buffalo chicken dip

i had this at a friend's apartment when she hosted a party, and i was next to the dip bowl all night. this is a PERFECT game day dip or dip for a party or get-together. you can serve this with crackers or chips, but i wouldn't recommend any kind of thick crackers. something crispier definitely pairs better. chicken in a biscuit crackers come to mind. or tortilla chips.

i'm sorry if i'm typing pretty choppy. i'm devouring this right now.

i'm posting this today in honor of the SEC championship. i'm rooting for the georgia dawgs... but still showing some TENNESSEE PRIDE b/c this dip has an orange color. no matter what other team i root for, i always root for TENNESSEE first!

ok. enough of that. onto the recipe.

disclaimer. i am posting the "half version" of this recipe. double it if you are making it for a large group.

ingredients:
1 1/2-2 breasts of chicken or 3-4 chicken tenderloins, boiled then shredded (OR 1 (10 oz) can of chunk chicken, drained)
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup ranch dressing
red pepper sauce (i use Frank's Red Hot)
3/4 cup shredded mild Cheddar cheese

directions:
1. boil chicken until cooked through. take out of pot. let cool. hold chicken in place with one fork and shred with another. if you want to save time, you can use a can of chunk chicken, drained. since it cooks in with many other ingredients, you can't really tell a taste difference, but just use whatever you have on hand. i had chicken tenderloins, so that's what i used.

2. heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. the recipe calls for about a third cup of hot sauce. i find that the hot sauce is overwhelming with that much, so i just sprinkled the top of the chicken with hot sauce as desired and cooked on medium until the chicken had saturated the hot sauce.

3. stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. cook, stirring until well blended and warm. 

4. mix in half of the shredded cheese. (i may have used a little more cheese than the recipe calls for, but that shouldn't really shock anyone...)

5. transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. (i found my little dipper to be quite appropriate, and this is the first time i got to use it! YAY!)

6. sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook. if using a regular crockpot, put it on the low setting until hot and bubbly. 

 serve with chips, crackers, and/or celery sticks! 


HAPPY SEC CHAMPIONSHIP DAY! GO DAWGS!


fin.

quick chicken quesadillas

i was looking for a quick and easy weeknight meal with some mexican flair, and i found it with this! super easy, simple, and quick.

ingredients:

9-12 oz refrigerated cooked Southwest OR Fajita flavor chicken breast strips

½ cup Old El Paso Thick n Chunky salsa

1 package (11 oz) Old El Paso flour tortillas for burritos (8 inch; 8 tortillas)

Cooking spray

2 cups finely shredded Colby-Monterey jack cheese blend (8 oz)

¼ cup sour cream

directions:

1. cut chicken into bite-size pieces.

2. in small bowl, combine chicken and salsa.

3. mix chicken and salsa.

4. spray one side of one tortilla with cooking spray. place sprayed side down in 10-inch nonstick skillet.

5. layer with 1/4 of the chicken mixture and 1/2 cup of cheese.

6. top with another tortilla. spray top of tortilla with cooking spray.

7. cook uncovered over medium heat 4-6 minutes, carefully turning after 2 minutes, until golden brown. 

8. repeat with remaining tortillas, chicken mixture and cheese. 

9. to serve, cut quesadillas into wedges. 

10. serve with sour cream and, if desired, additional salsa. i also served this with some rotel cheese dip.

(you can tell which quesadillas went in when the skillet was hottest!)

(served here with the infamous organic blue corn tortilla chips i constantly reference.)

i thought the quesadillas would be hard to flip, but it was quite easy! however, the trick is to load the chicken lightly. it looks light when you add the chicken, but you will have chicken in every bite. also, think of cheese as glue. don't skimp. i didn't measure out 1/2 cup for each quesadilla, but just kept the "cheese as glue" mentality going, and it really helped. of course... if you haven't noticed yet... there's no such thing for me as too much cheese.

next time i make these, i will follow the directions exactly for the hubs, but i may forgo the salsa on mine. i'm the kind of girl that orders my tacos with no lettuce or fixins, so that shouldn't be shocking. the hubs, however, LOVED these and has already asked me to make them again! THAT is success!

fin.

rotel cheese dip

i first became addicted to this when a dear friend of mine, ashton, made it for a party we had during our first year of law school. i couldn't believe how easy it was... or how much of it i consumed the first time i had it. i thought this was a pretty popular recipe, but i tried to find a version of it on allrecipes.com and couldn't. so i figured i would blog about it!!

this is perfect for tailgate parties, family get-togethers, if you have a hungry husband, OR if you have a beautiful chip and dip platter you're dying to use... hello, good excuse!

meet rotel cheese dip.

ingredients (there's only FOUR!):

1 can rotel with green chiles, partially drained
1 package velveeta, cubed
1 pound lean ground beef
1 package taco seasoning

(i'm still having trouble with sideways pictures. consider it exercise when you have to turn your head to look at the pictures.)

directions:
1. cube velveeta.

2. brown meat. drain fat.

3. stir in taco seasoning, and prepare meat according to package directions. (however, i cut the water back from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup.)

4. in a large saucepan (or small crockpot), combine meat and rotel dip. gradually mix in cubes of cheese and allow them to melt. stir continuously, as the cheese can easily burn.

5. combine until cheese is all melted. reduce heat to low. allow dip to sit for a few minutes to thicken.

6. taste test.

7. done! serve with tortilla chips. (i prefer organic blue corn tortilla chips. they don't have as much salt so you get a full flavor of the chip instead of just tasting salt.)

fin.

broccoli rice casserole

i've been making broccoli rice casserole for awhile now, but this recipe had some variations in it that i thought sounded interesting. so glad i found this, because it replaces my old recipe!

first up, the ingredients:

2 packages frozen chopped broccoli (only one is shown here, but i get broccoli florets)
3 cups instant rice
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 1/4 cups water
1 (16 ounce) package processed American cheese, cubed (i.e., velveeta)
1 tablespoon butter
1 bunch celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

once prep work is finished, your celery, onion, and cheese will look like this:

directions:
1. preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. cook broccoli and rice according to package directions. (i LOVE steam in bag veggies. i stock up on them whenever they are on sale. that's what i used here.)

3. in a medium saucepan over low heat, mix cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, and 1 1/4 cups water.

4. gradually stir in cheese until melted. BE CAREFUL that the cheese doesn't burn. (this requires constant stirring.)

5. while adding in the butter, try not to eat all the pieces of cubed cheese. when you are sneaking pieces, make sure that nobody sees you. this is the most challenging part of the entire recipe...

i got caught...

moving on...

6. melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. saute celery and onion until soft.

7. in a large mixing bowl, combine broccoli, rice, soup and cheese mixture, and celery and onion. season with salt and pepper. once combined, pour mixture into a 9x13 baking dish. (i poured mine into one of my pyrex dishes that has a lid. i knew it would make leftovers, so i put it in here to double as a baking dish and storage.)

8. i added some cheese on the top. the recipe didn't call for it, but i don't believe in broccoli rice casseroles without cheese on top. it's against my religion.

9. bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes, until bubbly and lightly brown.

i consider this a major upgrade from my old recipe. my old recipe was really inconsistent... mainly b/c i had it all in my head so it never wound up the same both times. (if you knew what the inside of my head was like, you would understand.) i will keep this one as a staple. it also makes GREAT leftovers and is great for taking along to work for lunch. all my co-workers were jealous. :)

it makes an entire pan, so this is also great for family get-togethers. i will eventually take this to a family reunion or thanksgiving or christmas and see how the family enjoys it. try it on yours and let me know how it turns out!

fin.