Cheesy Bacon Ranch Pull Apart Bread

This bread is a MUST, especially as an appetizer at a party! Not only is this inexpensive to make, it is also delicious!

Ingredients:
1 unsliced loaf of (round is preferable) sourdough bread
8-12 oz cheddar cheese, thinly sliced (For a small round loaf I used half of a bag of shredded cheddar. Usage depends on your liking of cheese.)
3 oz bag Oscar Mayer Real Bacon bits
1/2 cup butter, melted (If you like butter I would increase to 1 stick)
1 Tbsp Ranch dressing mix (I would increase this to 2 tbsp)

Directions:
Using a sharp bread knife cut the bread going both directions. Do not cut through the bottom crust. Place slices of cheese in between cuts. Sprinkle bacon bits on bread, making sure to get in between cuts. Mix together butter and Ranch dressing mix. Pour over bread. Wrap in foil the entire loaf in foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Unwrap. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

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Crockpot Chicken Dumplings

Pam made this delicious, yet easy meal today! Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
2-4 chicken breast cut into cubes
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
About 1 can (14 1/2oz) chicken broth
1 green pepper sliced
1/2 onion sliced
2 cups mushrooms (give or take)
1 can of pillsbury biscuits. Cut into fourths.

Directions:
Put all you ingredients in the crockpot, except for biscuits. Mix up and set on low for 8 hours or 6 for high. About an hour before its ready, take the biscuits out of the container and cut them into fours. Lay them into top of the mixture and lightly cover with sauce. Cook for the remaining hour, make sure biscuits are not gooey. Serve and enjoy! Makes about 4 servings.

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Autumn Wreaths

Pam and I set out to go to the craft store to search for cute fall decorations for our porches. We saw a beautiful fall wreath but it cost an unbelievable $49.99!! Now, neither of us were going to pay that much money for a wreath, so we decided to make our own!
At Michaels (craft store) we saw plain twig wreaths on sale for $4.99, a perfect canvas to customize our own wreaths! We purchased various flowers and leaves, as well as a white wooden letter to personalize our wreaths. For BOTH wreaths and materials, including a glue gun, it cost us UNDER $20 each! Much better than $50!
All we did was glue all of our decorations on the twig wreath. See the pictures below.

TIP: When gluing the letter on, glue leaves to the wreath, then glue the letter on top to make sure it will stay on. Have fun!

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Hoagie Dip

I've been asked for this recipe many many times. This is not a recipe from Pinterest but one that I've been making for years. So here it is! It's a huge hit at parties, especially during football season. This is a cheap and delicious fun party food.

Hoagie Dip

-This is for a serving of 16 but I always adjust the recipe for more people because it goes quick!!

Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb of ham, thinly sliced
- 1/2 lb of genoa or hard salami, thinly sliced
- 1 lb of white american cheese
- 2 cups of mayo (you can do more or less depending on how much you like mayo)
- 2 tsp of dried oregano
- 1 small vidalia onion or half large onion diced small
- shredded lettuce (depending on how much of it you want to use)
- 2 diced tomatoes
- Bread for dipping. A baguette works well

Directions:
* In a medium-large bowl mix mayo and oregano
* Tear or dice in small pieces the ham, salami, and cheese. and mix into mayo mixture adding a little at a time then mix. Until all meat and cheese are well coated.
* Mix in onion and put in frig (I like to put it in the frig so that the meats absorb the onion flavor for about 10 minutes.

* Before serving, mix in lettuce and tomato.

I also like to hallow out a big roll of bread and put the dip in there! Enjoy!!

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Family Wall Hanging

Pam recently made this creative craft made from shoebox lids. This crafty idea will now be used as a home decor piece. This idea was taken from Pinterest from the Pin entitled "Shoebox Lids".

Materials:
-Shoebox lids of various sizes (the number of lids is dependent on how many letters are in your last name)
-Mod Podge glue: Glossy finish
-Scrapbooking paper. Choose various
designs, preferably ones that match your home decor)
-Wooden letters (Found at Michaels, already painted black.)
-Curtain rod (Bought at Target for $9.99, an adjustable rod)
-Hot glue gun
-Ribbon (Choose any color that will match)

Directions:
-Line up and measure the Scrapbooking paper to the shoebox lids, cut and trim if necessary.
-Cover the shoebox lid with Mod Podge then apply the Scrapbooking paper on top. Smooth edges. Let dry for an 1-1 1/2 hours.
-Once dry, apply a layer of Mod Podge over the Scrapbooking paper lid. Let dry for 20 mins.
-Hot glue the letters to each box. (See pictures)
-The trick is that even though each lid is a different size, you want each lid to hang at the same level. (You want your name to be lined up.) Wrap the ribbon around the rod to determine proper length. Once length is determined, hot glue the ribbon to the back of the box. (See pictures)
-Once dry, slide the ribbon to the rod. Hang letters and you are ready to display your new family wall hanging!

*I bought hooks at Home Depot to hang the rod.
*This project is time consuming... prepare to pick a free day devoted to crafting!

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Refresh H20

Are you someone who does not drink enough water? This water will be both thirst quenching and delicious! We drink this water daily!!

-1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced
-1 lemon, thinly sliced
-10 fresh mint leaves
-2 Liters of water (this equals 4 bottles of bottled water)

~Place all ingredients in a pitcher overnight in the refrigerator, then enjoy!

*It is recommended that you drink one pitcher a day. This Pinterest find was originally posted as a "detox water" and weight loss booster. However, we feel that this is a little misleading. This is just a great way to drink more water!

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Strawberry Basil Sangria

So far this summer cocktail has been our all time favorite!

-1/2 lb of fresh strawberries, sliced thin
-1 apple diced (you do not have to peel)
-6 basil leaves
-1 bottle of Chardonnay
-1/2 cup of Sugar in the Raw (brown sugar)
-1 cup of club soda
-1 cup of light white grape juice

~Layer the fruit, sugar, basil in a large pitcher. Let sit for about 10 min.
~Add club soda
~Add grape juice, then wine.

Stir well and serve! This was by far our favorite!
*Again, this recipe was slightly tweaked, the original can be found on Pinterest!

$$- You can buy wine on sale since you are mixing it in with other ingredients.