Today, I’d like you to meet Mary!  She’s here to share a fantastic recipe that the kiddos will love and is super easy.  We tried this recipe after Mary sent it to me and it’s a winner here.  Plus, it’s harder for my kids to just eat bacon when the pancake is attached to it!  Score!  So, here’s Mary:

Hey y’all I’m so glad to be taking over for Krista today, while she gets used to being a new momma, again.  I’m Mary, the girl behind, Eat Drink & Be Mary.  You can often find me raving about a recipe I recently tried, an outfit I got a great deal on, or just a hodge podge of what’s on my mind lately.

So today I thought it’d be appropriate to share a recipe that your kids will love, considering I am taking over for a new (again) momma and all.  And not only love, but they’ll have fun eating it too.  And it’s super easy for you mommas to make, or if you’re like me–a 22 year old, who is still a child at heart.

My goal for this recipe?  An easy meal for momma, and a fun meal for kids.  What kid doesn’t love bacon and pancakes, and combining the two to make a finger food they can dip…sounds like a winner to me!  Plus with mother’s day & father’s day coming up (both in less than 2 months; they’ll be here before you know it) these will make for a fun breakfast-in-bed meal where the kids can get it on all the fun.  So without further adieu…

Bacon Pancake Dippers
idea for the recipe came from Pinterest

What you need:
+ Bacon
+ Bisquick
+ Milk
+ Eggs
+ Syrup
+Cookie Sheet, Wire Rack & Tin Foil

What to do:
+ Cook the bacon.  I took a cookie sheet, covered it in tin foil, and placed a wire rack on top of the tin foil.  This just makes for an easier clean up, and the bacon doesn’t sit in all that grease the entire time it’s cooking.  I cooked the bacon in the oven for 20 minutes on 350.  You can cook the bacon in the microwave, but this was just an easier way for me to do it & an easier clean up.

+ Make the pancake mix.  I went for another easy route and simply made Bisquick pancakes, quick & easy is the goal right? I poured the mix into a measuring cup to help with pouring but a squeeze bottle would work well too.

+ Place the bacon in a pan, on low heat, pour pancake mix over them.  Flip like you would for normal pancakes (1-2 min.)

*Break the bacon in half (no longer than 4 inches) because unless you are a master flipper your dippers will turn out looking like the picture below.  Hey you win some, you lose some.  But after my second attempt, with smaller bacon strips, I’d consider it a win.

+Serve on plate, with syrup to dip in.  That’s it, it’s that simple.

Looking for more recipes, drop my little space in blog land.  Here are a few of my favorites:

                              Pumpkin French Toast Bake   |   Gorilla Bread

Today, Kelly from Sew Crafty Cat is here to share her o  nion dip recipe with us.  Oh, my goodness… it looks amazing.  I’m gonna have to try this… or leave the recipe for hubby to find and hope he’ll make it for me…  Take a look!

Whenever we have any sort of family gathering for a party or holiday, this onion dip is always requested. The recipe calls for cayenne pepper, which gives it a little kick. If you don’t want it spicy, I have also made it without. Mostly because I forgot to buy a new jar at the store; but the dip is still delicious nonetheless. When slicing the onions, I have done both larger slices, as well as using the food chopper to get smaller pieces. It all comes does to how big you want your onion chunks to be when you go to dip. And watch out for the watery eyes! I got some really strong onions and I think even Loucy the Cat’s eyes were watering! It does needs to be chilled before serving, and since I think it tastes even better the next day after everything soaks together, I do recommend making this the day before you plan to serve it. However, it only needs to be chilled for a few hours before serving, so it can be made day of, as well. Serve with pretzels, pita chips, or veggies for dipping. My personal favorite is to eat it with celery sticks. And because this is such a hit at parties, I usually double the recipe to make sure there is plenty to go around!

 

Doesn’t that look delish!?  Thanks so much for sharing, Kelly!  Head over to Sew Crafty Cat and have a look around at all the other awesome things Kelly has going on over there!

This is a spin off of the Creamy Potato Soup I shared last year.  We love that soup and enjoy it every so often.  Let’s face it, there’s like a trillion calories in it.  My waistline couldn’t handle if we ate much more of it.  In an attempt to healthy it up a little, we came up with this:

Ingredients:
– 6-8 small potatoes
– 3 chicken breasts
– 3 carrots
– 1/2 crown of broccoli
– 1/2 onion
– 4 cloves of garlic
– 6-8 strips of bacon, chopped
– green onions/shallots
– 1 egg
– 1 can chicken broth
– 1 cup milk
– 1/2 cup Velveeta Cheese
– Shredded Colby Jack Cheese

Directions:
– Chop and saute the onion and garlic cloves in a medium sauce pan.  Dice and add the chicken to the sauce pan.  Cook chicken on medium high heat.
– Wash, peel and dice the potatoes and carrots.  Cut the broccoli up.
– Boil the potatoes and carrots in a large pot.  (We cheat and steam the carrots in a steamer in the microwave to cut down on cooking time instead.  About five minutes in the steamer and it takes off about 15 minutes of cooking time.)
– Steam the broccoli for about 3 minutes in the microwave.
– When the potatoes are soft enough to mash, drain and return them to the pot.  Mash the potatoes.  Mix in the egg while the potatoes are still steaming.
– Add the sauted mixture, broccoli (and carrots, if you steamed them), chicken broth and milk to the potatoes.  Return to the stove on medium high heat.
– When the soup is steaming, add in the Velveeta cubes and stir until dissolved.
– Simmer approximately 10 minutes.
– Serve soup in bowls topped with shredded Colby Jack cheese, green onions/shallots and bacon crumbles.  Sour cream optional.