Crockpot Spinach Dip

Day 2 of your Valentines Day Dinner...the appetizer, yuuummm!!

Hubs and I have an unnatural obsession with Totinos Creamy Spinach chip dip. We luurrrve the stuff! I figured that there has to be a way to make this stuff at home so we can enjoy it more regularly.

Which could be a bad thing, but I'm choosing not to look at it in that light. I keep telling myself that since I use 1/3 less fat cream cheese and light mayo that it's not that heavy in the calorie area. It would probably be best if I hit the gym tomorrow anyways, just in case ;)

I was pleasantly surprised at how close to the real thing this came. Hubs said he thinks it's still missing something, but I'm 100% content with how it turned out! I've already decided that the Totinos dip will be no more. Hubs can take it or leave it. I'm pretty sure he'll take it.

Ingredients...

...1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen, chopped spinach
...1 (8 oz.) block cream cheese
...1/2 c. mayonnaise
...8 oz. cheddar cheese
...1/2 tsp. Tabasco Sauce

Directions...

Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on high until melted, creamy and heated through. Place slow cooker on a lower setting to keep the dip warm for serving purposes. Serve with tortilla chips, bread, bagel chips or crackers.

To see more great recipes, check out Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie!!

Spritzy Punch

Whenever I have a fancy pants dinner at my house, I like to serve a fancy pants drink to go with it. Having just plain old water or milk just doesn't seem to do justice to all of the decadant food I've made. I want something a little fancier to accompany the fancy food. This is my go to "fancy pants" on a budget drink. There's only two ingredients and it's easy. And good. I've also been known to buy the two simple ingredients for this drink so that I can enjoy a fancy pants drink in my jammies on a Saturday night. Wine glass and all.

Be jealous...

Ingredients...

...Lemon Lime Soda

...Fruit Punch (I use Crystal Light. You can use whatever you please. Hawaiin Punch, KoolAid, anything!)

Directions...

Mix three parts juice to one part soda. Serve cold.

Yep, that's seriously it....I kinda feel silly for sharing such a simple and "well duh" recipe...

Other Super Bowl Worthy Recipes...

Okay, so I know I promised yesterday over on MoneySavinDiva that I was going to share a recipe for Gridiron Brownies today, but we've had a death in the family and I just haven't had the time to whip these up. So if you are really interested in this recipe then here it is, over at Allrecipes. If you do decide to make this then please let me know how they turned out!!

In lieu of a recipe today (I am soooo sorry!!) I wanted to share recipes that I've posted in the past (besides the ones I've been sharing all week) that would make perfectly acceptable Super Bowl fare as well!

...Tortilla Pinwheels
...Mini Sliders
...Bacon Quesadillas
...Pizza Dip
...BLT Dip
...Crockpot Chili
...Golden Potato Rounds
...Crockpot Meatballs in BBQ Cranberry Sauce
...BLT Pizza
...BBQ Chicken Pizza


I hope that this will give you some ideas for your Super Bowl Party spread...if you have any recipes that you would like to see me feature on this blog then please email them to me! My email is moneysavingdiva at gmail dot com. This goes for any recipe as well, not just appetizer and Super Bowl Recipes! I love to try new recipes, so send away!!

Cheesy Sausage Tidbits

Sausage. Cheese. Biscuit. This sounds more like a breakfast food than an appetizer...and I suppose it could go both ways, but a note of warning to those of you planning on turning this appetizer into breakfast...this is in no way healthy! I found this recipe over at Allrecipes and figured that no football loving man would turn away sausage wrapped in biscuit and cheese, so it made the final cut into my Super Bowl spread.

The dough portion of this recipe, as written, is pretty dry. I discovered that there was no way it was going to stick around the sausage being so dry, so I added about a 1/4 cup of water to the dough mixture. I'm letting you know this because the amount of water you want to add is completely up to you. I just added until the dough felt to be a good consistency to form around the sausage. So you'll have to play with it a little bit.

Otherwise, this recipe was great! These little sausage tidbits were quite tasty, and we enjoyed them dipped in some ketchup. I think they'd be mighty divine dipped in some syrup as well! But I'm not so sure how sticky syrup sitting on an appetizer plate in your living room on your couch would go over...

Ingredients...

...1 pkg. sausage links
...1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
...1/2 c. butter
...1 tsp. garlic salt
...1 1/4 c. flour
...water

Directions...

Cook sausages according to package directions. When cool, cut each link into thirds. In a large bowl, combine the cheese, butter, garlic salt and flour until a dough forms. Add water until the dough has reached a consistency appropriate for wrapping around the sausage bits. Roll each sausage piece into a small chunk of dough, forming a ball. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

Pizza Pinwheels

There is only one word to describe this recipe. Delicious. Seriously, amazingly delicious! These will make a great addition to your big game day spread this Sunday, and I guarantee there will be none left when the game is over (or even the first half for that matter).

I found this recipe in an old issue of Taste of Home. I have over 50 old issues of Taste of Home sitting in my cookbook cupboard dated everywhere from the early 90's to present day. I love them! They are just as fun as a hometown cookbook, written by church ladies and farm wives, because it is just good old down home cooking...which is what I like! Nothing too fancy, nothing that calls for ingredients you can't find anywhere...just basic ingredients in a delicious and simple recipe that anyone can pull off! This recipe was no exception. This is probably one of the easiest things you will ever make in your cooking lifetime. Seriously.

Ingredients...

...2 tubes crescent rolls
...pepperoni
...Pizza Sauce
...Shredded Cheese

Directions...

Unroll crescent dough and pinch together perforations to form one large sheet of dough. Spread pizza sauce over dough, and then layer pepperoni slices to cover. Roll up dough, and slice into rolls. Place on baking sheet, and sprinkle shredded cheese over each individual roll. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

To see more great Super Bowl recipes, check out the Ultimate Recipe Swap going on over at Life as Mom!

Creamy Sausage Dip

This is a surefire crowd pleaser. Men and women alike will be gobbling up this dip faster than you can blink an eye. I don't know why it tastes so good. One look at the ingredients list, and I thought to myself, "what?!? This can't be good!" But it is. I recently took it to a family function to test out before the big game, and I was thanked...yes thanked...for bringing it. Simply because it was so good. Not because they had ever had it before and it was a favorite. Just because it. is. that. good.

I found this recipe over at A Year of Slowcooking, where Stephanie lovingly refers to this dip as Mommy Crack. I've tried recipes that are loosely similar to this one, but never with these ingredients, so I was eager to give it a go. Plus, the tag of "Mommy Crack" just had me interested...

Ingredients...

(no picture, sorry!)

...1 (8 oz.) block cream cheese

...1 lb. ground sausage, browned and drained

...1 can tomatoes and green chiles, drained

...Tortilla Chips

Directions...

Plop it all into a slow cooker (if you have a mini slow cooker, that is the perfect size!) and cook until melted and heated through. Serve with tortilla chips.

To see more great recipes, check out Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie!

Taco Salad

For some reason, foods like taco salad just scream party food to me. I don't know why, but this recipe especially just seems very Super Bowl Party appropriate. Not only that, but it's also a great way to get a more "healthy" food into your loved ones systems than just plain chips and dips.

I love making taco salads this way, all mixed up in one bowl. All you have to do is just scoop and serve. Usually, I just lay out a buffet of taco salad makings, but then we end up with people who put almost all meat on their plates, leaving only lettuce and tomatoes for the rest. This way, when it's all mixed together, at least everyone has fair game for every ingredient!!

This recipe was originally printed in a hometown church cookbook, but the ingredients called for are a little different than what I list. I remember once, when I was 12, we had a church picnic one Sunday evening to celebrate the beginning of summer. As farmers, I believe we had been baling hay all afternoon, so when it came time to get ready for the potluck picnic, my mom got worked up because she didn't have anything to take! She took a quick glance at this recipe and then started pulling things from the cupboard and refrigerator to make it work, while still loosely following the recipe. This was the first time I had eaten a taco salad like this (growing up, we did them like previously mentioned, as a build your own) and I remember that I loved it!! So when I was making this recipe, I used the changes that we made in that particular rushed church potluck salad (yes. I still remember!) and still loved it!!

Ingredients...

...1 lb. ground beef
...1 pkg. taco seasoning
...8 oz. catalina dressing
...1 T. taco sauce
...1 head lettuce, broken up
...1 onion, chopped
...3-4 medium potatoes, chunked
...1 green pepper, chopped
...6 oz. shredded cheese
...Taco Chips (Doritos)

Directions...

Brown ground beef with onion and taco seasoning. Stir together all ingredients in a large bowl until everything is well covered and combined. Can be served cold, but is better when taco meat is still warm.

To see more delicious recipes, check out Tempt my Tummy Tuesday over at Blessed with Grace and Tasty Tuesday over at Beauty and Bedlam!