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.

                                                                                 

Honey's Helpful Hints #2

I was so blessed with how many of y'all tried and loved
some of the cleaning products that I shared {here}.

This second installment of Honey's Helpful Hints will be on....

Hair!

Now I am by no means an expert on hair!
My sis-n-law Heather?..yes!  My daughters?...yes!
Me?...no way!

But I do have a few secrets that I can share.

My hair is baby fine, thin and straight.

Left to itself it  has no body in it at all.

When I don't use all my "secrets" it is flat to my head. 

like this....

I mean these are some skinny pig tales!

 A few of the things I've learned to do for my type hair to give it the appearance of a bunch of hair is:

1. I always blow dry my hair upside down!  This is the foundation of my "fullness".

2. This teasing comb!  It is a must!
(and I tease my sections before I put rollers in them)

3. Hot Rollers

When I  use these three secret weapons, my thin hair "plumps" up...

OK...it was a little TOO plump on this day!  Whoa! lol

So those were my top 3 tips UNTIL...
 I was introduced to this...

I have NEVER been able to fix my hair using a curling iron.
First off, no curling iron would ever curl my hair.  I would just get a little waviness.
And secondly, what little wave it created would "poof" disappear five minutes after curling it.


But this little darling is a miracle wand!
Look what it did to my hair!

That's crazy curly for me!!
And the best part is that it doesn't fall out!  The curl lasts!
It looked like this that night!

So all of you lovely ladies with thin, baby fine, hard to curl hair..
run to Sally's Beauty Supply and buy this..

They cost about $40 but I was blessed with a deal where you buy one, you get one free!!

So check for sales.. but I would have paid $40 bucks for it! And you folks that know me personally, KNOW that is a SPLURGE for me.

I even can get curls that last with this fat one!

I know all you sweet girls who have thick hair or hair with body is thinking "what in the world is she so excited about?...big whoop!"

But coming from a girl whose momma would slip into my room at night with a flashlight to see if my perm was still curly or if it had fallen out again (no lie...true story)...  
This is big news!!
A curling iron that actually curls my hair!

There ya have it.
I hope it helps a fellow sista out.

Stephanie :)
ps.  I won that gorgeous striped scarf I'm wearing in the pics!!  Thank you so much Nicole!
Y'all can check out her sweet blog {here}.  She bought it while she was in China! I adore it!!