Dive Club on the 4th of July!

So I think lately you’ve probably heard quite a bit about diving.  Well… sometimes at our house, when we get on a new kick, it seems like we just go and go and go like the energizer bunny.  So anyway, on the 4th of July, we attended the local Dive Club meeting, which just so happened to be a 4th of July party.  Sweet!  That’s a great way to start and better yet, there was food.  So I’d like to take you to our dive club meeting via photos.  I’m not going to lie, it reminded me a lot of a Sunday Night Dinner :).  Sorry, this again is a photo heavy post.  Enjoy!

I absolutely LOVED the plate/napkin holder that Grady & Deb had.  Grady couldn’t remember where they found it, but I seriously think it would be easy to recreate… (hint hint hubby)

Wednesday night while we were doing our pool classes for our diving certification, Deb was busy smoking the meat for Thursday night.  Oh boy was this good.  We had pulled pork and brisket.

D the Man brought his famous chicken.

We had salads galore!

The rest of the sides included stuffed jalapenos, baked beans, corn casserole, green bean casserole and Pita chips with Spinach artichoke dip and Hummus.

Leo got passed around from person to person.  He’s 14 weeks old now I overheard them saying.

This is Pete.  Pete is awesome!  Earlier in the day when we got there, he and another dog were playing catch.  Grady told them to stay out of the pool so the dogs were trying to get away with throwing their toys in the pool to retrieve without getting caught.  It was hilarious.

John is waiting for any day now his grandchild will be born.  He and his wife have their bags packed and are ready to hop on a plane!  He’s such a kid magnet though so we all know he’ll be a great grandfather!

One word here – ornery.

The best part was when I went up to take photos, no one questioned me, they just helped me get the food photos!  Heck yeah, I guess I’m making my mark on things… lol.

Finally it was time for dessert.

I made the flag cake.  Earl made the red, white and blue rice krispies.

This ice cream tastes just like a Wendy’s Frosty

After we were done eating, Divergirl and hubby wanted to go shoot.  JT was in and so was Grady.  They asked the Aussie and he was like, I love this country.  It’s a good day when you ask if you want to target practice and everyone grabs their guns.  lol.

The goat was seriously cracking me up.  He wanted to be involved in the fireworks too.

After we were done with the shooting range, we were walking back up to where the rest of the party was happening and saw the goat on top of the horse hay.  Silly goat.  or smart, maybe….

Finally it was time for the Fireworks display. The real awesome thing was the fact that there were people all around us shooting them off as well so we really got a fabulous show.

This was a GREAT way to spend the 4th!

Follow on Bloglovin

4th of July Partaey

So this last Saturday we had our annual 4th of July Party!  It was a lot of fun as you’ll see from this picture overload!  Hope you can handle it!

Jalapeno Peppers – YUM!

I’d like to point out with the help of JT, I grilled these dogs!

Hubby’s Smoked Beans

Hubby’s Smoked Cabbage

Smoked Pork and Smoked Brisket

My Patriotic Toes this year.

After dinner, the kiddo’s went swimming again until it was time for desserts.  The funny thing is our pool NEVER gets warm.  It was like 74 degrees in the pool.  And the other funny thing about our pool was how people swam in shifts.  It was crazy.

It’s not a party until there is a bump on the noodle-noggin (aka the head)

Tbug and Zebra girl waiting for dessert.  They were chilly.

My MIL’s cookies

And who can forget homemade ice cream?!?!

Vanilla, Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip & Pineapple-Cherry

Then it was time for the kiddo’s to go shoot off fireworks!

Tbug, Zebra girl & MF decided to watch from the distance.

And I even found a glowstick in the bottom of our pool…. apparently Hubby and JT put it there for the fun of it.

My FIL’s dog Bud was ready to go home when it was all said and done.

Follow on Bloglovin

I Like To Dip {No double dipping allowed}

I told you yesterday I couldn’t guarantee you wouldn’t get a recipe today ;).

Hahaha I warned you 🙂

So the last couple weeks I’ve been working on my husbands 1 year anniversary present.  I know that it is still just over a month off, but it’s just over a month off.  It has taken a lot of thought to come up with something for him, that he’ll love, that he doesn’t know about (got his Father’s Day present in April, his birthday present on Father’s Day and his Christmas present in July, what can I say I’m working ahead of the game, but that’s just how it works sometimes) and keeping that a secret from him.  I’m kind of on the almost last step of it!  Just a little more to go.  I see the end in site!  Then I have to figure out where to put it so he doesn’t find it!!

Anyway…. I got carried away there I think…

So if you aren’t from the 4-State area (aka SE KS, SW MO, NE OK, NW AR) maybe you’ve never heard of Cafe Del Rio.   They serve Tex-Mex and all I can say is they have some amazing cheese dip.  A few years back I ran across a recipe that claims to be Del Rio cheese dip.  If it isn’t… it is so dadgum close that it has me fooled!

Del Rio Cheese Dip

2 1/2 lbs white American Cheese (I used 2 lbs American, 1/2 lb Monterrey Jack)
1 pint half and half
2 small cartons whipping cream
1 box frozen spinach (thawed & squeezed out)
12 oz jar jalapeno (drained)

Add the half & half to a pot over medium to medium high heat.

Add the cream.

Smile for the camera (oh wait that might not actually be part of the recipe)

Add your Monterrey Jack (if you choose to use it like I did.)

And American cheeses so they’ll melt into the half & half/cream mixture.  (I actually used singles and unwrapped them all, it was cheaper that way… but you can buy the block and cut it up, that’s always faster.)

Dice the jalapeno’s.  I only used a handful (not the full jar like the recipe said) and it added a bunch of heat!

Drain your thawed Spinach in a clean kitchen towel.

And then use the chopper, chop the spinach and add to the cheese/cream/h&h mixture.

 Stir together and you are ready to rock ‘n roll.  I put mine in a crock pot and took to a friends house.

Serve with Tortilla chips 🙂

I took it to a friends house over the weekend where we got to do more of this!

 

And watch more of these!!

 

 

Happy Friday Eve!

Del Rio Cheese Dip

by Nicole
Keywords: stove top appetizer snack cheese spinach half and half jalapeno American Mexican
Ingredients
  • 2 1/2 lbs white American Cheese (I used 2 lbs American, 1/2 lb Monterrey Jack)
  • 1 pint half and half
  • 2 small cartons whipping cream
  • 1 box frozen spinach (thawed & squeezed out)
  • 12 oz jar jalapeno (drained)
Instructions
Add the half & half to a pot over medium to medium high heat.
Add the cream.
Add your Monterrey Jack and American cheeses so they’ll melt into the half & half/cream mixture.
Dice the jalapeno’s. (use desired amount for your tastes)
Drain your thawed Spinach in a clean kitchen towel. Chop the spinach and add to the cheese/cream/h&h mixture.
Serve with Tortilla chips 🙂
Powered by Recipage

Happy 4th of July

These Guys:

Signing This Document:

Gave us a Reason for doing this:

And these people defend that Right every day:

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.”

Festive 4th of July Toes

So a few years ago a friend conned me into getting a pedicure done with her.  No, it didn’t take much convincing!  Anyway, we did “fun” toes.  They were brown with pink polka dots or maybe we did pink with brown polka dots.  I really can’t remember anymore.  Somewhere I have a photo of them… (probably on my server thingy at the house that I can’t get hubby to fire back up so I can get to old photos….)

But when the gal was painting my toes I watched intently.  It was super simple!  So I decided I could do something like that.  Well later that summer I got a second pedicure done, again I got my arm twisted real hard!!  And they were Zebra stripes.  Again, super simple.  By this time I thought, Ok I can save my money and do my own toes.  Although boy do pedicures feel good!

Anyway, enter the 4th of July… I decided I wanted “flag” toes and that’s just what I did.  Super easy, just a little time consuming, you have to let the nail polish dry after all.

Aren’t these super cute? (yes my printer is on the coffee table, ignore it, I was scanning photos… we’re looking at the toes here people!)

I did them last night.  I’ve had flag toes for the last 3 4th of July’s in a row, I can’t disappoint :).  So I thought I’d give you a tutorial so you could have your own 4th of July toes.

What you’ll need: red nail polish, white nail polish, blue nail polish, and either a couple of toothpicks (which I used this year) or a very small paintbrush (which I’ve used in the past).  If you use the paintbrush you’ll also need some nail polish remover and a paper towel to get the nail polish out of the paintbrush. (more…)

4th of July – Food Post

Ok first off, My wedding got featured today by the Lovely Ashley at Life After the Aisle.  You should jont over there and check it out and let her know you stopped by!

Now on with the rest of today’s post:

With the 4th of July fastly approaching us, I thought I would share some quick, simple recipes that maybe you might enjoy on this fantastic holiday!

******************************

Grilled Lettuce
Romaine lettuce, gently brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with seasoning and grilled.  Then cut up for salad.  Then add garnishings such as grape tomatoes & onion.
My friend Kathy says it reminds her of Wilted Lettuce.

******************************

Beer Bread
16 oz Beer – Not a dark ale
3 cups self rising flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt

Mix together.  Spray pan with non stick cooking spray and put in a 350 degree F oven for 1 hour.

******************************

Spinach Dip
1-10oz pkg frozen spinach thawed and squeeze out juice, drain well.
1-8oz can sliced water chestnuts
1/2 small onion chopped fine
1 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
1 envelope Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix (dry)
1 large loaf sourdough bread (round)

Combine Spinach, water chestnuts and onion and chop well or blend in a blender.  Combine mayo, sour cream and dry soup mix.  Mix well.  Add the spinach mixture to this and mix well.  Cut top from bread and hollow out center.  Keep the center of bread for dipping.  Fill the bread bowl with the dip.  Lay the other bread around the outside of bread bowl.  You can also use crackers for dipping.

******************************

Cheese Dip
1 pkg Velveeta
1 8oz  pkg cubed pepper-jack cheese
1 can Rotel

Mix ingredients until warm and creamy.

Serve with Tortilla Chips.

 ******************************

Scotcheroo’s
Bring to a boil
1 cup sugar and 1 cup white corn syrup.  Remove from heat and blend with 1 cup peanut butter.  Add 6 cups rice krispies and pour into 9×13 buttered pan.  Press down evenly.

Melt in a double boiler 1 6oz pkg chocolate chips (milk), 1 6oz pkg butterscotch chips.  Spread evenly over the cereal mixture.  Allow enough time for toping to set up.  Cut into bars and stor in air tight container.

 ******************************

Peanut Butter Balls
1 pound powdered sugar (approx 4 cups)
1 stick oleo (melted)
2 cups peanut butter
1 pkg chocolate almond bark

Mix sugar, melted oleo and peanut butter.  Roll into balls.  Coat hands with powdered sugar to keep from sticking.  Next melt chocolate bark and dip balls then put on wax paper to dry.

Optional can add 2 cups rice krispies if you want crunch balls.

******************************

Bean Dip
Taco Bell Refried Beans
Couple Dollops of Sour Cream
Taco Seasoning to taste

Mix together, heat and enjoy!

******************************

Luscious Slush Punch
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups white sugar
6 cups water
2 (3oz) pkgs strawberry flavored gelatin mix
1 (46 fluid oz) can pineapple juice
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 quart orange juice
2 (2 liter) bottles lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage

Directions:
1.  In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water and strawberry flavored gelatin.  Boil for 3 minutes.  Stir in pineapple juice, lemon juice and orange juice.  Divide mixture in half, and freeze in 2 separate containers.
2.  When ready to serve, place the frozen contents of one container in a punch bowl, and stir 1 bottle of lemon-lime soda until slushy.

******************************

I have had all of these.  No not recently, therefore no pictures, but they are so good and super easy so I thought I would share in case you are looking for some new ideas on things to make for this 4th of July or really any time of the year or any occasion… like a random Wednesday.  Hope you enjoy!

p.s. Don’t forget to try your luck at a quote or name for yesterday’s photo.  It’ll be worth it *hint hint*