Superbowl Snacks for the WIN

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and Sharpie but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #RubbermaidSharpie  http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

It is officially Superbowl Season. And everyone is gearing up for their Superbowl parties. Are you hosting a party? Or are you getting a dish ready to impress your party host? No matter what your Superbowl plans are, I've got some ideas for you to win the crowd.

Heading to a Party? Adam and I are getting ready to move to Arizona, which means no matter what party we need a conversation starter. An awesome bowl/container is the easiest way to grab someone's attention. Head to Target for some Rubbermaid and Sharpies to design your own bowl. Another option? Find a recipe that will win the taste buds of everyone around you. With a fun bowl or a tasty side dish you are bound to have a conversation starter.

Hosting Your Own Party? Create a spread that will please even the pickiest of taste buds and add a little flare to it! My favorite is a taco bar. Tortillas, chips, ground turkey, ground beef, cheese dip, lots of lettuce, cheese, guacamole, sour cream - the list is endless. Make sure you have enough options for everyone to build a dish that they will love and that meets their dietary needs. And add the flare with pun-ny signs!

These are two of our favorite party recipes. Whether you are hosting or you are an invitee - these two sides are sure to score big smiles with the crowds!

Chip Dip

aka - the EASIEST recipe

Ingredients

One 10-ounce can beanless chili

One 8-ounce block cream cheese

Directions

Combine in pan

Place on stove

Melt and stir

Ready to serve!

Salsa: Restaurant Style

Ingredients

Two 10-ounce cans diced tomatoes and green chiles, such as Rotel
One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves (or more to taste!)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole jalapeno, quartered and sliced thin, with seeds and membrane
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 whole lime, juiced

Directions

Combine the diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, cilantro, onions, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, salt, sugar and lime juice in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you'd like.

And of course - the best part about hosting the party is the food. But the worst part is all the leftover food. So win your guests over with a Rubbermaid to go! And if you sign up with Target for their mobile coupons you can save $1 off your plasticware + $1 off you Sharpie 4 pack and impress the party at the same time. Text COUPONS to TARGET to get the Rubbermaid and Sharpie coupon offers that run from January 25 until February 8. Because the only thing better than impressing your guests with an awesome go home is to save while doing it! Now go get your Superbowl on. Who are you cheering for? Got any awesome recipes ready for your party?

Shirleys and Pizza

Finals ended last week. Which means Adam has a lot more time at home. Right now all that is going on in his world is baseball. This morning he told me, "I love not having school because when I'm not at baseball I just get to focus on you, you, you!" Since school has ended Adam has done so many things for me. Cleaned the house, gotten the groceries, taken me to lunch, cooked multiple dinners, and taken time to watch my shows with me. Last weekend he made a really yummy dinner for us. Really simple and really yummy combining his favorite of pizza and my favorite of Shirleys. I asked what I could do to help and he said, "It is really easy... so you can just sit on the couch." So instead I got up and took photos.

When he put the pizza in the oven I asked how long we needed to leave it in. His response? "I don't know! I'm making this up!" I would tell you the recipe... but since we made it up I don't even know what we turned the oven to. Oops! While it was cooking we relaxed and made Shirleys.

On our honeymoon all I wanted was Shirley Temples. But we didn't buy a soda card so I didn't get any the whole time. Finally, on the last night of the cruise I decided to order one at dinner. It was heavenly. And Adam remembered and when he came home with dinner materials he also had all the things you needed for a real, honest to goodness Shirley. And it was much better than the one on the cruise. Oh, and the pizza was so good! Adam should make up recipes more often. I think next time we will jazz it up a little more, you know, take it to the next level? Have any suggestions for our french bread pizza experiments? Or do you have any other easy recipes for us?

Love,
Deidre

Hunters of Happiness || Guest Post

Hi Love, the Skinnys readers, I'm Elise! I'm the girl behind the blog Hunters of Happiness. 

I'm excited to be here and tell you a little bit about myself. 

So, I'm Elise and this is my new husband Scott. 

Together we're the Hunter family!

Hunters of Happiness is all about our journey to find happiness in the everyday. 

So far I am the sole author of our blog and so you'll hear about all those things I love!

Mainly, fashion, food, family and faith.

 I LOVE blogging! It's super fun. I love getting creative with outfits, sharing a hilarious story, making something new in the kitchen or journaling our various adventures.

Well, I hope you'll stop by and see what our hunt for happiness is all about :) 

blog // instagram// pinterest // twitter // bloglovin'

Oh So Delicioiso || Guest Post

It is fun to find friends that blog. And one of my friends from my hometown has a recipe blog with her sister and some friends. And let me tell you, these ladies know how to cook. You've probably seen their recipes on Pinterest and didn't even know it! So I invited Aubrey to come and share a little love and cooking. Ain't she a doll?

----------------------------

Hello there, Aubrey from Oh So Delicioso {A Cooking Style Blog}. My hometown girl Deidre invited me over to her lovely blog to share! I’ve enjoyed reading Love, the Skinny’s.. It takes me back to my newly-wed days when all was romantic and exciting and just blissful. After 7 ½ years, 3 years and maaaanny many years of school, I am happy to say, I am still in love. Am I lucky? Yes, but it wasn’t luck that brought our marriage to this day. It is good ol’ fashioned labor of love. LOVE is totally a labor!

When Brandon and I were first married he had a personal encyclopedia on the foods he would NOT eat. This left me quite a trial trying to come up with nutritious meals. Many nights I would give up and say “fine you cook it!” This was the perfect strategy in to me learning his likes. After eating many of his boxed meals or frozen dinners I learned his flavor. I tried to focus on seasoning and herbs that he liked and apply them to the black listed foods. Over the years he has trashed his encyclopedia and now just has a page or two. And I honor that. Nothing makes me happier than him saying, “mmm.. that’s really good, what d’ you put in this?“

I have to be honest though, I haven’t always been a great cook. From experience I’ll give you a little advice, don’t mix up the sugar and salt! Cooking is a skill that for some is natural and other is learned, although I feel to most it is a learned skill (you don’t usually see many natural prodigy cooks on food network do ya?). And what a rewarding skill! I mean who doesn’t love to eat warm soft rolls right out of the oven that melt in your mouth?! For me there is also the reward of serving others.

I was raised to know that when you serve someone, you gain a love for that person. And that is why I cook. I cook to serve my husband; to serve my children. And I’ve gained a greater love and purpose as a wife and mother. Please call me old fashioned, because I feel that some great wisdom has been lost in the modern family. I am not in the least judgmental of other family situations, because I may someday be in their shoes. For now, I have to opportunity to fix a home cooked meal ready for the Mr. when he arrives home and to teach my children the variety of foods and flavors and how to keep their sweet little bodies healthy and strong. To show my family the adventure of cooking and the bond that food can bring across cultures and most importantly with in a family. So many of our recipes on our blog are “grandma” recipes. The foods that we ate as children at grandma’s house, and we still love them today because of the sweet memories and love that went into those meals.  Will be children survive if I don’t ever fix Chicken Cordon Bleu? Sure, but they will be missing out. Could he cook for himself? Sure, he’s actually a good cook. But what a sweet thing I can do for them by providing a nutritious dinner. They don’t always pat me on the back, and I don’t get any promotions. The happiness that dwells in our home is the best reward I can have.

I’d like to share one of my husband’s favorite meals he requests regularly. It can also be found on our blog under Pastas in the recipeindex!

 Ingredients:

16 oz farfalle pasta (bow-tie)

1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

4 chicken breasts
1 cup thawed peas
1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes (packed in oil) *optional

3-4 cloves of garlic

1T pepper

3/4 cup butter

1 lb bacon (previously cooked and crumbled) **must be real, fresh cooked bacon. not "bacon bits or real bacon"

3/4 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese

1 120z Lawry's mesquite marinade with lime juice

Directions:

In Crock Pot cook chicken in marinade on low for 6 hours. About a half and hour before serving boil pasta. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices and shred. Set aside. In a small sauce pan melt better, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper cheese and bacon. Wish together on low heat for 3-4 minutes. In a large bowl pour sauce over cooked drained pasta. Add chicken, stir through. Sprinkle with a little bit more cheese for presentation on top.

Cheers to cooking and serving our families, the most important people in the world. 

Grub Tour || Cranky Chuckie's

Adam and I decided to try a new restaurant last weekend. We had a groupon for Cranky Chuckie's in Provo, UT. It was a place neither of us had heard about... but we have been in the mood to try new eating places lately. Cranky Chuckie's is located above Ruby Thai over by condo row and J Dawgs. At first when we pulled up I said to Adam, "How the heck are we supposed to get up there?!" I couldn't see a stairwell.. maybe because I was looking on the wrong side. Adam pointed and said, "Probably that door..." And sure enough, right in the middle of the building was a door with a sign that said Dave's Cranky Chuckie's. I just smiled and said, "Oh... yeah... that C should have given it away." Anyway... up the stairs we go. As soon as you get to the top of the stairs you take a right and enter... What the heck? Am I in Seattle now?! I love it. The atmosphere is really laid back, the walls are all painted a dark blue, there is some Red Hot Chili Peppers (at least when we first walked in) playing, a small stage (for an open mic night someday), and overall it seems like a best kept secret. The whole atmosphere makes me feel like I just walked into some little hipster secret in Seattle. So great. I wont lie, at first it was a little awkward because there isn't a hostess directly when you walk in. you have to walk in a few steps towards the bar to find someone to seat you. The night we went was fairly busy and so the waitress was running around a bunch. Either way. We got seated (if you go on a weekend make a reservation!) right away.

Well. First things first. I love the simplicity of the black table cloths. But even more. I love the glasses. They were so tall. And so fun. I drink a lot of water, so it was nice to not be needing a refill every three seconds. The menu is pretty simple, but each item has it's own unique twist. Adam and I didn't take much time to decide what we wanted. Neither of us were super hungry, so we can't smaller items. But one thing is for sure. I will be trying the meatloaf next time I go!

I had the Open Faced Turkey Sandwich. It was much better than I expected. Imagine this. Sourdough bread, turkey, a sort of pesto-like sauce, cheese, tomato, and lettuce. Sounds good, right? Well. Then top that with a farm fresh fried egg. It was one of the best sandwiches I have ever tasted. And it filled me up perfectly. The fries were great too. I am not a big ketchup person. It is fry sauce or nothing. But I could eat these fries without any sauce, which I appreciate in a french fry.

Adam had the sausage and mashed potatoes. Here is his review, "The mashed potatoes with sausage at Cranky Chuckies was completely different than what I expected. It turned out to be delicious. When we were seated, a couple next to us was eating the mashed potatoes and sausage. I had already looked at the menu but when I saw what they were eating, I decided to choose what they were eating. The mashed potatoes had pineapple in it, which caught me off guard at first, but turned out to be a nice addition. The serving size was large enough to where I couldn't finish it. I will return to Chunky Chuckies and I will get the mashed potatoes and sausage."

So there you have it people. If you want to try new twists on great food and feel like you are in Seattle at some trendy restaurant with tall glasses. Head to Cranky Chuckie's.

Love,

The Skinnys