College Football Kick-Off Week: Link-Up!

We made it to football season! It seems to take forever to get back to kick off week, especially when your team doesn't do so hot the year before. Gators, I guess we can't win it every year, right?!

Southerners in particular are super serious about their football. I had no idea what the Gator chomp was when I stepped into the Swamp for my first game as a freshman. Tailgating in Gainesville was such an experience, we aren't like other SEC schools that require dresses and heels for a game. Jean shorts are completely acceptable. (I can hear my southern friends cringing!) If you're interested in my favorite tailgate essentials, see them here!

Even if you're not into the whole football thing, everyone loves food. Typically I'm the person that brings the dessert. My peanut butter cup dessert has never failed to be devoured within the first hour. But you don't see pizza at tailgates very often, so I thought I'd share this white pizza dip that is great for game day! You can also make it in a crock pot if you need to take it on the road.

This is super cheesy, so if you are on a diet I suggest you break some rules for a day

White Pizza Dip
Adapted from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients
1 can petite diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 blocks of cream cheese, softened
1 bag (8 ounces) of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 bag (8 ounces) of shredded six-cheese Italian or Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Dash of Oregano (I used dried Oregano, but fresh is always better)
Dash of Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
 

The thing I love about this recipe is once your ingredients are prepped, it's so easy. Set aside about a half cup of the shredded cheese. Then mix the rest of the ingredients together and transfer to an oven-safe baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and dried oregano.

Bake on 400 degrees for roughly 25-30 minutes, or until top is golden and bubbly. Top with a grated Parmesan cheese, basil leaves for garnish, and serve with crackers.

So good! And I promise no one else has thought about bringing pizza dip to your tailgate!

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Next Week: College Football Link-Up!

By now most of you probably know that my love for football (and Fall in general!) runs deep. You can't grow up in Pittsburgh or go to an SEC school without becoming a die hard fan.

Old photo from the most epic win against South Carolina in the Swamp. :)

With the first games of the college football season starting next weekend I reached out to my good blogger friend and new mama Stephanie from Newlyweds:North to see if she was planning another kick-off week link-up like she did last year. In case you missed it, she did a whole week of fun posts and her tailgate Crock Pot Mac & Cheese is now one of my go-to recipes!

Since Stephanie has her hands full with the most adorable little newborn, Gray, she let me take over the link-up this year. If you're not into college football but love a pro-team, that works too! Feel free to check out my Tailgaiting in Style post from last year's link-up!

Oh yes, we got on TV! (And I look ridiculous)

So here are the deets:

The link-up will go live next Tuesday, August 26th!

Write a post about anything football-related: your favorite tailgate recipe or cocktail, tailgate decor, gameday outfit inspiration, your favorite gameday experience, etc. 

Grab the button, link back to Home Sweet Ruby, and share your link.

That's it! Stephanie's link-up was so great last year so I can't wait to see what y'all have in store this year!

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Easy Homemade Salsa

Let me introduce you to the easiest recipe ever. I never realized how simple it was to make homemade salsa. It's so much more healthy, I almost don't feel bad eating half of it myself. Now if only the calories didn't count for those tortilla chips...

Also, did I mention this salsa is man-approved? I made it for the Gator basketball game this weekend and the guys loved it! It didn't bring us any luck at winning the game (if anyone has a lucky salsa recipe, holler) but everyone was shocked when I told them it was homemade.

My salsa was on the milder side, but you could easily kick it up a notch by A) adding the jalapeno seeds to the mix or B) adding a second jalapeno. You could also add some green chiles. I mean, the opportunities are endless. (How's my salesmanship here?!) You don't even need to chop the ingredients up as much as I did, I was just feeling a little eager.

Easy, Restaurant-Style Homemade Salsa

Ingredients
2 cans of Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles
1/2 small Sweet Onion (red onion works too, its a personal preference)
Handful of chopped Green Onion
1/2 small Green Pepper (I added some yellow and red too)
2 small tomatoes, chopped 
1 or 2 Jalapenos
Juice from half a Lime
1/2 to 1 cup Cilantro
1/2 teaspoon Salt (optional)
Dash of Cumin

Put everything into a food processor. Hold the chop button for 30 seconds until the salsa is the desired consistency. Done. Bam!

Serve in festive dishware and store in a cute mason jar in the fridge. 

So what are your go-to appetizers for entertaining?

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Superbowl Menu: Baked Chicken Nachos

It's snowing teeny tiny snowflakes outside my window right now, people! I never thought I'd see it in South Carolina. I'm interested to see what the rest of today is like as I sit at my desk bundled in blankets, totally wishing it was the weekend!

We may not have Steeler-themed desserts this year, but we're still looking forward to vegging out on the couch and watching the Superbowl on Sunday. My husband and I decided its the perfect excuse to make our favorite, unhealthy snack: chicken nachos.

When we lived in Florida, we would make specific trips into Orlando to stop by the Ale House and get chicken nachos for lunch. A little extreme? Maybe. But they are that good!

This is one of the easiest recipes to put together, and it always makes way too much for 2 people, so if you're having a Superbowl party it will be perfect! Since my husband is a picky eater, we kept our toppings simple, but its really good with some chopped lettuce, guac, and sour cream on the side.

I make the chicken ahead of time in the crock pot. I just put two chicken breasts in the crock pot with some seasoning and either water or chicken broth and let it cook for about 4 hours on high. You could also add some buffalo sauce to your chicken to give it a little kick. The chicken shreds apart so easily, plus it requires very little effort. Bonus!

You have to do two layers of chicken nachos, according to my husband. That way you don't miss any of the artery-bursting goodness on this plate. We used Cheddar cheese here, but the Mexican shredded cheese mix is good and we're planning to add some Monterey Jack in the mix this Sunday. Yum!



Baked Chicken Nachos
{Serves... a lot}

Ingredients
Tortilla Chips
Chicken, precooked and shredded
Cheese, Shredded
Black Olives, diced
Tomatoes, diced 
Diced Onions, Peppers, Jalapenos, Black beans, etc.
Lettuce, Scallions, Salsa, Guac, and/or Sour Cream for garnish

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper so you don't have a big mess to clean up afterwards!

Arrange one layer of chips on parchment paper and top with half of the shredded chicken, shredded cheese, and your other favorite toppings. Repeat steps to make a second layer

Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheesy is melted and bubbly or chips are heated through. Garnish with lettuce, scallions, guac, and/or sour cream. Enjoy!

I think we needed more cheese!

What are some of your favorite snacks for the Superbowl?!

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Random Friday Favorites

I can get used to this short work week thing! Woo! I hope you all had a great week! I'm sitting here typing this up with a homemade pumpkin coffee sitting next to me, and it smells heavenly. Am I the last one to figure out that sprinkling some pumpkin pie spice in your coffee makes it instantly amazing?!

Today I'm linking up again with Christina, Darci and some other fabulous ladies to share my five favorites from the week!

 

ONE: Our Wedding was Featured in Every Last Detail!

As we approach our 6 month anniversary (and 6 years together!) I am excited to share that are wedding is being featured today on the lovely Every Last Detail blog! Yay! Looking through pictures of our big day will never get old! I'm hoping that our feature will be inspiring for other brides or maybe some of my advice will be helpful. I'm also so glad our photographer's hard work gets to be featured because she was amazing and totally deserves the credit!

TWO: Vanity Tray

Tray. Monogram.

So I've been on the lookout for a tray to help style our dresser in the master bedroom, and I'm not sure if I'm totally sold on this one yet, but its perfect for now. It was so easy to make a personalized tray... I'm already planning it out for Christmas presents so if you get one from me, try to act surprised. On another note, is it odd that I only have 2 perfumes and my husband has 4?? I think I need to go shopping this weekend! ha!

THREE: 46.28 points

That is how many points Peyton Manning got for my Fantasy Football team. If football isn't your thing, head to favorite #4 because this next part will bore you... Back to FF, I am playing my husband this week so the fact that Manning got me so many points is making him very, very upset. I've tried to keep my trash talk to a minimum though :)

FOUR: Ruby's Halloween Costume

Ok I know she looks less than thrilled to be wearing this, but its so stinkin' cute I couldn't not put it on her when I was unpacking our Fall decor this week! I got it for like 75 cents after Halloween last year and its actually a cat costume... ha! She does this dancing on her hind legs thing, so I need to find some sort of pet costume competition and show off her hula dancing skills this year!

FIVE: Blog Planning and the Liebster Award

So I did a little planning and my September blogging calendar is packed full of fun Fall posts, DIY projects, recipes, and some other random tidbits so I'm really excited to share them with you! I've also been working on some updates to the pages and hopefully (if all goes well and I don't accidentally delete the blog entirely... knock on wood) those will be ready after this weekend!

On another blogging note, I have to thank those of you who have shared my blog with your readers as you nominated me for the Liebster Award! If you've never heard of it, its basically a way to share your favorite new blogs, get to know each other more, and get discovered by new readers.. which is always a good thing!

Since I've got a lot planned this month I don't think I'll be dedicating a full post to it, but I want to give these wonderful bloggers all a major shout out! If you have time, please check out Kayleigh from Life of Ry's, Morgan from Makeshift Margaritas, Lindsay from Life with the Rashids, Charlotte from My Crazy New York Post-Grad Life, and Elena from The Road to the Baby Riley Bump because these ladies are super creative and so sweet for thinking of me! In the meantime I'll try to work on a post answering some of the questions these ladies have asked, so if you're interested in the slightest bit, you can get to know me a little better!

That's all folks! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and we'll see you next week for some more fall goodness :)

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Oh, Hey September!

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend! Ours was productive but relaxing, which is exactly what we needed! I can't even get over the fact that it is September already, but I'm totally okay with it since its now acceptable to talk about how much I love fall.... Clearly that has been a topic that is lacking in my posts...

Lately I've been missing the Virginia wine country scene, so on Friday we decided to mix it up a bit and my husband and I stopped by Holy City Brewery for a tasting. You really cannot compare the beautiful wineries and sprawling vineyards to this brewery, but it was still a fun night. The brewery is in a not-so-nice part of town, but the small tasting room is set back off of the street so you don't notice once you get back there.

We got a flight of 8 sample beers, although they gave us Root Beer as one of the options. Is it sad to admit we felt cheated for getting one non-alcoholic bev?! My favorite beer was the 9.5% alcohol one... figures! Neither of us enjoyed the jalapeno-infused beer. Ugh, I'm still getting flashbacks of the stinky aftertaste. They can keep that and the root beer to themselves!

We debated going to watch the Florida football game with the local Gator club, but laziness ultimately won and we just watched it from home. Even Ruby enjoyed the game!

On Monday we opted to be lazy (yes, again) and just hung around the house doing chores and grilling for dinner. While Steve labored over the dining table we're redoing (pictures to come!) I finally got to unpack the fall decor! I kept the Halloween stuff aside for now but I'm thinking we need some more decor now that we live in a bigger place.

Fall Printable

My favorite part? The scent of our Pumpkin Pie candle. It instantly made our place feel like fall even though it was 90 degrees and that crisp smell outdoors hasn't made its way to the low country yet.

In other fun fall decor news, my DIY Fall Wreath was featured on Disney's Babble blog!!

My project is the fourth photo in the "25 Charming DIY Fall Wreaths" roundup which you can see here. I feel honored it was included with all of the other creative and fun options! :)

Tonight I've got a rather unconventional lady date, which I'll be sharing with you in more detail later this week. Its hard for me to meet new people here, especially since I don't even have coworkers (unless you count Ruby), so I am excited to get out with the girls! If you're dying to know what we're up to (don't lie, I know you are) then make sure to follow me on Instagram!

Did you all have a relaxing weekend? Anyone else bring out your fall decor yet? If you watch college football, I hope your teams won!

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College Football Kickoff Link-Up!

Ah! It's here, it's HERE! Obviously I'm a little excited about football season! Today I'm linking up with Stephanie from Newlyweds:North for some fun NCAA football tailgate essentials, outfits, and random college stories that you may or may not be interested in. Humor me! I'm sure I'll share some tailgate-friendly recipes as time goes on as well.

Although this is going to be focused on the Gators, everything can be purchased in different colors or with your team's mascot :)

First I have to say that when I was accepted to the University of Florida, I had no clue what game days were like or whether we were even good at sports. My decision was based clearly on 3 things: Is it in Florida? (Obviously, yes. I had this thing about going to the warm weather and a big school because they were so opposite of where I grew up) Is the campus pretty? (YES, gorgeous!) and Would I feel comfortable and safe here? (Yes and yes, a friend of mine from high school went there as well)

I know it seems ridiculous that the education wasn't on that list, but I was going for my Chemistry degree (Lord knows what I was thinking at the time...) and I figured Chem is Chem, regardless of what school.  Fast forward 4 years, I experienced 4 National Championship wins (2 football, 2 basketball), met my future husband, made ridiculously awesome friends, got a duel degree in Anthropology and Criminology, and somehow managed to stay alive while going out 4-5 nights/week and passing with honors. Whew! I think I got pretty lucky :)


So before I get into my favorite tailgating essentials, here are a few snippets from my college experience. You can see my friend and I sporting jorts and a jirt (jean skirt = jirt?)... While girls from other Southern universities and Florida sororities were dressing to the hilt and being super pretty, I was one of the many girls who didn't feel like wearing all that jazz while standing in sweltering heat, in the Swamp, for 4+ hours. Now I like to dress up but probably because we're watching the games indoors. 

 

Aside from your typical tailgating essentials, like a grill and actual food, here are some of my favorite ways to personalize a tailgate or if you're us, a game-viewing party at our house!

1. Gameday Dress
Judith March, Natalie Kim, and Mudpie have gameday collections with lots of cute dresses that come in various colors to match your team. Look for boutiques that carry their designs or find them online!

2. Rebecca Minkoff 'Mini M.A.C.' Shoulder Bag
Cross-body bags make eating, drinking, and playing cornhole much easier. This bag comes in a lot of colors, but I consider it a splurge especially if you're buying an obscure color like orange. Target has a lot of cheaper crossbody bag options, like this for $20!

3. Cornhole Boards
Cornhole, or 'Bags' depending on where you live, is a must at a tailgate. It's easy to play and some people like me get better at it as the amount of alcoholic beverages increases... See a photo of our homemade cornhole boards here.

4. Diana Kelly Monica Wedge with Alligator Brooch
Diana is a fellow Gator, went to high school with my husband, and is a really successful businesswoman with her own line of gorgeous shoes! Sorry non-Gator fans, there are other brooches but these Gators are the only ones that relate to a college football team unless your mascot is an elephant, turtle, or starfish!

5. Tervis Tumblers
I've talked about Tervis tumblers before in my workout favorites, but there are great for tailgates too. They can hold your morning coffee and/or your beer later in the day, plus they are indestructible so if you commit a party foul, your cup will survive.

6. Paper Straws
There are tons of Etsy vendors selling every possible color and design of paper straws you could ask for. Striped. Chevron. Polkadots. I would get them in every color if it were more acceptable to have a cupboard full of colorful straws.

7. Crate & Barrel Stick Beer Can Holders (On sale now... bonus!)
We have these, the wine glass version here, and another set of drink holders from Target. They are great if you're tailgating in the grass but don't want little tables sitting around everywhere.

8. Haymarket Designs Monogrammed Collegiate Koozies
If you're not drinking out of a Tervis, what could be better than using a monogrammed koozie with your favorite team's design?! You can pick your monogram style, colors, etc. or get the wine tote here. Order early because it takes a while before they get to you.

Bunting or Garland (Not pictured)
By now you probably know that i love bunting and garland of all sorts. Decorate the food table at your tailgate with burlap bunting with your team's name on it, tissue paper garland, felt garland, or a fabric banner. Whatever you use, it will make an otherwise boring table look festive!

And, I leave you with this photo of Tim Tebow as he was walking over to hug me after the game. Yeah, right. ha!

If you haven't yet, make sure to enter Home Sweet Ruby's first giveaway for Halloween bunting here!  Giveaway closes on Friday night!

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