Buffalo Chicken Hot Wing Dip

Super Bowl is fast approaching, are you ready for some Football?

  I don’t know about you, but I am most looking forward to the snacks.  {tee-hee} What can I say, I told you I was a Foodie!  🙂  I used to look forward to the commercials too, but so many of them have gotten so trashy, it’s ruined it!

    Attention Hot Wing fans, this is the dip for YOU!  It is sure to be a hit at your Super Bowl party this weekend!  There are many, many varities of this dip floating around in the Foodie Blogosphere, but this one is our favorite as we don’t care for Blue Cheese!

(click title for easy printable version)

Ingredients

• 4 whole Chicken Breasts, Boiled, Drained And Shredded
• 12 ounces, fluid Frank’s Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce (do NOT Substitute, this is sooo good!)
• 2 blocks (8 Oz. Block) Cream Cheese
• 16 ounces, fluid Ranch Dressing
• ½ cups Chopped Celery
• 8 ounces, weight Shredded Monterey Jack, Sharp Cheddar Cheese Or A Combination Thereof

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a 13x9x2 inch baking pan, combine the shredded chicken meat with the Frank’s hot sauce, spreading to form an even layer.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream cheese with the Ranch dressing, stirring till smooth and hot. Pour this mixture evenly over the chicken mixture to form a second layer.

Sprinkle celery over top. Bake covered for 20 minutes, then sprinkle cheese over top and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes till hot and bubbly. (You don’t want the top to get browned or it will be hard. )

Let stand 10 minutes before serving with sturdy dipping chips. Dig in!

~T

Shared with:

Gooseberry Patch

Required: Nap Time & Quiet Time

Hallelujah for Quiet Time every afternoon!!!!  I seriously don’t know what I would do without it.  I get my emails answered, make necessary phone calls, do a photo project, write a blog, start supper or even read sometimes!!!

   As a mom of 4, I have stopped feeling guilty about taking that time and am embracing it as OK and necessary for my Mommy Morale.  We are all refreshed and ready t0 play again after quiet time, Mommy included!

Even Saprina and Sophie take naps in the afternoon. I think they like the quiet time too!  🙂

   We chose to do this from 12:30-2:30, so that most of the time, everyone is awake by the time we need to load up to get big sis from school.

   On weekends, Destiny is required to lay down and read for an hour.  We want our kids to love to read, plus this helps her meet her Book-It requirements for the month, and keeps her quiet while the others rest.

Tylan is almost 5 and rarely falls asleep anymore, but he still has to pick a spot and rest and looks at books.  Sometimes it’s on the couch, across the foot of my bed, or under a chair.  As long as he rests and reads, I am not picky on location!  🙂  He is required to lay 1 hour and then play quietly with cars the second hour until the other children wake up.  During the first hour, if he comes out of his spot, I add 5 minutes to his reading time.

 At 16 months old, Paxton still takes 2 naps a day. The key for him, is to only let him have an hour-long nap in the morning, so he’ll still go down at 12:30.  I have to really watch my time because that hour goes fast!  

  There is a natural transition that we seen happen at our house from baby with two naps, to toddler with one nap…..

 

  When we start to notice that our morning nappers are fighting their afternoon nap, we cut down the 2 hour morning nap.  We do this until we find the right mix that still allows for a good afternoon nap:  From 2 hours to an hour and a half, then an hour, then eventually 45 minutes, watching carefully which time frame still allows for a 2 hour afternoon nap. 

  Tylan kept his morning nap for a long time as a toddler, even just a 20 minute power nap helped us get through morning fussy time.  It was perfect because it didn’t mess up afternoon nap schedule.

He’s not a toddler in this photo, but I liked this one.  🙂

  Then there is little Miss Avery….who has decided she no longer needs naps every day. 

That’s because she is so angelic…..

NOT!

  She really does still need quite time or Crabitha comes out!!

  When I was a mommy of 1, and Destiny was Avery’s age and transitioning out of afternoon naps, I fought tooth and nail to keep her sleeping every day.  (She was a bear if she didn’t!)  Being a mom of 4 has helped me to be a bit more laid back about this transition, so here are the rules:

~Avery may read books until she falls asleep.

~She may not come out of her room until I give her permission.

~Is she sleeps, she gets to stay up with the big kids.  If she doesn’t she has to be the first one in bed. (WHICH SHE HATES!)

When I was making her lay there and try to sleep, she was not taking a nap at all anymore!

  Now that I let her read, sleep is sneaking up on her, and she is napping 8 out of 10 times, then coming out cheerful and ready to play.

  SCORE!

If you are looking to schedule your baby, which turns into scheduled toddlers and good sleepers, make sure you check out Baby Wise! We swear by it!

  I had 2 Baby Wise babies, and 2 not:

~ Destiny slept all night long at 5 weeks, we scheduled her from the first day home from the hospital on. 

~Tylan nursed every hour and a half, so I was unable to schedule him like I wanted until later, he slept all night at 5 months. 

~Avery came into our family 17 months after Ty,  I was exhausted and did not even try to schedule.  She did not sleep all night until 9 months!!!!!!  (I really thought I was going to die from lack of sleep! Seriously!) 

~Then Pax came along and I was bound and determined to schedule him based on how tired I was with Avery’s non-schedule. Guess who slept all night at 7 weeks? Yup! My scheduled eat-play-sleep baby.  LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

 I know it’s not for everyone, but I love schedules and anything that makes me feel organized, so this fits my style of parenting to a “T”!

Uh-oh, quiet time is over, and everyone is waking up, gotta run!

~T

Austrian Cream Cheese Bars

   I got an amazing cookbook for Christmas and I am super excited to start working through my 2 page list of recipes I want to try, but as always, I must pace myself, or our 2 fridges tend to get a BIT full! 🙂

  I wanted to make something fun over the weekend, and I had everything on hand to make these Austrian Cream Cheese bars.  What I didn’t count on, was my house erupting into mass chaos right as I began.  (How DOES that happen?)  Anywho, long story short, I made a ROOKIE MISTAKE!

A BIG Rookie mistake!

  I was reading über fast trying to get it in the oven so I could move on to supper prep and the errand we were going to run as a family, and I quickly glanced at the ingredient list, layed everything out and began dumping.  And…..

 Idumpedthebrownsugarinforthewhiteandthewhiteforthebrown.

  Oh what?! You didn’t hear what I said?

Sorry.

{SIGH}

I dumped the brown sugar in where the white belonged, and the white sugar where the brown belonged.

RRR, I was super ticked, but rather than waste all that butter, I rolled with it.  Needless to say, the crust was a bit chewy and the cream cheese layer had a different kick to it, but what I will tell you, is made CORRECTLY, these have the potential of being FANTASTIC!

  Don’t tell my Sunday School Class, but they were supposed to get a Breakfast Cake with their Eggs Benedict Casserole Sunday morning.  Instead, they got Austrian Cream Cheese Bars because I didn’t want a whole pan of them left at my house for me to eat on all week.  LOL 🙂   {They didn’t seem to mind.}

(From Recipes & Recollections of the Better Baker)

(click recipe title for easy printable)

• 1-½ cup Flour
• 1 cup Packed Brown Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Cinnamon
• ⅔ cups Butter, Softened
• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
• ¾ cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 2 whole Eggs
• 12 ounces, weight Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• ¾ cups Chopped Walnuts Or Pecans

For the Crust: In your mixing bowl, whip butter, add flour, brown sugar, & cinnamon. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed or until crumbly. Press mixture into an un-greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 12 minutes at 350*. Remove.
Topping: In clean mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth, add in white sugar, flour and eggs. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Pour over crust and return to oven for 20 minutes, or until topping is almost set. Remove pan from oven long enough to sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top, return to oven 1 more minute to soften chocolate chips. Pull pan from oven, and carefully spread melted chips over the whole top. Sprinkle with nuts and press lightly. Refrigerate 1 hour before cutting into bars.

So rich and good!

Thanks for another great recipe, Mrs. Baker!

~T

Head to Post 2 for today: “Required: Nap Time & Quiet Time”.

Butterfinger Whoopie Pies

  When I saw these Butterfinger Whoopie Pies that Jocelyn shared with us at Foodie Friday, now called Weekend Potluck, I just KNEW I had to make them ASAP.  Lucky me, I just so happened to have every single ingredient necessary! SCORE!!!!!! 

Her photo is WAAAY better than mine, so if there is any doubt about wanting to make these based on appearance, you’re going to want to go check her’s out instead! 

From Inside BruCrew Life

1 white cake mix

1 stick butter, melted

1 egg

1 c. crushed butterfingers (10 snack size)

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix ingredients in a mixing bowl for about 2 minutes. Form into 1 inch balls and place on a non stick baking sheet. Bake 9 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes then remove to your wax paper lined counter to cool completely. Fill with Peanut Butter Butterfinger Butter Cream. Enjoy.

Peanut Butter Butterfinger Butter Cream

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/4 c. shortening

1/2 c. peanut butter

1 Tbsp. honey

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 Tbsp. water

3 c. powdered sugar

3/4 c. crushed butterfingers (6 snack size)

Cream butter, shortening, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add in honey, vanilla, and water and beat again. Slowly add powdered sugar until all is incorporated. Beat in the crushed butterfingers.

Y-U-M!

Thanks for an AMAZING recipe, Jocelyn!

I sent some to school for Destiny’s teacher and she asked for the recipe, I always take that as the sign of a “keeper recipe”!   🙂

~T

Oven Chili Dogs

  As you know, I started playing The Grocery Game this summer after 9 years of once a month “Go Big & Go Home“ grocery shopping.  We switched gears in an attempt to cut our food budget back, and it’s working! Last week I saved $100!!!!!  BUT, there is a catch to this Grocery Game madness…….

 I’ve had to learn to menu plan just OPPOSITE of what I used to!

  In the olden days, I’d go through all my recipes and pick out whatever my heart desired that month, and then we’d go get the groceries. 

  Now, with the Grocery Game, I buy whatever is on sale and I have coupons for, THEN I make my menu based on what’s waiting for me in my pantry.

  Last month, Hormel Chili Masters went on sale and I had a coupon, so I picked up 2 cans, nervous that it might be gross.  Now, we don’t usually eat canned chili, it’s so easy to make your own, but I figured I would find SOMETHING to make with them, and I did! 

THESE! 

 {warning: ugly food photo alert!}

  Now I wish I had gotten MORE Chili Masters while it was cheap, because we will be making this again!  No worries, they will come back through the sale cycle again, and I will be ready next time! 🙂

{click title to print}

Adapted from In the Wabe

I am putting 2 photos because Dale and I couldn’t agree on which one was LESS ugly.  I’m telling you, people……Some food is just UGLY.  Yummy, but ugly.

So I give you:  2 Ugly photos for the price of 1.

Yipee-skipee.

Please, try to contain your excitement.

#1

#2

  Trust me, no matter how ugly it appears, this was actually a really yummy supper!!! It was the perfect way to use the Hot dogs and Chili I had just got on sale at Dillons, and it came together SO quickly!  A WIN-WIN all the way! 

(Click on the title above to be taken to Tasty Kitchen for an easy printable version.)

Ingredients

• 8 whole Hot Dogs
• 8 whole Wheat Hot Dog Buns
• 2 15 oz. cans Hormel Chili Masters  {Or leftover homemade Chili is awesome here}
• ½ whole Onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups Cheddar Cheese
• Mayo, Mustard And Sweet Relish

Spread mayo on the inside of each hot dog bun. Add sweet relish and a stripe of yellow mustard. Fill with hot dogs and tightly squeeze them all in a 9×13 pan, I did 6 down one side and 2 along the edge.
Top hot dogs with chili, cheese and diced onion. Cover and bake at 350* for 45 minutes.
Enjoy!  They are SOOOO good!

 Welp, I did it.  I blogged Macaroni and hot dogs all in the same week.

 {hanging head in shame}

  I am pretty Anti- “Kid food” (read that: mac n chz, hot dogs, pb&j, spaghetti-o’s, freezer pizza, chicken nuggets & fish sticks) because when I used to babysit, it seemed that was all I ate, due to the limited palate of 2 and 3 year olds.  My goal has been to avoid canned meats and boxed foods as much as possible, as well as exposing my kids to all SORTS of different tastes, so they can’t be picky eaters. 

Guess this week is proof, that you gotta do what you gotta do!  And every once in a while, “kid food” tastes good. 

PB & J anyone?  🙂

~T

UPDATED PHOTO as of 9/30/2012

Still not gorgeous, but better! 🙂

Mac & Cheese Lasagna

So we have established I am anti-cardboard food, right?!  No boxed meals!  WELLLLLL, the other day I was running SUPER DUPER late. I had been gone all day long and needed to feed my starving family, and quick! 

  Here is what I made after finding a recipe that used BOXED Mac & Cheese, which I just happened to have 2 of…{GASP!}

No judgments, desperate times call for desperate measures!!!!

(click title for easy printable)

• 2 boxes (7.25 Oz. Box) Kraft Mac & Cheese
• Additional Required Ingredients Specified In The Mac & Cheese Package (typically Milk And Butter Or Margarine)
• 1 pound Hamburger, Seasoned To Taste
• 1 jar (24 Oz. Jar) Spaghetti Sauce
• 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese, To Sprinkle On Top

Heat oven to 350ºF. Prepare boxed macaroni according to package instructions (you’ll typically need milk and butter or margarine as directed in the package). Brown/drain hamburger. Spoon half the macaroni into a lightly greased 9×13 glass dish. Top with layers of half of each: sauce, meat and shredded cheese. Repeat layers, then sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake 20 minutes.

Serve with some fresh broccoli, steamed, a HUGE green salad, or something equally healthy to make yourself feel better about serving your kids boxed Mac & Cheese. This is delish, I bet even your hubby will like it! 

~T

4 little Ferguson Photography: Sweet Baby Maggie Beth

  This is sweet baby Maggie Beth:

She turns one today!

  Her parents asked me to photograph her 1st birthday party, a huge shin-dig with nearly 100 people! (so I was told, don’t have the official head count)

  Her parents brought her over to my house the next day for a photo session, things started out great!

Then, the mean ol’ Rooster crowed and scared her silly!

Poor baby. (but what a CUTE cry face!)

We spent the better part of the next half hour trying to console the poor dear.  Thankfully we still got some shots.  You know those moments just make you sweat as a parent, but I kept reassuring them that this was totally the story of my life and not to worry!

I heard a Rooster, I just know it!

 

Maggie Beth’s favorite part?  When her momma let her sit in the dirt pile.

  Happy 1st Birthday, sweet baby girl!

~T

Head over to Post 2 today for Mac & Cheese Lasagna.

Brownie Surprise

 

  Let’s say you came over to my house for coffee and brownies.  Yay! Talk time!

  Let’s say you were just getting ready to sink your teeth into this delicious looking, gooey brownie, when I oh-so casually mention that there is only a teeny tiny itsy-bitsy bit of Poop in them.

What?

It’s just a teeny bit of poop.

You wouldn’t still eat them?  Not even one bite?

Yeah, me neither. 

 Gross.

  How is it then, that we’ll watch a movie with just a “Little bit” of swearing in it, or a “Little bit” of blood shed, or “just a little” casual sex or what have you?

  Satan is on the prowl people, like a lion.  (I Peter 5:8) His attacks are not always LOUD, they can be as quiet as a whispered negative thought in your ear.  He lulls us to sleep with his sweet lies, as he slowly turns up the heat.  He seeks to destroy us, it’s his one mission in life.  He sneakily blurs the lines on our boundaries until we no longer realize when they have been crossed, then suddenly, the pot is boiling and we are getting burned, big time.  At this victory, he throws his head back and screams with laughter.  Success.

Proverbs 16:25 “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”

  The door to your home can be opened to the devil by a single magazine, chapter book, commercial or TV show.  A little bit of promiscuity, a little bit of sorcery or witch craft, a little bit of sex before marriage, just a few, blood sucking, back-from-the-dead vampire scenes, just a few times of using the Lord’s name in vain, just a couple homosexual kisses.

All blatantly going against what the infallible word of God teaches.

  So really, is there such a thing as “Just a little bit of poop”?

Nope.

James 1:2 “So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls.”

Hebrews 12:1b & 2, “….let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.”

  Run the race,  keep your eyes on Jesus, and keep these kinds of Brownies out of your home, head, heart and mouth, even if they contain “just a little bit of poop”.

Blessings,

~T

P.S.  For the actual recipe for the Brownies picture above, “Surprise” free of course, click here:

Ooey Gooey Peanut Buttery Brownies.

Vanilla Crumb Pie

 This is post 2 for today, head back a post for some Egg-citing news!

 

  This pie is really simple, has simple flavors and reminds me of a mix between Custard, Snickerdoodles and sugar cookies.  In other words…..SO SO good!

  First, make Easy Push Crust:

Easy Push Crust

(click title to print)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chilled Crisco (butter flavored is best)

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup cold water

1 T. milk for basting (only when fully cooking crust)

Combine flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut shortening into flour. Sprinkle with water. Form into ball, divide in 2. Flatten each to fit your pie pans, all the way to the edges. Crimp with fingertips to make pretty.  Prick with a fork before baking.  Baste with milk if fully baking.  Makes 2 crusts.

  I baked this at 425* for 10 minutes to just firm it up a bit before I put liquidy pie filling in it.  This is called Par-baking and will help the crust from getting soggy.    (Now, if you were using this crust for say Peanut Butter Pie, you’d want to baste it and fully bake it at 425* for 15 minutes, and then cool completely before filling.  Make sense?) 

• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 cups Water
• 2 Tablespoons Flour, Heaping
• 1 cup Corn Syrup
• Pinch Of Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla

Crumbs For Top:

• 2 cups Flour
• 1 cup room temperature Butter
• ½ cups Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Soda
• 1 teaspoon Cream Of Tartar

First, make Easy Push Crust, listed above.

Mix together and bring to a boil first 6 ingredients.
Remove from heat and cool mixture.
Add 1 T. Vanilla and 2 eggs.

Mix crumb ingredients and divide between the 2 pies evenly. Bake at 350* for 20-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  Serve warm.
Makes two pies.

Happy Baking!  This simple push crust and pie recipe will make you feel like Susie Homemaker in NO TIME at all!  It really is simple!

~T

Egg-citing!

    Exciting news!  We were just given some more chickens!  YAY!  We now have 8 Silky Bantams, 5 Austrolorps, 14 Red ones whose name I don’t know.

  The white Chicken House is full, so these new girls reside in the second chicken coop, located in the back of this ugly, I mean spare garage. 

  AGAIN, I say Thank you Lord, that I didn’t continue to push for Dale to bulldoze all those “Untidy” outbuildings.  We have put them to good choose for chicken homes AND photography now!

   Another blessing has been having a few extra dozen eggs to sell! That $10 or so a month goes to the “Fun Money” envelope, and when the kids have earned an ice cream cone reward or momma needs to run errands straight through the noon hour, we use that money for lunch. 

  Not to mention the blessing of Farm fresh eggs to enjoy, they just taste plain AMAZING! I have never seen such golden yellow yolks in my life.  Guess it’s because our girls get to roam around and eat those good bugs all day.

  We are thinking about selling 2 of the male silkies. Any takers? They are so stinkin’ cute!  When we let them out of the coop each morning, they run over until they are standing RIGHT in front of the ladies, feathers all puffed up, and proceed to show off by scratching the dirt right in front of them.

Typical male behavior if I’ve ever seen it!

Dale says he doesn’t know what I am talking about:

“Men don’t puff up for the ladies….”

“Oh, why hello there Tonya.”

“The Chicken Coop is thataway…”

What a Goof ball…… 

 

{But a big goof ball I am totally, madly, head over heels in love with!}   🙂

  So anyhow, we send the kids out after school to go gather eggs, and this is what was brought back up to the house yesterday:

This photo doesn’t do this last egg justice…..

It IS HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, look at it compared to the quarter!!!!  Or compared to the standard sized egg!
{If I had thought about it, I’d have photographed it in one of the children’s hands so you could really see how big it is.  But alas, it is already in someone’s tummy!}

  We thought our hen, Big Momma, laid some huge eggs, but someone from the new hen-house has her beat, BIG TIME!

Look out Big Momma, there’s a new Hen in town!

  We don’t know which one it is, but I figure if we look real close, she’ll be the one walking with a limp!  🙂

{giggles} 

    These eggs were sitting on this chair in the garage, waiting to be put away and I could NOT resist. It was screaming PHOTOGRAPH ME!!!!! 

Figured that was a great way to end this post full of such Egg-citing Chicken news!

~T

Post 2 for today is Vanilla Crumb Pie.  Too bad I didn’t make an Egg Bake or something to go with the “theme” today, but that w0uld’ve been FAR too convienenent!