Cheddar Bacon Dip

Cheddar Bacon Dip

2 C Sour Cream

1 C Shredded Cheddar Cheese

3 oz. Bacon Pieces (in bag)

1 Packet Spicy Ranch Dressing Mix

Mix all of the ingredients together and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Serve with potato chips.

Where do I even begin? Pinterest is EVIL. This is another recipe I tried for tailgating last weekend. It was amazing. I kid you not. The picture does not do it justice. I used the spicy ranch packet to add more of a kick, but a regular packet would be yummy as well. It was a perfect dip because it does not need to be heated. Plus, it can be made a day ahead. Not to mention that you simply mix all the ingredients together. How easy is that? I would also use the finely shredded cheese, but that's a weird personal preference. It was a big hit with my friends and I was craving it the following days. It was served with plain Ruffles potato chips. Other sites suggested veggies. I would use any leftover dip to put over a baked potato, but chances are there will be none left. I will be making it for our last tailgate of the season, but this time I will be doubling the recipe. SOOOOOO good.

Pretzel Hugs

Pretzel Hugs:
1 Large Bag of Waffle Pretzels (the square kind)

1 Large Bag of Hershey's Hugs Candy

Spread the pretzels on a baking sheet lined with foil. Make sure the pretzels do not overlap. Unwrap and place a Hug candy on each pretzel. Place in the oven at 300 degrees for 2 minutes. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and let it sit for one minute. The Hug candy should be soft at this point, but not fully melted.

Place another pretzel on top of the candy and lightly press down. Once all of the sandwiches are formed place the tray in the fridge for roughly thirty minutes to cool.



This is another idea from Pinterest - I am an addict. I decided to try these for last week's tailgate. They can be served cold or at room temperature so it was perfect for being outdoors. These were really good and it only took around twenty minutes to make.. It was a prefect combination of salty and sweet. The directions are so simple and you only need two ingredients. Plus, you can transport these easily. I kept it classy and threw some in a ziplock bag. :) These would be perfect for any Holiday parties and they are kid friendly! A great choice for everyone.

Sliced Baked Potatoes

Sliced Baked Potatoes

A Baking Potato
Olive Oil
Butter
Seasoned Salt
Extra Toppings: Bacon Pieces, Cheese, etc.

Wash and dry the potato. Lay the potato on the flatter side. Using a knife, begin at one end of the potato and thinly slice. Take the knife almost to the base of the potato, but DO NOT cut completely through. Once completed, drizzle olive oil and seasoned salt over the potato and place a small amount of butter throughout the sliced potato. Add any extra toppings in between the slices. Bake the potato at 425 degrees for an hour or until done.

Again, I can thank Pinterest for this idea. It was a nice change from the standard baked potato. When we cook baked potatoes, we do not eat the skin and I always feel like a lot of the potato is wasted. J & I actually split a potato when I made this and it was a filling side. The potato slices are tender, but with a crispiness around the edge. We used seasoned salt, EVOO and butter. I would love to play around with it and add other toppings, but that was all I had on hand. Next time!

Three Layer Lasagna

Three Layer Lasagna

12 Lasagna Noodles

1 lb Ground Beef - cooked & drained
2 Jars of Sauce - Classico Four Cheese

15 oz. Ricotta Cheese
4 C Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1/2 C Grated Parmesan Cheese

2 Eggs - lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cook noodles according to package directions; drain and separate. In a large saucepan, combine cooked meat and 1 1/2 jars of marinara sauce, simmer 5 minutes. In a large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 3 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and eggs. Spray 13″ x 9″ baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 3/4 cup marinara sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Place 3-4 lasagna noodles over the bottom, slightly overlapping. Spread half of the cheese mixture over the noodles and cover with half of the meat sauce. Repeat layers. Cover last layer with remaining noodles and remaining marinara sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe was divine. I love pasta so anything with noodles and cheese tugs at my heart. One of the best things about lasagna is it makes so many leftovers AND you can freeze the leftovers as well. Perfect for days when you do not want to cook.

Dump Salad

Dump Salad

Head of Lettuce
1 Pint Grape Tomatoes
1/3C Onion - Chopped
1/3C Green Olives
Cavendars All Purpose Greek Seasoning


Dressing:
Lemon Pepper
Garlic Salt
Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar - very small amounts

Wash the lettuce and shred by hand. Cut the tomatoes and olives in half. Dice the onion. Mix ingredients together and sprinkle the desired amount of seasoning into the salad. Start out with about a teaspoon and slowly build the flavor. Add the olive oil and the red wine/balsamic vinegar. Toss with a large spoon and fork. Adjust as needed for flavor.
 
This salad is quick and easy to throw together. It is also very tasteful and goes great with an Italian dish and could probably be used with many recipes that are not classified as Italian.   

Antipesto Tray

Antipesto Tray
Boar's Head Mozzarella
Italian Pecorino-Romano
Salami
Prosciutto

Parmesan Bread Chips

There is nothing I love more than appetizers, especially appetizers with cheese. Keeping in line with the Italian Thanksgiving theme, our hostess had this delicious antipesto tray awaiting our arrival. You cannot go wrong with meat and cheese!

Sausage & Cheese Crescent Squares

Sausage & Cheese Crescent Squares
2 Cans (8 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls 
1 Lb Spicy Sausage
1 Package (8 oz) Cream Cheese
2 C Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Heat the oven to 375°F. Unroll 1 can of dough into 2 long rectangles. Place in ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish; press over bottom and 1/2 inch up sides to form crust.  Cook sausage over medium heat and discard drippings once it is cooked. Add the cream cheese and cook over low heat until melted. Spoon mixture evenly over crust in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Unroll second can of dough on work surface. Press to form 13x9-inch rectangle; firmly press perforations to seal. Carefully place over cheese. Bake 21 to 26 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 15 minutes. Cut into small squares and serve.

Okay. Where do I start? I was so excited about this recipe as it was the first one I have tried from Pinterest. I decided to use spicy sausage for a little kick and because I already had it in my freezer. I began to run behind schedule because I was watching crazy cat videos on You Tube - no lie. Because of the time constraint or because I have issues, it appeared that I did not have enough dough in the second can to roll out the top layer. Regardless, I thought the recipe was yummy and I would use regular cream cheese and dough sheets (or purchase another can of crescents). A friend of mine also made this and threw in some veggies to add a healthier aspect to it. My picture displays how it lacks in presentation, but I promise if you have enough time and concentrate on the recipe that it will look like it does on Pinterest. 

HHBC: Italian Thanksgiving

Last night was our second super club meeting of the Hungry Hungry Bia's Club. The theme was an Italian Thanksgiving and our wonderful hostess did a fabulous job with the decor, gifts and food. Plus, a few of us were able to jump into a Jersey costume. Poofs were everywhere!

An Italian Thanksgiving

Antipesto Tray
Three Layer Lasagna

Dump Salad

Sausage & Cheese Crescents

Tiramisu Cheesecake

Red Wine

The lovely table before dinner.

Our cute gift from our hostess - a wine stopper.

Hostess R shaking up the Italian Salad.

Jersey Shore DJ was in attendance.

And I have a poof the size of Snooki.

Check back in a few days for the recipes from the Italian Thanksgiving!

Crock Pot: BBQ Chicken

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

Chicken Breasts - skinless, boneless, uncooked

1 Bottle BBQ Sauce - I used a yellow mustard sauce 

1/2C Italian Salad Dressing

1/4C Brown Sugar

2T Worcestershire Sauce

Place the chicken in a slow cooker and cover with the remaining ingredients. Mix the ingredients and make sure the chicken is covered in the sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Wow. This was so simple and so good. I poured everything into the crock pot the night before and placed it in the fridge. In the morning, I simply turned it on low before heading to work. Very easy. By the time it was done cooking, the chicken began to shred on it's own. The sauce I used was spicy/tangy so it definitely had a kick to it. Perfect recipe to make BBQ chicken sandwiches for a tailgate. This recipe will absolutely be used again.

Toothpick Tricks

Sometime this past weekend my car was under attack and vandalized by toothpicks. Actually it may not have been this weekend; it could have been last week.

Confused? As was I when I got into my car on Sunday and saw this:

Let's rewind. If you have remotely spoken with me in the past 3 weeks then you have heard my constant complaining regarding my poor, little car that became violently ill Florida/Auburn weekend. As it turns out my car had a jacked up transmission.  And thus the car drama began. Basically J and I shared a car for two weeks while the transmission was rebuilt or something. On 3 different occasions during these two weeks the transmission person called and said the car was fixed. J would pick up the car, drive it a few miles and the check engine light would magically come back on as the car struggled to switch gears - or whatever. The whole situation is frustrating, but even more so because I believe all automobile businesses try to rip consumers off. Last Thursday, my car was returned and so far the check engine light has not lit up. Thank goodness.

A few days later, I got into the car and noticed the sketchy toothpicks in my visor. My visor has issues of staying up when not needed. In fact, it refuses to stay up and falls down ALL the time. Apparently, this annoyed a mechanic and they took their anger out by using MY toothpicks and stabbing the visor. Yup, they took the green little toothpics in my consul and ninja rigged the visor. I would not be so angry aside from the fact that their oily, dirty, little paws left grease on the toothpicks, no one gave them permission to fix the visor and lastly, no one gave them permission to stab a hole in my visor.

Visor pulled down.

Dirty, smudged toothpicks when the visor is up. 

What would have happened if I did not have a stash of toothpicks laying around?

And for your information, the visor is semi fixed. Instead of falling all the way down, it only falls about 25% of the way. Scandolous.

Apple & Pear Cobbler

Apple & Pear Cobbler

4 Fresh Pears - sliced

4 Fresh Apples - sliced

2T Cinnamon Powder

1T Nutmeg Powder

1C Sugar 

3/4C Butter - melted
1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

Mix the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar together with the sliced apples and pears. Place the pear and apple substance in a baking container and cover with the yellow cake mix. Pour the melted butter on top (make sure the top is coated w/ butter). Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

I personally have not made this, but I would. Such an easy recipe that seems to require minimal effort and a short baking time. My sister works at a hotel and this is a popular recipe served there. She emailed it over - however she has not tried it either because she doesn't eat apples, pears or cinnamon. She's an odd bird. :) As with any cobbler, I imagine ice cream would be a heavenly addition.

Homemade Apple Pie

Homemade Apple Pie

8 medium apples - 4 Granny Smith, 4 Courtland, Jonathan or another firm apple (You need about 8 cups)

Lemon Juice

3/4C Sugar

1/4C Brown Sugar

1/4 C Flour

2 t Cinnamon

1/4 t Nutmeg

Pre Made Crust

Pillsbury Dough

Butter

Peel the apples and cut them into slices or chunks. Put the apple slices in a large bowl and toss with the lemon juice. Mix the sugars, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a separate bowl. Add this mixture to the apples and toss well. Make sure the apples are completely coated. Fill the pie crust with the apple mixture. For the lattice crust, you can use the Pillsbury dough that you unroll and use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into strips. Place the strips vertically and horizontally across the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Check the crust to make sure it is not burning -if it is than place aluminum foil on it. Ten minutes before it is done, brush the crust with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Serve hot with ice cream.

This was our dessert from the October HHBC. It was SO delicious and even better with vanilla ice cream on top. A wonderful festive dessert for the fall season.