All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
Hot Cheesy Spicy Sausage Dip is the perfect party dip to enjoy when you want something that is cheesy, hearty, and packs a spicy punch!
When you are looking for a new dip to try while you watch your favorite game or enjoy a game night with friends, give this Hot Cheesy Spicy Sausage Dip a try. Everyone is going to be impressed when you bring out that hot skillet full of ooey gooey cheese and meat.
…Take your party or football watching to the next level with these Fancy Schmancy Pigs in a Blanket. They are not your average snack. So much better with the tender, flaky puff pastry and the everything bagel seasoning on it!!
You guys the new football season starts in a week!!!!!!!!
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This is my favorite party food. F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E.
I remember my mom serving this for parties when I was growing up. Tucked inside her copy of The Joy of Cooking was this photocopied magazine ad from Velveeta. It was well warn and dirty from many years of use. It was the perfect family party staple.
And now that tattered, loved xerox’ed copy of “Cheesy Spinach Party Loaf” has been passed down to me. It is a simple cherished piece of paper that holds many tasty memories from my childhood. As well, it is the key to a great party.
This was something I could help my mom make when I was younger once she prepped the veggies for me. Then it was my job to sautee the veggies and melt the cheese and mix in the spinach. It was fun being part of the party prep.
And now I get to make this all on my own! Ah bliss.
I might have to admit that I’ve whipped up the dip to divide into little batches, which then might have been eaten as dinner… what? Don’t judge. There’s spinach in there… totally healthy. ha!
This dip is wonderful to serve at a large party, but in the case that it would hang out for a while, I would actually put the dip in a mini slow cooker to keep warm. Instead of cutting the boule into the bowl, just cut the bread into 1″ cubes.
As well, this is easy to double and triple depending on the size of your party. I swear people will just go head over heels for it!
Makes 12 servings
Ingredients
Process
Adapted from Velveeta, circa 1988
I know exactly what I will be doing on Sunday night… watching the Oscars!!! I love award show season. Do you watch too?
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Let’s just take a minute to reflect on what a week it has been for NASCAR. First, Kasey Kahne won the Pocono Race!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!! We were sooo excited for that win. Helps him in the Sprint Cup Standings to secure a spot in the Championship. Unfortunately, another driver is surely losing his spot in the Championship standings because of an accident. Tony Stewart was in a Sprint Car accident on Monday night that has resulted in him breaking his tibia and fibula in his right leg. Already he has had 2 surgeries to repair the breaks, including a surgery in which they put a rod in his leg. I hope he has a quick recovery and can get back to racing soon.
Anyway, when I first started the Sprint Cup Snacks series I had planned on making wine slushies for this weekend’s race at Watkin’s Glen. The Finger Lakes Region of New York is becoming known for their fantastic wines and I have always wanted to have a wine slushy, which they serve up at the New York State Fair.
But guess what… if I can’t have a wine slushy now, you can’t have a wine slushy now!!!
So on to Plan B, which was to make Homemade Cheez-It’s because this race is the “Cheez-It 355 at The Glen”. Oh man, Plan B was such a good idea!!
These Homemade Cheez-It’s are just killer. Flaky, crunchy, cheesy, salty, crackers that you can’t resist. Sure you can just buy a box of Cheez-It’s but you’ll want to give these a try just to prove to yourself that 5 ingredients (plus some seasonings) quickly turn into pop in your month tasty crackers. Plus as they puff up in the oven you get teased with the wonderful cheesy smell drawing you in.
The dough can easily be made in a food processor or in a stand mixer. The key thing is to keep the dough pretty cool so it is easy to work with. I chilled it every chance I got to make rolling it out easier, cutting easier, and then transferring easier. Get the picture? There are so many melty things (cheese, butter, and shortening) that is is very malleable but very tacky. Since you don’t flour your working surface it is really important to use the silpat/ parchment. Don’t skip that part! I only give these warnings to make the process super easy and fun… and ultimately tasty!
Last year we loved watching the race at The Glen from our seats behind Kasey’s pit on Pit Road (!!) so I’ll miss going there this year but at least I have these homemade Cheez-It’s to enjoy while watching the race on Sunday.
Makes 7 dozen crackers
Ingredients
Process
Slightly adpated from In Katrina’s Kitchen
When Price and I went to visit our friends Natalie and Jason in Austin last year we fell in love with all of the food we had there. Everything was incredible. I couldn’t get enough of the tacos, bbq, agua fresca, and, of course, queso. (Also couldn’t get enough time hanging with great friends, natch.)
Each and everything we ate was amazing for a different reason. The fantastic Mexican we had at Chuy’s, to the BBQ we got to go after a night of drinking, to the chicken on a biscuit from Whataburger immediately after some bar hoping.
But the one thing that was a constant was the queso we had. We had it every change we had and even while we lamented ‘no more queso’ we loved it. I think there really is a limit to the amount of queso/cheese a person can eat in a few days and I think we were fast approaching that limit. But really, worth indulge. Or at least that is what I kept telling myself after dipped another chip in.
Well since this weekend’s upcoming NASCAR race is at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, I figured that I had to share something for my Sprint Cup Snack that I loved so much about my visit to Texas. Now don’t give me any lip about how Austin and Fort Worth are not that close to each other- 3 hr drive or so- because I say what goes on this blog! ha!
Plus any excuse to eat queso is okay for me.
Natalie emailed me her recipe for queso at a moment’s notice. True friends understand the love of cheese (even if she has gone Paleo now). And let me tell you it was fantastic!!
The queso is incredibly easy to make and would be fantastic to whip up for watching any sporting event, a movie, or having friends over for a side splitting night of Cards Against Humanity. << come over, let’s hang and just be ridiculous.
If you can whip up some simple pico de gallo and can melt some cheese in milk, then you are all set. It’s basically that, plus making a simple rue to thicken it all up. So, so much better than the queso you get in the jar that you microwave. Was that even necessary to say?!?! duh!!
Obviously, queso is best piping hot so it’s super ooey gooey yummy. If you have a little crock pot dip warmer then I suggest you use that to keep it hot and everyone happy.
Dig in!!!!
Makes 8 snack servings
Ingredients
Pico De Gallo
Process
slightly adapted from my friend Natalie
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Texas Motor Speedway seat a whopping 190,000+ people to watch a race. Repeat… 190k+. That was about 3 times the number of people in my whole town when I was growing up. Insane. But everything is bigger in Texas!
Besides being big, it’s also fast. It’s one of the fasted non-restrictor plate races in the series with qualifying speeds in excess of 192 mph and corner entry speeds over 200 mph. And in 2006 for the Dickies 500 qualifying, Brian Vickers shattered the qualifying record at Texas with a speed of 196.235 mph. Crazy.
Gotta enjoy this weekend’s race under the lights!
Track: 1.5 miles
Shape: Oval
Banking: 24 degrees in the turns
Surface: Asphalt
Capacity: 191,122… yep a lot of people!!!!
Race: 334-laps for 501 miles
2012 winner: Greg Briffle
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I am so ready for this weekend!!! Why?? Well, the Daytona 500 is this weekend!!! I’ve missed watching NASCAR Sprint Cup racing during the off season and this is the race that is kicking off the new season. So, like people who love to cheer on their favorite baseball, football, basketball, etc team I cheer on a driver in hopes that he drives furiously through the field of cars to win the race.
Since we love to watch each race we really like to make an afternoon, or occasional evening, out of it so we’ve decided to pair our snacks with each race. I was inspired by Pam of The Meltaways since she created a series of recipes called NASCAR Nibbles that paired a recipe with each track in the season. I decided to give this a try with our own spin on recipes for each race of the season based upon the regional favorites of each track. Please follow along every Friday for a new Sprint Cup Snacks recipe for the upcoming race that weekend.
To celebrate the start of the season with the Daytona 500, we decided to make a fun seafood dish called Bang Bang Shrimp. It would be a great way enjoy fresh seafood, which is a seaside and boardwalk favorite. Racing on Daytona Beach is what really kicked off racing that we know today since NASCAR formed at a hotel at Daytona Beach in 1948. I wanted to pay homage to the beach and fresh seafood with this Bonefish Grill restaurant favorite. If you go to Daytona you can even visit their Ormond Beach location and have some Bang Bang Shrimp there.
We’ve enjoyed Amanda’s Bang Bang Shrimp several times before. It does take some time to make as you have to coat the shrimp and then let is chill for 20 minutes and then it is best to fry in small batches so the oil does not cool too much with the edition of the chilled shrimp. It is worth it since these are just so fantastic.
The Bang Bang Shrimp has a spicy sauce is perfect with the crunchy fried shrimp. The original recipe calls for the sauce to coat the shrimp but I prefer it to just be drizzled over the shrimp or served beside it for dipping as I like to control the amount of sauce is on the shrimp. No matter how you like to dress the shrimp I think you will love Bang Bang Shrimp.
Ingredients
1 lb. medium shrimp*, peeled and deveined
For the egg mixture:
For the breading mixture:
For the sauce:
For frying:
Process
*For larger shrimp, reduce the oil heat just a bit more and cook longer. For example, when I used large shrimp (U-15 shrimp), as pictured, I reduced the temperature of the oil to 320 so that the shrimp could cook longer to thoroughly cook throughout in 3-4 minutes without burning the exterior breading.
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The Daytona 500 race is the race that really kicks off the new season of NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing. This is the equivalency of the Super Bowl for racing. There is a week of duels prior to the race where drivers are getting back into the grove of things since the season ended in November. This year there is a new car called the Gen 6, which looks more like a stock car compared to the cars in the past recent years.
Racing at Daytona started on the beach back in the early 1900’s and was vital in the development NASCAR. Racers would come near and far to race the road coarse, but as years went on drivers were getting frustrated in the lack of organization in the racing, promotion, and securing sponsors. William France Sr, worked hard in creating and organizing the races in the 30’s and 40’s, which ultimately resulted in the development in NASCAR on February 21, 1948. Racing on the beach came to an end in 1958 because the new raceway was opening in 1959.
Track: 2.5 miles
Shape: tri oval
Banking: 32 degree banking in the oval turns;18 degree banking at the tri-oval
Surface: Asphalt
Race: 200 laps for 500 miles
2012 winner: Matt Kenseth
Driver with the most Daytona 500 Wins: Richard Petty won 7 times
I have really been struggling with coming up with any ideas. This always happens to me when we begin to transition from light summery meals to warm, heartier ones. I don’t want to slip awa from my light fresh salads and grilled chicken, and to dive into roasted root vegetables or heavy stews just yet. So at this point I spend more time wandering around the grocery store or Haymarket, where I get the majority of my fresh vegetables. However, during one visit to Haymarket I spotted pearl tomatoes and knew exactly what I wanted to make… Caprese bites!
Grabbing some mozzarella balls and fresh basil this came together easily and quickly. I decided that the simplest approach would be to make the tomato the vessel for the mozzarella and the basil. Basil is really flavorful so I would not need much so just a little piece could be layered with the cheese and tomato, possibly even hidden entirely so it would surprise the person enjoying the caprese bite.
I decided to create 2 different sizes of caprese bites allowing serving to be flexible. Halving the tomatoes makes more smaller bites which could be appealing when needing to serve a large crowd. These are perfectly bite size.
I also decided to make larger bites by only slicing part of the tomato and scooping out the inside guts creating a larger cup. This would allow the entire mozzarella ball to snuggly fit inside the tomato with the basil leaf. This makes for a larger bite for someone but I think that serving these could be a bit easier as someone would just need to snag one with a toothpick.
*Makes 20 or 40 caprese bites, depending on preparation*
Ingredients
Process to prepare 20 bites
Process to prepare 40 bites
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