Fiesta Baked Cheese Dip

I found this recipe several years ago at Kraft Recipes, and have been making it ever since. I made this again this year for Christmas Eve and it was a big hit with everyone again! :) It's the easiest and tastiest cheese dip recipe, and it gets even better when you reheat it day after day!! Plus it's pretty too! :) Enjoy!! :)

(We eat it with tortilla chips and Ruffles, either are YUM! And I usually don't put sour cream on top of it, because Adam doesn't like it if he can see it haha, but it still tastes YUM without it!) ;)

Fiesta Baked Cheese Dip

prep time
20 min
total time
40 min
makes
4 cups or 32 servings, 2 Tbsp. each

What You Need
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese, divided
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chiles, undrained
1-1/4 cups BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream, divided
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)

Make It
HEAT oven to 350ºF.
BEAT cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Reserve 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Add remaining shredded cheese to cream cheese with chiles, 1/2 cup sour cream and ground red pepper; mix well.
SPOON into 10-inch pie plate or quiche dish.
BAKE 20 min. or until edge is lightly browned. Top with remaining sour cream and shredded cheese. Serve with tortilla chips.

Kraft Kitchens Tips
Top with chopped green and red peppers just before serving.
Special Extra
Assemble dip and bake as directed. Top with 1/3 cup chopped tomatoes, red peppers or sliced black olives, and 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro or green onions.
nutritional information
per serving

Calories
100
Total fat
9 g
Saturated fat
6 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
150 mg
Carbohydrate
1 g
Dietary fiber
0 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
3 g
Vitamin A
6 %DV
Vitamin C
4 %DV
Calcium
6 %DV
Iron
0 %DV

I'm linking up to Made by You Mondays at Skip to My Lou!

A little Christmas and Happy New Year!

First I want to say Happy New Year to everyone!! :) I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for me and my family! 2010 was a pretty good year so I hope to continue that into 2011.

Christmas went by SO FAST this year! I had a ton of posts ready and waiting, but just never got around to posting them. Oh well, I can save them for this Christmas! ;) Adam was actually off on Christmas Eve, which is the first time he's been off since we've been together. Today is 6 1/2 years that we've been together, so that's 7 Christmas Eve's that he's had to work. It was really nice having him home! :) We were able to finish up decorating (yes, I know it was a little late, but hey, at least we got to do it together), make a last minute shopping trip to Cracker Barrel and Joann's, eat lunch with his family (pizza YUM!!!), make food for my family's house, eat dinner with my family (oh how I love our Christmas Eve snack foods!!), and then wrap all the presents that night! It was a crazy day, but we had lots of fun!! :) I'm so thankful I got to spend the day with Adam and our families!

Christmas morning we woke up to rain. BOO! But, it did get a little cold, which is much better than hot, shorts weather that normally happens here on Christmas. We opened presents from each other, (I got my boots!!! and most of the rest of my list of top things I wanted for Christmas) ate breakfast, then headed out to our parent's houses for the rest of the day!!

I got a really special present this year! I opened up a little folded up piece of paper in my stocking, and was like what the heck is this?? I finally looked closed enough and saw an image of a Notre Dame helmet. I'm a huge Notre Dame football fan, so I'm like what's this for? Adam says, pick what home game you want to go to this year and we're going! YAY!! I am so excited to finally see Notre Dame Stadium in person, and sit with all those awesome fans and cheer for the Irish!!! :) Touchdown Jesus here we come!!! LOL Can't wait to get my outfit for the 2011 season, plus we just won our bowl game stomping on Miami! Great way to start the year for me!! haha And Mom and I have to get busy on a Notre Dame scarf for me to wear too!

Adam got a bunch of PS3 games from me, I don't think he knew I got him the whole list he asked for. ;) I'm sneaky like that. haha :) And I got him a new watch that he picked out. Here it is, I LOVE it and I hope he does too. :) And he got some shoes and a few other things from. Our main present to each other this year is going to be a vacation to either the mountains or maybe Orlando again. :) We haven't decided yet!

We finally made it to Adam's parent's that morning, after my failed attempt at making sugar cookies on Christmas morning. Seriously, what was I thinking trying to fit that in before 11am? haha More on that fiasco later. ;) I was so excited to get to Adam's parent's to give them their presents!! I think I enjoy finding and giving presents more than getting them! And then I got my fabulous present!! A Silhouette SD machine!! YAY!!!! I'm so excited about that one! I broke it in the day after Christmas to make Adam's mom a card for her birthday, then I made another card for my Mom for her birthday on Dec. 28. So far I LOVE it!! :)

Adam got a PS3 and has loved playing it until wee hours in the morning (I'm talking 3am people) for the last week. :) And I'll go ahead and admit it, I like to play Call of Duty and we played it A LOT the last few days. I still suck at it, but I'm getting better. :)

We got lots of other great presents, and I could go on and on about how much we love them, but that would make this post too long! :) Thank you Rita, Mike and Justin! We love everything we got and hope you do too!! :)

After eating lunch with Adam's family, we headed over to my mom's to do presents there. I couldn't wait to get over there and give my mom a specific present. This year we did Christmas a little different at mom's. She decided that instead of buying us presents she would just fill up our stockings, (which ended up being stuffed full and some bags, and maybe a couple presents! haha), and just give us money to get what we needed/wanted. Thank you Mom & Terry, we really appreciate y'all!! :) Adam got money to spend on whatever he wanted, and I got money to go antiquing!!! YAY!! Plus we got some to get something for our house (I see a new vacuum or shed in our future, or maybe a gas fireplace if I can convince Adam, wish me luck!). ;)

Ok, back to mom's present. I got her a few normal presents (Wizard of Oz DVD, a book, etc.), but I got her one present back in September and I have been itching to give it to her since then!!! It actually came in the mail while we were on vacation down in Orlando, so it was kind of funny that she had already gotten the present, but not really. :) hehe Since we had to put our sweet Harry Potter to sleep in August last year, I thought I'd get her something to remind her of him. I contacted a wonderful etsy seller (check out her shop here) and she custom made a miniature felted wool cat that looked just like Harry. Mom loved it so much she cried. I was worried she wouldn't like it, but Adam told me before that she was love and cry, and she did. Guess I need to listen to him more huh? :) Here is the cat, isn't it funy. :) And the pictures below are the ones I sent her so she'd know what he looked like. I think she did an amazing job, especially getting the spot on his nose!

Anyways, Christmas Day was a lazy day for the most part. I think Adam slept most of the day away at Mom's house. haha :) He was really tired though and had to work the whole next day, so he needed to rest. Plus it was cold out, and toasty warm by the fire, so why not sleep. :) Mom and I worked on the Christmas ornaments that I had been planning to make for everyone for weeks, but never got around to it, then realized I needed her help sewing part of them. It was hilarious making them. We kept screwing them up and had to keep tearing thread out. LOL :) I'll post the finished product as soon as we are done. No, we haven't finished them yet, but that's my fault, because I keep forgetting to bring my craft glue to mom's house to finish them. I told Adam's family and his brother that it would just be an early Christmas present for this year. :) haha

The day after Christmas was Adam's Mom's birthday! Mom and I went out a did some shopping (we both need nothing at all), but we found a few things of course. I found a cute Rooster plate wall thing for Adam's Mom at Pier 1 online, and was so excited that they actually had it in the store. So she got that for her birthday along with a scarf and some flower pins I made for her. :) And a cute cast iron rooster hook from Hobby Lobby. She loves roosters so I try to grab things I like throughout the year for her. :) We went to Bonefish for dinner!! YUM!!! I love that place!! :)

Mom's birthday was laid back too. I was lazy and didn't get over to her house until about 1pm. But I did pick up gluten free cupcakes for her from a local bakery. They were pretty good, but not really worth $2.75 each. Mine are better. :) We went to Joann of course, and did a little shopping, then I headed home to gather up her presents, and meet Adam so we could go back over to sing to her. :) haha I'm sure she loved it. I got her a canvas of Harry Potter from Canvas People.com and it was adorable. They did a really great job on it. :) You can check out there site here. They run great specials all the time, and I got mom's 8x10 for only $14.95 which was the shipping cost. :)

Other than all of that, Christmas was pretty laid back this year. I feel like it went by way too fast though. It seems like every year just keeps going by faster and faster. I'd like to slow it down a little if I could. :)

New Year's Eve, Adam was off again! Yeah, he's never been off on New Year's Eve either, so that was a treat too! :) We got up and made it to Panera in time for breakfast!! YUM!! Then ran to Target to get a few things, and then I finally saw the new Harry Potter movie. It was down to one showing at 11:35am so I knew if we didn't go Friday, I probably wouldn't get to see it on the big screen. It was PACKED OUT! You'd have thought it was opening day or something! LOL I think a lot of people had my idea to go. It was a gloomy day which was perfect for the movies though. And it was a great, just like the last 6! I can't wait for the last movie, but I'm sad that's it's coming to an end.

After that, we took Sasha to the vet, and got her some antihistamine pills since she's been sneezing lately. They seem to be helping, so I hope she feels better soon! After that, we came home and were L-A-Z-Y! LOL We ran out and got some wings, then headed back home and played PS3. I think I fell asleep at 9:30pm, and yes I missed New Year's. Oh well. :) haha So we basically had a lazy night at home for New Year's Eve, it was raining anyways, so I didn't want to be out in that.

Nothing exiting, but at least I got a new post up!! Looking forward to posting up some projects I

I've been working on so stay tuned!! Hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Year's!! :)

One more thing!

Ok, so I had to add one more thing to my list for Christmas. ;) I usually try to avoid commercials (except the funny ones of course), and I especially try not to be persuaded to buy something from seeing an ad or commercial. But when I saw the Dremel Trio the other night, I just couldn't resist. So many ideas for projects from using this one thing started popping in my head! It's the neatest thing!!You can cut, sand and rout with it! :) Plus you can cut all kinds of stuff with it, including wood, plastic, drywall, sheet metal, wall tile and more without switching tools. It has some pretty good reviews on Amazon, even though a few people posted that it doesn't work well on larger projects, and they've broken the bits, but for my smaller crafty projects I think this will do just fine. And I love it's cute little case! haha ;) Anyways, just had to share! This might be my Christmas present to myself!

Some of my favorite things that made my Christmas list this year!

Alright, I thought I'd post some of things that I love this holiday season! I'd love to see what all of you want for Christmas too! So be sure to leave a comment! :)

Ugg Boots! I have wanted a real pair for forever! I have 2 fake versions, which don't get me wrong, they are great but I always have issues getting my jeans comfortably tucked into them. They just aren't wide enough to fit my calves and jeans very well. So I've always held off on a real pair since they cost so much, but this year once I saw the Bailey 3 button version, I was sold! I can unbutton them, stuff my jeans in and then button them back up! No more struggling to get my jeans out of sight!! So I'm hoping there will be a pair of these lovelies under our tree this year!! :)

Next on my list is of course a Silhouette SD Cutter! My mom and I have been looking at these for months and I'm so excited about all the fun things I'll be able to make with it once I get one!!! :)

Next would of course be a gift card for Bonefish! I LOVE this place! The Bang Bang Shrimp are our FAV!! Adam and I could probably eat here once a week if it didn't cost so dang much! I think everytime there is a special occasion we want to go here. Stick with what's good right? :)

Donkey Kong for Wii!! :) I am so ecstatic that they brought this game out for the Wii!! Every year when I was little I'd always be so excited to get the latest Donkey Kong game for my Super Nintendo. I'd be locked away in our spare bedroom for several days until I beat the game, then be ready for the next one! :) I did have to take breaks from time to time when my mom got tired of me yelling at the game when I wasn't playing well. But hey, I wanted to beat the game! :)

And last but not least, SATC 2! :) I LOVE these ladies, and I just can't get enough! I watch the seasons all the time! :) haha They always make me laugh! Plus it combines 2 of my favorite things! NYC and fashion!! LOVE them both! :)

There are plenty of other things I want, but for now, those are the top choices! :) I hope everyone gets exactly what they want from Santa this year!

Upside Down Christmas :)

Even though we are putting up our normal tree, I'm still thinking I want an upside down Christmas tree for our bedroom. :) It would go nicely in the corner, and I'm thinking the 5' one from Home Depot is perfect. :) Adam isn't too keen on my idea, and says he's going to tattle on my to his Dad who is all about traditional Christmas stuff. His Dad won't even give us any ideas as to what he wants for Christmas before Thanksgiving, and refuses to even look at Christmas things before December. haha :) And Adam says I can put in the office, not the bedroom. He just doesn't have any imagination! Oh well, what do y'all think? Upside down or not?

Plus, look how cute this one is! I have no clue where this pic originated from! I found it in a google image search on another blog. :) I'd LOVE to have this in my house along with the person who put it together!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

So Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful other than having to take one of our cats, Nigel, to the emergency vet at 10:30am Thanksgiving Day. He was out in the yard walking in circles, eyes darting back and forth super fast, and acting like he was having a seizure. Adam hopped in the car and took him straight to the emergency vet. We were expecting the worst, but thankfully it was just a major ear infection! I guess I knew that ear issues could affect your balance, but geez he scared us! So after $550, Nigel is at home resting in our laundry room, and we're on day 9 of 14 days of giving him meds. Hopefully he'll be back to normal soon! :)

Other than that, Thanksgiving was lazy lazy. :) We went to Adam's parents about an hour and half late (because of the vet), then headed to my parent's house after that. :) I made my normal stuff, Grandma's potato salad recipe and then maple glazed carrots for mom. haha Those 2 items are becoming yearly requests. Oh yeah, and I made a super simple chocolate pie that I took to Adam's parent's house! I got the recipe from Kraft Kitchens. It seriously took like 10 minutes to throw together. Here it is below if anyone wants it! It turned out sooo good! (Side Note: We used regular cool whip topping, because I couldn't find the chocolate kind, then again I got the ingredients the night before Thanksgiving so that could be I couldnt find it. But it turned out Yummy still!) ;)

Heavenly Chocolate Layer Pie

What You Need:
2 pkg. (3.9 oz. each) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 cups cold milk
1 OREO Pie Crust (6 oz.)
1 tub (6 oz.) COOL WHIP DIPS Chocolate, thawed, divided

Make It
BEAT pudding mixes and milk in large bowl with whisk 2 min. (Pudding will be thick.)
SPREAD 1 cup pudding onto bottom of crust. Whisk half the COOL WHIP DIPS into remaining pudding. Spread over pudding layer in crust; top with remaining COOL WHIP DIPS.

REFRIGERATE 3 hours or until firm.

We did not have time to refrigerate it for 3 hours, so I stuck it in our freezer for about an hour, then in Adam's mom's fridge for another hour while we ate. It turned out just fine. :)

If anyone wants the potato salad and carrots recipes, just let me know. They are both super simple and YUMMY! :) My family has been eating that same potato salad recipe for at least 27 years (i.e., my whole life) :) and I'm sure even longer than that!

So, enough about food. Let's move onto Black Friday. So let me just preface this post by letting everyone know that I LOVE Black Friday. I drag my poor mother around every year fighting crowds, crazy drivers, etc.; and it's usually not for anything specific. I just like going out then. :) But this year, I stayed home with my sick little child, Nigel. But don't think I didn't shop. As soon as I got him home from the vet, I went straight to Victoria's Secret.com to get my free Tote bag. It came the other day, and I LOVE IT! :) They are usually sold out in the stores by the time we make it there, so I think everything worked out this year that I was able to get one online instead. Plus, it was nice hanging out at home, while it rained like crazy, and being able to just shop online!

So, that was our Thanksgiving. I didn't do any decorating, but I can't wait to start on Christmas stuff. I'll be posting some of that this weekend!! :)

I ♥ ♥ ♥ Pottery Barn Sale items....

So yesterday Adam and I went shopping in Malbis so I could use a coupon I had for Ann Taylor (which turned out to be awesome, because everything I got was on sale, minus 30%, and then I got an additional 30% off the entire purchase! WOO!). We also stopped in Pottery Barn, and I was so excited to find that they still had some Halloween stuff and it was on Clearance! YAY!!

I wanted these glitter spiders the first time I saw them, and was going to make my own but never got a chance. They were originally $19 for 16 of them. YIKES! But yesterday, I got my own set for only $6.99!! SCORE!!

I also picked up 2 boxes of these cute little mice!! :) They were originally $12, but were on Clearance for $3.99! YAY!! :)

And of course when I saw these I had to grab a box. They weren't the best deal, but I knew I needed some, and didn't want to use real ones, since ours in Pensacola are teeny tiny anyways. These were $16 regular I think and I got them for $10. Not too bad. :) And I got 54 of them, so they should fill up the bottom of my glass vase nicely!!

Finally, I got a penguin. He was not on sale, and yes I already have one, but I wanted another so Adam and I could each have one for tree. I just LOVE him. :) haha