(Serving idea - this particular recipe not included)
For many of you today is a big football game day and plans have been made for a month to attend or host a football party. For others an invitation may have just come and you want a hearty dip to make. Bingo! This one is for you. So easy because it only has 3 ingredients but it's hearty and hot and can be served in a crockpot. However! I added the photo to the left to show an alternative way to serve it - which is one of my favorites.

Make or purchase a loaf of round bread, cut out the center of the bread and hallow it out, leaving about an inch all the way around and on the bottom. Cube the bread you remove and spray it with a butter or oil based cooking spray and lightly sprinkle it with an Italian seasoning blend or a tiny dusting of garlic and onion powder, chili powder or whatever seasoning your family or friends tend to like. If you don't know... then just spray and leave them unseasoned. Bake them in the oven at about 350 degree's until they are slightly toasted. Mix and melt the recipe in the microwave or stovetop and pour it into the hallowed out bread bowl. Serve the cubed bread with the dip.


Easy Sausage & Cheese Dip

1 lb. hot Italian sausage
1 lb. ground sirloin
1 lb. Velveeta processed cheese

Cook sausage and ground beef thoroughly, then drain. Slice or roughly chop the cheese and blend ingredients together and stir to mix in a crock pot. Heat until the cheese melts. Serve warm with corn chips, hearty tortillas, crackers or thin, toasted bread slices.

When I was pregnant with my first child the ladies at the church where I worked as a secretary and receptionist held a baby shower for me. This is one of the vegetable dips made and served that day. It's a very old recipe - although I'm not sure how old, I know I see versions of it in old church cookbooks from the 40's. These days the typical vegetable dip is made by mixing a packet of ranch style dressing mix with sour cream... which admittedly is quite delicious, but for something a little different and fresher tasting, this one is for you!


Dip for Fresh Vegetables

2 t dill weed
2 t beaumonde seasoning
2 t chopped fresh parsley
2 t chopped fresh chives or 1 t chopped onion
1 c mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip)
1 c sour cream

Mix thoroughly and chill.

This morning I'm sipping my coffee and gearing up for yet another busy Saturday.

Paying bills will start me off, followed by making double batches of both sugar cookie and M&M cookie dough, cleaning and laundry while it's chilling, decorating for a Father/Daughter Dance Fundraiser this afternoon and then hopefully, if there is enough help at the fundraiser, I can come home to bake cookies and get them into the freezer so I can spend tomorrow decorating them.

I had originally planned on making our family's annual Valentine cookies this weekend and thought I would double them to bring some to work, however I also somehow found myself volunteered to bake cookies for a special non-profit event going on this week at the state capital so up to my eyeballs in cookie dough, I'll be!

As I finish my (now cooling) coffee I just want to remind my readers of the personalized cup contest I'm currently holding with my sponsor, Twist-ID Products. A set of 6 durable, clear plastic, with a rainbow of color choices personalized band with your family or individual (or cow0rkers) names - could be yours on Valentine's Day simply by entering the My Colour Cup Contest by commenting or emailing your name and preferred email addy.

I've gotten quite a few entries by email (the comment section can be quirky so many are simply emailing) but there is an unlimited number of people who can enter so be sure to check out the link above and get your name in!

After we had our first two children we found that we were actually paying $28 more per month for child care than I was bringing home in income. It was then I quit to be home full time with the children and we went on to have another child two years later. For the next few years I was a full time wife and mother and I was quite honestly, in my element. From doing our taxes and all our finances to raising three small children, all the cooking and cleaning, errands, schedules, repairs, DIY projects, appointments... even being a girl scout leader on top of it all.

A few years ago my husband made a major career change and with the new company and new position came another relocation - a new city and new state but also, unfortunately, a new cut in pay. It was time for me to find a job and before I knew it I was not only working outside of the home again, but after two years, went from part time to full time and discovered myself grabbing something 'frozen' out of the deep freeze on my way into the house after work and starting dinner while still in my dress shoes and pearls.

There are nights when I simply don't have time to make what I am craving and since we live frugally, I cannot and will not order take-out food or fast food on a regular basis. Once every four or five months at the most. So last night was an odd night when I immediately changed into capri's and a sweatshirt after arrving home, and made my families favorite Chinese dishes; General Tso's Chicken and Cream Cheese Wontons. The wontons are actually my family's favorite Chinese food of all - they are simple and delicious. If you don't mind the smell of oil in the air from frying them, they are well worth making! All you need is quite literally, two ingredients; cream cheese and wonton wrappers!



Cream Cheese Wontons

1 block (8 oz) cream cheese
1 package wonton wrappers
oil for frying


Lay out the wontons on the counter or a large baking sheet and make them assembly style. Use a butter knife to slice off a little cream cheese for each; slice and then slice again diagonally or cube them. It doesn't matter! The cheese is going to melt anyway.

Place a bit of cream cheese on half of the wonton, moisten the edge with either a finger dipped in water or you can use a slightly beaten egg white, fold on the center diagonal to form a triangle and seal. Place in hot grease and fry about 30 seconds on one side, flip and another 30-60 on the second side until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Serve as is, dusted with powdered sugar or with a sweet and sour sauce or (our favorite) plum sauce!

When it comes to entertaining in your home there are people who entertain with dinner parties in beautiful, perfect homes with top of the line decor, gorgeous furniture, glass tile bathrooms and perfection all the way through. Others believe entertaining is not so much the atmosphere but the people and will greet their friends and family with an open door and a soda or beer and don't mind if the living room is toy-strewn or a stray sock is on the couch. I enjoy both! I, like most people (I hope) go to the home of a friend or family member for the pleasure of their company. Delicious food is a plus!

When I say that today's post is for 'Tiny Vegetable Sandwiches' some people will think garden parties, tea and big hats. Wrong! These awesome little sandwiches are so adaptable I'd serve them in the garden to the 'ladies' as well as fix a big plate of them for the buffet table during the big game next to a similar sandwich with a meat filling (perhaps ham and cheese, turkey and swiss or an Italian blend).

Tiny Vegetable Sandwiches

1 (8-ounce) container cream cheese with onion and chives
1 (8-ounce) container cream cheese with garden vegetables
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 carrots, shredded
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 medium-size red bell pepper, diced
5 green onions, minced
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans
1 teaspoon Beau Monde seasoning
18 very thin wheat bread slices, with crusts removed
18 very thin white bread slices, with crusts removed

Stir together the cheese, carrots, garlic, peppers, onions, pecans and seasoning. Spread cream cheese mixture on wheat bread slices, and top with white bread slices. Cut each sandwich into fourths. Chill up to 24 hours in an airtight container between layers of wax paper.

With three brothers, one husband and one son, I know that 'Little boys with their toys' grow up to be big boys with their toys. The toys may come from the local hardware store now, but tools, trucks and football rank high on the 'man-meter' in our house and lucky for my husband, at least one of our daughters loves football as much he does... perhaps even more, which I never knew was possible! I however, know where I plan to be during any NFL game. The kitchen. It's my time to cook one of the 'funnest' (yes I said funnest!) foods there are to cook ~ appetizers!

Here is a dish that is ever-so-popular at almost any get together... and there is a good reason for that. It tastes good. People like it.

I have made this numerous times and of course - use what you have on hand and improvise if you know your family or friends don't like something. Believe it or not, about 8 years ago I read on a recipe message board, an entry on a mexican layer dip where the poster (in all seriousness) said the recipe sounded great until she got to the end and saw it had black olives in it. She couldn't believe that someone would ruin a perfectly good recipe with black olives and then continued to rant and rave about how 'gross' they were and she insisted because it had black olives on it she REFUSED to make it and was so angry because it sounded so good up until that part.

I can only wonder - did the poor girl not even think to simply leave off the black olives?

For goodness sake... leave out anything you don't like. (I'm sure I didn't have to tell you that though!).

Layered Taco Dip

1 can refried beans
1 can black beans
1 16 oz container of sour cream
1 c chopped lettuce
1/3 c chopped onions - your choice
1/2 to 1 jar of salsa
1 package of three cheese blend
chopped tomato
black and green olives

Spread the beans on a serving platter or covered pizza round and top with rinsed and drained black beans. You can bake at 325 degrees for about 10-15 minutes now - and top with the rest as a cold topping OR finish layering the ingredients (sour cream, onions, lettuce, salsa, cheese, tomato and olives) and heat it all. Serve with sturdy tortilla chips.

My schedule has been so crazy lately that I had not noticed nor given thought to the "Big Game" (which we all know as SuperBowl but since the NFL is suing anyone who calls it that but them, we'll have to bow to the stupidity and call it the 'big game'). Personally I don't care about football games and I don't watch. However, my family loves the part I play in the whole big day as it's a day for "Football Food". This of course means... finger foods. Appetizers. Foods they can 'graze' on.

With that in mind, let's throw a few 'no brainer' recipes out there. Things you probably don't need a recipe for but perhaps just a reminder that they exist and you'll read it and say "Oh yeah! I forgot about that. I need to make one of those!" Remember; play with your food. Recipes are guides... but add and delete to your own tastes. In our family I'd add some black olives and chopped jalapeno's to this cold bean and salsa dip. I'd also try adding a can of refried beans and some cream cheese and heating it in a crock pot. Add. Delete. Have fun!

Salsa and Bean Dip

1 can black beans (drained)
1 can red (not kidney beans) beans (drained)
1 can white shoe-peg corn (drained)
4 green onions (chopped)
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
2 c salsa

Mix with a wooden spoon and serve with tortilla chips.

For readers who have been around since this websites start in 2006, you might remember my posts reminiscing of the Calizza I used to have at Pizza Hut back in 1987 (ish) when I was a teenager. Baked in a personal sized pizza pan, it was a cheese stuffed crust, folded over and served with sauce but not one bit of red sauce was included in the entree, nor was there any meat. I have to go purely on memory from 20 years ago, but I knew at the time it was full of a ricotta cheese filling with bits of something green.... and I loved them.

They soon stopped making them and I've been on a small quest over the past 10 or 15 years to try to recreate this dish. Last week I came close. I saw a recipe for a ricotta flan and although it was nothing like the Calizza, my creative mind started to spin and I decided to give it a go. In the end I was close... closer than ever before. There was one thing missing, which I'll comment on at the end.

Here is what I did;

3 Cheese Calizza

15 oz. Ricotta Cheese
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c grated Mozzarella
1 large egg
1 1/2 t chopped basil (use 2 T fresh or about 2 t jarred in oil)
1 1/2 t chopped chives, fresh
1 1/2 t minced/chopped garlic
1/4 t paprika
salt and fresh ground black pepper
Pizza Dough

Mix the cheeses, herbs and egg together until creamy. Divide your pizza dough into 4 balls and roll each into a flat circle on a pizza stone or a greased baking sheet. Divide the filling between the four, placing only on half of the circle, fold over and use a fork to seal the edges. Brush the tops with oil. Bake at 375 until golden brown. Brush with butter or oil when it comes out of the oven. Serve with either a side of pizza sauce or garlic butter.

*Comments
Herbs/Spices are approximate. Add more or less to your personal taste if you like heavy basil or oregano or garlic. The cheese amounts are approximate as well but the ricotta base is the most important. These were delicious but not like Pizza Hut's due to the fact they were not baked in a cast iron pan with lots of oil - as was Pizza Huts trademark Pan Pizza's and Calizzas. I will absolutely make these again, but will bake them in a small pie tin (as I don't have a personal pan pizza pan) with 2 T oil and will see if it makes the difference I'm looking for.

Bake until golden brown

Serve with pizza sauce or melted butter infused with garlic and parsley