Spinach Bacon Dip in a Bread Bowl and Tyson Foods Bacon Pieces #WhatsYourTopping

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Tyson. All thoughts, opinions, recipe, and photographs are my own. #WhatsYourTopping #cbias #SocialFabric 

I always love trying new products and finding new products to use to make great recipes.  Tyson Foods makes new Tyson Foods Toppings which are sold at Walmart.  They make different toppings, such as bacon pieces, salami, and pepperoni. These toppings are great for use as toppings in pizza, salad, or other recipes. 

I decided to use the Tyson Foods Bacon Pieces to make a Spinach and Bacon Dip.  Dips and appetizers are one of my favorite foods to make.  I love making appetizers and sharing them with all of my family and friends at a get together.  This Spinach and Bacon Dip in a Bread Bowl is a great and delicious appetizer for any party. 

I really love that the Tyson Foods Bacon Pieces because they are ready made bacon toppings but they are made using real bacon.  Also they are so versatile and can be used in any recipe that calls for chopped bacon.  I plan on keeping them on hand at home so that I can have them to readily top pizza or salad.  For example, tonight we had leftover bread and we decided to make pizzas using the bread.  We used the bacon pieces to top the pizza and it was delicious.

The Tyson Food Bacon Pieces can be found near the packaged lunch meat section of Walmart.  These bacon pieces tasted great in the dip. I loved how there was bacon in every piece.  Also the best part was that we didn't have to worry about cooking any bacon and didn't have to deal with any grease.  We had ready made great tasting bacon pieces. 

This Spinach Bacon Dip tasted so delicious.  I really loved the combination of the bacon and the spinach.  This dip looks great served in the bread bowl and tastes great with bread, tortilla chips, or pita chips.  This is a great appetizer for any party and I plan to make it for Memorial Day weekend.  I hope you enjoy it!

Spinach Bacon Dip in a Bread Bowl

1 1/2 packages (3 ounce package) Tyson Foods Bacon Pieces

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Round loaf of bread
Loaf of bread, cubed for dipping

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix all of the ingredients together, except 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, until combined.

3. Take the round loaf of bread and cut a small circle out of the top of the bread. Save the lid for use during cooking. Cut away the bread inside the round loaf to make a hollow space. Save this bread for dipping.

4. Place the dip inside the bread bowl. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese over the top of the dip. Then put the lid back on the bread bowl. Place the bread bowl on a cookie sheet to bake. If there is extra filling that will not fit in the bread bowl, place it in a casserole dish and bake beside the bread bowl.

5. Bake the dip for 1 hour and serve hot. Bake any extra dip in a casserole dish for only 20 minutes or until heated through. Serve with the extra bread from the inside of the bowl and the cubed bread. It also tastes good with tortilla chips or pita chips.  

*Alyssa*

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For more information on Tyson, check out Tyson on Twitter and Facebook. 

Showcase Your Talent Thursday #61

Welcome to 

Showcase Your Talent Thursday!!

I hope that everyone is having a great week! I hope that everyone has a great Memorial Day.  We are going to try to go to Hershey Park sometime over the weekend and otherwise we are going to grill out and enjoy the nice weather. 

Thanks to everyone that linked up last week! I loved looking at all the great projects that were linked up! There were so many great ideas, I always have a hard time picking the features!   I can't wait to see what you have to share this week!!  

Most Viewed Link:



Coconut Cheesecake by Will Cook for Smiles.  I love this combination of coconut and cheesecake! It looks so delicious!


My Favorites:




Key Lime Cake with Cheese Cake Pudding in a Jar by My Litter.  This cake in a jar would be a great gift. I might do this the next time I need to make a bunch of gifts!





 Dry Erase Board Desks by If It's Not Baroque.  I love this idea and think it would be great to have a dry erase board under my desk so that I can jot down random ideas. 




Tequila Lime Shrimp Tacos by This Gal Cooks.  These look fantastic.  I need to add this to our meal plan. 




Chocolate Chip Cookie Lava Cakes by Mostly Homemade Mom.  Yum! I love lava cakes and I like the fact that these are made using chocolate chip cookies. I bet they taste fantastic!

Thanks for linking up and feel free to grab a button if you were featured.

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Link up as many of your recipes, crafts, tutorials, ideas, projects, or fun posts as you would like to share.

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Red, White, and Blue Muddy Buddies

I cannot believe that this weekend is Memorial Day already, this year is going so fast! Memorial Day is a great way to celebrate our country but also to spend time with family.  With Memorial Day this weekend and Fourth of July coming up I decided to make a red, white, and blue treat.  

Muddy Buddies or Puppy Chow are one of my favorite snacks and they are so easy to make.  I though that Red, White, and Blue Muddy Buddies would be a great and easy treat for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July.  Also the red or blue muddy buddies alone would be great for a baby shower.  

Not only are these Muddy Buddies easy to make, they also taste delicious.  The Rice Chex are coated with white chocolate.  The white version is then coated with powdered sugar, while the red version is coated with Cherry Jello, and the blue version is coated with Berry Blue Jello.  I really like the combination of the vanilla, cherry, and berry flavor when they are combined together or they also taste great individually.  I hope you try this delicious and festive treat!

Red, White, and Blue Muddy Buddies

6 cups rice Chex cereal 

1 bag (12 ounces) white chocolate chips, melted

1 cup powdered sugar

1 box (3 ounces) Cherry Jello, dry

1 box (3 ounces) Berry Blue Jello, dry

1.  Add 1/2 powdered sugar into a plastic bag.  Add the Cherry Jello and 1/4 cup powdered sugar into another plastic bag and shake to combine.  Add the Berry Blue Jello and 1/4 cup powdered sugar into a third plastic bag and shake to combine.  

2.  Put the Chex cereal in a large bowl.  

3.  Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave for 45 seconds and stir until smooth.  If not melted, microwave for additional 10 second increments until melted and smooth.

4.  Pour the melted white chocolate over the Chex cereal and mix until the cereal is coated. Add about 2 cups of the cereal to each plastic bag.  Working quickly, shake until the cereal is completely covered.  

*Alyssa*

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Try these other great Muddy Buddies:

Red Velvet Muddy Buddies

Andes Muddy Buddies

Biscoff Muddy Buddies

Chocolate Chunk Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I started this blog because I always loved to cook and make desserts for our family and friends.  One of my favorite desserts that I made frequently was this Chocolate Chunk Cinnamon Coffee Cake.  My husband is a big fan of coffee cake but I always love desserts that have lots of chocolate in them.  This chocolate coffee cake helps to appease both of us because it combines coffee cake with my love of chocolate.  When I realized that I never posted this coffee cake on the blog, I knew I had to make it immediately.

This Chocolate Chunk Cinnamon Coffee Cake is so delicious!  This coffee cake is not only moist it contains cinnamon and chocolate chunks in the middle and on top. The addition of the sour cream helps to make this coffee cake more moist. 

 This is really great warmed up because the chocolate melts and makes it even better.  We like to make this and then have it for breakfast for the rest of the week.  This is my favorite type of coffee cake, once you make coffee cake with chocolate you won't ever make regular coffee cake again!

Chocolate Chunk Cinnamon Coffee Cake

(Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com)

1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chunks

3/4 cup pecan pieces

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 2/3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a small bowl mix the chocolate chunks and pecan pieces together.  In another small bowl mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together.  Set the bowls aside.

3.  In a medium sized bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 

4.  In a large bowl beat the butter and the sugar until combined.  Then add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla.  Then add the flour gradually, alternating with the sour cream and beat until combined.  

5.  Pour half of the batter into a greased 13x9 baking pan.  Then add half of the chocolate chunk mixture on top and add half of the cinnamon mixture on top of the chocolate.  

6.  Then pour the rest of the batter on top and top with the remaining chocolate chunk mixture and the remaining cinnamon mixture.  

*Alyssa*

Linked to these parties

Try these other great recipes:

Chocolate Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Reese's Peanut Butter Muffins

Cinnamon Smores Cookie Cups

Showcase Your Talent Thursday #60

Welcome to 

Showcase Your Talent Thursday!!

I hope that everyone is having a great week! I hope that everyone had a great Mother's Day.  We had a great day.  We went out to brunch and then we decided to take Aaron to the aquarium.  It was a great day and I loved spending it with my family.  

 

If you haven't already make sure to enter the giveaway I am currently co-hosting.  As part of the Pre-Summer Gift Card Extravaganza we are giving away $400 worth of gift cards.  This is a great prize and would be great for some summer shopping!

Thanks to everyone that linked up last week! We had way over 200 link ups! I loved looking at all the great projects that were linked up! There were so many great ideas, I always have a hard time picking the features!   I can't wait to see what you have to share this week!!  

Most Viewed Link:




DIY Del's Lemonade (Frozen Soft-Serve Lemonade) by Soliloquy Of Food & Such.  This lemonade looks so refreshing and would be great on a hot summer day!


My Favorites:




Cheddar Parmesan Bread by Mostly Homemade Mom.  This bread would be great paired with a pasta dish and I bet it tastes delicious!

Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Cake by Tastes of Lizzy T.  I love nutter butter cookies and anything peanut butter.  This cake looks so delicious and I really like the nutter butters on top!

DIY Milk Glass Vases by Krysta Steen.  I really like how great these vases look and how easy they are to make!

Rocky Road Cheesecake by Butter With a Slice of Bread.  Wow!! This cheesecake looks fantastic! Looking at it is making really hungry, wish I had a piece right now!

Thanks for linking up and feel free to grab a button if you were featured.  

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Link up as many of your recipes, crafts, tutorials, ideas, projects, or fun posts as you would like to share.

Please do not link up any etsy shops, giveaways, or advertisements.

Link up to your post and not your main blog.

Make sure to visit some of the other links and most of all HAVE FUN!!!

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Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

We have been using our new grill a lot because the weather has been really nice.  We love to grill in the spring and summer.  I love the flavor that grilling gives to the food.  Along with meat, we also like to grill vegetables.  One of our favorite vegetables that we liked to grill is asparagus.  I love the flavor that the grill gives to the asparagus.

We decided to grill bacon wrapped asparagus.  The combination of the bacon and the asparagus was delicious and made even better by the fact that it was cooked on the grill.  This is a great appetizer that would be great to serve at any summer barbecue.  

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

(Recipe adapted from Food.com)

1 1/2 cups Italian dressing

24-36 smaller asparagus spears, washed and split in half

12 slices bacon

1 garlic clove, minced

toothpicks

1.  Place the asparagus in a ziploc bag with the Italian dressing and minced garlic.  Make sure to coat the asparagus with the dressing and garlic.  Then marinate the asparagus and refrigerate for at least one hour.  

2.  After the asparagus is done marinating, wrap 2-3 asparagus spears longways with a strip of bacon.  (How many asparagus you put in each bacon strip depends on how thick your asparagus is).  Place a toothpick on bottom and top of each asparagus spear to keep the bacon on during cooking.

3.  Turn the grill to 350 degrees and grill the asparagus for 4 minutes with the cover closed.  Then turn the asparagus and grill for another 4 minutes.  Then move the asparagus to the top grill rack and grill for another 4 minutes.  

*Alyssa*

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Check out these other great grilled dishes:

Grilled Asparagus 

Ranch Turkey Burgers

Chicken Bacon Ranch Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Mini Crab Cakes and Kraft Fresh Take #FreshTake #cbias

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Kraft Foods. All thoughts, opinions, recipe, and photographs are my own. #FreshTake #cbias #SocialFabric 

When we get together with my in-laws for a special occasion we always like to make a great appetizer.  I decided to make something when we got together this past weekend for Mother's Day.  We all love seafood so I decided to make an appetizer using crab.  

I decided to use Kraft Fresh Take to make a great appetizer.  Kraft Fresh Take is a meal kit that provides you a fresh take on meals.  The meal kit contains a packet of cheese and a packet of breadcrumbs.  This meal kit can be used to make great meals, such as to coat chicken or pork.  The nice thing about Kraft Fresh Take is that it is so versatile, not only can it be used to make dinner great but it can also be used to make appetizers or to coat vegetables to make a great side dish.  

Kraft Fresh Take can be found in the cheese aisle of the grocery store and it comes in some great flavors such as Italian Parmesan, Classic Four Cheese, Rosemary and Roasted Garlic, Cheddar Jack and Bacon, and Savory Four Cheese to name a few.  

I decided to make Mini Crab Cakes using the Italian Parmesan Kraft Fresh Take.  I loved how all the breadcrumbs and cheese I needed for the recipe were provided.  I used the breadcrumbs and some of the Parmesan cheese to create a crust and the also included some of the Parmesan cheese in the crab filling.  

These Mini Crab Cakes were delicious.  They reminded me of delicious crab dip sitting on top of a crust.  This recipe makes 24 Mini Crab Cakes. We brought them over to my in-law's house for Mother's Day and everyone devoured them.  This would be a great appetizer to make for any party.  They seem really fancy but are made simply with the help of Kraft Fresh Take.  I hope you make these delicious appetizers for your next get together or party!

Mini Crab Cakes

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 package Kraft Fresh Take - Italian Parmesan flavor

1 egg

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1 teaspoon parsley

1 can (6 ounces) lump crab, drained

1/4 cup butter, melted

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  

2.  In a medium sized bowl beat the cream cheese, egg, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese from the Kraft Fresh Take until combined.  

3.  Then stir in the mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay, and parsley.  Gently fold in the lump crab meat.  

4.  In a small sized bowl add the breadcrumbs and remaining Parmesan Cheese from the Kraft Fresh Take and the butter and toss with a fork until it is evenly blended.  

5.  Place 1/2 tablespoon of the breadcrumb mixture in each muffin well of a greased 24 mini muffin pan.  Press the breadcrumb mixture down to form a crust.  Spoon 1 tablespoon of the crab mixture on top of each breadcrumb crust.  Then sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs evenly on top of the crab mixtures.  

6. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Garnish with additional parsley if desired.    

*Alyssa*

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For more information on Kraft Fresh Take check out their website.  Watch for the Kraft Fresh Possibilities Tour truck which will be making stops across the country from March until the end of July. To see if they are making a stop in your town check out this website: Fresh Possibilities Tour.  

Also there will be an immediately redeemable coupon stuck on packages of chicken in the meat department of Walmart.  The coupon takes $1.00 off the price of one (1) chicken item with the purchase of Kraft Fresh Take.  The coupons runs from 5/1/13 to 7/31/13.