Recipe Swap: Cheesy Bacon Ranch Dip

I don't know about you all, but I love a good dip so I am always up for trying new recipes!  My friend Katy told me about the cheesy bacon ranch dip and it's so delicious.. and so easy, which makes it even better in my opinion.

Ingredients:

• 16 Oz. sour cream
• 1 Ranch seasoning packet
• 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (I estimated)
• 1 bag of real bacon bits
• chopped green onions (I took the lazy route and bought them already chopped)

Directions: 

• Mix all ingredients together and eat with tortilla chips or Frito scoops

Yes, that is really it... and it's so good!  Enjoy :)

Wonderful Weekends: Valentine's Day

Happy Monday, everybody! I'm actually out of my office because we are off for President's Day, so technically I could say my weekend is still going, but I wanted to go ahead and post a recap of our previous weekend.

Friday I cleaned our house, did laundry, etc. while Preston shoveled snow outside. That afternoon, I was treated to getting my nails done. I was hoping to get acrylic with pink paint, but unfortunately the paint kept smudging (even after allowing them to dry 30 minutes). I wasn't happy with them but didn't have any more time, so the nail tech said I could come back the next morning to have them fixed. I went home and Preston and I made stuffed shells for dinner. It was a new recipe for us, it was so easy and so delicious, win! You can get the recipe here. Give it a try, I'm glad we did... it's a new fav for us now.  We enjoyed our salad and shells for dinner and exchanged Valentine gifts.  Preston got me an origami owl bracelet I have been wanting and I love it so much!  Due to my office being closed for snow, Preston had to spoil a surprise and told me about flowers I was supposed to get that had to be rescheduled since the office wasn't open.  I can't wait to get them and I love the thought he put into it! 

Saturday morning started out rough because we had plans to go to Johnson City and it snowed again over night.  Due to snow and ice we couldn't get off our hill and I was pretty disappointed we were going to get to enjoy our plans.  However, around noon the driveway melted off and then we headed to J. City, just a little later than planned.  We enjoyed dinner at Bonefish grill and then stopped in a couple stores before heading to Bristol.  Oh, I should mention I went in Michael's and scored some awesome deals... I love a good deal! Anyways, in Bristol we went to a few more stores, frozen yogurt for dessert at Sweet Frog, and ended our trip getting some fish for our aquarium at Petsmart.  Our day ended up being a great day together, despite the morning starting off rough.  

Sunday we went to church as usual and then had a quick lunch at home.  Our afternoon Sunday was spent at home and then Sunday evening we went back to church and then I went to the grocery store.  It wasn't a very busy day and I enjoyed it.  

Now for some pictures from our weekend... if you follow me on instagram, you've probably already seen these pictures, and if you don't follow me, you should! Brooke_Riffe

Stuffed shells, yum!

poor girl was worn out Friday night

Wonderful Weekends

Happy Monday! Well, for me it's a tired Monday, I am in need of sweet tea for my "go-go juice" as I call it.
Let's recap the weekend, shall we?

Friday After work Friday I had a super low key evening. Preston was spending time out with a couple guys in the youth group so I decided to stay home. It was nice, Friday at work was absolutely crazy and I was so happy to see the weekend come. I spent Friday evening at home watching an excessive ammount Parenthood. Have any of you watched that show? I saw it on our Amazon prime account and decided to give it a try, I'm really liking it so far! I didn't leave the house Friday after I got home from work and it was great.

Saturday Saturday started slowly and then since the weather was nice in the afternoon, Preston and I cleaned and washed our vehicles inside and out, there was SO much salt and gunk on them from the snow. Yes, my car was just washed the previous weekend, but it was already bad again. While we washed cars, Chloe girl chilled and laid in the grass, she was so cute. I took pictures and worked on attempting to get some shots manually. I got a few good ones, but I definitely need to read more. Saturday evening we went to our local Mexican place for dinner, which was yummy as usual, followed by our weekly grocery shopping trip. I've been trying to meal plan better and shop smarter and we've saved a good amount on our grocery budget, which Preston and I have both been happy about. After we got back home, I crocheted a scarf and then we called it a night.

Sunday On Sunday we went to church, like usual. We had lunch at home and then I went to search for a trifle dish. I always see them and never bought one, and then when I needed one, I couldn't find one to buy. Thankfully I found one and then I went home. Preston and I made a s'mores trifle that I found on Pinterest (of course). I must say, it was pretty and turned out delicious, you can get the recipe here.

We went to evening services at church and then headed to our friend Jon's house where he was hosting a super bowl party. We had fun with our friends there and then went home for the night.

Here's to hoping for a good work week!

Christmas Goodies

I don't know about you all, but I love making Christmas goodies. This week I tried a new recipe that was for cookie bars, the recipe is here . I liked this because it made a large amount and it is really tasty! We also made dipped peanut butter crackers... mmm. Next one the list that will hopefully get made this week is some cinnamon hard candy. My mom has always always always made cinnamon candy. I remember taking huge suckers (made out of the hard candy mixture that was put in different molds to shape them) to school. I'm not sure what else I'll make this year, I'm sure there will be more. What are your favorite Christmas goodies to make? Please share!

*it looks more green than yellow in person

Wonderful Weekends

It's Monday again, blogging friends... let's make the most of it with a recap of this past weekend, it was a good one!
On Friday Preston picked up Brinley because she was staying with us for the weekend. After work, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a couple of things I needed to go with dinner for that evening. I tried a new recipe, cornflake chicken casserole, it was a hit and we will definitely make it again, you can get the recipe here. We enjoyed dinner and watching a movie at home.
Saturday morning we were up early and on the road, we first went to Johnson City to Best Buy to get my phone looked at, they are sending a new one, woohoo! After a quick trip to J. City, we (Chloe included) went to Abingdon for a day on the lake with Preston's Nana and PawPaw. It was a great day, we had lunch on the lake, with perfect weather. We enjoyed fishing, even though we only caught 2 the whole time. After the lake we went to the campground that Nana and Pawpaw have their camper at. Preston and I got in a mile walk before a hotdog dinner and we ended the night with S'mores...yum! We then got back on the road and made it home that night.
Here are some pictures from Saturday:

Sunday included church in the morning and then we went to Kentucky to take Brinley home. Preston and I got back home and decided to do some cleaning, so now we have a freshly cleaned house with all of the laundry caught up, which feels great!
Well, that brings us to this morning.... have a happy Monday and a great week, friends!!

Recipe Swap: Buffalo Chicken Dip

Don't you just love trying a new recipe and it being a huge hit?! I love the feeling, so I thought I would share a recipe I tried that went great, it is buffalo chicken dip. It's easy, but delicious...perfect for get togethers or parties. Or, you may want it on a bun and have it for dinner... it's seriously SO good!

Ingredients:
1 (8oz.) package of cream cheese
1/2 cup Frank's buffalo hot sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 shredded mozzarella cheese
2 (12.5oz) cans chicken breast (drained)

Directions:
pre heat oven to 350*
In a deep baking dish, stir cream cheese until smooth
Add buffalo sauce, ranch, and cheese. Stir until mixed well.
Using a fork, shred chicken
Add chicken to mixture, mix well.
Bake for 20 minutes
Eat with tortilla chips, crackers, or bread....enjoy!

Join in with the recipe swap, I'd love for you to share something! If you try the buffalo chicken dip, let me know!

Recipe Swap!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend, I know we have certainly enjoyed ours!  Sunday we had a super bowl party at church and I wanted to take home made chip dip and then I decided to try to make a cheese ball for the first time, let me just say it was great success and everyone loved both of them.  They are simple and easy recipes that everyone should have in their kitchen for a snack to throw together in a short amount of time that is delicious. 

 Ranch Chip Dip:

*Picture taken from google :)

Ingredients:

• 16 oz.Sour Cream
• 1 Powdered Ranch Packet
• 1 Can Dried Beef

Chopped dried beef until fine, mix all ingredients together, serve with chips/crackers, enjoy!
It's that simple and sooo very tasty, Preston made it for the party and it was a huge hit!  When making it for a larger group of people, we doubled the recipe except for the dried beef, you can still use only 1 can.


Cheese Ball

I must say, I was extremely excited that the cheese ball turned out well since it was my first one I've ever made, I'll definitely be making it more often!

Ingredients:

•  2 8oz. cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 table spoon accent flavor enhancer
• 1/2 of small onion (diced)
• 1 can dried beef (diced)
• chopped pecans

After dicing dried beef and onion, mix all ingredients except almonds until well mixed.  Form into ball shape, roll in chopped pecans.  Chill. Serve with crackers (we love it on wheat thins!)  Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy these recipes and give them a try, they are great and super easy to make, now... you should leave me one of your favorite recipes! 

Happy Cooking,

Brooke