Creamy Buffalo Chicken Dip

I'm not a huge football fan but I love football food! 

The Super Bowl for us is like a little family party. We all sit together on the couch and watch the game and eat finger foods. Wings, dips and sweets - yum! Out of all appetizers, my favorites are the ones made with Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing sauce. That stuff is the best! I put it on almost everything! Last year for the Super Bowl I made these lower fat broiled chicken wings using Frank's. They were so good!

This year I wanted to do something a little different but still use my favorite Frank's sauce. Check out this Buffalo Chicken Dip....it's super easy, no mixing bowl needed. Just mix up some light cream cheese right in your 9 inch pie pan, add some cooked chicken, Frank's Red Hot sauce, mozzarella cheese and blue cheese salad dressing. Bake for 20 minutes and you get this beautiful dip below. It smells so good! Your football fans will love it!

Creamy Buffalo Chicken Dip:
Print Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. (8-oz) light or fat free cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken or 1 large can chicken
• 1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 blue cheese salad dressing
• Crackers and veggies for serving

Directions:

1. Stir cream cheese in a 9-inch pie plate until smooth and creamy. Stir in remaining ingredients.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Serve with crackers and veggies. ENJOY!!

Looking for more easy snack ideas?

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Golden Grahams Party Mix

Easiest Salsa Recipe

Creamy Yogurt Fruit Dip

Print Recipe HERE

Simple & Delicious Crock Pot Beef Stew

There's something so comforting about coming home to the smell of beef stew in the crock pot!

Last week it rained almost every single day. I grew up in the desert of Mesa, Arizona so rain is actually something I enjoy. I HATE going out in it and getting wet but I LOVE staying indoors, reading a book, drinking hot herbal tea or cocoa and making something yummy in my crock pot. I also lucked out and found beef roast on sale at my grocery store. Woo hoo! So I decided I would make my family some beef stew.

I posted THIS yummy beef stew recipe on my blog last year but the recipe I'm sharing today is more of a simple version. Like one your grandma or mom made growing up. I love the basic, beefy flavor. My boys love soups and stews and they really enjoyed this one. It's a great way to sneak some veggies into them with no complaints! Give it a try a let me know what you think!

Simple Crock Pot Beef Stew:
Print Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

• 2-lb. beef roast, cubed
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 2 cups diced potatoes
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 tsp. quick cooking tapioca
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas

Directions:

1. Combine beef, carrots, potatoes and onions in slow cooker. Sprinkle with tapioca, salt and pepper.
2. Combine tomato sauce and water. Pour over beef and vegetables in slow cooker. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
3. Cover. Cook on LOW 8 hours. One hour before cooking time ends, add frozen peas. ENJOY!

Looking for more easy dinner ideas?

Mom's Chicken Squares

Easy Vegetable Pad Thai

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Print Recipe HERE

{Skinny} Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Let me introduce you to my new favorite dessert:

Skinny Chocolate Cake in a Mug!!!! 

Pretty sure it doesn't get better than a three ingredient, rich, decadent, fluffy chocolate cake that takes only ONE minute to cook in the MICROWAVE and has less than 1 gram of fat and is under 150 calories!!!

 My boys are absolutely OBSESSED with this recipe. It's so super easy. I taught them how to measure it out and add the water into a mug. They love it for a quick dessert. Let me show you how easy this is...

Skinny Chocolate Cake in a Mug:
Print Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

• 1 (16.5-oz) box Devil's Food cake mix
• 1 (16-oz) box Angel Food cake mix
• 3 Tbsp. cold water (read directions...)

Directions:

1. Mix both cake mixes together and store in a large Ziploc bag. When you're ready for your yummy dessert, take 1/3 cup of the cake mixture and place into a microwavable mug.
2. Add 3 Tablespoons cold water to the mug. Stir together. Microwave for one minute. Serve with chocolate chips, whipped cream or fruit and ENJOY!!

*each mug contains 150 calories, 0.75 g fat and = 3 WW points.

 Seriously, how easy is that?! The mixture makes lots of servings, too! I keep the Ziploc bag in my pantry and whenever my boys or I have a chocolate craving, we mix one up. I love that it's low in fat and calories! You can change up the cake mix too if you want something other than chocolate, as long as you use the Angel Food cake with it. White cake mix? Strawberry? The possibilities are endless! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Looking for more yummy dessert ideas?

Yummiest Snickerdoodle Cookies Ever

Mom's Pound Cake

Best Chocolate Bundt Cake

Low-Fat Chocolate Cookies

Print Recipe HERE

Easy Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork

Oh my word. I have never been so excited to share a recipe with you before! (Okay, maybe I have because I'm always excited to share recipes with you... ;) But this is gooooood stuff. Just take a look at these delicious pictures. Don't they make your mouth water?! Have you ever made pulled pork before? This was my first time! I've made a couple dishes similar to it but never the real deal.

Pork loin was on sale at my grocery store so I decided to pick one up. I started looking around for a tasty recipe to make and ended up merging several different ones to create this gem of a recipe! It is SO yummy! My boys were in heaven. And the best part? It's ridiculously EASY.

Here's what you need:

Easy Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork:

Print Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

• 1 (3-4 pound) boneless pork loin  
• 1 onion, sliced in half and then thinly sliced
• 1 (12-oz) can diet soda (or regular works great too!)
• 1/2 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (I LOVE Sweet Baby Ray's!)
• Lawry's Seasoning Salt
• pepper

Directions:

1.  Spray slow cooker lightly with cooking spray. Put sliced onions on the bottom. Rinse pork loin and pat lightly with paper towels. Coat pork with a layer of Lawry's Seasoning Salt and some pepper. Place on top of onions.

2.  In a medium sized bowl, mix 1/2 bottle of barbecue sauce and a can of diet soda. Pour the fizzy concoction on top of seasoned pork loin in crock pot.

3.  Cover the crock pot and cook on LOW for about 7-8 hours, or until meat is fork tender. When the meat is tender enough, carefully take the pork out of the slow cooker and place on a plate and shred the meat up using two forks. Place meat back inside crock pot, stirring to combine, and let cook for another 30 minutes.

4.  Serve on buns and ENJOY!!

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Looking for more easy dinner ideas?

Lighter Chicken Pot Pie

Skinny Cheesy Pasta Bake

Easy Penne Arrabiata

Skinny Crock Pot Taco Stew

Print Recipe HERE

Strawberry Cool Whip Cookies

Well, well, well. What do we have here? Another cookie recipe? Another pink recipe? Another Cool Whip recipe? Geez, am I ever predictable!!

I'm sort of obsessed with Cool Whip cookies. I love how easy they are. I love that they're low fat and only have three ingredients. It really can't get better than that. Oh wait, it can! You can use ANY cake mix with Cool Whip to make fun flavors! I'm on a pink kick because of upcoming Valentine's Day, so I decided to add a strawberry cake mix in with my Cool Whip, two eggs and BAM. Awesomely festive cookies that my boys devoured. Nope. They didn't care one bit that they were pink. But how could you? They're so delicious and almost guilt-free! The perfect new year's resolution compromise. Have you tried them yet?

Strawberry Cool Whip Cookies:

Printable Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25-oz) box strawberry cake mix
• 1 (8-oz) container Cool Whip (I used Lite)
• 2 eggs
• powdered sugar, for rolling

Directions:

1. Beat together Cool Whip and eggs in a medium sized bowl. Add the cake mix and stir together. Dough will be thick and sticky. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray or use parchment paper.
3. Pour about 1/3 cup of powdered sugar into a small bowl. Drop chilled dough by tablespoon (I used a cookie scoop) into powdered sugar and roll dough around until covered and place on cookie sheet. Bake for about 9-12 minutes. Bake time depends on size of cookies so keep checking to see if cooked! Cool on baking rack and then ENJOY!! 

If you're looking for some more yummy dessert ideas, check these out:

Easy {Low Fat} Cool Whip Cookies

10 Yummy Cookie Recipes

Marshmallow Frosted Brownies

Delicious Low Fat Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate Lust

Print Recipe HERE

Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie

The whole green smoothie phenomenon has been around for awhile. It was kind of mind-blowing that spinach didn't taste terrible in a blended drink and it was SO good for you, right?

Well, here's another mind-blowing smoothie fact (at least for me...ha!)... did you know that you can add oats to a breakfast smoothie?!

Okay, okay. I might be not up with the times and maybe you all knew about this but, whatevs. I had no clue. Seriously 1/2 cup of dry rolled oats has 5 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. Adding that to some fruit and skim milk just about doubles the protein and fiber. Awesome, right?! The oats make the smoothie a little more rich and creamy. A definite must try. I really like the added thickness. Plus I'm sort of obsessed with pink things right now due to Valentine's Day that's lurking around the corner (more pink posts to come...). Anywho, I can't wait to try some more oatmeal smoothie concoctions!

So tell me, have you ever added oats to your smoothies??

Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie:

Print Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

• 1 cup skim (or soy) milk
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (aka quick oats)
• 1 banana
• about 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, add more if needed
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. Splenda sweetener (or agave nectar would work too!)

Directions:

1. In a blender, combine milk, oats, banana and strawberries. Add vanilla and sweetener if desired. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

(recipe adapted from Allrecipes)

If you're looking for more breakfast ideas, check these out:

Lean Green Breakfast Machine Smoothie

Healthy Oatmeal Pancakes

Sunshine Muffins

Nicole's Homemade Granola

 

Print Recipe HERE

Crock Pot Creamy Chipotle Chicken

This weekend, my two older boys had baseball tryouts. They had to catch grounders and pop flys then hit some balls. It's just for our city league but boy, was I nervous for them! I watched from the stands and whenever one of them was up, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach for them. I guess I just want them to succeed and sometimes it's hard to let go and let them do their own thing - mistakes or not. That's how they learn, right? Anyway, they both did really well and I was so proud of them! I love baseball season and can't wait for the games to begin. :)

 On another note, it's been so cold here! I know I have nothing to complain about since I get to enjoy beautiful Southern California weather year round, but for us it's been pretty darn chilly. This recipe for Crock Pot Creamy Chipotle Chicken is a fantastic and easy meal that will warm you right up - no matter where you live! :)  Its creamy sauce has just the right amount of heat to it and the chicken is absolutely tender, moist and delish! Not to mention you just throw it all in the crock pot! It's SO easy! You have got to try this recipe and let me know if you liked it as much as we did!

Crock Pot Creamy Chipotle Chicken:

Printable Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
• 1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, cut into cubes (light works well)
• 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, seeds scraped out and minced
• 2 tsp. adobo sauce from chipotle peppers

Directions:

1. Place the chicken breasts into slow cooker and season with salt and pepper.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix together minced garlic, cream of chicken soup and chicken broth. Now add cubed cream cheese, minced chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. Mix together.
3. Pour sauce over chicken. Cover crock pot and cook on LOW for 6 hours. Serve over steamed rice and ENJOY!! 

Adapted from Allrecipes

If you're looking for more crock pot dinner ideas, check these out:

Best Crock Pot Minestrone Soup Ever

Easy Slow Cooker Thai Chicken

Delicious Crock Pot Whole Rotisserie Chicken

9 Yummy Crock Pot Dinner Recipes

Print Recipe HERE

Marshmallow Frosted Brownies

Okay, I know most people are doing some kind of healthier diet, but I HAD to share these brownies with you even though they're most definitely not diet food. They are SO GOOD. And super easy to whip up. All you do is make up a brownie box mix and when it's fresh from the oven, pour a bag of mini marshmallows on the top to melt. Then you make this awesome frosting (it's like Texas Sheet Cake frosting) and pour over the top. Seriously makes the most divine brownies EVER!

Marshmallow Frosted Brownies:

Printable Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

• 1 box brownie mix, prepared as directed on the box for cake-like brownies in 9x13 pan
• 1 bag miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 Tbsp. milk
• 3 Tbsp. water
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Prepare brownie mix as directed for CAKE LIKE brownies in 9x13 pan. Bake as directed.
2. When brownies are done, pour the bag of miniature marshmallows over the top and place back into the oven for a few minutes until the marshmallows are puffy and melted. Cool brownies and then prepare frosting.
3. Frosting: Bring butter, cocoa, water, and milk to a boil. Remove from heat. While still hot, add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat well. Pour frosting over brownies while frosting is still hot. Allow to cool before cutting. ENJOY!!

Source: Mommy's Kitchen

If you're looking for more dessert ideas, check these out:

10 Yummy Cookie Recipes

Healthier 3-Ingredient Chocolate Cookies

Low-Fat Diet Dr. Pepper Brownies

Easy Low-Fat Cool Whip Cookies

 

Print Recipe HERE



Tostada Pizza Recipe

"Mom, what's for dinner?"

I hear that phrase every. single. night. Sometimes just to be funny, I'll tell my boys "I don't know. What are you making?" Ha! That always gets 'em.

When I was a kid, my mom used to make this tostada pizza. I always loved when she made it for dinner. It's such a great staple dish that's easy and delicious. It's a fun cross between a taco, pizza and a tostada. It has a crust made from Bisquick baking mix, then a layer of refried beans and a layer of cooked beef or turkey with chilies and taco seasoning. Bake for 20 minutes, add some cheese and then slice it like a pizza pie. You can add whatever toppings you like - my boys like the veggies on the side. :) One of the best things about this recipe is that you probably already have most of the ingredients in your fridge and pantry! 

So tonight when you hear the dreaded "What's for dinner?" phrase, you can quickly say - Tostada Pizza!! I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does!

Tostada Pizza

Printable Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. yellow cornmeal
• 2 c. Bisquick baking mix
• 1/2 c. cold water
• 1 lb. lean ground beef or ground turkey
• 3/4 c. water
• 1 (4-oz) can green chilies
• 1 envelope taco seasoning mix (or about 2 Tbsp. homemade taco seasoning)
• 1 (15.5-oz) can refried beans (I use fat free)
• 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• toppings such as: shredded lettuce, tomatoes and green onions

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cornmeal.
2. Combine Bisquick and cold water in a small bowl. Pat out mixture onto bottom of pizza pan until uniformly covered and flattened out. (Or roll the Bisquick mixture out into a circle on a flat surface and transfer to pizza pan) Crimp edges up and poke a few times with a fork.
3. Brown meat; drain any fat. Add 3/4 cup water, chilies and taco seasoning. Bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered 15 minutes or until thickened.
4. Spread beans on dough. Top with meat mixture. Bake 20 minutes. Top with cheese and return to oven until cheese is melted. Cut like a pizza and serve with or without toppings. ENJOY!

Here's what it looks like coming out of the oven, yum!

If you're looking for more easy dinner ideas, check these out:

Easy Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Skinny Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

Easy Cheesy Potato Soup

Baked Jerk Chicken

Click HERE to print this recipe.

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New Year, New Blog Makeover!!!

Happy New Year!

What better way to celebrate 2013 than with a beautiful blog makeover?! Do you like the new look? I'm thrilled with it!!! My huge thanks to Kassie Garlock from Designs by Kassie for making my blog look like a million bucks! I highly recommend Kassie if you're looking for any design work. Check out her blog for more info on all the cool things she can do!

 I'm ready for what 2013 brings and look forward to much more cooking and blogging this year! :)