Super Easy Amish Macaroni Salad

I have a love/hate relationship with macaroni salad.

I love it because it's *awesome* in all of it's sweet, tangy goodness.

I hate it because...well, it's not good for the waistline.

*sigh*

The good stuff often isn't.

I'm not sure what possessed me to make a batch the other day- truth be told, I've never made it from scratch before- but make a batch I did.

Ohgosh.

You know, I remember loving it as a kid too, the stuff from the deli section of the grocery store.

I'm really a sucker for just about any creamy bad-for-you salads that I have no business eating and apparently I always have.

White Alabama BBQ Sauce Wings

I tried making Alabama-style white BBQ sauce a couple of years ago and it was awful.

I was honestly really disappointed because, from a carb-watching standpoint, it's kind of perfect since it's not loaded with sugar or molasses or any other no-no's.

And, well...I really like those no-no's.

I love my BBQ sauces- you should give this one from our Smithfield campaign a try, it's kind of become my go-to these days!

Anyway.  Back to my story.

So I knew that lots and lots of people love the white variety of BBQ sauce and I'd never had it served to me before.  I really wanted to love it.  I decided to find another recipe and give it a try.

Allrecipes' partnership with Nascar gave me the opportunity to play around a little.  I've been on a bit of a chicken wing kick lately and I thought maybe I could combine a new white BBQ sauce recipe with my wing obsession.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bites

I came across these Chicken Cordon Bleu Bites quite awhile ago and they've been on my "I should really try those sometime" list for quite awhile.

Cute mini foods that are also low carb?  Count me in, amiright?

Anyway, I've had the recipe saved but I just hadn't gotten around to making them until now.  Definitely glad I did!

So just to level with you, I totally intended to serve these guys for the Super Bowl this year.

I even prepared them on Super Bowl Sunday- and then I realized we had so. much. food. on hand that day and I tossed them in the freezer.

Yummy Roll-Ups

When I was a kid I really couldn't stand cream cheese and absolutely refused to eat it.  Not all that uncommon for a kid, I suppose, but now I love the stuff.

A warm toasted buttered bagel smeared with a thick layer of cream cheese.  Yes- butter and cream cheese.

I'm drooling just thinking about it, it's a bit Pavlovian.

Ugh.  I can't be trusted around carbs.

Anyway.

So I definitely have a love for cream cheese now that I'm older (try some Ma'am's Hot Jam over cream cheese with some Wheat Thins.  Heaven!), but I was not at all surprised when my daughter absolutely refused to eat these.  At first.

She meandered into the kitchen to see what I was up to and she saw pickles.

That kid can really put away some pickles.

She saw ham.

Her eyes lit up...and then quickly dimmed.

She'd seen the cream cheese swirled with two of her favorite foods.  I'd also used up all of the ham and pickles in my endeavor.  She asked if she could disassemble my work and just scrape off the cream cheese.

Hot and Spicy Stuffed Mushrooms

I have had so many interesting opportunities over the years thanks to Allrecipes and my status as one of their Allstars.  I've taken a couple of free trips (woohoo, thanks guys!).  I've been introduced to some very interesting brands (go Bison Council!).  I've become friends with an amazing group of lovely ladies (with a sprinkling of men).  

What an experience!

 This month I had the opportunity to work with Nascar.

Didn't see that one coming, gotta be honest!  I'm always excited to have new Allstar experiences, though.  After spending many years living 15 minutes or so from a major speedway I'm well acquainted with the racing craziness that surrounds these events!

It was time to throw a Daytona 500 party- and I needed a menu.

A good one.

Given my current diet, a low carb one.

No problem.  I've got this.  :-)

Very Valentine's: Pink Sugar Cookie Bars

I think the most memorable Valentine's Day I ever experienced was my junior year of high school.

I was single.  Painfully, miserably, angrily single.  Recently single, heartbroken in that life-shattering way that always hurts but hurts so much more when you're 16 and lacking perspective.

Boy, sounds like a Valentine's Day worth remembering, right?

Well, one of my best friends was also painfully, miserably, angrily recently single.

We held an Anti-Valentine's Day.

We wore black.

We decorated cupcakes with broken hearts.
We baked cookies.

We rented horror movies (I don't even like horror movies, but it seemed like the thing to do...).

We ate Chinese food.

We sent Anti-Valentine's Day E-Cards to our friends.

We (I kid you not) made a web page dedicated to our newly christened holiday.  It miraculously still exists out there in all of it's broken-linked glory.  We were a bit...melodramatic...it would seem.