Cooking Thursday: Super Bowl Recipes I Forgot to Share (Sliders and Poke Cake)

 

Hello my Lovelies!

It blows my mind that we're hurling towards completing the first week of March already. I feel like time is flying so quickly. 

Of course, throw in the fact we took a couple trips already this year (FL and AZ) and it's probably easy to see why I feel like time is getting the best of me. Lol

I forgot that during Super Bowl time I never shared a couple of the yummy recipes I made for that day. 

The first recipe is for these chicken bacon ranch sliders. Perfect finger food and we had them with extra ranch for dipping. We all loved them! Great for a fun gathering or even lunch or dinner. I found the recipe at a site called tornadoughalli.com 

The only thing I do differently is every time I make sliders like these I cut the buns horizontally, put in the fillings, and then I slice them into the individual sandwiches and then pour the butter mixture over and bake. That way I don't have to try to cut it all up while it's hot. Just pull out of the oven and folks can take as they want with a little spatula. 

Here is the recipe:

And the other recipe is for this chocolate banana poke cake. Basically taking devils food cake and baking it. Poking holes in it and filling with banana pudding. Then sliced banana all over that. Whipped cream for the top and sprinkling on mini chocolate chips and crushed nilla wafer cookies. SOOOO GOOD! 

It's hard to copy the recipe but you can find it on my pinterest and if you click here.

As you can see I went kind of crazy with the banana pudding. Lol 😋

I highly recommend both recipes. 

If you try them I hope you enjoy!! 

xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and happy Monday my Friends ~

How are things in your world? I hope you have a lovely week planned ahead. 😊

How was your weekend? We had a good one here. We watched lots of Olympics - which Hubby & I both love. There is a actually a mixed doubles team from our area that is doing really well in curling! 

And we did a lot of our usuals...ran errands, went to mass, did home cleaning and projects etc. We brought some things to my Mom and step Dad and will be running some Super Bowl leftovers to them too. 

We had our besties, the C's, over for the Super Bowl and enjoyed way too many goodies, had fun with the football board Matt put together (he was the big $ winner this year), and just had a blast hanging out with our friends and catching up. We plan to go watch some of their daughter's volleyball soon and get in some more date nights. 

Now on to the week ahead....

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

 protein coffee and half of a banana oat muffin

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

errands, hair appt, bring things to my Mom, lunch with a girlfriend for her belated bday, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

How fast time is going - Lent is right around the corner already and then Easter! But that also means Spring will definitely be on the way.🌸 However, I'm still embracing this cozy time and will work on some painting and crafts this week. 

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

Bubba purring on my lap :) 

CURRENTLY READING

Not sure what book I'm diving into next - I just got some new fun magazines I'm currently enjoying.  

ON THE TV TODAY:

 the Olympics, Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother & the office, Junk or Jackpot on HGTV, Best Medicine, the Pitt, Miss Scarlet & All Creatures Great and Small on PBS, cooking shows and movies

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - my Gram's chickie chip casserole & some leftovers from the weekend

TUESDAY -  cabbage roll soup

WEDNESDAY -  leftovers

THURSDAY - my friend Billie Jo's slow cooker pot roast recipe with veggies

FRIDAY - maybe easy pizza night?

*for Valentines Day this year I want to cook for Matty mine and I'm going to make my friend Mari's steak bites and some sides. And make fun fondue for dessert 😋❤️

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

paint, read magazines, watch the Olympics

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

*I relate too well 😂

FROM THE CAMERA:

Even though there is still snow and cold - being outside is still so beautiful. This sunset was so pretty. And we still get lots of fun critters visiting. I think that was one of the biggest pileated woodpeckers I've ever seen. He was as big as the birdfeeder! Lol

This cracked me up. I had fun with chat GPT and asked it to make a caricature of me based on what it knows about me:

We got all set up to watch the Super Bowl down in our lower level - it's like a media room with the bigger screen tv and big lounging couch down there. Matt's office is tucked down there too (he works from home). It's become his gamer space more and we have plans to renovate things in the future. We are going to have a carpenter build some built-in's for down there and get new carpet, some new furniture etc. Just update and renovate - and make it a little more gamer "cool" 😎 I think of it as more of his domain as basically most of the rest of the house is mine. 😂 

 But it still works for now and we had fun setting up (I did a kind of Valentines theme) and as you can see we had way too many goodies! I had made toasted chicken bacon ranch sliders, some easy loaded potato skin snacks, a veggie tray, and a chocolate banana cream poke cake. Our besties brought fruit, taco dip, and really yummy spinach and artichoke puff pastry bites my gf made. Matt had also picked up cheese curds from one of our favorite places and air fryed them up for the game. We both fasted all day to wait for the game but still - way too stuffed! Lol And had way too much stuff (part of the fun of super bowl Sunday though, right?) We sent the besties home with lots of leftovers (they have a growing teen at home) and I'm bringing a bunch of goodies to my Mom and step Dad - so that helps. 

Still enjoying the fireplace often to keep the chill at bay and to feel even more cozy during this season. 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For the Olympics to be fun and safe. 

For the Lord's love and peace to fill 2026. ❤️ 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way to loving our neighbors as ourselves. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Wishing you all a very blessed week ahead. 

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Perfect Valentine Brownies & Super Bowl Queso Dip

 

Hello my Friends!

Happy Friday Eve to you. :) 

Do you have any fun weekend plans - particularly any fun Valentine's plans? 

Matt & I are planning to snuggle in as more snow is on the way tomorrow night. But he's going to cook me a steak dinner. Yay me! 💝😋 

We also have some little gifts we plan to exchange together. And I ordered us some special gourmet chocolate covered cherries and a few chocolate truffles that arrived the other day that I'm chilling in the fridge until tomorrow. Isn't it wonderful to have an excuse to celebrate L❤️VE? 

I thought I'd share a couple recipes I had made for our little Super Bowl gathering last weekend. And one of them is for these amazingly decadent and delish blackberry swirl cheesecake brownies! They would be SO perfect as a valentine treat too. 

isn't the swirl so pretty? 

You can see the spread behind us with all the goodies. We watched on the big screen downstairs in our media room (& half of the downstairs is Matt's office as you can see too) 

You can find the full recipe for these brownies on my pinterest board "sweet treats" which you can find if you click here.  But here are parts of the recipe I was able to screen shot (it didn't have a print option which makes it nice and neat). I took a shortcut and made the brownie layer from a Ghiradelli brownie box mix which I highly recommend. So much easier and SO yummy. So I'm only sharing the rest of the recipe for the cheesecake layer and the blackberry swirl. 

*so basically make the boxed mix by the instructions and pour into the bottom of greased 8x8 pan. Then follow the rest of the steps shared here. Doing the boxed mix did add to the overall baking time for me. I think mine took more like 45 minutes or so. I topped them with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and fresh blackberries on top. They were a hit with everyone! 

Some other ideas the recipe gave were:

☀️ serve them in the summer with blackberry sorbet (doesn't that sound amazing?). 

🍂🍁Do an Autumn edition and add a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to the brownies. 

🎄❤️💚And even a holiday version by adding some orange zest the cheesecake layer. No matter which way you make them - I just recommend that you do! 

Another yummy snack at our super bowl table was a queso dip. I didn't get a good after pic but this was it looked like in the works melting in the slow cooker. We had done up a nacho bar with different chips, taco meat, and then queso dip and all the fixings - so everyone could build their own nacho plate. This queso was also a hit and wonderful to keep nice and warm in the slow cooker for the whole evening. You can find the recipe under my pinterest board "appetizers" if you click here. But I've also shared it below. 

Enjoy! 

xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello dear Friends!

I hope you're starting out on a very happy Monday. I know one that may not sadly ...you have my sympathies & big hugs Jean. 🙏🏻 The Super Bowl was probably kind of brutal to watch for a Chiefs fan. But I hope you were still able to have fun snacks and enjoy the commercials! ❤️

We had our friends, the C's, over to watch. We did a numbers pool and I won one of the quarters - yay! We did a big nacho bar with taco meat, slow cooker queso dip, slow cooker bean dip & all the fixings. Plus, I made blackberry swirl cream cheese brownies - they are delish! And Mrs. C brought veggie pizza and slow cooker buffalo chicken dip. We were well fed all night and have lots of leftovers! Which is nice because I have an Uncle coming to town today and needing to stay over here tonight. 

Also this weekend (well since mid last week) my son and his Jill stayed over with us and went home early yesterday. That was wonderful to get such quality time with them. We played lots of games. Ate great food and did lots of visiting. We're kind of becoming the air B&B for family when they come to town now that we have spare rooms. Lol I'm not mad about it. I love my family so much! 

Now on to the week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

 Coffee with splash of protein drink and some natural pistachio creamer

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

errands, help my Uncle to his medical appointment (why he's staying over), meeting with financial planner, help my Mom with some things, some home projects I'm working on, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

the next organizing projects around here I need to get done

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

I'm watching the morning news. Both of the furry babies are sitting by me. It's sunny out my window but so cold this AM! It's going to be a cold week. It's a bummer as the bay looks so nice to go for walks on and someone used a snowmobile or 4-wheeler to plow paths on it. Maybe when it warms up a little we can get some workouts in down there. 

CURRENTLY READING

I just downloaded some samples of Amish novels by Karen Harper (still need to finish my cottage core book though)

ON THE TV TODAY:

When Calls the Heart, All Creatures Great & Small, The Rookie , Miss Scarlet, Shifting Gears, Jeopardy & Celebrity Jeopardy, Ghosts, Shark Tank, still catch up TWD

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftovers but also going to make slow cooker chicken gnocchi soup (like Olive Garden's) to have for dinner with a salad tonight with my Uncle here (he's having a procedure and will probably want something more gentle to eat)

TUESDAY -  leftovers

WEDNESDAY - Onion BBQ crunch chicken, roasted cauliflower side dish

THURSDAY - homemade spicy spaghetti sauce with healthy noodles & salad

FRIDAY - maybe out for dinner?

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

 work on our wedding scrapbook I'm making, read, play cards with Matt

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

Have you ever made homemade goodies for your dog? I'm thinking of making this at some point for Ruby 💗

FROM THE CAMERA:

Slow cooker queso in the works (I'll share recipes later in the week) and the blackberry cheesecake swirl brownies. Pic with our besties the C's - they said we needed a group selfie because their younger daughter wanted one and to see all of our food 😂 (she was at a friend's house watching) We always have the best time with these guys!!

Bubba always trying to steal the show (those are Mr C's feet in the pic 😂) You can see our football numbers pool. I won $25 one quarter and I won bragging rights as I predicted the closest to the amount of points that were scored on the night. But Mr. C won the big final quarter $50!

The furry babies forever have my heart. And we're still loving the glow of candles and twinkle lights at night.

This adorable memory came up in my phone of Annie from a production in middle school (she still had braces!) and my Mumsy had come to watch too. So sweet! And the fuzzy hearts are the wallpaper in my phone right now in honor of Valentines day - I think they're so cute. :) 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For my Uncle's procedure to go well.  

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Wishing you all so much love on this Valentines week (& always). 💝

I thought this inspirational fit beautifully for this week. 

Blessings. xoxo

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.