Recipe #22 - Football Food: Pumpkin Pie Dip

This past weekend I invited some family & friends over to the house to watch the Bears game. (Go Bears!) It was a great opportunity to try out a few recipes I had been eyeing on Pinterest.The spread included turkey sloppy joe sliders, veggie pizza & buffalo chicken dip, but the star of the show was the pumpkin pie dip for sure.

Recipe inspired by www.sixsistersstuff.com Pumpkin Pie Dip

Ingredients

• 15 oz can pure pumpkin
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 6 oz vanilla greek yogurt (original recipe calls for plain fat-free, but I thought the vanilla flavor would give it more taste)
• 8 oz fat free Cool Whip
• Mini vanilla waffers and sliced apples or any other tasty sweet crackers or fruit of your choice.

Directions
Mix pumpkin with brown sugar, vanilla and spices, blend well. Mix in yogurt. Fold in Cool Whip and chill in refrigerator until ready to eat.

Results
Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! Very light, not too sweet and absolutely delicious. :) One word of caution, this makes A LOT of the dip. I probably had enough to fill the bowl shown about 2-3 times. I would recommend making half of the recipe.

Recipe #24 - Football Food: Buffalo Chicken Dip

Q: What is the perfect compliment to a Sunday Bears football game?
A: Buffalo Chicken Dip!

Straight from the recipe on the back of the Frank's Original Red Hot Sauce.

Ingredients

• 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup blue cheese dressing (I used Light Ranch dressing instead)
• 1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce
• 1/2 cup cumbled blue cheese
• 2 cups diced cooked chicken (I used 1 large can of white chunk chicken)
• Carrot sticks, celery and chips for dipping

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cream cheese into deep dish.Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bake for 20 min until hot. Stir. Enjoy!

Results
As you can see, I tried to be creative and make the laces of a football using some Frank's Red Hot Sauce drizzled on top of the mix. Doesn't exactly look like a football, but it was worth a shot. "A" for effort. :) The dip was delicious!! I made a double batch and there was hardly any left at the end of the day.

For more football food recipes, check out pumpkin pie dip and veggie pizza.

Recipe #23 - Football Food: Veggie Pizza

My husband's aunt makes a really great veggie pizza when we are up at the lake house. I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try!

Recipe inspired by www.breakfast-and-brunch-recipes.com Veggie Pizza for Brunch

Ingredients

• 2 8oz cans reduced fat crescent rolls
• 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
• 3 TBSP mayonnaise
• 3 cups chopped mixed vegetables (I used pre-chopped tri-color peppers and sliced green and black olives)
• 1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Line a 10" x 15" baking pan with the crescent roll dough, pressing the edges and perforations together.
• Place in the oven and bake the crust according to the instructions on the package. Cool to room temperature.
• In a medium size bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.Add the sour cream, ranch salad dressing mix and mayonnaise. Mix well.
• Spread the mixture over the cooled crust. Sprinkle with chopped vegetables and cheese. Cut into squares. Enjoy!

Results
Yum!! The only thing I would change is I would use less of the ranch salad dressing mix.That flavor was a bit strong, but other than that, delicious!! :)

For more football food recipes, check out pumpkin pie dip & buffalo chicken dip.

Recipe #21 - Sausage & Egg Bake

We love to eat breakfast burritos for dinner (tortillas, eggs, sausage, hashbrowns & cheese), but it takes 3 pans to make and as good as they taste, I hate to clean up afterwards. I decided an egg bake might be a good alternative with relatively the same ingredients/result with less cleanup.

Recipe inspired by www.culinary.net Weekend Brunch Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 8 ounce can refrigerated seamless dough sheet (you can also use 1 8oz can of crescent rolls if you don't have the seamless dough sheet --> you can get reduced fat crescent rolls, but I haven't found a reduced fat seamless sheet yet)
• 1 pound reduced-fat sausage
• 2 cups finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese (original recipe calls for mozzarella, but I like cheddar better)
• 5 eggs, beaten (org. recipe calls for 4 eggs, but I like more eggs in an egg bake)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Cook and crumble sausage in a medium skillet over medium heat according to package instructions. Drain.
• Line bottom of a greased 13x9 inch baking dish with the dough.
• Sprinkle dough with sausage & cheese.
• Combine remaining ingredients in mixing bowl until well blended. Pour mixture over the sausage and cheese.
• Bake 15 minutes or until set. (It took mine about 20+ minutes.) Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into squares.
• Serve hot. Refrigerate leftovers. Enjoy!

Results

• Delicious! I would absolutely make this again. Very easy and less cleanup!!
• If you can see in the picture, the seamless crust was too large for my baking dish. I learned that my new favorite bluish purple large baking dish from Crate & Barrel is in fact NOT a 13x9 inch baking dish. I thought it was -- OOPS! :) Next time I will either just cut the crust to fit the pan or find a bigger dish. The crust on top burned and did not taste good.

Quick&Easy Recipe - Rotisserie Chicken Nachos

My husband and I love the chicken nachos from Miller's Ale House. I make nachos (cheese & chips) all the time for us, so adding chicken was a logical and easy addition. I always pass those rotisserie chickens in the grocery store and thought this might be the perfect time to try one for the meat for our chicken nachos! The plan worked out brilliantly! This recipe was quick, easy & delicious!!

I pulled all the meat off the bones and placed it into a container with a lid. We will have plenty of chicken this week for either more nachos or other chicken dishes. After placing the chicken & cheese on the nachos, I placed them in the microwave for 45 seconds until all the cheese was melted.

This is just the base. You can add whatever toppings/veggies/sauces you would like to make it the perfect snack or meal. On Saturday, I made some guacamole to have with the nachos. My guac is simple: 1 avocado mashed up, about 1/4 tsp each of salt, pepper, onion powder & garlic powder. Add more or less to taste. I also make easy guac by mashing up 1 avocado and adding about 1-2 TBSP of salsa. Good stuff!

Quick&Easy Recipe - York Peppermint Brownies

I saw something on Pinterest too incredible not to try...York Peppermint Brownies from www.sugardishme.com. I made them this morning for a Sunday Football treat. So easy & so delicious!!

All you have to do is take 1 box of brownie mix and add to it whatever it calls for (eggs, oil, water, etc.). I used Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix. It is amazing on its own but when you add York Peppermint Patties - it somehow makes it even better!! You pour half of the brownie mix in a 8x8 or 9x9 dish. Then, place the patties side by side until they cover the 1st layer of brownie mix. Finally, poor the remaining brownie batter over the peppermint patties. Bake the brownies according to the directions on the box. Enjoy!!

My husband doesn't like the mint/chocolate combo, so I can't give you a second opinion, but I believe these are absolutely amazing!

One variation I might try for the future would be to use Junior Mints instead of the York Peppermint Patties so that you get smaller bites of peppermint throughout the brownies.

Recipe #20 - French bread pizza

I debated on whether or not this is a "Quick&Easy" recipe or just a regular new recipe. I am counting it as a new recipe as I have not made it before and I feel like someone once said if it takes more than 3 ingredients, then you are cooking vs. putting something together, so I am going to go with that.


This picture shows half of a half loaf. Left side = plain cheese. Right side = sausage & cheese.

Ingredients
1 large French bread loaf
Pizza sauce
Mozzerella cheese
Sausage
Pepperoni
Italian Seasoning

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cut bread loaf in half and then cut it to split it open (as if you were going to make a sandwich).
3. Spread pizza sauce on top of the bread. Then you can put the toppings on the bottom and the cheese on top or cheese on bottom and toppings on top.
4. Place the French bread pizzas in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.
5. When the cheese has melted all of the way, pull the pizza out of the oven and sprinkle Italian seasoning over the entire thing. Enjoy!

Half of the loaf. Sausage & Pepperoni.

Results
WOW! This was incredible! I am not sure if we were just hungry or if it was really this good, but this was amazing, and I will absolutely make this again!