Life as an Aced

Eddie and His Brothers all LOVE chocolate and since today is one of his brothers birthday I decided to go all in with the chocolate and make a chocolate chip like cookie with chocolate batter and throw in some caramel because why not? :) Double Chocolate and Caramel Cookies Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1 eggs 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 cups flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4-1/2 cup Baking Cocoa 1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips 1/2 Cup Caramel Bites Directions: 1) Pre Heat Oven to 350 degrees 2) Cream Butter and Sugars 3) Add in Egg and Vanilla 4) Add Flour, Baking Soda, and Cocoa 5) Add in your Mix Ins 6) Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your cookies

As the years before we headed to Eddie's Mom's house for Thanksgiving - theme this year was to keep it easy!! I brought along the appetizers and potatoes and we spend the day watching football and getting our drink on!! No Black Friday shopping this year for us unless it was something we found online and instead spent the night relaxing and not worrying about what was on sale For the Appetizers we went with things that you could spread or put on bread - I've been on a bit of a dip kick lately so this was right up my alley and for the potatoes I've been wanting to try out a crock-pot mashed potato recipe for a while and thanksgiving seems to be the prefect time for that THE APPETIZERS Bread - Pretzels - and Crackers Cheese Ball Spread Bacon Jam Spicy Cannellini Dip Meat and Cheese Plate THE POTATOES Crock Pot Loaded Mashed Potatoes NOTES: 1) The Bacon Jam was a total bust and I will not be sharing that recipe . . . From what sounds li...

I have tried soooooo many recipes for Queso Dip but I think I have FINALLY found one that's perfect - all thanks to Trader Joe's Chili Pepper Sauce!! Eddie Seriously puts this stuff on everything :) Queso Dip Ingredients 1) Package Velveeta Cheese 2) 1/4 cup Milk 3) 1/4 cup Trader Joe's Chili Pepper Sauce 4) Ground Beef (cooked and crumbled) Microwave Directions 1) Cut Velveeta into bite sized squares 2) Microwave Velveeta - Milk - and Chili Pepper Sauce for 5 minutes 3) Stir Until Smooth then Top with Ground Beef and Microwave for 1 more Minute 4) Serve with your favorite chips Oven Directions 1) Pre Heat Oven to 350 2) Cut Velveeta into bite sized squares 3) Bake Velveeta - Milk - and Chili Pepper Sauce in a Cast Iron Skillet or other baking Dish for 10 minutes 4) Stir Until Smooth then Top with Ground Beef and Bake for 5 more Minutes 5) Serve with your favorite chips

These came about the other day when I had a ton of left over taco meat and biscuits in the fridge - super simple, easy, and who doesn't like finger food? They aren't the prettiest things but sure are tasty Taco Bites Ingredients Can of Biscuits Taco Meat Shredded Cheese Hot Sauce Directions 1) Pre Heat oven to 425 Degrees 2) Place 1/2 a biscuit into each hole of a mini muffin tin 3) Top with Meat - Cheese - and Hot Sauce 4) Bake for 10 minutes

Some People Like Thin and Crispy Cookies - others like them thick and chewy - Eddie and his brother Luke are just happy when I make cookies lol The other day I went to make up a batch when I noticed I didn't have any eggs - I had already beaten the butter and sugar together so I just went for it substituting the egg for milk and baking soda and they surprising turned out pretty good - without the eggs the cookies really spread thin but still had a nice flavor and bite to them Thin and Crispy Cookies Ingredients: 1 stick of butter 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 tbsp milk 2 tbsp vanilla 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 cups flour Mix Ins (I used Andes mints) Directions: 1) Pre Heat Oven to 350 degrees 2) Cream together butter and sugars 3) Add Milk - Vanilla - and Baking Soda and mix until smooth 4) Add Flour 1/2 cup at a time 5) Stir In Mix Ins 6) Spoon out cookies onto a baking sheet 7) Bake for 12 minutes

Football seems to equal Dips and Appetizers in My Mind so for Football Sunday I cooked up a dip I've been thinking about since I pinned it Sausage and Cheese Dip Ingredients: 1/2 Pound Sausage 1 Cup Sour Cream 1 Cup Velveeta Cheese Shreds (or cut a block into cubes) 1 Cup Cheddar Cheese 1 tsp onion powder 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce 1 tbsp Parsley Directions: 1) Pre Heat Oven to 350 Degrees 2) Cook Sausage then drain on a paper towel 3) Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl 4) Put into Baking Dish and Bake for 30 minutes (Top with extra cheese in the last few minutes if you want it extra cheesy) Adapted from Plain Chicken's Hissy Fit Dip

I've been craving Hummus Lately so I decided to whip up a batch - I've also had a can of Chipotle Peppers in the Cabinet I needed an excuse to use so. . . Spicy Hummus it is #yum!! I love eating this with Pretzel Thins but really anything from Bread to Veggies tastes great with it Spicy White Bean Hummus Ingredients 1 can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo 1 can of Cannellini or white beans (drained Juice of 1/2 a lemon (1 1/2 tbsp) 1 clove of garlic 2 tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp salt Directions: 1) In a food Processor Empty 1 can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo and blend until smooth 2) Empty this mixture into a container and save for later 3) Rinse out Container and then add the rest of the ingredients to the Food Processor 4) Blend Until Smooth 5) Empty into your serving dish and top with a few spoonfuls of the Chipotle Pepper Mix

Found a few new things at Trader Joe's to try today . . . have you tried any of them yet? PUMPKIN JOE JOE'S Everyone is raving about these . . . time to see what the fuss is all about Harvest Blend Herbal Tea Is supposed to be like Fall in a Mug Kettle Popped Popcorn Chips In this house we like popcorn everything! Bacon Cheddar   say what? I think this will be awesome on Cheeseburgers  Gourmet Pepperoni Not sure what makes it Gourmet but I'm sure it will be awesome on Pizza

Lately it seems like I am finding more recipes that I want to make on Facebook than any where else. Recently Tasty Posted this video recipe for  One Pot Butternut Squash Alfredo  that looks pretty good so I decided to try it Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce Ingredients: - 4 Tbsp. Butter - 1 Tbsp Rosemary - 1 Tbsp Sage - 3 cups diced butternut squash (about half a squash) - Salt and pepper - 1 cup of stock (I used chicken) - 1 cup of Milk - 1 cup of Parmesan Cheese - 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar - 1/4 tsp Nutmeg Directions: 1) Melt butter in a pot over medium heat 2) Add Rosemary, Sage, Butternut Squash, Salt and Pepper, and Stock to the pot and cover for 15 minutes 3) Uncover and smash up the Squash 4) Add Milk, Parm, brown sugar, nutmeg and mix until well blended 5) Let sit on low until sauce thickens up a bit (about 10 minutes) 6) Adjust seasoning and serve over your favorite pasta NOTE: --This sauce still had some chunks of the butternut squash in it - for...

WOW! it has been a while since my last post - life has been a crazy roller coaster the last few months but things are finally starting to get back to normal\ Last night my buddy Paul came over and brought me a TON veggies so of course I made SALSA!!! I've been wanting to try a roasted version so I used this as my opportunity Roasted Tomato Salsa Ingredients 1 Poblano Pepper Stemmed and Cut in Half Lengthwise 2 Jalapeno Peppers Stemmed 1/2 an Onion Sliced 2 Cloves of Garlic Smashed 6-8 Medium Sized Tomatoes Cored and Cut in Half 1 1/2 tsp Salt 1 1/2 tsp Cumin 1 tsp Lime Juice Directions 1) Heat Broiler on High 2) Place all ingredients on a baking sheet (Skin side up for tomatoes and Poblano) 3) Broil until skins blacken and Blistered 4) Put in a blender with Salt, Cumin, and Lime Juice then blend until smooth

WOW! It has been a while since my last post . . . I am in charge of a majority of the cooking this year for Eddies Family Reunion up at Snow Bird Ski Resort this year and this blog has been a HUGE inspiration when trying to figure out the menu There will Probably be about 50+ people (maybe even 100) from Eddies Grandmas Side of the family but luckily it is just the "immediate" family I will be cooking for . . . that's still almost 20 people to feed lol including friends and g/fs etc. We are heading up the hill tomorrow so today I have been prepping sauces and dips for us to enjoy through out the week. Here's what I've made so far   Enchilada Sauce  We are going to be using this for Eddie's Favorite Colorado Burritos and maybe enchiladas too later in the week depending on the left over situation Ingredients: 3 tbsp vegetable oil 1 tbsp flour 1/4 cup chili powder 2 cups chicken stock or Broth (both work) 15 oz can of tomato sauce 1 tsp dried ...

This year my whole family came out to Utah for 4th of July. We through a BBQ taking advantage of our smoker that we got for Christmas Smoking up a giant Ham and Beef Jerky for us. Along with Grilling up some Burgers all served along with 2 salads and 2 dips. The 2 Salads were a BCT Pasta Salad and a strawberry salad with the The Lettuce part of the BLT being replaced with carrots and celery hence the bCt. And of course we have homemade salsa and a ranch veggie dip. Here's a Picture of our Spread (minus the burgers that were still on the grill at this point) Smoked Ham Ingredients: Spiral Cut Ham Smoke Rub (equal parts Sugar - Salt - Chili Powder) Apple Wood and Hickory Wood Chips Directions: 1) Pre Heat Smoker to 200 Degrees and add wood chips 2) While Smoker is Heating up rub Ham with the Smoke Rub 3) Cook for about 4 hours or until ham reaches internal Temp of 170 - switching out wood chips about ever hour  Smoked Beef Jerky Ingredient...

Ever since we came back from Chile me and Eddie have been obsessed with sparkling waters. Our favorite is the Blue Italy from Trader Joe's but our local stores don't seem to carry it any more so we have been trying the other brands out there and stumbled upon Arrowheads to new line that come in a lot of different flavors So far it has been good with the Raspberry Lime being a awesome new flavor I haven't seen any other brand do We mixed it last night with some vodka for a flavored spin on a vodka soda and it was a yummy refreshing drink Fill a cup with ice - add 1-2 shots of vodka - then fill with sparkling water

Last night for dinner I was planning on making Burgers but I got home late from work and me and Eddie were both hungry - so we decided to throw it all in a tortilla Surprisingly it was actually pretty good! The tortilla acted like the bun and each bite had a little of everything (meat - cheese - bacon) . . . I know it sounds a little weird but don't knock it until you try it Bacon Cheeseburger Burritos Ingredients: Ground Beef Shredded Cheese Bacon Tortillas Directions: 1) Cook Ground Beef with your traditional burger seasonings (I used seasoned salt - pepper - onion powder - garlic powder) 2) While ground beef is cooking - Cook the bacon 3) Fill a tortilla with ground beef - cheese - bacon and roll up

While in the airport after I cruise I found this cool app called Layout that creates Random Photo Collages you can put on Instagram - Of course since I had a ton of cruise pictures that's what I made collages of Our meal at Johnny Rockets DRINKS!!! More DRINKS!!! Even more DRINKS!!! Selfies Sr. Frogs in Cozumel Mexico

Me and Eddie took almost 400 photos between the 2 of us but I have narrowed it down to some of our favorites Towel Animals - saw more animals at the towel stand by the pool than we did in our room Central Park wasn't a popular place for people to hang out but had 2 of my favorite places to be: Park Cafe and Vintages Wine Bar When people were in Central Park it was usually to eat at a speciality resturant or take pictures Another cool photo op is this car in the Royal Promenade Random Elevator Shot One of the few pictures that was taken in Labadee - we were in the water so much of the time it seemed pointless to take out the camera Interior Balconies that you can see from the Boardwalk Our drink package cups - you NEED this is you want to use the fancy coke machines but otherwise no need to bring them around with you - me and Eddie left ours in the room the whole time . . . we were going to grab them to get Eddie Root-beer (the one drink none...