Game Day Dip

Every time Jon and I head to a party we take a huge batch of buffalo chicken dip. It's so easy to make and you are guaranteed to go home without leftovers. A win-win in my book.

We were planning on taking our infamous buffalo chicken dip to this year's Super Bowl party until we heard that another guest already claimed the dish! While there is no such thing as too much buffalo chicken dip, I figured I would whip up something a little different.

I knew I couldn't go wrong with a cheesy, bacon and ranch dip!

It was actually easier and quicker to make than buffalo chicken dip because I didn't have to cook the chicken first. All I did was throw all of the ingredients into a big bowl, mix, pour into a dish, top with a little extra cheese (because a little extra cheese never hurt anybody!), and bake!

I am a huge fan of this measuring cup! It's perfect for measuring out creamy ingredients because it gets every last bit.  I highly suggest it for any recipe that uses sour cream, peanut butter, honey, etc. 

After mixing your ingredients, pour them into a baking dish, top with a little more cheese and bake.

I'm taking a huge bowl of wavy potato chips with us to the party tonight but any tortilla chip or veggie would be amazing too!

Game Day Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

1 block cream cheese, softened (8 oz)

2 cups sour cream (16 oz)

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

3 ounces bacon bits

1 packet ranch mix

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly.

3. Pour the mixture into a 1.5-2 quart baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes

4. Serve with potato chips, tortilla chips or veggies and enjoy! 

Question of the Day

What are you taking to your Super Bowl party?

Creamy Black Bean Dip

Tomorrow at work we are surprising our clinic manager with lunch to show her how appreciative we are of her. We didn't want to ruin the surprise by asking her what her favorite foods were so we decided that Mexican was a safe bet. I mean, seriously, who doesn't like Mexican food? I could eat chips and salsa every single day.

The taco/nacho meat, chips, tortillas, and toppings were all covered so I told everyone I would be in charge of the dip, guacamole, and salsa. Those are the best parts in my opinion. 

I was browsing Pinterest for a delicious dip but couldn't find anything different from your typical 7 layer dip. I found a white bean recipe, tweaked it, and came up with my Creamy Black Bean Dip. The best part? It's somewhat healthy, packed with lots of flavor, and can be eaten with chips or veggies!

Warning: You may want to make 2 batches of this dip. I made one batch to serve with dinner tonight and another for tomorrow and I'm so glad I did!

Cheesy Black Bean Dip Recipe

Ingredients

1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 cup sour cream

1 jalapeño (seeds are optional)

1 cup shredded Mexican cheese, halved

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Optional toppings: diced tomatoes, green onions, cilantro

Directions

1. Put black beans, diced tomatoes, sour cream, jalapeño, 1/2 the cheese, salt and pepper in a food processor and blend together until creamy.

2. Pour the mixture in a greased baking dish, top with remaining cheese, cover with foil, and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

3. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly.

4. Top with optional toppings and serve with tortilla chips, veggies, or pita chips. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Heaven

Peanut butter M&Ms are my favorite. Actually, let's face it, anything peanut butter and chocolate is my favorite.

I made these peanut butter M&M chocolate cupcakes the other day and every one loved them. They were chocolatey, moist, and had a hint of peanut butter. And the best part? They were so easy to make.

These cupcakes ended up serving a lot of different purposes - I gave Jon a plate for our anniversary, I gave my roommate a few for her 21st birthday (I used M&Ms to create the numbers "2" and "1" on her cupcakes) and I took the rest to our Super Bowl party!

Ingredients:

1 box chocolate cake mix

ingredients on the back of the cake mix box (eggs, water, oil)

1 cup Peanut Butter M&Ms

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350'

2. Prepare cake mix as directed on box

3. Put M&Ms in a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them up into pieces.

4. Fold crushed M&Ms into the batter

5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake as directed on the back of the cake mix box

6. Let cool and frost with peanut butter icing and decorate with any extra M&Ms.

yields: 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes

Peanut Butter Icing

I used this recipe from Better Crocker to make my peanut butter icing and it was to die for! I would recommend cutting the recipe in half because I have so much icing left over but if you are planning on caking the icing on the top of your cupcakes then the original recipe will work.

*Beware, these will not last long!

Question of the Day

What is your favorite peanut butter and chocolate combination?