16 December 2010

Best Party Ever! Buffalo Chicken Dip

 Every year Michelle Adams has the most amazing Christmas party. We do a gift exchange where we steal what we want from someone else and they have to trade in turn. We have yummy warm soups. We eat cookies and do crafts. We stand around and talk (cause we're girls). And this year Michelle had something new that added a special bite to the party: Buffalo Chicken Dip! I started out eating it with chips but I ended up eating it with a spoon, it was so yummy. And when Michelle gave out the recipe, I realized how fast and easy it was to make. So here it is for your own holiday pleasure. And sometime, instead of eating it with chips, fill a sandwich with it instead. To die for!

Michelle Adams' Buffalo Chicken Dip

4-6 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded (I personally used two cans of canned chicken and it was faster)
12 oz bottle of Frank's Buffalo Chicken Hot Sauce
2 - 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese
16 oz bottle Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing
4 oz crumbled Bleu Cheese
8 oz shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

Mix hot sauce with chicken and spread in bottom of 9x13 baking pan.
In saucepan, combine cream cheese and salad dressing on medium heat until smooth. Add Bleu Cheese and stir for one minute, until blended well.
Pour cheese mixture over chicken and sprinkle with Monterey Jack.
Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes until sides are bubbling orange and cheese is melted. Do not brown top.

09 December 2010

Casser-Olé!

I have been wanting to put this casserole in my blog because it's super fast and easy and very very tasty. However, until recently I've been calling it Mexican Mess and that just isn't very clever. SO, now that I have a better name for it, I can blog it. :D

Casser-Olé!

1 can black beans
1 can dark red kidney beans1 can whole kernel corn
1 can cream of celery or cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken
1 cup salsa
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt

6 soft-taco size flour tortillas
or
2 cups crushed corn tortilla chips
or
12 tostada style tortilla rounds

8 oz shredded Mexican blend cheese (usually sold in bags with a little seasoning in it)

Heat the oven to 400F and grease the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Pour the canned items and the salsa in a bowl and mix well. Add spices and mix well again.

If you're using the flour tortillas, cut them in halves and place 6 halves in the bottom of the pan with the flat sides to the sides of the pan and the round sides to the center. If you're using chips, just dump half of them on the bottom of the pan and if you're using tostada rounds cover the bottom of the pan with half of them in an even manner. Then spread half of the bean/salsa mixture over your tortilla layer, repeat the tortilla layer again and pour the rest of the mixture on top of that; kind of like a Mexican lasagna. Cover the top with the shredded cheese and bake for 35 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Serve hot with extra chips or cornbread! Olé!

Raspberry Bagel Bake

I love breakfast Casserole and I'm always looking for a new way to combine breakfast ingredients. A couple Saturdays ago I hit upon a combination that really had my family clamoring for more.


Raspberry Breakfast Bake

2 1/2 bagels (5 bagel halves)
1 cup softened cream cheese
1 tsp sugar
1 cup raspberry jam
1/2 pint raspberries (one clamshell package from the grocery store)
6 eggs
1/2 cup cream

Preheat oven to 400F and grease a 8x8 pyrex-type baking dish. Cut the bagels into bite size pieces and layer half of them in the bottom of the baking dish with the outside of the bagels on the bottom. Mix the raspberry jam, sugar, and cream cheese together in a bowl and spread over the layer of bagels. Scatter the raspberries over the top, then put the rest of the bagel pieces on top of the fruit and spread layer with the outside of the bagel pieces up. Mix up the eggs and cream and pour evenly over the top of the bagel layers. Bake at 400F for 30 minutes or until the eggs are set and the top is golden brown. Serve in squares with a drizzling of buttermilk syrup or maple syrup!