Football! Football! Football!

It’s that time of the year, again! It’s September, time for football, tailgating and a lot of Buffalo Chicken Dip consumption. Once the weather and the leaves start changing, you know it’s fall and you cannot say fall without thinking about football and of course what’s football without the most popular tailgating dips!  Nothing says fall like football and Buffalo Chicken Dip! Buffalo Chicken Dip has become so popular, it not only has it’s very own website, www.buffalochickendip.com, it also has more than 28,000 fans on Facebook www.facebook.com/buffalochickendip. 


There are a lot of recipes for Buffalo Chicken Dip, aka BCD, but my favorite is made with Swanson Premium Chunk Chicken and Frank’s RedHot Sauce.  Using the canned chicken makes my life a lot easier and because it is so convenient, I won’t have to miss a moment of the game! Today, I would like to share my favorite recipe with you and also share my favorite way of serving BCD to all my football-loving friends.  Try serving your Buffalo Chicken Dip in a bread bowl.  All of your guests can tear off pieces of the bowl until the entire dish is gone.  Clean up has never been easier!

Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Chicken Dip 

Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Chicken Dip 

From Campbell’s Kitchen®

Prep: 5 minutes
Bake: 20 minutes
Makes: 32 servings (2 tablespoons each)

Ingredients:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup blue cheese salad dressing

1/2 cup any flavor Frank's® RedHot® Sauce

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cans (12.5 ounces) Swanson® Premium White Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, drained

Assorted fresh vegetables and Pepperidge Farm® crackers

Directions:

1.     Stir the cream cheese in a 9-inch deep dish pie plate with a fork or whisk until it's smooth. Stir in the dressing, hot sauce and blue cheese. Stir in the chicken.

2.     Bake at 350°F. for 20 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the chicken mixture before serving. Serve with the vegetables and crackers for dipping.

Best, and until next time, Kaitlin!

Party for the Big Game!

Whether our favorite team makes it to the big game or it’s our rival who guns for the prized ring, there is one thing for certain, and that is we will be celebrating! The real main event of the Sunday Big Game is the food. Every year we have the delectable spread of dips, chips and finger foods. Today, I have two recipes to share. The first being our infamous Buffalo Chicken Dip and another football favorite, Chicken Nachos.

Since one of the best recipes for any party is Buffalo Chicken Dip, I usually have to make at least three batches of this stuff to satisfy all my guests. This dip is so popular that its fan page on Facebook has over 17,700 fans, and it has a new and improved website, www.buffalochickendip.com!If you haven’t served Buffalo Chicken Dip, aka BCD, at one of your parties, you and your guests are really missing out. It’s perfect to dip veggies, chips and even pretzels. Since it is certainly one of our most popular recipes, and I often receive visitors looking for this particular recipe, I wanted to share this super easy and quick video from Campbell’s Kitchen.

In addition to serving BCD, I will serve my guests another great recipe from Swanson, Chicken Nachos.

Chicken Nachos

From Campbell’s Kitchen
Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 5 minutes
Serves: 6

1/2 cup Pace® Picante Sauce
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
2 cans (4.5 ounces each) Swanson® Premium White Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, drained
1 bag (about 10 ounces) tortilla chips
Chopped tomato
Sliced green onion
Sliced pitted ripe olives


Heat the picante sauce, soup and chicken in a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat until the mixture is hot and bubbling, stirring often.

Place the chips on a platter. Spoon the chicken mixture over the chips. Top with the tomato, onion and olives.


Best, and until next time, Kaitlin!

I also wanted to let all of those Buffalo Chicken Dip lovers know that we also have this really cool Evite for Football Parties. This will make your party planning that much more easy!

Shopping is Stressful!

We are only in week two of December and I am already stressed about Christmas gifts. Throughout the year, I generally like to take mental notes whenever close friends and family members mention products or ideas for gifts. Unfortunately, all those mental notes get lost somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas!

On top of all the stress of finding the perfect gift, my annual Christmas party is this weekend! Every year, I invite about ten of my closest friends for a night of good food, stories and a little game we like to call Secret Santa also called White elephant gift exchange. It’s similar to a Pollyanna but you can steal a present from someone! Here is a link to how we play: {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant_gift_exchange#Gameplay} If you never played this before, it’s great way to celebrate the holiday without breaking the bank. On top of the Secret Santa, we will of course be enjoying some great food! I will, of course, be serving the infamous Buffalo Chicken Dip (it just wouldn’t be a party without BCD!}. I will also be serving a great holiday recipe: Puff Pastry Wrapped Brie. This appetizer is always a big hit during the holidays. And did I mention it’s only three steps!

Puff Pastry Wrapped Brie
From Campbell’s Kitchen
Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes
Stand: 20 minutes
Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
1 (8 ounces) Brie cheese round
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Place the cheese in the center. Fold the pastry up over the cheese to cover. Trim the excess pastry and press to seal. Reserve the pastry scraps for decoration.

2. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork or whisk. Brush the seam of the pastry with the egg mixture. Place seam-side down onto a baking sheet. Decorate with the pastry scraps, if desired. Brush with the egg mixture.

3. Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Best, and until next time, Kaitlin!

Fall Harvest Party – Part 1

This is the start of something good.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. The weather cools down, the leaves change and my favorite vegetables are in season. Since there are a lot of activities in the fall based around the change of season, I was thinking of throwing a Fall Harvest Party. What fun! I’ve never been to one nor have I even heard of one before so, I decided to have a little fun with my friends this fall season.

Let’s start with the invitations. My initial idea was to somehow use the beautiful fall leaves from my local park. I simply used craft glue and good quality construction paper. Depending on how crafty you are, you can hand write the fall message or you can print it on your home computer. I always feel like a handwritten invitation is personal and will essentially set the mood for your fall party.

When it comes to decorating, I have a secret, but, don’t worry, I’ll let you all in. Here it comes… decorating is not my forte. I am still learning and it is all an experiment as I plan my parties. I love pumpkins and what better way to decorate during the fall than with assorted pumpkins. A visit to your local farmer’s market during the fall season can help with a selection of different sizes, shapes and colors of pumpkins. I’m planning on piling several odd shaped pumpkins and gourds into a tall vase.

Moving onto entertainment. There are a ton of fall party ideas on the Internet. I decided to have the guests create a memento of my first Fall Harvest Party. I plan to set up my digital camera, take a lot of shots and print photos right there at the party. I will have my guests create a fall picture frame. I found a really cool project on Kaboose.com, which will guide you through this fun activity. Your guests will leave with a fond memory and it will add a layer of unique entertainment to your get-together.

I am so excited about planning my first Fall Harvest Party! In my next blog post, I will talk about my favorite aspect of entertaining, the food!

Best, and until next time, Kaitlin.

Happy Football Entertaining!

Happy Fall Everyone! I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus over the summer. Traveling, visiting family and of course, entertaining friends. I have a ton of new ideas, fun and easy recipes and party tips that I will be sharing over the next few weeks.

As some of you may know, I work with Swanson and we spent most of our summer months testing new recipes. I will be sharing those as we move away from the slow pace of the summer into the fall and then onto my favorite time of the year, the Holidays.

With the football season under way, I thought it would be great to kick it off with my favorite football tailgating recipe, the infamous Buffalo Chicken Dip! This dip has become so popular that the Facebook Fan Page has grown to over 10,000 Fans! Check it out here www.facebook.com/buffalochickendip. I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on their summer and the upcoming fall season. Most of all, I’d love your tips on how you like to spice up tailgating with new recipes and tips.

Until next time, I will be signing off… Enjoy the Buffalo Chicken Dip!

Frank’s® RedHot® Buffalo Chicken Dip:

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 cans (9.75 oz each) Swanson® Premium Chunk Chicken Breast, drained
½ cup Frank’s ® RedHot ® Sauce
½ cup blue cheese salad dressing
½ cup crumbled blue cheese
Assorted fresh vegetables and/or crackers


Directions:
1. Stir cream cheese in 9” deep pie dish until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients.
2. Bake at 350°F. for 20 min. until hot and bubbling. Stir. Serve with vegetables and crackers.

Tips:

* Substitute ranch dressing for blue cheese dressing and shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese for blue cheese crumbles.
* Make this in the microwave by heating it on high for 5 minutes instead of baking
* Keep it warm in a crockpot or slow cooker

Here is a great tip if you are grilling: Prepare the dip ahead of time in a heavy-duty disposable foil pan. Before serving, just heat over a medium to medium-high grill, stirring occasionally until dip is hot.