Dip Night-Guacamole!

Guacamole is seriously one of my favorite yummy treats!!!!! I love to try different recipes-there are quite a few out there. This one is my favorite!

Guacamole
Source: Sylva Lamont

4 ripe Hass avacados
3 TBS fresh lemon juice
8 dashes of Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup small diced red onion (I prefer to use white onion. I'm not a huge fan of the red onion flavor)
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 med tomato, seeded, chopped up

Dice avacados, immediately add lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, onion, and garlic. Toss well. Add tomatoes and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. (I like to make this a few hours before we are going to eat it to let the juices and flavors mix as it sits. So yummy!)

Cafe Rio Salad Dressing

I know this is not exactly what you get at Cafe Rio-but its pretty close. I wanted to make it so I just googled it and found TONS of recipes! Lots to choose from but they are all very similar anyway. Here is the one I used:

Cafe Rio Salad Dressing
Source: Kara's Kitchen Creations

1 cup mayo
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 bunch of cilantro with stems chopped off
1/2 to 1 small jalapeno (I took the seeds out. If you like it really spicy you can leave them in)
1 tsp lime juice
1-2 tomatillos (remove outer papery skin and cut up)
1 clove of garlic
Blend all ingredients together and enjoy!

Some Soup For You!

A yummy soup to warm away the winter blues!

Tortellini Soup
Source: thecooknextdoor.blogspot.com

1 pound mild Italian sausage

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup water

4 cups beef broth or 2 cans

1/2 cup apple juice

3 carrots, sliced

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon oregano

1 cup sliced zucchini

1 cup sliced yellow squash

4 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

8 ounces cheese tortellini ( I add more)

fresh grated Parmesan cheese

In large soup pan, brown sausage. Drain fat and add chopped onion and garlic and cook until tender. Add water, broth, apple juice, carrots, tomatoes, basil, oregano, zucchini, squash and parsley. Simmer for 30 minutes or longer. Add tortellini 5 to 10 minutes before serving (time depends on if you are using fresh or frozen) and cook until tender, but not soggy. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over each serving.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

This was a hit!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

1 jar (9 to 10 oz) sweet and sour sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 Tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
3 lbs frozen meatballs
1 medium red bell pepper, cubed
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks, drained

Place all ingredients in slow cooker, stir. Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or high for 4 to 5 hours. Serve over rice.

Tamale Pie

Talk about delicious!!!

Tamale Pie
Source: Smiths My Magazine

Tamale Filling
2 Tbs canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeds removed and minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs cumin
1 15 oz can black beans
3 cups shredded chicken
1 14 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes, drained
4 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded
2 Tbs fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Topping (feel free to use a boxed cornbread mix to top the pie if you are running short on time)
1 cup cornmeal
1\2 cup flour
1 Tbs sugar
3\4 tsp baking powder
3\4 tsp baking soda
3\4 tsp salt
3\4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten
3 Tbs canola oil
Sour cream for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Warm the oil over medium-high heat in a 12-inch cast iron or other oven-proof skillet. Add the onion, jalapeno, garlic, and cumin, and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften and the garlic is fragrant, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the beans, cooked chicken and tomatoes, and simmer for about 5 minutes.

To make the topping whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk buttermilk, egg, and canola oil until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and whisk gently until just combined.

Stir the cheese and cilantro into the mixture in the skillet, and drop the cornbread batter across the top, smoothing with an offset spatula for an even crust. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, until slightly golden brown and toothpick inserted into the crust comes out clean. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

*I do not have a oven proof skillet so I attempted to make this in a pie dish. Bad idea. Totally overflowed. After I had the thought that i could probably have put it in a bigger rectangle baking dish. Just a thought if you dont have an oven proof skillet.

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.)