOT leftover so plan accordingly. If its just a few of you, you might want to half the recipe.

Spicy Two Bean Chili
Source: Taste of Home Magazine

2 lbs ground beef
1 large onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans (10 oz each) diced tomatoes with green chilis, undrained
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
1 can (8oz) tomato sauce
1/2 cup lime juice
6 Tbs cornmeal
1/4 cup chili powder
4 tsp dried oregano
3 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp pepper
hot cooked rice
shredded cheddar cheese


Brown meat with onions and garlic, then drain. Transfer to crock pot. Stir in the beans, tomatoes, broth, lime juice, cornmeal, and seasonings. Cover and cook on low for 8 hrs or until heated through. Serve with rice, sprinkle with cheese.

A Resurrection of Sorts

So I have decided to resurrect this cooking blog! It kinda failed the first time I tried it, but I think I'm ready to give it another go-around. My goal this time: At least one new recipe a week in 2010!

I am hoping to start a labeling/rating system of some sort but that may take me a little while. Please bare with me and enjoy what I can come up with!