Life Happenings: Excursions in the Kitchen

Life Happenings: Excursions in the Kitchen

Fun Football Party Dips!

In honor of football season being in full swing Im putting up a few favorite dip recipes that are great for football parties!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients
-1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Original Sauce
-1/2 cup Blue Cheese Dressing
-1/2 cup Blue Cheese Crumbles
-8 oz. of softened Cream Cheese
-2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken

Preparation
-Mix the hot sauce, dressing, crumbles, and cream cheese in an oven safe dish (I use my 8x8 pyrex dish) and then mix in the shredded chicken.
-Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for appox. 20 minutes or until bubbly!
-Serve with your favorite crackers, Ritz are a good choice!


Seven Layer Dip

Ingredients
-1.5 lbs cooked ground beef
-16 oz. can refried beans
-4 cups shredded cheese
-8 oz. sour cream
-1 cup guacamole
-1 cup salsa
-1 small can chopped olives
-1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
-1/2 cup chopped green onions

Preparation
-Cook ground beef in large skillet and set aside until cooled
-Spread beans in a large 13x9 dish that is approx. 1.5-2 inches deep
-Sprinkle 2 cups of cheese over the beans
-Sprinkle beef on top of cheese, and then spread the sour cream slowly over the beef
-Spread guacamole over the sour cream and then pour the salsa on top of that and sprinkle with other 2 cups of cheese
-Sprinkle olives, tomatoes, and onions over the top of the dish
-You can either serve it at room temperature or you can refrigerate it overnight and then serve with tortilla chips.

Bon Appétit!

Divine Décor: Décor Tricks

Divine Décor: Décor Tricks

Vase Fillers

A recent favorite décor trick is the use of vase fillers as a table centerpiece. My main inspiration came from a friends wedding centerpieces which were filled with fresh sliced oranges, it was beautiful and the smell was wonderful! Lemons work the same way, and you can mix flowers in as well to make it a floral arrangement!



You can find so many different things to use for fillers. Stores like Pottery Barn carry several different kinds of fillers like Acorns and Cranberries (both great for Thanksgiving) They also have fake fruits, like lemons, apples, and pomegranates (however, I prefer the use of real fruit).





There are also none food types of fillers like leaves, seashells, rocks, sand, fake snow... So many options and so many different opportunities to use them! Holidays are great times to use this trick for your table centerpieces. I already mentioned several good Thanksgiving ones, you can also use small pumpkins for Halloween, fake snow or snowflakes for Christmas, sand and seashells during the summer, leaves for fall...




Decorating with fillers is fun and gives you the flexibility to have a new fun centerpiece for each season, holiday, or event that you have!

HAPPY DECORATING!!!

Life Happenings: Entertaining Exercise

Life Happenings: Entertaining Exercise

SPINNING!!!




A few months ago a friend of mine convinced me to start going to the 6am spin class that they offer on the base on tues/thurs. I was kind of wary, first Im not a morning person, second I had done spin before and I knew it could be a butt-kickin workout. Anyways, I went and it was so much better than I remembered, and getting up early wasnt that bad! So for the last few months Ive gone twice a week and I love it!

Spin is a great form of exercise because even though its a class you can set your own resistance level and pace. Our instructor uses a 5 level system and we get to figure out what are level 1 is and so on up to 5 (which is the hardest), but my level 5 doesnt have to be as hard as everyone else... In order to have a good idea of your pace, the instuctor will tell you a RPM (rotations per minute) that you should be keeping up with, and it changes depending on your level... its super easy to understand and allows you to push yourself but not too hard!

A few of the great benefits of spinning is that it works your legs (ALOT) and your butt too, it can also work your abs if you are holding them in the whole time to hold up your upper body, as opposed to using your arms the whole time. Its a great cardio workout, which I love and after a few sessions you start to notice that it takes alot more to get your heart rate up really high! Another great thing is that there are so many options while spinning (sprints; intervals- slow, fast, slow, fast; jumps- standing, sitting, standing; pyramids- moving up and down levels 1,2,3,2,1...; no hands; being on your elbows...) there are so many different ways to mix up the workout and it keeps things new and changing! Also, an female of average height and weight can burn between 400-600 calories depending on hard you are spinning and your actual size, but thats pretty good for an hour workout!

The only thing I would recommend is getting a pair of bike shorts, if you plan on actually making a habit of it, because those seats are mighty uncomfortable and pair of padded bike shorts makes it about a billion times better, you can also buy a padded bike seat that just slips on over the regular seat! Other than that water and towel and you will be ready to go!

If you have never taken a spin class, its something that I highly recommend, I have also learned that having a fitness class that I go to keeps me going becuase I feel like its more of a commitment to my friends and to the instructor that I be there every class, its highly motivating!


GO! GO! GO!