Apple Gruyere Pie Recipe

If you were a fan of the series Pushing Daisies, this might be right up your alley! This has been modified slightly from the blogger at Rice and Spice. For instance, I used Crisco instead of leaf lard. And a pastry cutter instead of a food processor. The result is still pretty great, and I get asked for this recipe a lot. Enjoy!

Pie Crust
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp. sugar
13 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1 in pieces
7 tbsp. butter flavored Crisco
2 oz. Gruyère, finely grated
ice water

Pie filling
3 lbs (about 7 apples; I like to use a mix of red and green)
1/2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
5 tsp. all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour, salt, sugar and Gruyere in large mixing bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in the Crisco. Cut in the butter until the largest pieces of butter are the size of large peas.

Sprinkle ice water over flour mixture one tablespoon at a time; toss after each addition. (Try not to add too much extra water.) Dough is ready when it clumps together when squeezed in your palm. Gather dough into two parts, one slightly larger than the other.

Roll out the larger piece of dough, and ease dough into pie plate. Peel, core and slice apples into quarters. Slice each quarter thinly. Mix in other filling ingredients. Pile apples into pie plate, pouring any juice on top.

Roll out smaller piece of dough, and place on top of apples. Seal two crusts together, and make slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Place pie in oven, and reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake 50 minutes to an hour, until you can see the filling bubbling between the slits in the crust.

Cool on a wire rack at least 20 minutes before serving.

OAMC Italian Style

I’m really busy. At least I think so. Tomorrow is my 15th straight day of work, and last night Matt and I were busy preparing the guest room for our impending house guests. I find myself running improbable errands on my lunch break (grocery shopping in 20 minutes: not recommended), and taking care of phone business on my commute. Most of my reading is now done by audiobook. All of this so that the end of the day brings uninterrupted family time.

I freely admit that if we hadn’t had the foresight to cook dinner ahead of time and freeze it, we’d have been eating out (or grilling out) almost every night this week. Instead, we got to choose from a variety of meals we’d already prepared. Last night, we chose Chicken Tucson. I’ve already shared that recipe, so today I’ve posted a different one. Another favorite cook and freeze meal… Italian style!

Stuffed Manicotti

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 8 manicotti shells (I always have more stuffing than shells, so buy extra)
• 1 14-oz. jar pasta sauce
• 1 cup Mozarella, grated
• 1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
  

1. Brown ground beef with onion in large skillet. Drain well, then add mushrooms. Cook and stir 4-5 minutes longer, until mushrooms are tender. Remove from heat and add breadcrumbs, milk, egg, first quantity of Parmesan cheese, and pepper. Mix well.
2. Boil manicotti shells as directed on package. (Mine are never al dente enough, and they always break. If yours break while you’re stuffing them, don’t fret. They turn out just fine.) Drain, and rinse with cold water. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Stuff each shell with beef mixture.
3. Spread 1/2 cup pasta sauce in the bottom of a 9×9 baking dish. (I don’t have any 9×9 dishes, so I use whatever I have that’s remotely close.) Top with stuffed manicotti noodles. Cover with remaining sauce. Chill in refrigerator, then wrap. Attach baggie of mixed Mozarella and second quantity of Parmesan. Label all. Freeze.
4. To bake immediately, sprinkle with mozzarella and second quantity of Parmesan. Bake at 350 for 25 to 35 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted.
   To cook from frozen , thaw overnight in refrigerator. (Mine always takes longer than “overnight”, so start early!) Cover and bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes or until hot. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese mixture, and 10 to 15 minutes longer, until casserole bubbles and cheese is melted.

641.568 -- Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

Last year, my side of the family gathered at our little house for a huge Thanksgiving dinner. We shoved two large and two smaller tables together, draped several table clothes over the whole thing, and broke out the chaffing dishes for the biggest dinner party our house has ever seen. To accompany the traditional pumpkin and apple pies, I made a pumpkin cheesecake that brought oohs and aahs from the entire table.

When I first stumbled across this recipe, I thought baking a cheesecake would be much too involved a process for me. In the end, I love cheesecake and pumpkin, so I gave it a try. Although the original recipe says that you can make it without the use of a springform pan, I recommend buying a cheap one anyway. (I say a cheap one, because really how many times are you going to make cheesecake?)

This year, I'll be making this recipe again, but for Matt's side of the family. Hopefully it will become a Thanksgiving tradition!

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

Ingredients

18 gingersnaps, crushed (about 2 cups)

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 pkg. cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Dash ground cloves

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 F. Combine gingersnap crumbs, nuts and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
2. Beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each just until blended. Remove 1 cup batter and set aside. Stir remaining sugar, pumpkin and spices into large bowl of batter. (At the end of this process, you should have a large bowl of pumpkin batter and a smaller bowl of plain cheesecake batter.)
3. Spoon half the pumpkin batter into crust; top with spoonfuls of half the plain batter. Spoon in the remaining pumpkin batter, followed again by spoonfuls of the plain batter. Swirl with knife for a marbled effect.
4. Bake 45 minutes or until center is almost set. (If you cook it even a little too long, the top will crack as it's cooling, but it won't affect the taste as far as I can tell.) Cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

641.5884 -- Beef Stroganoff

Since starting my "new" job, we've tried 4 new slow cooker recipes. It's been so nice to come home to a kitchen that smells like home cooking and a dinner that just needs serving. This is easily one of the tastiest we've tried.

Ingredients
2 pounds beef stew meat
1 cup chopped onion (we used red)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of onion soup
8 ounces canned sliced mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces cream cheese (cubed)
8 ounces sour cream
6 cups egg noodles (about half a large bag worked for us)

Directions
1. Mix the first six ingredients into slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or until beef is very tender.
3. Stir in cream cheese and sour cream.
4. Serve over hot cooked egg noodles.

641.5884 -- Slow Cooking

The library where I currently work is in the middle of a major budget crisis. Many people have recently lost their jobs at the library. I was one of the lucky ones -- I still have my job. While that's enough to make me thankful, there will be challenges. Most of what I am struggling with right now is my schedule. I'll be getting home at either 6:45 or 7:45 four nights a week. And for the next few weeks at least, I'll be working a lot -- like 6 days a week. Add to that the fact that Matt will be home late most nights as well, and you have a recipe for a 9 p.m. dinner (or lots of take-out). Not fun!

So now I need some help from you! I envision becoming queen of the crock pot, and I will be needing some recipes. My stockpile of tried and true crock pot recipes is not large, and it will quickly get repetitive. What recipes do you use/have you used time and again as an easy-to-prepare go-to crock pot meal?

Here's what we're having tonight:

Basic crock pot roast

1-2 pound beef roast
handfuls of carrots, potatoes (cubed into bite size pieces) and pearl onions
packet of brown gravy mix
packet of italian dressing mix
1/2 packet of ranch dressing mix

Put roast and veggies into crock pot. Sprinkle mixes on top. Add 3/4 cup of water. Cook on low 7-9 hours or until veggies are cooked through and meat is done.

Seriously, how easy is that? I love crock pots!

641.692 -- Miso Glazed Cod

Being that it's Lent, and being that we're Catholic, fish has been introduced into our dinner rotation. Although I am generally not a fish or seafood lover, Matt came home with cod fillets last week, forcing me to come up with a tasty (un-fish-like) recipe. What I found was Food Network's recipe for Miso Cod. Finding no miri at the local Kroger, I substituted Chablis. Finding no white or blond miso, I settled on something called "Minute Miso."
The result was über delicious. In fact, I might try the same glaze on chicken sometime. It's a decidedly Asian flavor, but if you like teriyaki, give it a try. And let me know what you think!

Ingredients

6 6-ounce black cod fillets or regular cod fillets
1/3 cup low sodium blond or white miso
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons mirin (Japanese cooking wine)
toasted sesame seeds and scallions for garnish (optional)

Directions

Preheat broiler.

Rinse fish fillets and pat dry with paper towels. Combine miso, brown sugar, sesame oil and mirin and stir well until brown sugar is fully dissolved.

Brush about 2 tablespoons miso glaze on each fish fillet. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 hour. Place fish under broiler for 3 to 4 minutes, or until top is slightly charred and glaze has caramelized. Remove fish from oven and brush with remaining glaze. Lower oven to 375 degrees F. Cook an additional 5 to 6 minutes, until fish is flaky but not overcooked.

If desired, serve with toasted sesame seeds and scallions. *NOTE* We had this with brown rice and steamed veggies. Delicious!

641.8654 -- Unconventional Cookies

A staple of my childhood was quick and easy graham-cracker-and-icing cookies that my mom would throw together with leftover icing. Ours usually consisted of chocolate or white icing, but the cookies I made recently for Matt were created with leftover lemon icing. YUM!

Ingredients:
Graham crackers
Icing

Directions:
Break graham crackers into square pieces. Ice one side of each cracker. Start munching! (You can also "sandwich" the cookies by putting a second graham square on top of the icing, but I like it better with just one.)

P.S. I'm curious to know if anyone else is familiar with this method of "cookie baking." Anyone? Anyone?

641.8654 -- DIY Turtles

Love the taste of turtles? Here's a quick and easy way to make your own.

Ingredients
pretzels (waffle-shaped or regular pretzel-shaped)
Rolos (unwrapped, obviously)
pecans

Directions
Heat oven to 250. Place a layer of foil or wax paper on a baking sheet. Arrange pretzels on baking sheet, placing one Rolo on each pretzel. Bake at 250 for 3-4 minutes. Rolos should retain their form, but be soft enough to squish. Place a pecan on each Rolo-pretzel. Squish it down (not too far!). Let these cool completely before attempting to eat them. (If you just cannot resist, they are edible while still warm... they're just not as good.)

Voila! This year will be your easiest cookie exchange ever!

641.568 -- Turkey a la brine

When I think "brine" my mind skips to sea water and murkiness. So, no, brining a turkey did not initially seem like a tasty option. But even I can't argue with the bevy of 5-star reviews brining often seems to elicit. So brine we did.

My biggest fear was that it would be too salty, but it wasn't. It didn't taste salty at all! And it did turn out to be the moistest turkey I have ever had.

Here is both the recipe and my tips. Give it a go this Christmas. Amaze your family. Thrill your friends. A lot of this will be obvious to you more seasoned turkey roasters. For me, this being my first experience, much direction was needed, so I included it below.

Ingredients
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 bay leaves
2 tablespoons black pepper corns
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon rubbed sage
1 tablespoon coriander seeds

Directions

1. Dissolve brine in 2 quarts of boiling water. Ours did not dissolve completely, and it ended up looking a lot like sea water. It smelled great, though, so we stayed the course.
   
2. Once it is dissolved, add in 1-2 quarts more water (depending on the size of your bird).
   
3. While the brine is cooling, place your turkey in a large bag. We used two roasting bags doubled up, but that didn't work as well as we'd hoped, because the brine would not completely cover the bird. We ended up using one of our big blue coolers -- the kind that you see dispensing Gatorade on countless sports sidelines.
   
4. When the brine is completely cool, pour over bird. Add more water if necessary to cover the whole thing. We had to add another quart for our 20-pounder.
5. Let bird sit in brine for 12-24 hours. Use whatever means necessary to keep the brine and turkey under 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We stuck several cold packs around the turkey and left the cooler in the garage overnight.
   
6. When you're ready to start preparing, remove the turkey from the brine, rinse, pat dry, and roast. Discard the brine, obviously.
   

TIP: After the first hour in the oven, we basted it every 30 minutes. If there aren't enough juices to baste the first couple of times, don't fret. Use either melted sage butter or olive oil to supplement.

TIP: For the last hour to two hours, we used tented foil to keep the skin from over-crisping.

TIP: Before roasting, I mixed up some sage butter and rubbed it under the skin of the turkey. This, along with the brining, was designed to keep the breast meat from drying out.

641.568 -- Family tradition

The day after Thanksgiving means different things to different people. For me, it is safe to decorate for Christmas and annoy everyone with holiday music. For my aunts, it is the biggest shopping day of the year. For my husband, it is the day that turkey leftovers are transformed into a delicious family recipe.

This creamy, flavorful concoction is most commonly referred to as creamed turkey. My husband's family has given it a considerably more colorful name...

Sh*t on a Shingle
Ingredients
1/2 cup flour
1/2 stick margarine or butter
milk
turkey (shredded)
bread (toasted)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Combine flour and butter in a large skillet. Shred turkey leftovers. Add turkey and milk to skillet until you've reached a cream-of-mushroom/chicken consistency. Should be thick enough to put on plate (not a bowl, like soup). Add salt and pepper to taste. While that is warming, toast bread. When bread is toasted, spoon warm mixture over toast. Enjoy!

641.568 -- Oven-less Ham

So for Thanksgiving, our oven was constantly busy, and constantly changing temperatures. After the turkey came out (see that recipe in a coming post), the green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and dinner rolls went in. Our spiral-sliced ham was homeless. Gigantic crock pot to the rescue! I scouted out some tasty-sounding crock pot "baked" ham recipes, and here's the one we used. It ended up so moist and tender. And it's so easy. I can't wait to make it again!

First, find a crock pot big enough for your ham. Ours was huge, but only because we had to fit 7 pounds of spiral-sliced goodness into it :) Put the ham in the crock pot with whatever juices it's been packed in. In a bowl, mix two cups brown sugar with one cup water. Pour into the crock pot. Add a can of diced pineapple, with all the juice. (Adjust the amount to the size of your ham. The next time we do this, I'll use a much smaller cut. I'll probably halve the recipe.)

If you want to fancy-up the presentation, stud the outside of the ham with pineapple rings instead of just pouring them in. Use toothpicks or cloves to "pin" the rings in place. I did not have time or inclination for this after wrestling a 20-pound turkey into -- and out of -- a basting bag.

We cooked the thing all night on the "warm" setting. Put it on low if you're aiming for it to be done when you get home from work. Put it on high if you've only got 4 hours or so. Since the ham is usually already cooked, you really just have to get it hot all the way through.

641.5 -- Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Recommended recipes are, in my opinion, the best kind of recipes. In that spirit, I present to you another recipe pilfered from a dear friend. This one is from Jackie. About a year ago, when she was living close enough for me to visit her, I did just that. We scouted the greater Ft. Knox metropolitan area (hah!) for flea markets and other craft opportunities. We looked at furniture, watched movies, and she made this delicious (and too freakin' easy) dinner for us. So good and so impressive, that you'll want to keep the ingredients handy for spur-of-the-moment dinner guests.

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless thin sliced chicken breasts
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 tsp Italian season bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat oven to 425. Line 9x13 baking dish with foil. Place chicken in pan. Combine the mayo and the Parmesan cheese. Spread over the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake for 20 minutes.

641.568 -- Thanksgiving recipes

What's not to like about Thanksgiving?! Cold weather, warm family gatherings, and license to eat all of the comfort foods I love the best. This year, my family's Thanksgiving celebration is at my house. Entertaining is one of my favorite things about (finally) having a house that's big enough and close enough to friends and relatives. I couldn't be more excited to host aunts, uncles, cousins, and my grandparents for the holiday (though technically, we'll be celebrating the weekend after the big day).

Excited as I am, however, I'm also a little bit terrified. I've never cooked a whole turkey before, and instead of starting with 2 or 4 people as I normally would, I'm jumping strait to a group of 16. I have no doubt that my trusted sources at allrecipes will do right by me.

Below is the recipe I plan to cook. (I've left the alternate temperature suggestions in for my mom and anyone else who might find themselves cooking in other than the most familiar circumstances.) Do you have any tips or tricks to help this first-time bird baker? Note that any suggestions to use a deep fryer will go unheeded. I'm going traditional this year :)

Ingredients:
1 12-pound whole turkey
6 tbsp butter
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp dried minced onion
4 cups warm water
3 tbsp chicken bouillon
2 tbsp seasoning salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Rinse and wash turkey. Discard the giblets, or add them tot he pan if they are anyone's favorites.

2. Place the turkey in a Dutch oven or roasting pan. (I'll be using the roasting pan.) Separate the skin over the breast to make little pockets. Put 3 tbsp of the butter on both sides between the skin andt he breast meat. This makes for very juicy breast meat.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the water with the bouillon. Sprinkle in the parsley and minced onion. Pour over the top of the turkey. Sprinkle seasoning salt over the turkey.

4. Cover with foil, and bake in the preheated oven 3-1/2 to 4 hours, until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C). For the last 45 minutes or so, remove the foil so the turkey will brown nicely.

641.5 -- Chicken Florentine

This recipe comes to you courtesy Giada de Lorentiis, by way of my good friend Briana. The final results will wow your guests, but the recipe is a tad involved. Although the steps are easy to follow, this recipe does require that you be in the kitchen nearly the entire time. For me, this was about an hour. If you're serving four good-size portions, I'd recommend increasing it by half.

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and ground black pepper
All-purpose flour
6 tbsp shallots, sliced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 10-oz packages frozen cut-leaf spinach, thawed and drained

Directions
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour to coat lightly. Shake of any excess flour. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a place and tent with foil to keep it warm.

Melt 2 tbsp of butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and saute until the shallots are translucent, stirring to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet (about 1 minute). Add the wine. Increase the heat to medium-high, and boil until the liquid is reduced by half (about 3 minutes). Add the cream, and boil until the sauce reduced by half, stirring often (about 3 minutes). Stir in the parsley. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and any accumulated juices to the sauce. Turn the chicken to coat in the sauce.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tbsp butter in another large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach and saute until heated through. Season the spinach to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the spinach over a platter. Place the chicken atop the spinach. Pour the sauce over and serve. (Try serving it atop bow tie pasta!)

641.8654 -- Peanut Butter Blossoms

This recipe has been a staple on "cookie day" for as long as I can remember having a cookie day with my family. We'd all bring designated ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, chocolate chips, etc.) and convene at someone's house for a day of baking and camaraderie. Sometime during my college years, cookie day went by the wayside, but I still love baking these fun, delicious cookies and reminiscing about 26 people gathered around my grandma's kitchen table (inevitable covered in flour and peanut butter!)

Ingredients
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups Bisquick
1 tsp vanilla
sugar
Hershey's chocolate kisses

Directions
Preheat oven to 375. Mix sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter in large bowl. Add Bisquick and vanilla. Stir until well mixed. Roll dough into 1.25 inch balls (approximate obviously). Roll cookie balls in granulated sugar. Bake on ungreased baking sheet for 8 - 10 minutes. Unwrap kisses while baking. When the cookies come out of the oven, while the cookies are still hot, press one kiss onto each cookie. The dough will crack and gush up over the kiss a little.

641.815 -- Pumpkin-Banana Bread

Owing to my lack of recipe-posting yesterday, I was more delighted than usual to be gifted with the following recipe from a coworker this morning. This marks the first recipe posted that I have not personally tried, so if someone tries this, please let me know the result. That said, pumpkin bread and banana-nut bread are two of my favorites, so how can this not be delicious?!

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2/3 cup water
1 15-oz can pumpkin
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (1 large)
3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Directions
1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans; set aside. In a very large mixing bowl, beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger. Alternately add flour mixture and the water to sugar mixture, beating after each addition just until combined. Beat in pumpkin and banana. Stir in pecans. Spoon batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks. Wrap and store overnight before slicing, if you like.

641.5 -- BLT Bites

An easy appetizer that makes a great presentation Bonus: it's pretty much good for you, too!

Ingredients
16 cherry tomatoes
1 pound bacon (cooked and crumbled) *
1/2 cup mayonnaise (the low fat stuff is fine)
1/3 cup chopped green onions
3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp snipped fresh parsley
(notice: there actually is no lettuce in this recipe :)

Directions
Cut a thin slice off the top of each tomato. Scoop out and discard pulp. Invert the tomatoes on a paper towel to drain. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; mix well. Spoon into tomatoes. Refrigerate for several hours.

*Hint: use the precooked, precrumbled bacon available near the condiments and/or salad dressings. It saves time and tastes just as good.

*Another hint: The tomatoes will roll around, being round on the bottom as tomatoes usually are. Next time I make these, I'm going to try cutting a sliver off the bottom to give it a flatter surface. If you try this, let me know how it works.

641.5 -- Pumpkin pie dip

This recipe was a hit at our last house party. Serve in a hollowed out pumpkin for a neat fall presentation. The original recipe called for gingersnaps for dipping, but I used apples. Yum!

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar
15 oz can solid pack pumpkin
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp frozen orange juice concentrate

In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and confectioners sugar. In another medium bowl, mix solid pack pumpkin, ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and frozen orange juice concentrate. Thoroughly mix in the cream cheese blend. Chill in the refrigerator until serving. Makes about 4 cups.

641.5 -- Easy appetizers

For the easiest appetizers known to man, get a Sam's club card. There you can find deli rolls (thaw and serve), mini egg rolls (heat and serve), mini quiches (heat and serve), and all manner of other foods that are easy on the oven and the taste buds.

With a borrowed Sam's Club card and three crock pots, tomorrow's party fare will be all too easy.

641.5 -- Buffalo Chicken Dip

Here is an up-and-coming family favorite. Make it as spicy as you wish!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients:
2 12.5 oz cans of chicken
2 8 oz blocks of cream cheese
1 cup hot sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 bag tortilla chips (we use Fritos)

Directions:
Drain the cans of chicken. Using a fork, shred the chicken to a consistency like a shredded chicken sandwich. It has to be dippable! Heat remaining ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. When they are mixed, add the shredded chicken. When the dip is heated through, transfer it to a small crockpot to keep it warm. Serve with chips.