Warm Cheesy Bacon Dip {recipe}

So what is a girl to do when she has two 5 lb bags of shredded cheese and a industrial size bag of real bacon bits left over from a certain wedding?  Well, after she passes out gallon zip locks filled with chedder goodness to her daughters, then she makes warm cheesy bacon dip of course.  Duh.

I posted this pic the other night on instagram when we had Porterville night and many of you wanted the recipe.
 I aim to please so here it is in all its glory.

I got the recipe straight off the back of the big bag of Hormel bacon topping. You can find it here if you want to know all the nutritional stuff or need to convert servings and things like that.

2 cups of sour cream

1 cup of bacon bits (the real kind)

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese or 3 or 4...I'm trying to use mine up so I mighta dumped extra ;)

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese  (softened)

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1.  Heat oven to 400.
2.  In bowl, stir together all ingredients. Spoon into 1-quart baking dish; cover.  (I'm just seeing the cover part...oops. I didn't do that)
3. Bake dip 25 to 30 minutes or until hot. Serve with assorted fresh vegetables and/or chips, if desired.   We served ours with Scoops which holds the cheese in there real nice.  

There you go.  Super easy and everyone loved it. 

 And the bonus....it's even good cold. Tastes like a bacon cheddar cheese ball.  So if you have any leftovers, you can eat them on crackers straight out the fridge. I liked it better cold personally...it wasn't as rich tasting as it was when it was hot and melty.  

And as a bonus, here's a 

"Helpful Hint from Honey"...

How to jazz up leftovers.

We don't waste food around here. Just can't do it.

So when we had leftover smoked pork loin from the wedding, we immediately froze it the next day.

(the faster you freeze leftovers, the better it is later.)

Often times grilled or smoked meat isn't as tasty from the freezer as it is straight off the grill or pit, so we usually do a little sumpin sumpin extra with it.

 Smoked pork and caramelized onion sliders.

(I forgot to take a pic after they came out the oven.  By then, the kids were here and we dove into eating.  But they were a hit)

We bought soft rolls and sliced them to make buns

Nick whipped up some sauce which was like gold...Caesar dressing, garlic, mustard, oyster sauce, and a little of his homemade rub

We heated the meat in a frying pan with a touch of bacon grease for extra flavor and got the meat nice and warm and juicy. 

Microwaving leftover meat from the freezer can dry it out and make it lose its original flavor but if you DO microwave, wrap it in a damp paper towel...it helps keep it moist. ~helpful hint from Nick 

He believes in those damp paper towels.  Just ask our girls. 

Then he topped it with the caramelized onions.

We threw on some more of that cheese we talked about earlier...(this night only put a small dent in my cheese wealth...I'm thinking a lasagna will be happening real soon.) 

He added sliced pickles and topped each bun with a little melted butter.

Then baked them in the oven til they were toasty brown and the cheese was melted.

It was all a hit and didn't spend a fortune to cook up a big delicious meal....I just shopped my fridge and freezer.  It can be a lifesaver at times.  Both with time and money.

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend.  Nick and I are anticipating a grand one in our neck of the woods...we have some new friends coming over Sunday to break bread with us around our table after church.   What will you be up to this weekend?  I'd love to know.

                                                                                 

Hope Spoken {link up}

5 things for HopeSpoken:

- post your picture so that we can recognize you.

- introduce yourself!

- something that you are little timid or nervous about for the weekend

- something that you are hoping to take away from HopeSpoken

- share something fun/random about yourself

1. My mug..

2. Intros..
Hi Y'all.  I'm Stephanie.  I'm gonna be one of the small group leaders at Hope Spoken and I can't wait to meet all of you!  I just celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary with my man.  We were high school sweethearts and I'm still crazy in love with him...even more so. Definitely more so.   We have three grown daughters who are all married to great guys who we love and adore and are so thankful for.  I have three grand kids who call me Honey and a grand dog named Henry. (Grand kids rock by the way...all the hype is true. Every bit of it.)   I'm a pastor's wife which is another fave of mine and we are having a ball serving the Lord in this new season we have just embarked on. The empty nest is not at all the dreaded place of loneliness I had imagined it would be when my girls were small. Through God's grace, it is fun and exciting and full of possibilities.  I love this chapter of our story He is writing.  I cannot wait to hear YOURS!

3.What's making me nervous about the weekend
Of course, the unknown always makes me nervous. And the possibility of me saying something really stupid or embarrassing is always on top of the list. But I am definitely more excited than nervous about the entire event.  I know how much prayer has gone up for this weekend and I have a holy expectation of God showing out big time. I'm just so blessed I get to be a part of it.

4. What I want to take away
  So many of you I have grown to love through social media (craziness) and I am tickled to finally hug your neck and hear your voice in person.  Eeep!...So the new friendships is one thing I'm anticipating!   I'm beyond excited about serving along side some of my besties and getting to experience this with them.  But I mostly want the Lord to speak to my heart and give me a deeper passion for His people. The exciting thing is how He will do it... will it be through our small group sessions as we dig into the word together?  Will it be through one of the speakers as they share their stories of faith?  Will it be in a one on one conversation that I have with one of you?  I don't know. Probably all of the above...but I'm going with an expectation that He wants to do something new in my heart and I want to let Him.

5. Fun Fact
I've never flown on an airplane. I'm dying to..just haven't had a chance yet. (I'm thinking 2014 is the year)  I could eat popcorn everyday of my life.  I'm a southern girl who doesn't like sweet tea. My  mom and daughters are my best friends...that's not just sweet talk...they really are.  I've recently changed  my lifestyle when it comes to my health and I started running..well jogging really.  Consequently, I've lost 35 lbs and feel better now than I did in my 20s.  Shazamm.

Can't wait to meet y'all!!

ps. the conference  has sold out but they are trying diligently to make some more 

tickets available. So make sure you snag one when they do if you missed out the first time. 

Mr. & Mrs. McMullen

I've been dying to share with y'all some of the details and pics from the wedding and had planned on this week sitting down and blogging about it. However, I've gotten on a fall cleaning kick and have been purging my entire house and it's kinda taken over my time.  After having wedding projects spread all over my house for the past two years, I am craving order....spaces....no clutter...no burlap...no glitter. 

Well hold up. Scratch that... I don't really mind the glitter. (but don't tell Nick)

Anyway, each day gets away from me before I can work on this post and I have SOO many amazing pics to choose from because our incredible friends/photographers are so insanely talented.  I plan on breaking it down and sharing details of this and that but for now I totally, completely, 100% copied April's blog post of the wedding.  You can read what she wrote about the day here.

It will give you a small glimpse into this very special day and maybe, hopefully, whet  your appetite to come back for more.   I have so many God things to share about this wedding that still amazes me each time I think about how He provided and blessed.