A Dip Not to Snicker At

A few weeks ago I was searching for something on the intenets and stumbled up on this recipe for Snickers Dip.

Yes, you read that right. A dip made with Snickers.

Immediately I emailed this to myself and the subject line said, “MUST MAKE THIS.”

So when I found out that we had some guests in town and Brady said “get some snacks,” I got some snacks…and snickers!

This dip was SUPER easy. You basically crumble 6 bars of snickers in your food processer (this looked super gross, but was super fun) and then mix the Snickers and other ingredients in your mixer. EASY, right?!

Here is the recipe for Snickers Dip adapted from Culinary Cool.

Snickers Dip

·         6 Snickers Bars (one pack, full size)

·         8 oz of cream cheese

·         1 tub of Cool Whip (I used the Giant Eagle light version)

·         ¼ cup of brown sugar

·         Caramel Sauce

Mix the cream cheese, Cool Whip and brown sugar. Crumble the Snickers in a food processer (note that this is also loud!).  Then, mix the Snickers into the cream cheese mixture.

Layer the dip mixer in a dish, then drizzle some caramel, then repeat. Serve with pretzels. I picked up some chocolate pretzels, but I think regular ones would be better.

Like the Cookie Dough Dip, this is better after is refrigerated for a few hours.

Seriously. Make this. 

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Back to School Shopping with Shot of Brandi*

All of these back to school ads have me thinking about when I was younger and would go shopping for the new school year. Shot of Mom and Dad would give me a budget of say $300 to buy new clothes for the school year.

Shopping in August was tricky – a lot of summer stuff was on sale and the fall stuff was full price. Oh and this girl had a penchant for some Campain International EXPRESS. That’s totally spelled wrong and off, but for those ‘90’s shoppers out there, you will remember Express had a series of names before it became simply Express, but the internets wouldn’t help me out. But you know what did – my 1994 leggings that I still wear. I call them “vintage.”

Anyways, I was thinking the other day – what if I had $300 to go back-to-school shopping, but for clothes that I could wear now. Knowing that I need some shoes, a new bag and some clothes, what would I buy? Then I thought – this would be a good blog post!

So here’s my back-to-school shopping list!

1.      Purple TopShop Dress ($24) – You can dress this up, down, wear it with tights into the winter! It is also available in grey and orange!

2.      H&M Twill Pants – in Jean & Black ($10 each, $20 total) – I mean…two pairs of pants for $20!? Can’t pass this up!

3.      Forever 21 Polka Dot Dress ($13.80) – Another dress you can pair with tights, you can also turn this polka dot number into a Halloween costume with some Minnie Mouse ears.

4.      H&M Black Flats ($12.95) – Okay, this pick is going to take a little bit of work. I recommend these flats and then heading to Michael’s and making some shoe clips with vintage earrings or brooches and bows (I’ll tackle that at a later date)

5.      Kate Spade Earrings ($21.99) – These earrings are versatile enough for everyday wear…and on sale!

6.      Pink Sharpie ($1.00) – I only write with Sharpies.

7.      Old Navy Chambray Shirt ($24.95, now 20% off at $19.96) – My chambray shirt count is up to six – I wear these with black pants, colorful jeans, skirts, under jumper dresses – these shirts work the hardest in my closet!

8.      Old Navy Black Blazer ($34.94) – Heading into fall, I’d use this blazer as a coat or paired with a tank as an outfit.

9.      Anthropologie Necklace (29.95) – Randomly, my list is very black and white, so to brighten things up, I’m going add in this yellow necklace. Added fall bonus – yellow matches my high school and college alma maters and any Pittsburgh sports team!

10. Carbon Crusader Resolution Pencils ($8.00) – I love school supplies and I love the different pencils from this Etsy vendor. Check out the “What Would Blair Woldorf Do” and “Mean Girls” themed sets!  

11. Wanted Flats from Piperlime ($19.97) – Bedazzled flats under $20? Heck yes!  

12. Lilly Pulitzer Planner ($17) – I can’t start the new school…err..work year without my trusty Lilly planner. I’ve wrote about it here before, but I love that this planner has the full month and then week-by-week breakout (I typically go with the medium planner)

13. Lululemon Tank ($29.00) – Sometimes reader Trish got me hooked on Lululemon and I really don’t want to talk about my obsession. A myth about the store is that they don’t have sales…that’s false.

14. Anthropologie Chevron Tote ($19.95) – This would serve as my “backpack.”

15. WVU Pink Shirt ($19.50) – Gotta have some WVU gear if I’m going back to school…to tailgate! I’m super excited about the WVU item that I purchased writing this post ; )

As I reflect on this list, I’m rather shocked at how much I was able to “get” for $300! I’m sure some of my readers could do better, but regardless, this was a fun challenge! I'd use that remaining $8 for some more Sharpies and of course a binder! 

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