Buffalo Chicken Dip

Weekends in the fall are dedicated to one thing and one thing only... Football. College and NFL. If you don't know me, I am a huge NIU Huskies fan. My husband and I both graduated from NIU and will live and breathe Huskies football. While I dare not to comment(even though I have PLENTY of comments) on this weekend's game versus Arkansas, I still love the Huskies even though we do not have as strong of a team as we have had in the past. And well for my NFL team, I root for whoever is on my fantasy football team and DA BEARS. I am VERY competitive when it comes to fantasy football, SO DON'T ASK ME WHY I DIDN'T START DESEAN JACKSON THIS WEEKEND. Ugh, still crying about it.
Football, food and fun. Those three need to happen. And you definitely can't be watching a big game without good gameday food.
So this. THIS dip. It's amazing. And guess what, in the past, I have been making it ALL WRONG. But now I have made it easy and so, so good. The secret ingredient to this dip? Rotisserie chicken. It will change this dip.
We have a place in our local grocery store named the Flaming Bird. They grill an entire chicken on the grill and it is nothing short of amazing. Nice part about it? Only $6 for the entire bird. Yup, quite the steal. If I were to compare the taste of the chicken, it's a lot like El Pollo Loco which is awesome. If you have never had El Pollo Loco, go now.
Quick Notes:
-As for the spiciness of this dip, well, let's just say picky pants was able to eat it and not cry. So that was a good sign. I used Franks Hot Sauce on this dip, but you can use whatever buffalo sauce tickles your fancy.
-Also, if you are a blue cheese fan, sub out the ranch for blue cheese.
-Lastly, you can prepare this beforehand. Just refrigerate it and heat it up before the big game or event.


RECIPE

Ingredients
2 - 3 cups of rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup of ranch dressing
1/2 cup of buffalo wing sauce


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all of the ingredients into 8x8 baking or small casserole dish. Make sure to mix everything thoroughly. You can sprinkle a bit more cheese on top if you want to get extra cheesy.
3. Cook for 25 minutes or until it is warm throughout. 

Pizza 'Spaghetti' Pie

Well, hello again. It has been a bit since I have written here but that's not going to stop me from sharing this AWESOME recipe with you. If you've been following my blog, you know that I have done the whole Paleo lifestyle and overall it was a good experience. I haven't done it quite some time, but I still follow all of the Paleo people that I love on Instagram. There is one dish that every single Paleo person would post and I told myself that one of these days, I would finally make it. And looky looky... I finally did. It's PaleOMG's Almost 5 Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie. This is nothing short of amazing considering most of it is healthy. And well, leave it to me to add something else to not make it truly "healthy."

When some people see spaghetti squash, most are like, "ew, what?" My husband as the prime example. But also, I thought it was funny that when I went to buy the squash, the cashier didn't even know what the heck it was. He had to go and ask a manager. Nope, don't ask me... Ya know, the one who is actually purchasing the product. Or like my mom, not even knowing it was spaghetti squash when I sent her the picture(below), said "carbs." Well, mom, no. It's actually spaghetti squash, duh. Anyway, spaghetti squash. Where was I going with this again? I go on a rant and cannot even remember what I was going to type. Good thing I am typing and not talking or else I would have just stopped talking. SPAGHETTI SQUASH. Yes, there we go. It takes some time to make it. So prepare for that. It is not a quick meal to make but it is easy. Be careful when you are trying to cut the squash, because you don't want to chop your hand off or break your knife (like I did... The knife part, I still have both hands, thankfully).

Juli Bauer, the HILARIOUS lady at PaleOMG, is a food genius. I cannot tell you how many recipes I have made from her cookbooks and blog. If you haven't checked out her site, do it now. Like I said previously, this is mostly her recipe, I just added more to it. Here's the PaleOMG's original recipe if you want strict Paleo.


RECIPE

Ingredients
1 large spaghetti squash
1 pound of Italian sausage
1 yellow onion, diced
1 jar of pizza sauce (anywhere from 8 to 14 oz depending on how saucy you want it)
2 cups of chopped mushrooms
3 eggs, whisked
2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon of basil
1 teaspoon of thyme
salt and pepper
(You can also add whatever other meats or veggies you want to this dish)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut the squash in half length wise. Scoop out the seeds and "guts." Place the squash cut side down on a baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes or until the outside softens. 
3. While the squash is cooking, you can start to cook the onion and mushrooms, or whatever other veggies, in a skillet along with browning the meat. Add your spices to the mixture of veggies and meat. 
4. Once the squash is done, reduce the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees and start to fork out the spaghetti threads. 
5. In a casserole dish, add your squash, veggie and meat mixture, pizza sauce, eggs, and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese together. Once it is well mixed, place in the oven and cook for 50 minutes. You will start to see the top get brown nearing the end of the time which is good.
6. Add the last of the cheese to the top, and cook for another 15 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown a bit. 

Yes, I am still having it for lunch 5 days after I cooked it and it is still amazing.