New Years Eve Appetizer Recipes

* Yes, I know - this is an older post I had done but never got it posted - wanted to get it up since you may want to try some of these  for Superbowl Sunday! 

Every year on New Years Eve, Darryl and I have appetizer's.  The first year we were married, I made so many that it took 4 tray tables to hold them all and we ate them for a week.  I've tried to cut back over the years and actually feel like I had the perfect amount this year, well, almost.  I think I could have had one less and we would have been fine.  The 2 1/2 months prior to December 31st, we had two birthday parties, Thanksgiving, a special "football" Sunday during our vacation, Christmas Tree day . . .all of which we had appetizers at so I was really tired of our favorites.  So, I took a risk and made 3 new items this year and had some success!  This is what we had:
1) Rotel Dip
2) Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps
3) Pizza Dip
4) Spinach Cheese Triangles.

And yes, that is the order that both my husband and I rated them.  I personally don't think I'll make the Spinach Cheese Triangles again but some of you may really like them - I don't think we really like spinach quite that much :-) 

In case you have never had Ro-Tel Dip - it is so easy and good.  It takes just one small carton of Velveeta Cheese and one can of Ro-Tel Tomatoes.  (If you don't know what they are - you should be able to find them with the canned tomatoes . They are a brand but taste so different than just regular canned tomatoes) Put them in a microwave safe dish and microwave for 1 minute at a time, stirring after each minute, until melted.  Serve with chips. 

Next, the Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps really were soooooooo good.  They are not saucy, just "spicy" This is a Paula Deen Recipe.

Ingredients

1   (1-pound) package sliced bacon
1 1/4 lb boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoon chili powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes.  Cut each bacon slice into thirds. Wrap each chicken cube with bacon and secure with a wooden pick.  Stir together brown sugar and chili powder.  Dredge wrapped chicken in mixture.  Coat a rack and broiler pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Place chicken on rack in broiler pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until bacon is crisp.

The Pizza Dip Recipe I found at A Love Worth Waiting For

Pizza Dip

(We had this at our wedding and it is amazing!!)

You Will Need:

1 8oz package cream cheese softened
1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 jar pizza sauce

1/2 cup chopped pepperoni

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 cup mozzarella cheese

tortilla chips or crackers

Beat first 5 ingredients until well blended: spread in a lightly greased 9 inch pie plate.

Pour pizza sauce over cream cheese mixture; sprinkle with pepperoni and top with onions.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, sprinkle with cheese and return to oven until cheese

melts.

Serve hot with chips or crackers

My Notes:  I will confess, I did not read the recipe well so I didn't layer anything - I had it all mixed in a bowl before I read the instructions.  I think it would taste better layered.

Finally, the Spinach Cheese Triangles I found at What Megan's Making.

Spinach Cheese Trianglesfrom  Favorite Brand Name Best Loved Holiday Recipes
(printable recipe)

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
1/3 cup chopped drained roasted red peppers
1/4 tsp garlic salt
6-8 sheets frozen phyllo, thawed
1/4 cup (half stick) melted butter

Mix cream cheese, spinach, red peppers and garlic salt with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Lay 1 phyllo sheet on flat surface. Brush with some of the melted butter. Cut lengthwise into 4 (18 x 3 1/2 inch) strips. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling about 1 inch from one end of each strip. Fold the end over the filling at a 45-degree angle. Continue folding as you would fold a flag to form a triangle that encloses the filling. Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo sheets. Place triangles on cookie sheet and brush with melted butter. Bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown

My Notes:  I think that putting 1 tablespoon of filling is too much - the spinach taste was pretty strong.  I also think that maybe some Parmesan cheese added to this would make it taste better too

What I'm Loving Wednesday

It is that time once again and I'm linking up with Jamie over at This Kind of Love for "What I'm loving Wednesday"

I'm loving this Aveeno Baby Calming Comfort Lotion (and not for the babies!) My skin was SOOOOO dry it was literally driving me insane some days.  In desperation, I went searching in my cabinet and pulled this stuff out and it worked fantastically!  In less than 24 hours, I had baby soft skin :-)  This is my new every day lotion without a doubt!

This is my my candle of the week and I love it!  It reminds me so much of winter and blizzards (like we have going on right now!)



I'm LOVING this song by Brandon Heath - Love Never Fails You.  Make sure and take the time out to listen to it (you may want to pause the player at the bottom of my page)

I'm also loving this guy - Tommy - our guest cat.  He has been staying with us while my in-laws are down south for a few weeks.  He is HUGE (this picture does him no justice as far as his size)  He is just an all around fantastic cat!



I'm  also loving the simple James study I found through the Good Morning Girls website.  Just a few verses a day but so much to learn! 

I'm loving the fact that we actually have a full fledged blizzard going on.  I LOVE winter for this very reason and have waited all winter for even a really good snow!  We got dumped on last night and are totally 100% snowed in on a week day!

 

 

And, finally, I'm loving that wild, wacky hair LOL  I laughed all day at that hair and, no I never did comb it out - it was just too much fun!


So go check out This Kind of Love and see what everyone else is loving on this Wondeful Wednesday!

Too Cute Not To "Toot"!

I was looking through blogs this weekend and found a post about all things Marshmallows so I thought I would first share some of these awesome looking ideas.  I'm thinking they would be fun to make with kids for cute Valentine's Day Treats and would also be fun for a classroom party.

Seriously?  That is all I have to say about this incredible looking treat from Brown Paper Packages

 

Dabbled shows a super cute idea to do with homemade marshmallows.  I've seen homemade marshmallows made on some of the cooking shows but have never tried my hand at it - I think I might try it just for fun.  The kids love marshmallows :-)

I've seen recipes for Whoopie Pies popping up all over the place the past few weeks.  My gourmet connection gives a cute idea using marshmallow filling.

Very Sweet Desserts gives a cute idea for dipping marshmallows and decorating them up with sprinkles.

I've also seen this done with the Strawberry Mashmallows that are out right now and than dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. 

Of course there are some great organizational ideas out there as well as some cute craft ideas.

Homemade by Kiki gives a great idea on how to store that huge DVD collection we all end up with in a very small space. 

My Computer is My Canvas is sharing these awesome "Love Notes" in her Etsy Shop for a small purchase price - well worth it because of how creative it is!

My Computer is My Canvas also has this for sale too - a fantastic Valentine's Day Banner.  I couldn't create it that's for sure!

This is an adorable idea for your spouse found over at I'm a Mom not a Professional.  It would be an easy, free thing to do for your sweety this Valentine's Day.

40 x 40 Goals - Book Club

Despite taking a break from diligently working on my 40 x 40 goals, I haven't forgotten them!  One of the things I wanted to work on first was to find a book club that I could be part of for at least 6 months.  Little did I know that there was one right under my nose :-)

See, I follow a blog called Bring the Rain, which is written by the wife of one of the members of the group Selah.  I just happened to click on something called "Bloom" on her Blog and low and behold, it was a book club.  It has been something that she and a friend of hers have been doing for awhile but now have joined forces with another site called (in)courage to hose the book club.  I'm so excited to follow this through!

The first book we are reading is One Thousand Gifts written by Ann Voskamp.

I'm so excited to get my book and start reading.  Basically, we read a chapter a week and than follow on the blog once a week to see the video from the book club.  If you are interested in reading more on this club, just check here!

So, this works toward another of those 40 x 40 goals that I posted long ago!  Progress is being made little by little :-)

Subway Art

Ever since I really starting looking at all the Arts and Crafts ideas that show up in blog land, I kept seeing a theme over and over - that is Subway Art. 

One of the blogs I follow, While he was Napping, is giving away this awesome piece based on those old "Conversation Hearts"

And that is just one example!  Isn't it super cute?  Every season, milestone in life, and just life in general can have a neat "Subway Art" created - I'm thinking this would look cute in my kitchen and than I could change it out each month/holiday/birthday for something different.  Since my next project is my kitchen . . .I think this just became decor!

So check out While He Was Napping to see this specific idea but also check out her whole site - she has some really fun date ideas on there too!

Valentines Countdowns

Valentine's Day Countdowns

I think that I shared both of these ideas at some point in some post but I wanted to show you my finished product!

First of all is the Countdown that we are going to be doing with the boys throughout the WHOLE month of February.  I decided to start this countdown February first instead of starting it 30 days before Valentines day.  We were already during our Winter Unit in January and I wanted to save the hearts for February

Is that awesome or what?  Josh has already noticed it and wants to start using it now!

You can get all of the items you need to make this same countdown from a great blog called mydeliciousambiguity.  She e-mails you the numbers and cards with ideas on them as well as the instructions - it is just a small fee but so worth the time it saves. ! 

The other countdown calendar that I'm doing is the "14 Days of Valentines" with Darryl

This idea comes from Love Actually - click on the "shop" section at the top of her blog and scroll down that section until you get to the 14 days sections :-)  She also e-mails you the basics of what you need, again for a small fee.

The ideas are cute - like each telling your favorite dating memory or taking 15 minutes to look through your dating scrapbook; sending each other a love letter through the mail and sending a text to each other on one day.  We will be pulling the card the night before (so we will pull our first card on Jan 31st) so that way, we know what to do the following day (some require a little planning like picking up a small gift or getting a card)  It's just a fun idea to do some special things together!



Weekly Organizational Challenge - Week #1

I've linked up with A Bowl Full of Lemons and am participating in her Weekly Challenges all dealing with cleaning and organizing!  I'm so excited because this fits right into my whole theme of "Simplify" that I am working on throughout this year. 

What better way to start than with building a Home Management Journal.  We can't have organized lives without a way to organize all of the important things that cross our paths each day!  Ironically, one of my "simplify" projects I'm working on is re-doing my control journal and routines to make them work better for me.  So this comes at the perfect time! 

I have my supplies to get started:

I already have my binder I use for my control journal but it is just plain green - so I pulled out some pretty scrapbook paper to change the look of it.  Plus my trusty label maker, highlighters, pens, a hole punch. 

What's my first step?  I'm going to use that scrapbook paper to make my binder pretty and label it so there is no question what it is. 

I'll be posting throughout the week showing you my progress but also (hopefully) sharing some freebie downloads and probably a few things you can pick up through creative Etsy shops out there too.  You can check out A Bowl Full of Lemons to get some of those ideas now!

I'll be linking up over at: