A Little Spring

Missy Tippens

I thought I'd share a quick (zero Weight Watcher point) snack and a little bit of spring with you today!

First, I think our poor trees and flowers are mixed up here in Georgia. We did have some really warm weather (it was 75 degrees last week!). But even before that, I noticed trees blooming. Here are a few photos of my neighborhood (my trees aren't blooming yet).

I know some of you are in areas with heavy snow, so I hope you enjoy this taste of spring! It'll come your way eventually. :)

And now, a quick snack...

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Mexicorn (slightly drained)
1 can green chile peppers with juice
1 can petite diced tomatoes with juice
Spices (I used Penzey's Buttermilk Dressing and Dip spice mix and Penzey's Salsa and Pico spice mix)

The recipe I used before calls for Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch Dressing, but I didn't have any. Thus, I used the Ranch flavorings and salsa spices! Scoop with tortilla chips (not zero points, but still not too bad if you can manage not to eat the whole bag). :) It's a great snack!

Also! I have a new novella that just released for Valentine's Day! I hope you'll check it out.

Her Valentine Reunion

What happens on the very day Abbie Rogers makes a preemptive strike against Valentine’s Day funk by declaring herself content to be single? Why, Victor Wallis, the man who broke her heart, comes crashing back into her life, of course. Not only that, he declares himself a changed man, and he truly seems to be. She even finds herself falling for him again. But when he makes a move to take over her family’s business, Abbie’s not certain she’ll ever be able to trust the only man she’s ever loved.

www.missytippens.com

Buffalo Chicken Dip (revisited)

by Missy Tippens

Okay, I've had a crazy week. My parents, sister and brother-in-law came in town over the weekend and were here until Tuesday. I only cooked standbys that I've shared here numerous times so don't have a thing to post. And then we had a water leak disaster! I had to turn off our water Tuesday morning (I'm so thankful it made it through the weekend before the water started dripping through the ceiling in the garage!). So I haven't cooked all week. Thus, I'm reposting a fun blog from 2012. It's a throwback to my daughter being in high school! :)

Buffalo Chicken Dip in a Pinch

Missy, here. On Monday after school, my daughter called while I was out running errands to ask if she could have some friends over to spend the night to celebrate exempting finals and being done with the semester. I told her that was fine. Then I had to go into emergency prep mode!

I hurried home to clean the kitchen and try to figure out if we had anything I could cook for dinner. Nope. Once I found out she'd invited 7 girls, I headed to the grocery store. I'd been craving spaghetti all day, so I decided that would be an easy one to pull together. Here's my dad's recipe for homemade spaghetti, although I ended up buying a jar of Ragu to hurry things along.

Then I found out a few of the girls would be playing in a basketball game or playing in the band and would arrive late. So I realized I probably needed a substantial snack as well. Oh, and breakfast!

So here's my grocery trip. Sister Schubert's cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Easy, and the kids love them. Hot dog buns for quick garlic toast under the broiler. 
Beef, noodles and sauce for the spaghetti. And I had my daughter look up a recipe for a buffalo chicken dip the girls have been raving about. For that, I bought a can of chicken and block of cream cheese (already had the other ingredients).

Once I got the spaghetti sauce cooking, I tackled the dip. Here's the recipe she found on Pinterest:

1 1/2 cups cooked and shredded chicken or 1 (12 ounce) can chunk chicken, 
drained
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Ranch dressing
1/2 cup Buffalo wing sauce (such as Frank’s Red Hot, not to be confused with 
their pepper sauce. Start with less if you want and add more to your desired 
hotness.)
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

I went on a hunting expedition and found my tiny slow cooker. I thought it would be perfect for a single recipe of this dip.

And, in a nod to Virginia's favorite word in cooking, I'm calling this part of the recipe a "dump dip." :)

I dumped in the cream cheese and can of chicken.

I let this melt a bit, then added the rest of the ingredients and mixed them in with a fork. A couple of hours later, I was ready for the masses!

BTW, I only used about 1/4 cup Frank's sauce, and it was plenty spicy for me.

Serve with tortilla chips. We used Scoops. A great way to feed a bunch of celebrating, hungry teenage girls!

Fun with Friends!

By Sandra Leesmith

As most of you know, my husband and I play pickleball every day.

The game is fast, fun and very social. Playing pickleball improved the health of both my husband and myself.  After retirement, hubby had quickly become a couch potato watching way too much television. When he fell in love with pickleball, our life changed. 

We are out every day getting exercise and socializing with friends. Since we are in our seventies, both of these factors have been proven to increase the quality of the aging process. And we can attest to that. Pickleball reversed my osteoporosis. Now that is a miracle in itself. 

Because we pretty much live in our RV, most of our playing is in RV Resorts. In the winter the resorts are usually Senior (over 55) Resorts. Because we are in resorts, pickleball players get together in the evenings. This is part of our socializing fun. The nice thing about pickleball happy hours is that we all get up to play in the morning so the parties are early and don’t last long. 

Another thing about being in the RV is that we are not close to a grocery store most of the time and we want things that are quick and easy. So I keep certain things on hand that are easy to pack. Don’t take up much room. And most important—are delicious.

Hot Wing Chicken Dip is a favorite:

Btw if you are vegetarian you can leave out the chicken and this is still YUMMY
Also: If you are on a high protein diet, this is perfect if you leave out the crackers.

Here is the recipe:

Hot Wing Chicken Dip

1   8 oz package cream cheese ( I use fat free cream cheese)
1 13 oz can chicken breast  (drained and shredded)
¼ cup Franks Hot Sauce
½ cup   Blue Cheese dressing  

Note:  You can sprinkle a layer of shredded cheddar cheese on top

Mix together and put in 8x8 inch cake pan. (I use an aluminum pan so can toss when party is over.)
Heat in 350 degree oven for twenty minutes

Spread this lovely dip on crackers (Triscuits are my favorite), celery sticks and/or cucumber sliced in rounds so they are like a cracker. 

Thanks for sharing this winner.  Speaking of winners. In the following photo, hubby and I had just won a gold medal in a tournament in Tucson, Arizona.

And Seeker friend Marianne Barkman and her mother came to watch me in a tournament in El Mirage, Arizona last spring. What a treat. (We didn’t win the game but seeing friends was a winner event in itself. Yay!!!)

Easy S'More Dip!

Missy, here. My daughter saw this recipe on Pinterest and excitedly texted me a photo. The original recipe came from the Five Heart Home website. My daughter made it and took photos so I could share with you! She made a small version in my small iron skillet (the one I use for cornbread).

Ingredients:

Chocolate chips--a mix of semi-sweet and milk (or whatever you prefer)

Large marshmallows cut in half

Graham Crackers

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cover the bottom of your skillet with the chocolate chips. (She sprayed the pan with Pam first.)

Cover with the halved marshmallows.

Bake at 450 degrees for 5-7 minutes or until marshmallows are toasty brown.

Gorgeous!

Dip your graham crackers and enjoy! (Careful. It's VERY hot as my nearly-burned bottom lip will tell you.) :)

A quick, easy dish to share. No need for the campfire (like from my book, The Guy Next Door!). :)

www.missytippens.com

Cute Cheese Balls for Fall! (Part #97 of "Playing With Our Food" )



Hello, everybody!! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I know most of you (it seemed like the ENTIRE WORLD) were off playing at the ACFW conference but I've been home.... writing and cooking and writing and cooking.

 

 

 

OK, that's not really accurate. I've been writing and eating and writing and eating. Either way, there's been a lot of writing. But in between those times of writing (and eating) I've been hanging with the fam.

My husband made an awesome fire pit. We saw a few for sale. We saw some nice ideas on Pinterest. But in the end, he broke apart an old BBQ grill and dropped it into a hole. (The hole was prepared with rocks, like we saw on a tutorial) And then he placed slabs of broken concrete around it that were leftover from when he tore up the old patio when we were building on to the house. I don't always love everything hubby does in the yard. (Oh, the stories I could tell!!) But this just tickled me. All repurposed and it was so rustic! We've had a fire almost every night since and we're using up all the old storm debris from last spring. Bonus!

 Well, we ate about 3/4 of a box of apples and they started to get bruised. So... time for some apple cider!

 Choppity, chop, chop, chop.

 Hi there, juicer!! How I love thee!!!

 When I started juicing, the kids were watching this and I could HEAR them thinking, "No WAY am I drinking that."

 It looked even worse in one of my gorgeous blue vintage Ball jars!

 

 In the ATLAS gallon jars, it was sooooo pretty! A hundred year old jar holding cold pressed cider just like they used to make in the olden days! (Fine, except for the fancy juicer...)

 My husband's parents and his brother have come to visit. There's been a lot of cactus around. (It's already been defanged here and is ready to grill.) They're used to cooking on an open flame so good thing it's summer. We just eat everything that way and everybody's happy.

                                                                 NOM NOM NOM

 My husband and his dad. Funny, I always think hubby is SO Mexican. And then his family comes to visit and I start thinking, "Dude, you are SO American." I mean, all you have to do is check out the hats. Point made.

 His younger brother, Rodrigo. Isn't he adorable? He was about 11 when we got married so when I look at him, I get a shock. In my head, he's just a little kid.

OK, so on to the recipe! I saw this on facebook. Have I mentioned how much I love facebook?? I just do. So many friends, so much FOOD.

 You'll need:
-two bell peppers
-two packs of cream cheese
-3 TBS green onions
-two cups shredded cheddar cheese
-2 TBS paprika
-1/4 tsp cumin
-1 cup crushed Dorito chips or some other unnaturally orange-colored chip

 Add green onions to the cream cheese.

 Kids love cooking. Kids love learning how to make something delicious. But mostly kids love cooking when there is crushing and mashing involved.

 Adding the shredded cheese. (I know, I probably don't need to show every step. But we all love pictures, right? Skip to the end if you're bored.)

 Add the seasoning. (*prods readers awake*) Don't skip this next step or you'll have an interesting mess on your hands. Chill the cheese blobs for about 20 minutes.

 Wake UP! It's the really exciting part! Sprinkling on the Dorito crumbs!!

 We pressed in the tops of the green bell pepper (use the rest for a salad or something) and then sprinkled on a bit more. Serve immediately. Oh, aren't they adorable??? Ready for a Fall party!

Have a wonderful Wednesday wherever you are!
And now...
Back to writing...
And eating...
And writing...

Mexican Salad/Dip

Missy, here. The Yank and I switched days this week.

I'm sharing one of my very favorite things today. Picture this if you will...

It's Christmastime... we're having the church staff Christmas party...a few people are late, so we're having appetizers...my friend Kelly, our Family Life Center Director, has brought her famous dip...and her husband Britt has made homemade tortilla chips (fried, no less!)...

I stand there and eat chips and dip...

And eat more dip...

And more...

Then it's time for dinner. We eat our meal. And as we're cleaning up before we head home...

I eat a few more scoops of dip...just to help Kelly and Britt so they don't have to haul the last bits from the bottom of the bowl home.

:) :)

I had a craving this week so texted Kelly to get the recipe. And you're the lucky beneficiaries!

Mexican Salad (but I call it dip since I love it with chips!)


1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 can Mexi-corn
1 cup grape tomatoes quartered
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch Dressing
2 Tbs. chopped cilantro

My grape tomatoes were huge, so I cut them in 6ths or smaller. Must try to make veggies disappear to appeal to middle child!

Same goes for the onions. Teeny tiny.

I'm laughing! I love that several of you are holding your noses right now over the cilantro!) :) :)

I did NOT take time to make homemade chips. So here's what I had on hand.

Scoops are perfect for this dip! Although, my hubby did eat his as a salad. My mouth is watering just looking back at the photos. Must make again soon!

Enjoy!

Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com