Crockpot Potato Soup

As I was getting ready to hit publish on yesterday's post, I realized I have never shared my Crockpot Potato Soup recipe. I started out using a recipe I found on Pinterest 3 years ago, but over time I have tweaked it and made it my own. So naturally I feel the need to share it here. It's no kidding one of the easiest recipes to make....I threw it together in less than 10 minutes on Saturday and that included making more chicken broth because I didn't make enough the first time.

What you Need:

2 (20oz) bags Simply Potatoes Shredded Hash Browns

6 chicken flavored bullion cubes

6 cups water

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 tsp pepper

1 TBSP taco seasoning

1 block cream cheese - do not use reduced fat or fat free (it won't melt)

How to Make It:

1. Boil 6 cups of water and 6 chicken bullion cubes in a pot. Stir until cubes have dissolved. *You can purchase 6 cups of broth, too, but I always have bullion on hand so I like to use it.

2. In a crockpot, combine hash browns, cream of chicken soup, onion, pepper, taco seasoning, and just-prepared chicken broth. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours.

3. Once hour before serving, chop cream cheese block into small cubes and stir into soup.

4. Serve with sour cream, green onions, bacon, cheddar cheese, and feta cheese (our favorite!).

High Five for Friday

Happy Halloween!  To be honest I really wasn't feeling Halloween this year.  With it falling on a Friday I knew we'd be at a football game.  However, our teeny tiny town decided to move it back a day which makes a lot of sense, but I am usually at the dance studio on Thursdays so I was not planning on being home. I did buy some candy just in case Eric felt like handing some out.  Dance ended up being cancelled because well kids want to trick-or-treat, and Eric had to run a call an hour away from our house after practice and with our crazy dogs, handing out candy is a 2 person job: one hands out candy, the other corrals the dogs.  Instead I walked the boys early, got a run in, and stayed inside with the lights off until Eric came home with dinner. It was a wild and crazy Halloween, let me tell ya.  I didn't even buy pumpkins this year...I know, I know. I did manage to put up my Boo Y'all Bunting on the Mantle, and I have on black and purple today (for the football game). I'm going to have to do better next year.  In my defense, Truck-or-Treating has taken over our town and there are very few people in our neighborhood who put out candy.

Here's my weekly 5 for the week:

#1

In the past couple of weeks I have received 7 calls from different random numbers.  Most of the time I let it ring and I don't get a voicemail.  Every once and a while I will pick it hoping I can yell at whoever is on the other line that my number is on the do-not-call registry and they shouldn't call me.  Unfortunately, the majority are robo calls which are illegal but I have looked into reporting them and you have to get information from the robo caller which is not possible because it's freaking robo call!  I am extremely stingy with giving out my phone number for any reason so it really confuses me as to why I still get these. I did received 2 calls from Colorado numbers that were doing election polls for the state of Michigan. I realized I might still be a registered voter there, so after explaining that while I have a Michigan phone number, I have actually physically lived there (I was a resident there when I was in college and my parents lived there).  I haven't heard back from them since.

#2

Speaking of elections, I cannot wait until next week when all of this is over.  It's times like these I am so thankful I have satellite radio and don't have to listen to every candidate explain why their opponent is a piece of garbage and a horrible person, so vote for them instead!

#3

I saw a car on my way to work the other day that had "We love our son's FEYONCE," written on the back window. I hope that they were using is as a play on the singer Beyonce's name (though I'm not sure why, unless their son is actually engaged to Beyonce but last time I checked she was in fact still married to Jay Z so I highly doubt it) and not how they actually thought it was spelled.

#4

This weekend is going to be COLD down here.  I'm talking Freeze Warnings through Sunday night. Eric is so excited to go hunt Saturday morning he can't stand it.  And I am pretty excited,too!  Fall is FINALLY here and I hope it sticks around.  Tonight might get a bit dicey at the football game with 40s and 20 mile per hour winds but we'll make it through.  Thanks to our ski trip to Colorado earlier this year I have an arsenal of long johns that will be making an appearance this evening, along with my fuzzy boots of course!  And if it gets to be too much there's always the field house. #perksofbeingmarriedtoacoach #yestherearesome

#5

With the weather turning I've been whipping up some warm-you-up dinners lately that have earned the right to be moved over onto my Recipe Favorites Pinterest Board (it's kind of a bug deal). Some of my favorites include:

 Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff - absolutely delicious, 

P.S. This was taken right before it all cooked together.

Tomato Pie - a new favorite that I never thought in a million years I would eat, 

The literal name for this would be sauce-less deep dish pizza in a pie crust.

Tacos-which are nothing new in the grand scheme of things but when you make them with Frontera Skillet Sauces they are amazing!  

Eric said it tasted just like the tacos they eat when they hunt in Texas so I guess Frontera knows what they're talking about. We've tried the Fajita one, too and I have big plans for the Enchilada Sauce this coming week!

Also, you should try these, yes Wasabi Ranch sounds crazy but they are crazy good!!!

I hate to end this on a somber note but, we found out today that one of Eric's old teammates from HC's wife who has been battling a brain tumor for a year and a half now received some not-so-good news that the cancer has spread and is now at stage 4. I wrote about about a year ago and we all thought things were looking up for her, but it does not look that way.  Please keep her, Eric's teammate, and their son in your prayers and they are facing some very difficult decisions right now.

Shortbread Milk Chocolate Toffee Bars

I came across another amazing and easy dessert this past weekend that I could not help but share.  I've never been a huge toffee fan, that us until I came across bags of Milk Chocolate Toffee.  Basically it's toffee bits with milk chocolate mixed which is the best of both worlds, amiright?  I threw in that little tiny recipe tweak when I was putting this recipe together and came out with a winner winner chicken dinner. This recipe fit nicely with my recent tendency to make cookie bars instead of plain old cookies, see here, here, and here for some of my favorites. I really like that I don't have to put several different batches in the oven, just put it all in a Pyrex dish, put it in the oven and that's it.

Adapted from this recipe.

What you Need:

Shortbread Crust

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

Filling

1 cup (14oz can) sweetened condensed milk

1 Tbsps butter

Topping

2 cups milk chocolate chips

1 1/3 cup (one bag) Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits

How to Make It:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of  a 9" x 13" baking dish.

Crust: Beat butter and sugar together until combined (about 1-2 minutes). Scrape down the sides of your mixer and mix in the flour. Press dough mixture into the bottom of the greased baking dish and bake 12-15 minutes, until the top turns a light brown.  Remove from oven.

Filling: While the shortbread crust is cooling, heat sweetened condensed milk and butter in a small saucepan and stir until smooth.  Pour over shortbread crust and bake 12-15 minutes until the filling starts to bubble around the edges. Remove from oven.

Topping: Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over filling when it comes out of the oven, place back in the oven for 4-5 minutes, until chips are shiny and soft.   Carefully spread chips over filling (this did not work to well for me, so just spread as much as you can...you won't be able to tell if it's smooth once you add the toffee any way). Sprinkle toffee bits on top and press into milk chocolate.  Allow to cool before cutting.

Note: I got impatient waiting on them to cool completely so I ended up putting them in the fridge for an hours or so to harden. However, I have not refrigerated them since and they have kept their shape.

This recipe is totally drool worthy and I cannot stress how easy they were to make.  They are certainly going in my arsenal of "Crap I forgot to make something for XYZ Event and I need something now!"

Enjoy!

Best Marinade Ever

This recipe has been a long time coming.  We first had this past summer (I can say that because it's fall now!), during a trip to the beach to visit my BIL and SIL. My SIL made some pork chops for dinner for us one night and they were marinated to perfection; absolutely delicious.  Of course I asked her for the recipe and she told me she found it on Pinterest...I mean seriously is there any other place to get a good recipe besides an old family cook book these days?  I found it and I pinned it and the rest is history. So far we've had it on pork, steak, and chicken and it tastes wonderful on all three.
So why haven't I shared thus far?  To be honest, we inhale what ever we make with it so quickly it took me 3 months to get a "cooked" food picture....and heaven forbid I share a recipe without a finished product picture, right?!  So without further ado:

adapted from this recipe

What You Need:

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder

3 Tbsp fresh basil

1 1/2 Tbsp parsley 

1 tsp ground pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

How to Make It:

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl until thoroughly mixed.

Pour marinade over desired meat (chicken, steak, pork, etc.). Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. I prefer to marinate the meat over night. Cook meat as desired.

Yes it's that easy and have I mentioned it's delicious?!

One

Two

 Three

Hungry yet?  You're welcome. =)

Pistachio Bark

If you know me, you know that approximately 75% of the recipes I've cooked over the past 3 years have been courtesy of a little site we all know and love called Pinterest.com. If you aren't using it, then what the heck are you waiting for?!  It's not that I didn't cook good things in the years BP (before Pinterest), let's just say that the product quality of what I cook has increased significantly since then.  Yes I still come across duds every now and then. I tried out a new pasta salad this past weekend that was just ok, and the leftovers are still in the fridge awaiting fridge clean-out day aka the night before the garbage comes aka tonight. But then there are some recipes that I come across that are 5-Star-I've-Already-Made-A-Second-Batch-2-Days-Later-Winners aka recipes that get promoted from my Recipes I Want to Try and Sweet! Sweets boards to my Recipe Favorites board.  I'd like you to meet the most recently promoted recipe on the Recipe Favorites board:

Pistachio Bark meet the Cagle Chronicles, Cagle Chronicles meet Pistachio Bark.

When I saw the recipe I thought chocolate-check, nuts-check, Oreos-check, caramel and salt-check check.  It had all the players, so it had to be decent.  I changed a couple of things from the original recipe.  For example: I was not spending $12 or more on 16oz of chocolate bars like the original recipe called for so I substituted 2 bags of semisweet chocolate chips for $5. I was able to make a larger pan with 24oz of chocolate to work with, plus I got $.10 Fuel Perks....Score! Because I was using chips and not a chocolate bar I added some Canola oil to thin the chocolate out just a bit.  Enough with the chit chat, let's get to the good stuff, le recipe.

adapted from this recipe

What you Need:

2-12oz bags semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Canola oil

1/2 cup Kraft Premium Caramel Bits or chopped caramel squares

10 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped

3/4 cup shelled pistachios, chopped

generous pinch of sea salt

How to Make It: 

Line a large baking sheet (approximately 12" x 16") with parchment paper. Set aside. Have your caramel pieces, chopped Oreos, chopped nuts, and salt readily available so you can use them as soon as your chocolate is ready.

In a large bowl, melt chocolate chips in 30 second increments, stirring after each 30 second cooking period. Once chocolate is melted, add 1 Tbsp canola oil and mix thoroughly.

Spoon 2-3 Tbsp melted chocolate into a small bowl and set aside. Pour remaining chocolate onto parchment paper and gently spread with a spatula until it's roughly 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle caramel pieces, Oreo pieces, and chopped nuts on top of chocolate.  Lightly press toppings into chocolate.  Reheat chocolate you set aside earlier if necessary, and mix in 1 tsp canola oil to thin it out.  Drizzle thinned chocolate over toppings.  Sprinkle salt over the entire pan.

Chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Break in to pieces and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Ready to be chilled!

NOM NOM NOM NOM! 

This stuff is amazing, there's no other way to put it.  It has something for everyone in it and it's soooooo good!

....and this is why I run. =)

A Shower for that Sweet Lil Deer

I made it back!  I actually didn't go anywhere this time, but I've been going non-stop for the past week and things are finally starting to calm down...well at least my house is back to normal.  For the past week our house has been baby shower central.  Eric was so sweet to not say anything about the massive amount of baby shower decorations that had taken up residency on our kitchen table for the week...planning this shower for the weekend of his first football game of the season might have been my best idea yet because he was so distracted by football he didn't notice my giant mess. =)

After several weeks of planning, Sunday afternoon we showered my SIL, BIL, and soon-to-be sweet little nephew with love and food and tons of cute little baby stuff!  I had so much fun putting this shower together, from the invitations, to the food, to the decorations.  I was so excited to see how all of my Pinterest-inspired ideas came together and they did perfectly!  And now for the photo overload.....

Since my BIL is an avid hunter and they used had a hunting themed pregnancy announcement, I went with a [light] hunting theme. My goal was rustic baby hunter...not camo and orange overload.  I found an invitation I liked on Pinterest and re-created my own version using picmonkey.com.

Of course I had to incorporate some of my many chalkboard signs...this one was in our laundry room entryway.

These were my two main decorated tables in the kitchen: one served as the dessert table and the other was a day-of addition topped with a collection of pictures/prints/nick knacks.  I may be a little biased but I think they turned out pretty cute.

This table included the picture they announced their pregnancy with, chalkboard countdown board, his monogram, a print I found on pinterest and recreated with Picmonkey, a cute little onesie, and a few treats. My favorite parts were the "To go to sleep I count antler, not sheep print." and the monogram.

The monogram was a last minute addition Saturday morning.  I found the paper on one of my trips to Hobby Lobby and really wanted to use it for the shower, but had not found anything I really wanted to do with it.  Saturday morning I realized I did not have a single monogram to decorate with...shocking I know.  I pulled out my Cricut and went to cutting, well my Cricut went to cutting.  I had the easy job that involved a glue stick and putting it together.  I put it in a shadow box frame that I rotate my seasonal scrapbook sheets in, but them realized it doesn't have a stand and I didn't have anything to prop it up. Luckily one of the deer antler racks that I borrowed for accent decor was the perfect width and height to hold up the frame!

The dessert table was a lot of fun to decorate, too!  My Cricut did all the work for the Welcome Baby Banner on the wall, which turned out so cute! We were all on dessert overload after the shower, and we still have a ton of sweets leftover!

One of my most favorite parts of the decor was the centerpiece on the dessert table.   I found the W (for the baby's name) on one of my Hobby Lobby trips.  It was too cute NOT to buy to incorporate into the decor. I leaned it up against one of the burlap covered mason jar vases and set them in front of one of the deer antler racks.  It was perfect!   Funny story...I wanted to use some burlap to cover a few mason jars and to use as table runners.  I started to buy some and then I remember I had several pieces leftover from my SIL and BIL's wedding shower we threw them a couple of years ago, so I got to use the same burlap and mason jars for their baby shower, too.

These were the two desserts that I made (my MIL who threw the shower with me, made the others). I had originally planned to make blueberry lemon cupcakes, which would have been fantastic I'm sure, but the closer we got to the shower, the more I realized boxed cake mix would be just fine, so I picked up a couple of boxes of Devil's Food cake mix for the occasion.  I did, however, make the buttercream icing and dyed it blue so they would color coordinate.  They turned out so cute, and were absolutely delicious.  The other treat I made were dipped oreo pops.  I saw them on Pinterest when I first started planning the shower and knew I HAD to make them. They were a hit and I am trying to figure out a reason to make them again soon.

Of course we had more than just sweets to snack on.  My MIL got a delicious sandwich tray and made some pigs in a blanket which are my favorite! I made a couple of dips: cold spinach dip which I have made at least 5 times this summer, and ranch dip for pretzels and carrots.

My centerpiece on the food table was another favorite that was initially not going to happen.  My original plan for flowers was to put baby's breath in the mason jars which I had strategically placed around the house.  The week before the shower I made sure the grocery store had some, but wanted to wait until the day before the shower to get the flowers so they would be fresh.  Saturday I went to get them and my grocery store did not have a single cut flower in stock.  The weekend before they had a ton of them but the day I needed them they had nada.  I had to choice but to head to Montgomery to get some. I headed to Publix which I remembered having a small floral section by the cards, but at some point over the last year they have discontinued that section...I could not believe it.  Defeated, I headed to Costco.  I knew they'd have flowers, but I also knew they did not have just a bouquet of baby's breath like I wanted.  What I didn't know is that they'd have 2 bouquets of beautiful giant white hydrangeas waiting for me.  I was beyond excited and was so glad that the other two stores did not have baby's breath because the hydrangeas were absolutely gorgeous!  I realize that there were baby's breath in some of the pictures above.  I had some dried baby's breath that have been in mason jars on my kitchen table all summer, which I transferred to the other jars for the shower.  I don't think anyone noticed they weren't fresh.

The rest of the decor consisted of burlap covered mason jars and my tassel banners that I had strewn throughout the living room for a little color.  I made some for a wedding shower earlier this year and I just love them.  They're made of tissue paper so they're inexpensive and easy to make and they add a bright pop of color to a room!

I cannot tell you how excited I am to to meet that sweet little baby in a couple of months and I am so excited for my SIL and BIL to become parents!

Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry for Two

I am a sucker for quick easy meals during the week.  I have absolutely no desire to spend more than 20 minutes putting something together after I've been working all day. When I realized that Winn-Dixie had their broccoli crowns on sale for $.99/lb I decided that stir-fry was going on the menu this week at our house.  I looked up a couple of recipes on pinterest, but nothing really jumped out at me, so I decided to DIY it.  I took the sauce recipe from one of our favorite recipes and turned it into my stir-fry sauce.

What you Need:

1 cup uncooked rice

2 cups water

1-2 Tbsp butter

2 cups broccoli

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

2 garlic cloves, minced

1" knob of ginger, peeled and minced

2 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp rice vinegar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp peanut butter

1/2 Tbsp water

1/2 Tbsp honey

2 tsp sweet Thai chili sauce

pepper to taste

sesame seeds

How to Make It:

Combine rice and water in a rice cooker and set to cook, when it's done add the butter and stir until combined.  Set aside.

Steam broccoli on stove or in steamer bag, season with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, peanut butter, water, honey, sweet Thai chili sauce, and pepper.  Microwave for 20-30 seconds and stir until smooth.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken, ginger, and garlic and saute until chicken is no longer pink.  Add sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes until combined.

To serve:
Place a scoop of rice on the plate, top with a scoop of broccoli, and a scoop of chicken/sauce mixture. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve immediately.

This meal was so good, and like I said so quick and easy.  It made enough for a plate for both of us plus some leftovers for lunch today.  Did I mention it was delicious!?!

High Five for Friday

Another week down. I was surprised that it went pretty quickly, considering it had been a few weeks since I'd had a 5 day work week due to vacation. Let's get right to it, shall we?

1. I tried something new this week for dinner. Instead of racking my brain [aka scouring Pinterest] for recipes and trying to put a bunch of stuff together, I marinated a bunch of chicken Sunday afternoon and grilled it on Sunday night. Each night this week I pulled out a container of chicken, heated it up and combined it with spring mix and about 10 other salad toppings.  I think this will continue for at least a few weeks to come.  Delicious, healthy dinner in 10 minutes?  Yes, please. Being a creature of habit [I'm the girl who ate a turkey sandwich and Cool Ranch Doritos for lunch for at least 5 years straight in school], I am completely on board with this.  I was afraid Eric would want more variety, but I switched up the toppings and had three different chicken marinades, which seemed to work.  I ran out of chicken last night, so we had Naan Pizzas of the Gouda/Turkey Sausage/Prosciutto variety instead. It was a delicious change of pace.

2. Staying with the changing things up, I tried something new with my hair this week.  I had worn my hair curly on Sunday and for whatever reason did not wash it Sunday night/Monday morning. No biggie, my hair can handle it but I tend to only do that when it's straight. With the insane heat and humidity we've had this week, I have not been feeling heat-straightened hair. My solution to unruly second day curly hair was a ginormous inverted poof bun on the top of my head.  To my surprise I got a ton of compliments on my hair from coworkers.  I guess I should wear dirty hair poofs more often...they certainly take a lot less time to fix than straight hair!

3. I am getting really excited about a Baby Shower I am throwing for my SIL in a few weeks.  Being the planner I am, I've already started working on some decorations, and decided to experiment with one of the treat decorations I wanted to make. I saw some really cute blue-dipped Oreo Pops on Pinterest that I wanted to recreate.  I told a friend about it, and she suggested adding mini-pretzels as antlers to go with my very light hunting theme.  I tried it and they came out sooooo cute!

4. While at the grocery store getting supplies for my deer pops, I was reminded of why I don't go to the grocery store when I'm hungry.  Not only did I end up with Oreos (which will NOT make it until the shower...who was I kidding), but I ended up with these in my cart.

FYI they were completely worth it...and I justified my purchases because they were both BOGO and that meant I could get one of each for half price...so there. 

5. Our Saturday is going to be super full and so much fun!  We're hosting the 3rd Annual Coaches Preseason Cookout, which will feature the 2nd Annual Coaches BBQ Rib Contest, and for the first time a Potato Salad Contest which yours truly will be entering.  I was shocked when I realized I will have at least 4 challengers! We've always had the cookout on picture day as a nice little get-together right before the season starts.   I've been looking forward to it for several weeks, and I am so glad it's finally here.

Here's to a great weekend and hoping that I can decide on an outfit and get my hair to look semi-decent in the sweltering humidity on the football field tomorrow morning for pictures.  Please send me non-poofy hair thoughts!

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

Two recipes in one week!? Can you believe it? I have been cooking up a storm lately and I am proud of it.  As crazy as our summer schedule is with Eric coaching, I am finding that it leaves me with lots of time to try out new recipes.  I just had to share this little ditty that I whipped up last weekend because it was just too good NOT to.

With the abundance of blueberries that I have right now I have been on the lookout for new recipes.  Not being much of a fruit dessert fan or a lemon flavor fan, it took a really yummy-sounding recipe to get me to take the plunge and make it. I am beyond glad that I did, and I will make them again and again and again....you get the idea.

You can find the original recipe here here.

What You Need:

Crust:

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened (2 1/2 sticks)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 heaping TBSP lemon zest

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

Blueberry Filling:

1 to 1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries

2 TBSP brown sugar

2 TBSP lemon zest

2 TBSP lemon juice

Cream Cheese Layer:

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (at room temperature)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp lemon zest

1 TBSP vanilla

2 eggs

How to Make It:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of a 9" x 13" glass baking dish.

2. Make the crust: Beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest until creamy. Add the flour and salt and beat until combined. Press dough evenly into the bottom of the greased baking dish and bake 15 minutes.

3. While the crust is baking, prepare the filling: In a small sauce pan, combine blueberries, brown sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until berries are soft.  Set aside to cool.

4. Once you get your berries going on the stove, prepare the cream cheese layer: Beat cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla together.  Add in eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined.  Don't forget to stir your blueberries.

5. Spread cream cheese mixture onto the warm crust and smooth the top.  Dollop blueberry mixture randomly over the top of the cream cheese layer.  Gently pull a knife to swirl blueberry mixture.

6. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the filling is set. Cool and refrigerate for a couple of hours until chilled. Slice, serve, and ENJOY!

Smoked Tuna Dip

As I was heading home from my meeting on Saturday morning I got a phone call from Eric.  He wanted to use up some of the tuna steaks in the freezer to make smoked tuna dip, and wanted me to find a recipe.  I went to my recipe bible, pinterest...duh, and quickly found a recipe that looked simple and quick. I decide to go with the recipe that was about half of the hits for smoked tuna dip.  It was from Coastal Living Magazine, so whoever put it together most likely knew what they were talking about.  We started there and Eric added his own flair to the recipe. He liked it so much that we ended up doubling the recipe and have less than a quarter of the container left.

Recipe adapted from this recipe.

What You Need:

12 oz fresh tuna steaks

1 Tbsp prepared horseradish

3/4 cup mayo

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 Tbsp dill weed

juice from half a lemon

dash of hot sauce (or more if you like it hotter)

How to Make It:

Place the tuna steaks in a smoker and smoke for 1 to 1.5 hours.  If you can't get good fresh tuna steaks or don't have a smoker, you can buy pre-packaged smoked tuna.  This will save you time, too.

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until you reach the desired consistency.  Ours was tuna salad consistency.

Serve immediately with crackers.

Enjoy!