buffalo chicken dip

I felt like I was on a roll there getting blog posts out everyday, and then it all went south. I'm scho schorry. 

Since the Super Bowl is coming up (and I haven't had time to edit all the pictures from my weekend trip), I thought I'd share the recipe to one of the best dips ever. My roomie Katie made it a while ago, and she had gotten the recipe from her sister. I know the recipe by heart now, because I've made it 4 times within the past month. 

It is that delicious.

I had a few of the ingredients leftover to make myself this tiny batch..

It usually fills up a big ol' 9x13 pyrex dish. That's it below, half devoured (probably by moi). 

Ingredients: 

2 blocks of cream cheese

2 cans of canned chicken

1 cup of buffalo wing sauce

1 cup of ranch dressing

1-2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese

Directions: 

(go ahead and preheat the oven to 350)

1. Let the cream cheese sit out to soften, then spread it on the bottom of the pan.

2. Mix chicken (drained), ranch, and wing sauce together

3. Pour mixture over the cream cheese in the pan

4. Sprinkle cheese on top

5. Grab yourself a brewsky and tell everyone how awesome their life is about to be after you introduce them to this dip

6. Pull out the deliciousness once the cheese starts bubbling (about 15 minutes I think)

and one last step.. this is very important..

7. let it cool down! 

Pizza rolls have nothing on this dip, y'all. You will burn the top 4 layers of your tongue off if you don't follow step 7.

ENJOY!

PS- I know, the canned chicken is a bit of a turn off, but it's really not bad! The first time I had this dip was the first time I had canned chicken, and I was a bit skeptical beforehand. I couldn't tell a difference due to the delicious saucy, cheesy goodness. 

I went to market this weekend in Atlanta, and it was glorious! I'll have a post all about it soon. Of course I went to IKEA, so I'll have some updated decor for you to see as well.

And just for aww wees.. 

my sweet Diesel man. 

"Pet me, pweez"

treaties, y'all!

I haven't done a cooking post in a while, but then again, I haven't found something so easily delicious worth sharing, so here goes..

Yesterday was my sweet lady-neighbor's birthday. I LOVE my neighbors. They just got married and are around my age. We both have doggies, we watch them for each other, and we all like to drink beer and wine. So it's a win/win for all of us (ya know, watching pups when we're gone and drinking beer/wine when we're together). I'm not sure how they feel about sharing names on here, so I'll refer to them in initials.. P the hubs lived next door when I moved in to my house. He was a great neighbor, letting me borrow stuff like extension cords and whatnot. After we were friends for a bit, he met C. She is awesome. They just got married a few weeks ago, and I love living next to them! 

Needless to say, they clearly hear me sawing next door every so often.. I feel semi-creepy, because I'm ALWAYS outside sawing or painting when they're walking to and from their cars, and I'm kind of like that sitcom neighbor that's always saying things like "HOWDY NEIGHBOR!" or "WHAT ARE YALL GETTING INTO TONIGHT?!". Erroneous. 

Let me tell you how awesome they are: they gave me leftover craft supply stuff from their wedding! HOW AWESOME! I'll be sure to blog about it once I put them to use!

Back to the subject! I knew that it was C's birthday, so I wanted to make something delicious! Of course I'd been on Pinterest pinning stuff for like ever, so I immediately went to my "eats" board to find something sweet to make (otherwise I would've made something meat-y because that is my forte). I have several birthday-ish recipes filed, but the cake batter fudge caught my eye. I am a HUGE fudge lover. My mom makes the BEST fudge over the holidays, so I thought "hey, I'm going to try this out, and maybe it'll give it a run for it's money".

It is DELICIOUS! So here is the link to the original pin: CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK WHERE I GOT THE RECIPE!  She also gives instructions to a non-dairy recipe, so click that if you want to create it that way! 

So here is my take on it:

Ingredients: Yellow cake mix, Powdered sugar, Butter, Sprinkles, and not pictured, MILK! 

      Put a cup of cake mix and a cup of powdered sugar into a MICROWAVEABLE bowl.

Mix it together. I used a spatula that I was gonna use for the rest of the recipe.

Then plop in a 1/4 cup of butter (half a stick.. I cut it up into a few pieces) and 1/4 cup of milk. DO NOT STIR IT. Put it in the microwave for 2 minutes.

Once you remove it, you can stir it until it turns into a thick consistency and pour some sprinkles in there. 

Put it into a greased pan. Let me tell you that I didn't read ahead in the pinterest link (which said it fit into an 8x8 dish), so I plopped it into this big one.. It clearly didn't fit..

So what did I do? Make another batch to fill it up! When you buy a box of cake mix, powdered sugar, butter, and milk, you're gonna have extra ingredients. I used the same recipe and bowl, but scooped out all of the thick fudge-y remnants I could before I microwaved the bowl again. Then I mixed, poured, microwaved, and emptied out the new batch into the dish. 

After I got it all (semi) even, I put it into the fridge. The original recipe says to leave it in for an hour, but I think it needed a little more time than that. 

Well I couldn't leave it as just fudge before I took it to the neighbors, could I? I made one of those ultra-spiffy bunting banners! 

First off, I cut out little triangles with tabs on the top. I drew them out on leftover card stock with a bit of color, so you can see the sketching on them. Most of them are folded up here, but you can see a few of the tabs.

I took a skewer that we had and cut it in half. Then I tied some baker's twine to each piece. I held it up before I tied it to get what length it should be. 

Baker's twine isn't as giving as you would think, so really measure when you hold it up! After that, I colored the bunting! I made some polka dots and the others were zig zag (not quite chevron). 

Then I wrote out the letters with a dark blue sharpie. I laid it out under the baker's twine before I attached it with some tape..

clearly I didn't even it up before I took the picture..

I used clear packing tape, which we all know comes off in two inch wide strips. I pulled off just a little bit, then cut that strip into TINY pieces to attach the bunting flags onto the string. 

Then I stuck the skewers onto the fudge! 

Yummy!

 How cute!

DELISH!

Happy Birthday, Neighbor!! 

I hope it was yummy to them!  I know the pieces I kept were.. 

finally a W and a birthday!

Yesterday was one of my very best friend's birthday! My dear sweet Katie is a few months younger than me, so welcome to 27, my friend! You may have recalled me talking about Katie before on the bloggie. We have been friends since kindergarden and are currently roomies! How many people out there have known your bff for 22 years? This is what she had to say about old age: You know you're getting old when you have to buy 2 boxes of candles. Haha! 

I love being in charge of decorating the cake, so of course this year was no different. A few days ago I saw something on Pinterest I knew I had to try..

Gum lettering! 

It looks pretty neat in real life! I used the ever classic bubble tape.

I just eyeballed the length of the letters and cut the bubble tape with scissors. Since the icing was a little thick, I had to carve into it with a knife just a little bit before sticking the gum into it. Pretty nifty, eh?! The only complaint I would have is that the bubble tape is a little flimsy, so some of it didn't stand completely straight. I think sticks of gum would work well (I believe they are just a bit thicker). Anyhow, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE! 

In weekend news...

My sweet baby Auburn Tigers finally won a game. I've only been alive for one other season where we started 0-2, so it was quite a relief to pull this one off, especially since ULM had just beat a ranked Arkansas the week before.

I didn't take pictures during the game, but it was HOT in the stadium. Like I had to get out of the sun and sit under the shade hot. Here's Binky, Caroline, and I after the game. 

pic via Binky 

I did get to take some shots of my favorite place later on in the evening.

It was full of toilet paper! EEEE! 

Tons of it everywhere around my poor poisoned trees..

These night time pictures are a bit deceiving of the state of the trees. I found this one below that my mom shared on Facebook. Isn't it just the saddest thing? I think they were extra covered in toilet paper because it might be one of the last times people get to take part in the tradition. I fairly certain they won't be there next year.

via

Many people don't understand the tradition or why these trees are so important to Auburn. I will spare y'all the novel of reasons of why/what I think, but I will say this: It's really sad when there is something you take part of with your parents and grandparents then it's destroyed so your own children and grandchildren can't experience it. 

LSU is coming up this weekend. It's gonna be tough. One of my favorite Auburn blogs, warblogle.com, wrote this hilarious article today about it, and you should check it out if you're already thinking Auburn doesn't have a chance. I'm so excited for this weekend! I can't wait for all the corndogs to arrive in Auburn! (Click here if you don't get the corn dog reference..HA!)

hot damn chili!

Tomorrow is the Chili Cook Off at work, and guess who is the chef for their team? THAT'S RIGHT. 

It is delish, if I do say so myself.

There is a ton of stuff in there including, but not limited to: 

hamburger meat, kidney beans, chili beans, tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, minced garlic, garlic salt, beer, pepper, chili powder, worchesthire lea & perrins, & paprika

Yeaahhhhh... I don't like onions. This is one meaty concoction! And beanie..

It's BEANIE, BABY! 

I let it cook down a bit, and it is splendid.

My culinary roomie even said it was good! Woo! I hope the judges agree.

Diesel says GIMME SOME, MA!

At work, I am on the Help Desk, so right now we are the Help Desk Chili Team. I used the HD and changed it to Hot Damn Chili. Much better eh? 

I make a swanky logo to persuade the judges..

Do chili judges look at logos? 

THEY BETTA! 

PS: Don't forget about the
100th post giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!


(Pretend that's being said into a megaphone)


It's just two little posts away! 

she get it from her daddy!

Please tell me everyone remembers that song from back in the day, "She Get It From Her Mama" (atleast that's what I think it's called). If you don't, then please excuse the title.

Anyhow, my dad is quite the DIYer and decorator. Not in a girly way, mind you, but a hunting cabin, fish camp, antique lovin' kind of way. I'll have to get some pictures of the lakehouse with my new camera next time I go to showcase all the awesomeness.

My dad also owns a metal fabricating shop down in Dothan, AL. If you recall, they made those awesome stainless steel bar tops that now reside in my house. Dad also constructed other things for me in the past, like a rabbit hutch for my childhood pets and a hayride cart. I guess that's what it was called.. it was on a trailer pulled along by a tractor and held about 12 people. It was awesome!

Well recently, dear ol' dad has been constructing these cookers. If you know him, you know he loves to cook! He's had one of these big cookers for as long as I can remember. He's done fundraisers for my sports teams & school, pretty much all of his class reunions, and has even cooked food for people in need during the holidays. How sweet!

He tried several different designs, and this one is the best!

He even makes them on wheels!  

If you know about cooking/cookers, you know how important it is to have the meat cooked evenly, and this one does just that!

Here's dear ol dad! Rocking the mustache and spatula! And black jeans.. such a hipster.

Just last week I helped him place the cookers on craigslist. You can see the listing here: http://dothan.craigslist.org/hsh/2783999664.html (It's pretty funny. I tried to edit it a bit, and dad wouldn't let me). I don't know how many people in my bloggie "audience" would be interested in this sort of thing, but you might know someone who is! It went up on Thursday night, and on Friday morning I had a text from my dad asking why no one had contacted him about the cookers.. hilarious! Feel free to pass this along if you know someone who's in the market for a cooker! 


I'll be back tomorrow with a project from the weekend!


PS: All pics on this post were taken by my ma, Susan Herring! Thanks ma, for letting me borrow your camera to get the pics for craigslist and a bloggie! 

cookin' with crescents!

COOKING!!! Can you believe it?!? From this picky fish?!!

If you've ever had a meal with me, you'd know I have 4 basic food groups: chicken, steak, potatoes, and cheese. Yep. I'm one of those meat and potatoes kind of gals. Everyone knows it. My family. My friends. Even people at work. I remember when I was little going to the beach with my best friend, we would go out for dinner, and she and her parents would have to assure me that they would have chicken fingers on the menu because I was so picky. The only fruit I would eat were bananas. And the only vegetable was english peas (which I found were twice as delicious when mixed with mashed potatoes). I have expanded my tastes just a little bit (add asparagus to the vegetable list), but I still don't like lettuce. Or onions. I didn't like spaghetti when I was little because the sauce had onions in it. What kid doesn't like spaghetti?!?! My mom would make me a tiny hamburger patty from part of the meat used in the sauce just so I would eat something, because I wouldn't eat if it was something I didn't like. ANYHOW, this post isn't really about vegetables... it's about a delicious meal using a couple of my favorite food groups!

Let me first start with how this came about. My new roomie cooks many delicious things, and she whipped up this delicious awesomeness in about 15 minutes (amazing, right?).  She took crescent roll dough and laid all the triangles out on a cookie sheet. Then she spread some blackberry preserves on them. THEN she took brie cheese (YUM!) and placed it in the center of each triangle. Next she wrapped them up into little poofs, and put them in the oven for about 10-12 minutes. They were DELICIOUS! I honestly didn't know if I was going to like them or not, but they were awesome. The crescent rolls were so flaky, and the cheese was so melty, and the blackberry preserves added just the right flavor!

Then this got me thinking about other things in crescent rolls. I'm sure there are a million recipes out there, but I just used what I had in the fridge. On my first go around, I didn't take pictures until the end (sorry).

I had leftover boston butt that my dear ol dad had given me. After eating sandwiches all week, I decided to switch it up by making it into my first crescent roll creation.

Boston butt and ranch dressing inside the crescent! They were pretty good. I wish I would've added some cheese to hold it together better.

Later in the week I made another concoction, and I documented every step. Chicken and feta!! WHAT COULD BE BETTA?!?

start with a tube of crescent rolls

lay them out on a pan

Ingredients! I had cooked that chicken earlier in the week.

I cut up the chicken and just piled it up with the feta, poured on the dressing, and wrapped them up.

I made a mess with the sauce. 

Cooking in the oven! And look! I made asparagus too! 

The dressing burned. So sad. 

But they were still delicious! 

Yum yummmmm! 

Speaking of cooking, my dear sweet friend Kate Wallace has started a blog featuring the many dishes she whips up!! She and I are in the same boat with owning houses, having two pups, being big ol' Auburn fans, and now being bloggers! 

Her blog is called Kate & Barrel! She is a fan of wine along with delicious food. Hilarious! I made this logo for her site to carry on the wine theme! haha! 

Here is the link to her site:  http://kateandbarrel.blogspot.com/ 

Check it out yall! 

this is the dawning of the age of aquarium!

My schweet boyfrand took me to the Georgia Aquarium for my birthday!!! (which was back in May, I am still super behind on the blog.. eek!) I have been wanting to go for FOR.EV.ER!!!! Like since it opened. I was suppose to go about 5 years ago, and it never happened. Then my mom and sister went after they dropped me off to study abroad in Italia (I can't really complain, bc I obviously went somewhere awesome as well). Then just about all of my friends went.. multiple times.. Anyhow, I made up for lost time and took TONS of pictures. Here are a few:

NEMO!!! 

whale shark!

i think we stood in this spot for forever. 

DOLPHIN!!! ee! eeee! eeee! (dolphin noise)

beluga whale!

parana!!! 

petting the stingrays! MY FAVORITE!!! 

my spiffy iphone app (instagram) let me do this nifty view.

BLOG UPDATE: uhhh, I just uploaded those pictures in about 10 seconds. Note to everyone who has a blog: RESIZE YOUR IMAGES!!! These were originally over 1500 pixels wide, and I lowered them to 500px each. It just made a HUGE difference. It usually takes a long long time to upload them otherwise (like 30 minutes. I'm talkin I usually have time to shower while they upload). I should've done this forever ago, I just thought it would take the same amount of time to resize them that it would take to upload... nope! 

<><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  <><  (<-- fishies?)

So I was in desperate need of a mower. I went back and forth over what to get. With gas mowers, I would have to buy gas every so often (not too big a deal). Then with electric mowers, I would have a cord.. LAME. It would be as if I was vacuuming the lawn.. I researched and looked and read reviews.. I wanted to find a good deal, but I didn't want it to fall apart after a few uses. Enter in THE PUSH MOWER!! 

YEP! Straight outta the olden days! hahah It got from target.com for surprisingly cheap (around $80), and I won't have to buy gas or worry about a cord. The reviews were all good, so I bought it! My yard isn't that big, and for some reason I like the swooshing noise the blades make (weird eh?), so it has been a great purchase! The only downside is that it gets stuck on sticks. I need to de-stick the yard before I mow, but that makes the yard look better anyhow, so it's really no big deal.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

My tornado relief shirt came in! I LOVE IT! The girl who made it didn't realize she was going to have so many orders. Apparently she had to hire people to help make and distribute the shirts! CRAZY! That explains why it took a couple months for it to come in. The design is just lovely. Sadly, she stopped selling them because of the high demand with her small resources :o(. 

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I am a self proclaimed grillmaster. Who are we kidding.. I AM THE GRILLMASTER!!!! (well, second to my dad).

I recommend the chimney starter to everyone. It makes lighting the charcoal so much easier/faster. You just shove a few crumpled balls of newspaper under the starter (where those holes in the bottom are) and then pour the charcoal on top. Then you light the paper through the holes at the bottom. 

After no time, the flame comes up through the chimney. Once it's ready, I do a little dance with the starter and the grill rack... I take a pot holder in one hand, and an oven glove on the other. I grab the starter with the glove hand, and I lift the grill rack off with the other. The starter will shoot out flames from both sides while you pour the charcoal into the bottom of the grill and some of the unburned paper will fly off the top of the rack (hence the dance to not get burned by either). Then I sit the starter somewhere where it won't burn a circle onto the surface (aka not the deck) and proceed to spread the charcoal out, all while swinging the rack around trying not to get burned. I finally place the rack back on the grill. I usually have to ball up a piece of aluminum foil to scrape off the excess paper that is stuck to the top of the rack. 

I hadn't grilled in FOREVER, and we ended up having a cookout a few weeks ago. There was so much leftover meat that I grilled out again the next week..

YUMMY! That steak had marinated for DAYS!!!! So so good. 

..............................................................................................

{design work}

I did the Panama Mission trip t-shirt for my mom again this year. I did last year's as well (always nice to have repeat customers! thanks ma!) This year, she wanted a design that looked more like actual Panamanian art, like this: 

I most certainly could not whip up something like that on Illustrator without it taking forever, so I decided to hand draw it. 

The motto of Panama is "For Benefit of the World" which actually has to do with the Panama Canal, but it works for the mission trip as well. Here is the final back of the shirt after it was scanned in, photoshopped, and set up in Illustrator.

Not the best pic (it's a pic of the computer screen from my phone) but you get the general idea. 

We went to the lake for the 4th of July. Here is Possum in her festive headband!

I've never met a dog that's so chill about wearing things.. She will sit for forever wearing sunglasses, or a sombrero, or a jingle bell necklace..

Cotton and Diesel are jealous that Possum has made more appearances on the blog recently, so I will be showcasing them in the near future. 

There are LOTS of house things going on, but they will have to wait until next time. HOPEFULLY I'll get to update again before the end of the week.. especially since I realized I can resize the images and cut the time in half! 

{woo woo!}