Jalapeno Popper Dip - MIZZOU Style!

For our Tennessee tailgate this weekend, I decided to put one of my long-lost pins to good use. On Saturday, we tested out and enjoyed Jalapeno Popper Dip. I orignally pinned this recipe from Raining Hot Coupons, you can find the original recipe here. We made a few slight modifications which you can see below:

Jalapeno Popper Dip
Original Recipe: Raining Hot Coupons

You'll Need:

• 2 8oz packages of Light Cream Cheese
• 1 small jar/can of jalapenos (we used some of the juice in the mixture as well)
• 1 small can of green chiles
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• Planko breadcrumbs (for topping)

Make it!

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine and mix all ingredients except the breadcrumbs. Reserve those for the top of your dip. 
• Pour mixture into 9x13 pan and top with breadcrumbs.
• Bake for 20 minutes. 
• Broil the top for 2-3 minutes until you have a nice golden brown cover on your dip. 
• Serve with crackers, tortillas, or pita chips!

It was definitely a hit - especially when it was heated up next to a giant bowl of homemade chili. The perfect combo before a big win over the Tennessee Volunteers! Did I mention Mizzou is 7-1? Oh, and the Chiefs are 8-0? FANTASTIC!

DIY Ornament or Two...

This year I decided to add a personal touch to my Christmas tree. To make my tree a little merrier and brighter, I felt it needed a DIY touch. Plus, I love things that are sentimental and mushy. Which means... I had a blast making them. To make the ornaments, I used glass ornaments purchased at Michaels.   

Picture/Photograph Ornament

Using the glass ornaments purchased from Michaels and some photos I snagged from an album, I made two ornaments of fond 2012 memories. One for me and one for my bf! Along with the photograph, I stuck some crinkled white, red, and green paper inside the ornament. That was much easier than adjusting the photo. This idea came from Life of a Thrifter's blog here. She gives more detailed instruction than I will. Basically, you roll up the photograph and use tweezers to adjust the photo instead. Along with the tweezers, you're going to need high levels of patience and skinny fingers for when things go wrong. Let's just say, this took a couple of tries. I had to take a break because my frustration levels were getting high. 

For the second ornament, I destroyed (literally) a few pages from my Mizzou Alumni magazine. I took pieces of the magazine with great photographs and words and cut them into strips. Then I rolled the strips around a pencil and stuffed the curled paper in the ornament behind a photograph. I also cut up a few football tickets to add to the ornament. 

Scrappy Mod Podge Ornament

I grabbed my final glass ornament and scraps of fabric and started mod podging! There was no rhyme or reason to my layering, I just went for it. The end result turned out bright, lumpy, greenish, and kind of wonky. Just my style!

Of all of the ornaments on the tree, I think that this one is my favorite. I'm sure you can see why!

Happy Tuesday!

Welcome to Missouri, Georgia!

This weekend was our (Missouri's) first game as part of the SEC. If you're a follower of college football, you may know that the game didn't quite turn out the way we wanted it to. Oh well, I still love my Tigers - win or lose!

To celebrate the inaugural SEC season and FIRST game of the SEC, my bf and I decided to have a little contest. We are quite the competitive duo, so it only made sense for us to strike up a friendly competition.  Since Georgia was making its way to Missouri for the first time, we decided to have a Peach Salsa Off! The two of us made our very own peach salsas and brought them to the tailgate Saturday morning. Around 2:00, a friend and I took the salsa to different tailgates and had a blind taste test. One salsa was on a black plate and the other was on a gold plate (naturally). Strangers gave us their feedback on the salsa.

Scott on the left. Jordon on the right.

The benefit to this 1st Annual Peach Salsa Off is that now I know how to easily peel and dice a peach. Thanks to google and youtube of course.

Peach Salsa:

2-4 peaches (peeled and diced)

Juice of 1 lime 

1 red pepper diced

1 jalapeno diced

1 can of rotel (I only used the tomatoes, not the juice)

1 clove of minced garlic

1 cup chopped red onions

Combine all of your ingredients and let the salsa sit overnight. The flavors and juices combined for a deliciously sweet and tangy treat. Serve with tortilla chips! 

Now, the competition is over with and I wish I had better news to report (on my end). Sadly, I lost the taste competition 10-7. For awhile, it was stiff competition. Then the victory slipped away from me. My salsa and I would like to thank everyone who helped us on youtube and those many people who complimented my salsa. In the end, I was informed that my salsa was a tad too spicy. Who knew!? I don't even like spicy food! Although, my bf was a gentleman and said he liked mine more. :)

Polka Dots & Football

If you've been a follower of my blog for sometime, you know by now that I'm a pretty big fan of the Missouri Tigers.  With the upcoming football season approaching, I am not only anxiously awaiting our first big game of the SEC... but I'm also waiting for the postman to deliver my season tickets. Any day now.. any day now. 

It was time for my front door to sport a new wreath and I knew exactly what kind to make. MIZZOU wreath, anyone?

I bought wooden letters from JoAnn's and gave them a little paint job. 

Yellow seemed like the perfect color to start with. Each letter got a nice coat of yellow to proudly display. 

I stared at them for a little while and decided to add polka dots!

 First, I wanted to add chevron to each letter. Then, I realized I'm not talented enough to make a chevron design. I decided to stick with polka dots. Polka dots are much easier and very fun to say over and over again. 

My crafting box looked like Charlie Brown threw up all over it. Don't worry, just a little experimental painting. See what I mean about the little talent with chevron?

I used my trusty friend the hot glue gun and added a fancy football for effect. 

What do you think? Am I ready for football season or what? Now all I need are my tickets!

M-I-Z....

Z-O-U!

Happy Sunday! Enjoy this beautiful day. 

Linking up with C.R.A.F.T.! 

Is it Football Season Yet?

It's safe to say that I'm kind of obsessed with the University of Missouri. I have posted several times about my unwavering love for the city of Columbia and my beloved Missouri Tigers. I realized yesterday that it has been TWO MONTHS since I've been back. I'm ready for football season, so I can spend every weekend there tailgating and watching the Tigers take on the SEC. 

Before I tell you about my little craft I made.. let's take a trip down memory lane. I'm getting a little nostalgic over here. I think I might cry. I'm emotional - I can't help it. 

Fellows Graduation 2011

I loved MU so much that I graduated twice from there. 

I consider emails from Brady Deaton and Gary Pinkel very personal. After all, they are addressed specifically to me.

We may never play kU again, but that doesn't mean I'll ever like them. It's in my blood to hate kansas. Sorry folks. 

Last summer, I decorated my guest room with a little black and gold bunting to showcase my love. 

As a wee little freshman, I met the great Truman the Tiger! I never met him again. He's a sneaky Tiger...hard to catch.

How awesome is this? I missed the MU/Nebraska game where the goal post was taken down and marched to Harpos, but I was there LIVE to see Missouri beat Oklahoma. It was absolutely incredible. I'm literally getting goosebumps typing this right now. 

MU fans rallied and showed up BIG on Gameday at the columns. I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Picture Perfect

Speaking of the columns, they are my FAVORITE part about the campus. Running through the columns as a freshman and as a senior was a tradition I'm forever grateful I participated in.

I met so many of my best friends at MU. Now, we're still close and drive across the state to meet each other for weekends of fun, weddings, and just to catch up.

I bought this cute little pillow on Etsy. Just in case I forgot what my state looks like. Now, Missouri isn't the coolest state.. I know.. I know.. but I've got to embrace it!

My sweet friends bought me this awesome cookie cutter. Who wants cookies!?

My MU Alumni calendar helps me keep the date straight in the summer time. It actually comes in handy, because I have no idea what day it is. 

Whew! Thanks for that. I highly enjoyed that little trip. 

Now, tonight I decided to quit napping and being lazy and do a little crafting. Last year, I bought fun black and yellow fabric for my MU bunting. I used the remainder of it on a pillow! I followed this tutorial on Momtastic. I'm a dork and cut way too many pillow faces and was SUPER CONFUSED when I couldn't get things flipped out. Then, I watched a video. It's obvious I'm a visual and audio learner. :)

MIZZOU-RAH!

Perhaps one of these days, I'll tackle something a little more difficult.... but not anytime soon. I am finally figuring out how that stinkin' bobbin works. 

A Wreath For Your Thursday!

Bless you, Craftaholics Anonymous, bless you. Not only did you come to my rescue and save my naked burlap wreath, but you are the queen of quick and simple seasonal wreaths. Your gift is appreciated here!

I pinned this little gem a few weeks ago and thought it was the perfect solution to my poor pitiful wreath. Let me back up, about a month ago I attempted a craft night. Instead, I had a great evening catching up with a friend and all I managed to do was wrap a straw wreath in burlap. Now you're up to speed on my naked wreath.

Back to business! My new favorite blog, Craftaholic's, gives a great description on how to make very simple flowers from felt, buttons, clips, and glue. See for yourself!

Here's what I used:

• 1 naked burlap wreath
• felt
• buttons
• clips (I'm sure there is a more scientific name for them)
• hot glue

Originally, I wanted to make my very own St. Patty's Day wreath but as usual I ran into a few obstacles. This time the obstacle was the color green. Yes, that green button is shining visibly in the picture above - but did I notice that last night? Of course not. I was extremely convinced that I did not own any green buttons or fabric of any kind.

Naturally, I moved onto Plan B. What colors are never out of season? Black and gold, baby!

Does anyone watch "The New Girl"? This week's episode was precious and about a situation in Jess' classroom. Check it out!

Party Rock Anthem

Once again, my blog has taken the back burner to the rest of life. (i.e. 5th grade, Mizzou football...) You get the idea!

As I was driving back to the lake this afternoon, I was 98% sure I would be headed right to my couch for a nap and a Bravo marathon (insert a Real Housewives title here). Instead, I decided to make a craft and cook!

As always, Pinterest never lets me down. A few weeks ago, I pinned a recipe for mini deep dish pizzas. I checked out Dashing Dish's post and started pulling ingredients from my fridge.

Now, let me just say that my little pizzas did not turn out as cute and bite-size as the photo above.  Mine were a little... how should I put this? Bloated.  Yes, they were bloated. Were they delicious? Absolutely. I will be having my leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Here's the recipe Dashing Dish posted on her blog. Head over to her page here to see photos and read how she made her mini pizzas!

Ingredients:

• 3-4 whole wheat wraps (try to find ones with at least 3 grams of fiber or more per wrap)
• 1 (15oz) can pizza sauce (you may have some left over, depending on how much sauce you like)
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 48 mini turkey pepperonis (or the 12 whole turkey pepperoni’s, each cut into 4 even pieces)
• 1 tsp basil/oregano mix OR Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• pinch of sweetener, (sugar/stevia/splenda)
• pinch of black pepper

*Put your own spin on these by adding anything that you would normally like on a pizza just before popping them in the oven!

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 12 count muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Start by laying each tortilla out individually on a flat surface, and use an empty can, cup, or cookie cutter to cut 3-4 medium circles out of each wrap. I used the empty pizza sauce can, which worked well!

Have you met Mr. Gobble Gobble? He's the newest member of room 52! My students wrote what they were thankful for on each of his feathers. Now, he is gobbling proud in our classroom for the rest of the month. 

How about those Missouri Tigers? Sorry Texas, just wasn't your day!

PARTY ROCK!




Linking up with another messy gal in blogland! Marvelously Messy!