GTGs and all that Jazz!

This past weekend was full of friends and food. We invited 16 people over to our house on Saturday evening for food, drinks and games. It started as a small group of our knottie/nestie friends for another GTG, but then turned in to us inviting all of our friends. It was a really fun night. I love having people over. This is what I decided on for food: buffalo chicken dip, taco dip, fruit with fluff dip, bbq chicken sliders, crab wontons, and lunch lady bars (which turned out really dry, I'll have to try them again sometime) and mini chess pies for dessert. Everything turned out pretty good. You know me, it wouldn't be right if there weren't mishaps...I totally forgot to put tomatoes and/or salsa on my taco dip, the edges of the wontons were extra crispy and I was scared to death of how the mini chess pies would turn out. But there was nothing left at the end of the night and everything really was delicious. Anyways, on to the recipes:

Taco Dip

8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)

1 packet of taco seasoning (I use Old El Paso lower sodium)

shredded cheese (mexican mix or cheddar)

shredded lettuce

tomatoes or salsa

Mix the cream cheese and taco seasoning. Spread into small dish (a pie pan works well), then layer with lettuce, cheese and tomatoes/salsa. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Goes really well with tostito scoops.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

16 oz cream cheese (I use 1 block of regular and 1 block of 1/3 less fat)

2 large cans of canned chicken (I use All Natural)

3/4 cup of hot sauce (I prefer Frank's)

1 cup of ranch (I use light)

2 cups of shredded cheddar

salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Over medium heat, add chicken to sauce pan, shredding with a fork. Add hot sauce, stir and let simmer for a few minutes. Add cream cheese and let it melt, then stir together. Stir in ranch dressing. Put 1/2 of shredded cheddar in, stir and let melt. Add a little salt & pepper. Pour mixture into 9x13 pan. Bake on 350 for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted on top. Serve with ritz crackers (wheat are the best!).

BBQ Chicken Sliders

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 bottle of bbq sauce

1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

1/2 tbsp of brown sugar

24 mini Martin's potato rolls

Bake frozen chicken breasts on 350 for 45 mins to 1 hour. Once cooled, shred chicken (I find it's easiest with my hands and I usually cook the chicken the night before and after shredding, keep in the fridge.

Over medium heat, add chicken to sauce pan along with just enough bbq sauce to cover. Add in vinegar and brown sugar, stir well. Once it's warm, change heat to low, cover and simmer for as long as you can. I simmered mine for well over an hour.

Scoop a little chicken onto each roll. Enjoy!

Crab Wontons

Source: Sam the Cooking Guy

4 oz cream cheese, softened (I used 8 oz of 1/3 less fat)

3 green onions, finely chopped (I used about 6)

1 cup of crab meat (I used 1 8oz pack of 'special' crab meat - not imitation)

1 tbsp of hot sauce (Sriracha)

1 package of wonton wrappers (I used square wrappers)

Preheat oven to 400
Mix all ingredients well in bowl, except wrappers
Put about a teaspoon and a half of mixture in center of each wrapper
Dip finger tips in water and wet edges of wrapper lightly and fold in half (I folded them corner to corner to make triangles) - try to remove as much air as possible
Seal tightly and place won tons on baking sheet coated with cooking spray

Bake until they start to brown - should be about 15 to 20 minutes (my corners got very brown)

While they cook, make the dipping sauce:
3 tablespoons soy
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon green onion, finely chopped
Mix all ingredients and serve on the side

These things are delicious and so is the dipping sauce. Yum. I also added some extra srirachi hot sauce on the side, as Mike is a big fan of it!