Mary's Spinach Dip

I work with a gal named Mary, she's the best! She knows my looks... my sighs... my pain, and she's always there to step in when our students get to be a handful (which happens around a gazillion times a day). Just today she saw me doing the potty dance and told me to go to the bathroom... that's when you know you have a good friend who cares :-)
Mary is a vegetarian, so she's basically an expert on yummy foods that don't contain meat. She always brings the best cake, chips, nuts, etc. to work! I like to tease Mary though because she can't weigh more than 100 pounds and I swear she eats 3 almonds for lunch and says "I'm stuffed", it's disturbing. When talking about food Mary likes to use descriptive words like "huge" and "enormous"... she'll say "Hey Carrie, I brought in a gargantuan bag of pretzels if you want some" only to pull out a ziploc with 10 pretzel sticks in it. It cracks me up!! Mary once described a 1/2 cup of guacamole as a "humongous vat of guacamole". I have to give her kuddos for her positive outlook, she's always a "the glass is half full" kind of gal, I love that about her!
Mary brought in this spinach dip a couple years ago and I knew it would be delicious (because it had Mary's endorsement) but I was hesitant to try it because I didn't think cold spinach dip would be very good. Boy was I wrong! I like this cold spinach dip better than warm spinach dip now! I make this for every potluck and party I go to! It's SUPER EASY and everyone raves about it, even I can't stop munching on it... I feel rude because I stand by my own dish and scarf it down, it's embarrassing!

Ingredients
Fritos Scoops Chips (don't try to use any other chip, these go the best with this dip)
1 box of Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed and drained
1 packet of Knorr Vegetable Recipe Mix (it's next to the dry soups at the grocery store)
1 cup of Hellmann's mayonnaise (it has to be real mayonnaise, NOT Miracle Whip)
1 (16 ounce) tub of Sour Cream
Directions
Stir together the spinach, Knorr vegetable packet, mayonnaise and sour cream. Make sure to drain the liquid from the spinach and if your spinach is still frozen just pop it into the microwave for a few seconds to thaw. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve with the Fritos Scoops and keep refrigerated! Oh, and try not to eat all the dip yourself ,-)

Bean Soup

We had a snow day today, so no work or school! It's the perfect day for some bean soup (yeah!) and playing in the snow (oh crap!)... I consider myself a pretty good mom. I accept that boys will be loud and rowdy at times, I don't freak out when something is accidentally broken/spilt, and I try to be patient as they learn and make mistakes. My downfall is when the boys want to play in the snow!
Nothing gets me more frustrated than spending an hour hunting through the house for gloves, scarfs, long underwear, etc. Then, the boys go out and play for maybe 20 minutes (ringing the door bell every two minutes to give me a play by play of everything they're doing). It never fails that at least one of them needs to use the restroom while they're playing (today it was Abbott and that's a disaster in and of itself). Then once they're done playing they pile back inside (usually bringing a couple neighborhood kids with them) to unload buckets of snow and wet clothing onto the floor. Their 20 minutes of fun costs me hours of gathering, cleaning, and washing. Not to mention that after they come in (and I'm huffing and puffing trying to mop up the floor and clean up the humongous pile of clothes) they always ask me to make hot chocolate! So as I'm mumbling under my breath and sloshing around hot chocolate, I happen to look outside to see practically the entire contents of our garage strewn about the driveway. They didn't even clean up the snow toys they got out! Blink. Blink. Sighhhhhh...

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) bag dried navy beans
8 cups water
2 cups of cooked diced ham
1 chicken bullion cube
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
Ketchup- optional

Directions
Place rinsed beans into a large stock pot. Add water and bring to a boil. Boil gently for 2 minutes; remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.
Add cubed ham, bullion cube, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beans are soft. Add carrots and celery and cook until tender (around 45 minutes). Once the beans, carrots, and celery are tender, remove the bay leaf and it's ready to serve! You may want to get a potato masher and mash some of the beans to thicken the broth... this is just my preference though! I also prefer to add ketchup sometimes, it's just a habit from when I was a kid ,-)

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Well, our Christmas break is almost over... boohoo :-(
It's been a fun couple weeks! It seems like every Christmas break we go through an entertainment trend. This year's trend was board games, especially the game Clue (we played it probably 10 times). This is the first year Abbott has understood Clue and was able to really play, so it was "game on" as we strategized and asked our questions... Mr. Plum, with the candlestick, in the library?
It's so much fun playing with the boys! Abbott especially has come into his own recently, he is a witty lil punk! My stomach muscles have been sore from laughing so much!
We also celebrated Andrew! Last year he scored in the top 2% on state assessments so he was invited to a scholarship program. Initially I wasn't very excited because it required that Andrew take the ACT... a 7th grader take the ACT?! Eventually though, my school's college counselor convinced me to let Andrew take it. We got Andrew's ACT score a few days ago and he scored a 20! We are so proud of him! 20 is an amazing score for a 7th grader!

Here are some pictures of our holiday break...





Now, on to the cupcakes! No joke, this is THE BEST cupcake recipe I have! Justin was shocked when I told him I've never blogged this recipe because I've made it a few times (and they've gotten rave reviews every time), but these cupcakes are gobbled down so quickly I usually can't get any pictures! I decorate the top of the cupcakes with the hostess signature loops, but you could draw words or pictures as well. I tried writing "love" once but my handwriting is so sloppy... I have to stick to the loops ,-)

Cupcake Ingredients
1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix (and the oil, water, eggs to prepare it)
1 large jar Marshmallow Fluff

Ganache Ingredients
1 (12 ounce) bag chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk

Icing Ingredients
1 stick butter
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Cupcake Directions
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Place paper liners in muffin tin for about 20 cupcakes. Spray liners with non-stick cooking spray.
Prepare the Devil's Food cake according to the directions, divide the batter evenly amongst the cupcake liners (about 1/4 cup batter per cupcake) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool for at least 1 hour.

Spoon the marshmallow fluff into a pastry bag... this is the hardest part because the fluff is so sticky (get a helper to hold your bag while you try to fill it). With a medium star tip (I used a Wilton #199 tip). Insert the tip into the center of each cupcake top; fill until the cupcake is heavier or the top starts to split. It's OK if some of the filling peeks out, it will be covered by the ganache ,-)

Ganache Directions
In a tall cup or bowl (I use a 2-cup measuring cup) add the milk and chocolate chips. Microwave in 30 second intervals stirring after each cycle until it's melted. Mine is usually melted and ready to go after 3 cycles (1 minute 30 seconds).
Icing Directions
Meanwhile, prepare the icing: Using a mixer, beat the remaining 1 stick butter, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, the milk and confectioners’ sugar until smooth, adding more milk if needed. Spoon into a pastry bag with a small tip (I used a Wilton #4 plain tip); pipe onto the cupcakes to decorate.
Store in the refrigerator, they are yummy cold!

Caramel Pretzel Sticks

Merry, Merry Christmas to each of you! I'm so thankful that you stuck around during the "lean months" and continue to visit CookingwithCarrie. As for what's been going on in the Hubbard household, its been a fun filled week with family visiting, Christmas baking, present wrapping (and unwrapping), and visiting with friends. But from tomorrow on (the Lord willing) the next week will be calm and slow. We have big plans for family time, non-stop pajama wearing, game marathons, movies, and cooking! Most importantly though, we will take time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, this video is a wonderful reminder for all of us as we strive to make this week special for our families.

The Real Meaning of Christmas ~ Linus style


Another reminder for me is this song. O Holy Night by Seven Day Jesus is my all-time favorite Christmas song! It gives me chills and fills my eyes with tears every time I hear it.

Blessings to you and your family on this day
~Carrie

Andrew made these Caramel Pretzel Sticks! Everyone really liked these but I still prefer chocolate dipped pretzels. These tasted like a candy bar, which explains why I wasn't a huge fan... I don't like candy bars (remember my favorite dessert is Angel Strawberry Bavarian), but every other candy bar loving person went crazy for these pretzel sticks ,-)

Ingredients
1 package caramels
1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips
2/3 cup toffee bits
Directions
Melt caramel w/milk. I melted my caramel in the microwave. It is easier to handle if the caramel is not real runny and when it started to get too firm I just put it back in the microwave for a few seconds.
Combine chips and toffee in small shallow bowl (I used a pie pan). Dip pretzels in caramel then roll in chip mixture. Place on waxed paper until set. Store in airtight container.

Snack Printables and Giveaway Winner

I'm always looking for snack ideas for the boy's classes (well, Andrew doesn't need snacks now that he's in middle school but Abbott still needs snacks). A fellow blogger (Gourmet Mom On-The-Go) has the best snack ideas and she makes these cute printables to go along with them! So last month I sent Donut Seeds (aka Honey Nut Cheerios) for Abbott's class...
And yesterday I sent Ernie Elf's Tinker Toys (aka pretzel sticks and cheese cubes) for Abbott's class... They were a hit! It is such a fun way to send a snack!

Donut Seeds Ingredients
Circular Cereal (Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Fruit Loops, etc.)
Sandwich sized Ziploc Baggies
Printed Labels (click the link to open and print)

Ernie Efl's Tinker Toys Ingredients
Pretzel Sticks
Cheese Cubes
Sandwich sized Ziploc Baggies
Printed Labels (click the link to open and print)

Now for the giveaway winner!
There were 28 entries

So we had lots of writing, cutting, and folding

In to Andrew's hat they go

Andrew goes in to pick the winner

You don't have to close your eyes Andrew, lol

And the winner is
JC! I have emailed JC with the details!

Chicken Mexi-Ranch Tacos and a Giveaway

Recently, I was contacted by MyBlogSpark to review the Old El Paso "Family Taco Night" kit and give one away! I was thrilled because we LOVE Mexican food and I LOVE hosting giveaways for my readers!

Old El Paso suggested two recipes, Double Layer Tacos and Chicken Ranch Tacos. I was immediately intrigued by the Chicken Ranch Tacos, but they use plain ole rotisserie chicken and ranch... I had to spice it up! I added some Old El Paso taco seasoning to my chicken and to my ranch and it turned out delicious! We ate the chicken mexi-ranch tacos for lunch and then ate the leftovers as a chicken mexi-ranch salad for dinner!
So, what's the giveaway? An Old El Paso “Family Taco Night” prize pack, which includes a packet of original Old El Paso Taco Seasoning, a Cactus Chip & Dip Serving dish, a set of 3 Fiesta Chili Pepper serving dishes and a $10 gift card to purchase everything for your own family taco night! To qualify for the giveaway just leave a comment with your name, telling me what recipe you would make with your Old El Paso taco seasoning! Do you have a family favorite or would you try something new? The giveaway will close at midnight on December 21st. I will draw names and announce the winner on my blog on December 22nd.

Want to start cooking now? Download this printable coupon for $0.60 off any two Old El Paso products!

Chicken Taco Ingredients
Flour tortillas
1 packet of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning
Chicken breasts
Lettuce
Cheese
Tomatoes (I omitted)
Optional- Avocado

Mexi-Ranch Ingredients
1 packet of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning (only use 2 tablespoons of seasoning)
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 cup mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip!)
1 cup milk

Directions
Sprinkle raw chicken breasts with taco seasoning (sprinkle both sides of the chicken). Cover with foil and bake at 425 degrees for 45 minutes.
Whisk together the mexi-ranch ingredients, cover, and store in fridge (it will thicken after being in the fridge for 30 minutes).
When the chicken's done, slice it up and assemble your tacos!