Reed Diffuser Makeover and Superbowl Food

I have some yummy (trust me) recipes to share from our Superbowl menu. First, I'll start with a home makeover. Ok just a diffuser makeover but I'm pretty excited about it :) The best part is the makeover was under $3! YES!

 Here's my diffuser. Do you love reed diffusers? I'm a little bit into [ok obsessed] with them right now, just ask my husband... ok maybe don't ask him... it's not pretty lol. What? There are SO many scents I want to try. So I buy them often. Especially when they're on sale. I'm a sucker for a good sale. Moving on to the makeover... So this is the before of my plain "fresh fig" diffuser!

 Here's the after! I added a decorative napkin holder with a ring on the back the perfect size for the diffuser. I got the colors so they match my decor and I love it! Still simple, but is now more decorative as well as practical. I stole the idea at the store as they had some set up like this but I loved it so I did it on my reed diffusers using different styles for my different rooms :) Try it!

 Moving onto the FOOD!!! 
First up: homemade guacamole made by my wonderful hubby.

I swear he's a pro at making it! He mashed 3 avocados, added 1tbsp minced garlic, 2 tbsp lime and salt to taste. It was the best guac I've ever had! The avocados were very ripe/soft to the touch, perfect for mashing (and they're one of the life saving foods too!)

Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip

This was our mid-afternoon appetizer for the pre-game action

This stuff was TOO good. Just like the kind you get at restaurants. Cheesy, creamy, and tasty. Spinach is another life saving food too!

 Ingredients:

1/2 of an 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

2 tbsp mayo

2 tbsp grated parmasean cheese

2 tbsp grated Romano cheese (we omitted this)

1/2 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/8 tsp garlic salt (we used garlic powder + salt... same thing!)

1/2 of a 14 oz can (or 6 oz if you can find it) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a small baking dish. 

In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayo, parm cheese, romano cheese, garlic, basil, garlic salt, and salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.

Transfer the mixture into the prepares baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in preheated oven 25 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly browned. Enjoy with your favorite dippers!

We enjoyed ours with whole wheat beer bread (recipe here)

And salt-free tortilla chips. Really, who needs salt on chips anyway, we usually eat them with a dip/salsa with salt in it!

 

Nick loved it too :)

 Texas Chicken Quesadillas

Our halftime dinner! Pre-made before the game to easily warm up in the oven.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil, divided

1 onion, sliced

1 tbsp honey

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves cut into strips

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup monterey jack cheese (we omitted and used 1 cup cheddar)

8 (10 inch) flour tortillas

 

We got flavored tortillas - yum!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium high heat. Slowly cook and stir onion until translucent. Mix in honey. Stir until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place remaining oil and chicken in the skillet over medium high heat. Cook until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in barbecue sauce and evenly coat chicken. (Once cooled, I shredded our chicken a bit, personal preference).

Layer 4 tortillas individually with chicken, onions, cheddar cheese and monterey jack cheese. Top with remaining tortillas.

One or two at a time, place layered tortillas on a large baking sheet. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and tortillas are not TOO crisp. Remove from heat. Cut into quarters and enjoy! We made two for the game and used the rest of the ingredients to make two more the following night for another easy dinner!

 Mmmmmm 

We also snacked on Black Pepper Sugared Almonds (recipe at the bottom of this post). Always a winner!

Our Superbowl food was so good! The Superbowl was fun too. Too bad they had the seating incident. That may be one of the big memories of this big game in Dallas now. We'll always remember the crazy ice and snow storms the week of the Superbowl here too - they say it contributed to the seating not getting completed. I'm sure we'll here more about that fiasco. It sounds like a lawsuit is already in the works. Glad I'm not part of that committee! :)

Stay warm!

Chili & Whole Wheat Beer Bread

It was a wintry mess outside today (so weird to say from Dallas)! Good day to stay in, make comfort food and watch the snow fall from the warmth of our home.

This yummy candle helped create the atmosphere I was going for...

Back to that comfort food...

Chili
For this chili, I combined two recipes; one that came in our crock pot recipe booklet and this five star chili recipe on allrecipes.com. I added what I had and you certainly don't need to add everything I did; give and take based on what you have and what you like. We lived on the edge and tried adding some new ingredients - it was a success!


Ingredients:
1/4 lb pinto beans: I used a 25 oz (I think...) can
1 can chili beans
2 14 1/2 oz can tomatoes
2 lbs ground beef, browned and drained
1 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/3 can beer
1 can tomato soup
1 1 oz envelope instant hot chocolate mix
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 - 3 tbs chili powder
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt

Soften beans by cooking in boiling water on stove (I did mine about 15 mins). Drain water. Put all ingredients in crock pot and stir. Cover and cook on low for 10 - 12 hours or on high 5 - 6 hours.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread
Apparently I was on a cooking-with-beer kick... and I don't even drink beer! But it sure is good for cooking :) I made it while the chili was cooking. The recipe I used is found here.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 (12 oz.) can or bottle beer (flavor of bread will change depending on type of beer) We used Shiner
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Pour in beer, stir until stiff batter is formed. Scrape dough into loaf pan. Add 1/8 to
1/4 cup melted butter over the batter before baking (I added this after reading the helpful reviews of this recipe on allrecipes.com!).

Bake in preheated oven for 50 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Mine was done right at 50 minutes.

The crust is my fav part - crunchy, salty and sweet! Seriously good.

This was a very tasty and wholesome combo - I'll be stuffed all night!