Its Game Time!

Hi there everyone! This post is being brought to you buy Logan Airport WiFi! I'm so not excited about this. 

I would much rather be at home on my couch getting ready to watch the Pats kick off but alas I am at the start of another business trip. In order to make myself feel a little better I figured I would take this opportunity to share with you my favorite football season recipe. Well if I am being honest it is my favorite any season recipe. My buffalo chicken dip!

These little guys pack a bit of a punch and can either be made on a stovetop or in a crock pot, depends on your style of tailgating :)

The recipe is super easy and takes no time at all so you can make this right before your crew shows up or the night before.  Here's how it's done...

What you need:

1 cup Franks Red Hot

1 cup light ranch dressing*

2 cans of chicken**

2 cups reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)

2 8oz packages of reduced fat cream cheese

Couldn't be simpler! Start with the cans of chicken, the franks red hot and the ranch dressing. Warm that up to the point where it just begins to bubble. Add one package of the cram cheese and stir until it is pretty much melted in, then do the same for the second package. I like to let mine melt totally so that I don't have to deal with lumps of cream cheese later. Last step is add the majority of the shredded cheese and stir until melted. One thing to note is that I always use the low fat versions of things, not the full fat, to make sure that the cheese melts well and the dressing isn't too runny. I also use the larger sized cans of chicken but the regular size work just as well, i just happen to like a lot of chicken in mine!  DONE!

Transfer to your serving dish and use the little bit of cheese left over to top it off. Serve it with carrot or celery sticks, chips or wheat thins and enjoy! 

The crock pot version is even easier, toss it all in and let'er rip!

I hope you and your crew enjoy!

GO PATS!!!

Fall is a Fickle Thing

In New England we are used to weather changing in a heart beat so I shouldn't really find this unexpected but just as I finished pulling out my cold weather clothing the thermostat almost hit 70 today...so much for my comfy cozy wool sweater!

Amazing how this is what greets me at my front door (don't mind the paint job, we are in mid-project at the moment) as I leave the house in a t-shirt and sandals! At least we had a few chilly rainy days this past few weeks, I was able to catch up on some cross stitch, make multiple batches of my pumpkin muffins and enjoy a new beef stew recipe. 

My car also had a milestone... and strangely enough it happened on 10/10... I kid you not!

Crazy right?!?! And yes I did pull over to take the picture.

All in all not a bad month so far.  Now I get to spend the rest of the week preparing for a business trip, yippee skippee!

Hope October is treating you well!

~Leah 

Swapping Pincushions!!

I am super excited for this one, I love swaps! I have done 3 so far (1 scrapbook page swap and two small embroidery swaps) and really enjoyed them all.  This time around the swap is being run through the quilt guild I am a member of but another chapter.  The lovely ladies of the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild are organizing this as part of the build up to QuiltCon in February.  They set us up with some basic 'rules' (the pincushion must have a modern aesthetic and must not contain anything breakable) and sent us on our way.  

We will be swapping with members from several other guild chapters from Vancouver, Austin, Wichita, Bay Area, Indianapolis and Northern Virginia as well as Kansas City. Some of these chapters have huge memberships so we are talking a lot of little pincushions shipping all over the country.  I hope I get one from Vancouver, then I can say I have an international pincushion! hehehe

Now here is where my confession comes in, I am not a modern quilter.  I am actually not much of a quilter of any kind but if I had to peg myself as anything I am traditional through and through.  I am still working on finding my stye and the patience to actually see a full sized quilt through until it is completed (I am currently staring at 2 unfinished block of the month quilts).  

I can whip out a mug rug like no one else though!! :)

I hesitated when they first announced this at our meeting but the more I thought about it the more I wanted in.  I am just going to have to go down a different road.  I am going to cross-stitch my pincushion! I found this great little design that actually resembles one of my favorite modern quilts (it very geometric and a bit retro-ish to me) and I chose a fairly modern color palette of grays, teals, lime greens and a splash of coral.  

It looks better than it sounds, I promise. 

 

I started it this evening and here's what I have so far.  

I'm hoping that the recipient likes it. It's always a little scary sending something you spent a lot of love and time on off to a stranger. My fingers are crossed!

I'll show it off once its finished before I send it off to it's new home!

~Leah