Pizza Dip Recipe

This is an awesome recipe for Pizza Dip! If you are having a New Year's Eve party or a Superbowl Party, this will be a crowd pleaser and it's super-easy!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Bake Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 envelope Lipton Recipe Secrets Savory Herb and Garlic Soup Mix
1 container (16 ounces) Sour Cream1 cup (8 ounces) Ricotta Cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 ounces); divided
1/4 cup (1 ounce) chopped pepperoni (optional)
1 loaf Italian or French bread, sliced

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a shallow 1 quart casserole, combine soup mix, sour cream, ricotta cheese, 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and pepperoni.

Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese.

Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes or until heated through.

Serve with bread.

Makes 3 cups.

My New Year's Resolution...is to post more...

Ok. So you can see that I haven't updated this blog since September. My blog is still a "good idea" and hasn't really taken hold just yet. However...I have developed my New Year's Resolution for 2009. To update my blog...a lot. I promise. I really do.

Happy New Year!
Jennifer

My trip to Myrtle Beach

Howdy! My annual "save my sanity" beach trip was a success! I am still sane...I think.

I went to North Myrtle Beach the week of September 1st for some sun, surf, R&R and seafood. All of which I achieved. Know what's funny though? In previous years I was all about getting a tan. Last year I went for the 40 proof sunscreen. This year? Coppertone sweat-proof, water-proof, sunproof, almighty blocking 70 proof sunscreen. At 36 years old, getting a tan is not my agenda. Keeping as few wrinkles as possible is my agenda. On top of the 70 proof? I had a beach umbrella providing shade.

I read the entire book "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyers. Wow...what a great book! I'm completely hooked on this series now. Like I don't have enough books to read.

I went to Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach. Sorta cool, but more for kids. Not much there for an adrenaline junkie like myself. I love roller coasters and scary rides. They have roller coasters there, but they aren't that scary or fast. I'm not saying don't go there. It IS a neat place. But if you are going just to ride rollercoasters? Skip it. $50 is a high price for not much.

There are two restaurants I recommend. For excellent, fresh seafood? Bimini's. It's by Kroger in North Myrtle Beach. For a good, high quality steak? Thoroughbreds. Get your steak coffee-style. You'll love it. ;)

Gas Prices? Why are we even dealing with this?

Maybe I'm naive, but I was completely shocked when I woke up last Friday morning and saw what was happening with our gas prices. What started out in the $3.60 range, topped out at $4.99 per gallon by the time my show ended at 3pm. I spoke with many of you on the phone and e-mail about what we could do about it. We were all left scratching our heads. Why would our local gas station owners DO this to us? Hurricane Ike hadn't even hit Texas yet and we were already raising prices. Regardless of the hurricane, we've had hurricanes every year for hundreds of years and all of a sudden they affect gas prices? I am totally perplexed by this. I'm not sure WHAT to think. On one hand, I just can't believe that every single gas station owner across East Tennessee was laughing at us behind our backs as they raised the prices on the road signs. On the other hand, would they? Do you believe it was price gouging? If you do, there is a petition that you can sign. It's http://www.petitiononline.com/knoxgas/petition.html. Will it help? I doubt it.

Something has got to bust open here with the gas prices. It wasn't a problem before Hurricane Katrina. Why now? What REALLY happened? I'm hearing so many "experts" saying so many different things it gives me a headache.

The Olympics

Whew! Sorry...I haven't posted in awhile. I have trouble sometimes keeping up with all of the technology around me sometimes. I do try though.

So my post today is about the Olympics. I care more about the Olympics this time around than I ever have in the past. It's so exciting and instills such a feeling of pride to watch our American Athletes compete for the biggest trophy of their lives. And Michael Phelps? WOW! I can't even believe that medals he's won and the records he's crushing. The excitement is even better than the Bristol race! I KNOW! Can you believe I said that??????? But really...the excitement of watching Michael Phelps swim and stomp the competition gives me the same rush as "Gentleman, start your engines" at Bristol.

GO U.S.A.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My trip to Biloxi, Mississippi

So I traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi with my two best friends over the Memorial Day Holiday weekend. I had never been before. I wanted to go to the beach and my friends wanted to go to a casino so we compromised and chose Biloxi. It's got casinos and I got to see the ocean! Despite being almost totally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina almost 3 years ago, Biloxi looks surprisingly...fine. Dont' get me wrong, you can see remnants of the damage and it appears that only the Casinos could afford to rebuild. There isn't much to do in Biloxi along the coast except for relax at the beach or go to a casino. Trying to find a restaurant outside of a hotel/casino was extremely difficult. In fact, we had one of those GPS thingy's. We named her "Sassy Suzie". Anyway, Suzie, led us to nothing occasionally. Meaning that we would plug in an address and Suzie would do her thing. She would say "destination on right". We would look right and ....nothing....nada...zip...flattened. Even Suzie couldn't determine where certain addresses were.

Overall, we had a really great time. We stayed at Treasure Bay Hotel & Casino. The rooms had been remodeled and were very nice with patios and flat screen tv's. We ventured down to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and also the Beau Rivage. Both of these hotels were VERY nice and construction is about to begin on Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. It looks like many of the venture capitalists are taking advantage of the lesser property prices and taking their chances that no future disaster will destroy their Vegas style locations.

Biloxi will eventually be Las Vegas...on the beach. Wow...it's like a dream for me!

If you haven't been to Biloxi, I recommend it. About 8 hours in the car was well worth the destination. I can't wait to go back.

American Idol Winner!

Sooo....I absolutely loved the show with Dolly Parton last night! You gotta' love Dolly! I thought all of the contestants did a wonderful job but I must say, David Archiletta blew me away last night with Dolly's "Smoky Mountain Memories". I also liked Brooke White's "Jolene". Anyway, I think this is a great season for American Idol and I'm so happy to see so much talent!

Mark my words...David Cook will win this year. Yes, I like him, but this decision is not based on my personal likes and dislikes. It's based on trends in music. With the fame of Daughtry tugging the trends right now, David Cook falls in line to be this years winner. We'll see! ;-)

Just when you think you've heard it all...

I found this in my showprep today. Can you believe this????????????????

Evil hackers planted hundreds of flashing animated images on discussion board hosted by the Epilepsy Foundation, images that could trigger epileptic seizures among the site's users. The foundation took down the discussion board for 12 hours Sunday and the assault ended. In a statement yesterday, foundation president Eric Hargis said, "This was clearly an act of vandalism with the intent to harm people. We've established deterrents in the system to prevent similar incidences."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343808,00.html

George Michael is making a comeback!

Michael has announced his first North American tour in 17 years. It kicks off June 17th in San Diego. Visit www.georgemichael.com for tour dates and locations. He will release a new retrospective record "25" on April 1st. It's a 29 song set featuring music from his solo career and his days with Wham! as well as several new songs, including duets with Paul McCartney and Mary J. Blige. A DVD of 40 of Michael's videos will also be released on April 1st. How exciting! He's gonna be at Phillips Arena in Atlanta July 31st.

A nice dinner in Las Vegas

So, we decided since we were in Las Vegas and we had opted not to spend the money to see a show, we would spend the money on a really nice dinner. We chose to make a reservation at Steakhouse 46 at The Flamingo. There were 8 of us. The restaurant was beautiful and the food smelled incredible. So we sit down and peruse the menu. I picked my chin up off the table after a minute of telling myself I had decided to have a nice dinner and it was okay to pay for a $40 steak. I ordered an $11 bowl of lobster bisque to start. It was amazing. Words cannot describe it. It was worth every penny. for dinner I ordered blah-blah fancy name scallops. they were $34. Quite good. Nothing to write home about, but they were good. Allright, so all 8 of us are happy and having this wonderful experience until our sassy Drew Carey look-a-like waiter drops ONE check in the middle of the table. I instantly said "um...excuse me, but did you seperate that?". I assumed he was smart enough to realize we were all couples and would require seperate tickets. HA! How silly of me. He said "no, we don't do that". Well, let me tell you, my redneck side kicked in. I wanted to leap out of my chair and smack that boy right across his smug face. But I didn't. I am a lady. My mother would be so ashamed if I behaved in such a manner. I said "well, we all need to pay seperately". He said "just write out names and totals of what you want on each card". I said "oh, okay". He walked away, then came back and said "oh, by the way, we only accept up to five credit cards". I said "okay". So my friend/cousin Gwen began seperating everything out. What a pain right? What happened to customer service? While we were having to go through and figure out who ordered what, add totals, taxes and tip the waiter and the manager both walked by huffing and pacing like we had put them through SUCH an ordeal. I was so upset. Mostely humiliated and disappointed that they had sent our wonderful meal and our wonderful experience right down the tubes. Finally, we got it all figured out, he ran the cards and we all left in a huff. A couple people at the table were saying "oh, most restaurants don't seperate the checks". I was like "what????!!!!!" I was a waitress for four years in college and we ALWAYS asked if they would like seperate checks. We live in the south. We all work hard for a living and when friends go out to dinner, they don't typically pay for each others meals. Then I thought to myself. That stinkin' waiter added 18% gratuity to our tab. Now, tell me this. If they are such a high fallutin' snooty restaurant that won't seperate checks, how is it they feel the need to ADD gratuity? All in all...the food was wonderful, the the experience goes in the books as a huge thumbs down. No food is worth all that aggravation and being made to feel ignorant. I'll never go back there again.

On a lighter note...it was a beautiful evening in Las Vegas. After dinner, we walked to the Bellagio and watched the cool water show. ;)

Viva Las Vegas!

So, last week I went to las Vegas for the 3rd time. Again...I had a blast! Again....I did NOT see a show. Again...I spent too much money. They don't call it "Lost Wages" for nothing! So we flew out of Nashville on Saturday, March 15th. You know, when the tornadoes hit Atlanta? Well, it wasn't just the south that was affected. There were storms out west too. As the plane began it's descent towards las Vegas, we went thru some storms and I really thought I was going to die. This was not just turbulence. This was plane shattering, mind-altering turbulence. The plane was lurching and bouncing. Oh my goodness. I really thought I was going to die. There were two small rays of light during that horrible experience. The airline attendants laughing and telling everyone to raise their hands in the air like we were on a roller coaster. And...the baby that was screaming thru the first hour of the flight...was laughing as she was being bounced about. I swore I would never fly again after we landed. But nicer weather and common sense kept me from driving home. All is well.

Crazy drivers!!!!!!

UGH!!!!!!! Yesterday as I was leaving work, I was driving down the narrow road that leads to broadway. This old fool comes blazing around the corner and didn't even slow down. He came within an inch of hitting me. This poor old guy. I was having such a bad day yesterday. If he HAD hit me?????????? I just don't know what I would have done. Nothing violent, don't get me wrong, I'm not a mean person physically, but I would have seriously hurt him with my words. I think he was drunk. People just make me so mad.

Wow...I really love this blog. It's a way to get stuff off your chest. Fire back! Come on! Get it off your chest! What's on YOUR mind???????????

Wearing seatbelts in the car

Isn't it amazing how many reports you still hear about car accidents involving fatality because the driver was too stupid to put in his/her seatbelt? Honestly, isn't it the first rule of thumb for driving that you wear your seatbelt? I get so angry when I read that the driver wasn't wearing a seatbelt. This whole "that won't happen to me" concept that we all go through? Yes, I remember it well. Prevent your teens and younger drivers from making a fatal mistake. Make sure they understand how important it is to wear a seatbelt!!!!!!

The Grammy's are on Sunday night

If you love music as much as I do, check out the 50th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday night! Starts at 8pm, February 10th on CBS. Don't miss it! ;)

The State of the what????

Last nights State of the Union address, did you watch it? Political discussions aside, it always amazes me the dog and pony show that goes on with that. All the clapping and standing ovations and blah blah blah. There’s more pomp and circumstance than there is a speech. Personally? I get distracted by all that clapping and stuff. I just wonder sometimes what bozo tells them that we actually enjoy that? I mean, who is the State of the Union address for anyway, them or us? I was under the impression it was for us and I kinda wonder why we have to watch the cameras focus on who is standing, who is clapping and who is sleeping? Personally, I tuned in to see what the president had to say. Call me crazy…..

Jefferson Bass - The Devil's Bones

The new Jefferson Bass novel "The Devil's Bones" comes out in stores February 5th! B97.5 is hosting an incredible event to celebrate the release! Join us for "An Evening with Jefferson Bass" to benefit Friends of Literacy! This event includes a nice dinner, a silent auction, live entertainment and a presentation by Dr. Bill Bass, forensic anthropologist and creator of The Body Farm, and Jon Jefferson, author of the body farm novels.

Tickets are $50.00 each and be purchased on PayPal via www.b975.com or you may call 865-525-6000 to purchase over the phone.

All profits from this event will benefit Friends of Literacy. Over 10,000 people in Knox County cannot read. Friends of Literacy is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1991 to support the delivery of high quality literacy and related services to adults and families in Knox County who are inadequately educated for the challenges of daily life. Working in partnership with area adult education providers, our goal is to help provide basic education and life-skill training to help our students become better workers, parents, and citizens.

Blog about politics!

Check out RedBlueAmerica.com, the social networking site created to tap America's interest in teh 2008 elections. Knoxville area voters can share in this online forum locally, or nationally.

Hula Hooping - the new way to get fit!

I wouldn't call Hula Hooping "new", but many are turning to "hooping" as the latest fitness craze. Check out www.hoopnotica.com.

I hear there are local classes too!

Actor Heath Ledger dies at 28

That's so sad. He was a great actor! He passed away yesterday. They've sent off for toxicology reports and as of right now the autopsy was inconclusive. He had such a bright career ahead of him in my opinion.

The Associated Press already has Britney Spears obituary written

Us magazine reports the Associated Press has Britney Spears' obituary already written -- you know -- just in case. "We are not wishing it, but if Britney passed away, it's easily one of the biggest stories in a long time," AP entertainment editor Jesse Washington said. "I think one would agree that Britney seems at risk right now. Of course, we would never wish any type of misfortune on anybody and hope that we would never have to use it until 50 years from now ... but if something were to happen, we would have to be prepared."

Can you believe that? It's so sad. I just wish that child would wake up and take care of her babies. That's what I wish. You couldn't pay me enough money for a life like hers. It's so sad. I truly hope she will get the help she needs before something truly terrible happens.

27 Dresses - GREAT movie!

If you are looking for a fun, uplifting gal pal movie, check out 27 Dresses! I really liked it.
Jennifer

Rain-X in the Shower?????

Have you heard about spraying down the walls of your shower with Rain-X? Someone told me this keeps you from having to clean the shower so often. A good alternative to the expensive shower cleaners at the store. I was wondering if any of you have done this? If so, does it work and does it make the floor slippery?