Nearly Fat Free Buffalo Chicken Dip

My friend Kelley and my mom both make the same recipe for the most incredible buffalo chicken dip. Mmmm....

Alas, it is not low fat. I had a serious craving for it one day and because I was terrified that fat police (and possibly my weight watchers group leader) would magically appear and take my cream cheese away I had to get to substituting.

First, you need some chicken. Kelley's recipe calls for canned chicken. I think that would work in mine too but I haven't tried it. I had been boiling chicken breasts and shredding them but tonight I cheated and pulled apart a rotisserie chicken. This was much more chicken and also got

mushy as it cooked - I like mushy but you might not.

Then I add:

1 can low fat cream of celery

8 oz fat free sour cream

1 packet dry ranch seasoning

1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (not pictured) - 1/2 cup is the minimum, we are wussies when it comes to the heat

See all the store brands, that's the husbands doing. He is very cheap frugal.

Tonight we mixed it up and added chopped celery right to it. This gave it a nice crunch.

Let it all cook and when it is hot through and through you will have a delicious orange glop.

Chris and I do good to get it on plates and then scoop it with baked tortilla chips and celery (except when we jump the gun and put the celery in it).

If I were going to take this to a party I think I would put it in a small casserole dish, pour a little extra wing sauce on top for a nice orange color and then put a little pile of chopped celery in the middle because I am fancy like that.

You should make this and have me over, or better yet just bring it here. I will put my bathrobe on.

You are moving! OMG! WTF! LOL! NSFW!

So this blog wasn't meant to be live yet. I thought it would be fun to do a blog about moving so I set it up, made it pretty, did a few introductory posts and then I was going to let it sit until we moved but what happened was I entered a contest and that post just wouldn't seem right on my other blog. So I decided to go ahead and publish this one.

Here are the facts:
1. We are moving to The Boro
2. We don't know when
3. We have very mixed feelings about it
4. I am an extrovert and like to talk about my feeling on the interwebs

I would also like to take this time to apologize to my husband who is a private person and does not like his shit out there. I love you and you knew what you were getting into when you married me.

Chapter One: In Which We Take Aunt Becky to Dollywood

Preface: See it all started when I became concerned that I would end up like those moms (you know the ones) who can only send pictures of their babies and put their Facebook Status as "the baby is finally asleep." I am sure that having a baby does change everything but hopefully it won't change me into a robot, zombie, diaper changer. So in my quest for moms who rock. I found Aunt Becky, and the first thing I found when I got there was this.

Chapter One: In Which We Take Aunt Becky to Dollywood

They say you can't take Aunt Becky anywhere. But if you were going to take her somewhere it would be here. Dolly doesn't judge.

We started out leaving town and I had to take a picture of the Sunsphere because it is slightly phallic and has wigs in it.
Getting to Dollywood is an ordeal because it is in Pigeon Forge. If you ever go to Pigeon Forge you will see a lot of old people. That is because they have been stuck in traffic since 1986.
I got bored in traffic and had the camera out.

So here is me, trying to undouble the chin by angling my shot (it only made it worse, it only ever makes it worse),

and here is Chris wondering why we are taking business cards on a trip and if his wife is off her meds (answer: yes).

Yay! It's too late now. We spent money! I must say I like how Dolly puts her picture on everything. I might start putting my picture on everything.

Okay, so we tried to take a picture of ourselves and I can tell what I was thinking. I was thinking, "Chris is so tall. I will have to look up to be in the picture." Don't judge me.

Luckily one of Dolly's illegal immigrant photographers so good they must be imported took pity on us and took our picture.

The first thing we did was take the train that goes around Dollywood and into the Smokies. Dolly cares a lot about the Smokies and protecting them for the future, which is why she has a train that burns 5 tons of coal and 5,000 gallons of water a day. Don't worry I am drafting my letter.

The best thing about the train was the woman giving a baby (since I don't have a baby I cannot speculate the baby's age but let's say this baby could sort of stand up and maybe walk if holding something) a diet coke. Now I will cut a bitch for a diet coke but I am pretty sure if you aren't supposed to have one when you are pregnant that you should not be giving it directly to the baby.

Then we were hot so we went on a log ride. This was really the only ride all day wear I could take a picture without fear of death, at least for the camera.

So it turns out that Dolly loves the eagles - no, not those Eagles although I bet she loves those too.
That is a real eagle. It creeped me out because it looks plastic.

OMG, eagles just pick up any kind of crap for their nests.

Chris made his only request of the day. (Well, besides don't spend too much money and don't eat 10 funnel cakes and then cry about how you are fat.) He wanted to see the eagle show. I have a picture of an eagle in the show but I like owls and this is my blog.

After the show it was time to hit the good rides. It was 100 thousand degrees (on the Jen scale) so there weren't a lot of people or long lines. Here we are in line. I look happy, I must have just had a snack.

Here we scope out the view. That is the newest ride that is sort of like the Space Needle on steroids.

There is a lot of weird crap in Dollywood.

Chris was excited that the coffin was long enough. I went ahead and bought it.

This was some sort of moonshine device. Dolly seems to support the shine. It makes me wonder if she knew Popcorn.

Finally, we went to see Sha-Kon-O-Hey which is the current big production about living in the Mountains at the time the park was created. In was really good. I think most people can agree that Dollywood puts on a good show. I admit I teared up a little when Grandma decided she wasn't gonna move out West.

And of course what trip to an amusement park would be complete without strategic product placement.

Things I Need Where I Live

1. a good farmer's market
2. sushi (good sushi is implied)
3. reliable 3G coverage
4. a place to dance
5. an amazing wine list
6. a store that sells Boogas brand of cat food
7. Dunkin Donuts (seriously, if you open one, I will keep you in business)

The rest is history

This is a blog about adventure and exploration. The adventure is moving, working with family, starting our own family and sharing what we love with people who might not get it. The exploration is figuring out our values, what we really want and finding out if our dreams will only come true in a certain place or if we can take them with us where ever we go.

A little background on my relationship with my hometown.
I hated growing up in Owensboro. I don't think I am alone on that count either. I mean really? What does it have to offer? Good schools, low crime, a sense of family. Does that shit matter when you are 16? No. I was disaffected youth all the way.
The minute I graduated high school I was off to college in Miami. I wanted to get as far as I could still be on the East Coast. Even when I visited I think I couldn't wait to get back to SoFla. I loved everything the city had to offer. Graduate school brought me to Knoxville, TN. I love it here. It has everything I want and nothing I don't - except maybe poor air quality.
But fate has dealt me an unfair hand. Through twists and turns of career paths too high to count I wound up with a Master in Business. Then I married an engineer. I have become my parents (which isn't bad my parents are cool).
So there it is folks. Eleven years later, we are going back to work at my family's engineering business. I should have been a school teacher, married a doctor.

I think my dad described what moving back to Owensboro will be like to a tee, "Owensboro has tripled in size since you left but it hasn't changed one bit."
Well, I have changed. And now I am a changer. Part of the reason any young adult hates their hometown is that they can't leave and they can't do anything about it. I am looking forward to seeing what I can do to spice up things in the Big O. A part from helping my mom run the business I am going to continue my journey as a Middle Eastern Dancer and begin teaching proper Bellydancing in the Boro. Let's just see how this goes.