Copycat Zaxby's Sauce

In late July early August we traveled to the beach and on our way there and on the way back home, we went on a road trip to see Monticello, Appomattox Courthouse, Georgia Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta, and the Space and Rocket Museum.  

After we left Zoo Atlanta, we traveled to Huntsville, Alabama.  We ended stopping at a random park in a town called Fort Payne.  They had a beautiful fence with the word Alabama on it.

I knew we were in Alabama so I thought it was letting visitors know what state they were in or something.  

Any who, we ended up stopping at a Zaxby's in Fort Payne.  The wall was decorated with albums and pictures of the band named Alabama.  They were from Fort Payne.  That was why there was the beautifully decorated fence at that park.

On a side note, we also traveled on part of the Trail of Tears when were in Fort Payne.

I fell in love with Zaxby's after we ate dinner there.  So much so when we traveled to Walt Disney World, I had Hubby stop there once on the way back and once on the way home.  

There are no Zaxby's in Ohio.  Kentucky, yes.  Indiana, yes but none in Ohio.  :(

So I did research and found the special sauce they give out with the chicken dinners.  It's not the same but is still tasty.  In fact Hubby loved it!  He couldn't stop dipping his fries and chicken strips in it when we had it for dinner.

Copycat Zaxby's Sauce

Adapted from Ranker

Stars of the recipe:

• 1 c. mayo
• 1/2 c. ketchup
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 to 2 tsp. black pepper

Steps:

1. Mix the mayo, ketchup, and garlic powder until combined.
2. Add the Worcestershire sauce and mix until combined.
3. Coat the mixture with black pepper and mix until combined.
4. Put in the fridge for 2 hours before serving.
5. Enjoy!

(I put mine in the fridge for an half an hour and it still was delicious.)

French Onion Dip Mix

Are you looking for an easy gift to give for Christmas or the holidays?  This is an easy mix to whip up.  Place in a fancy holiday bag with instructions and give to a friend or relative.  (Or be like me and put in a snack sized bag with the instructions.  I have an over abundance of sandwich/snack bags.)

French Onion Dip Mix

Grandma Loy's Kitchen

Stars of the recipe:  

• 3/4 c. minced onion
• 1/3 c. beef buillon granulates
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp. celery seed
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. parsley

Steps:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  
2. Store in an airtight container.
3. When ready to make the dip, mix 5 Tbsp. of the mix with 1 c. sour cream or Greek yogurt.
4. Chill for an hour.
5. Enjoy with your favorite veggies or chips!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

[gallery ids="4355,4356,4357"]



 

I love chocolate chip cookies.  Actually I like most cookies.  You might say cookies are my weakness!  I mean dessert weakness.  This dip reminds me of a chocolate chip cookie .  Best of all you, you don't have to bake cookies to get the deliciousness.  :)

Now the question is, what should I dip into this yumminess!  I've been dipping chocolate cat cookies from Trader Joe's.  Tomorrow I'm going to try dipping my sliced apples in the dip.  That sounds absolutely divine.

Side note:  Have you ever had someone obsessed with your food choices.  I eat in my classroom and have a limited time to eat.  Today I was running late getting to eat because I had to print some papers and then talk to two other teachers.  I was finishing my lunch when my four students came in for social studies.  They were intrigued with what I was eating.  They would have  been shocked to find out what was in the dip.  (My students have seen my lunches many times.  Fortunately most of the time it's something fairly healthy.  This way I can be a good role model for them.  One is concerned that I don't eat a lot of meat.  I eat meat but it depends on my mood whether I eat a lot meat or not.)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie

Stars of the recipe:

• 
  
  1-1/2 c. chickpeas or white beans (1 can, drained and rinsed very well)


• 1/8 tsp. salt


• 1/8 tsp. baking soda


• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract


• 1/4 c. nut butter of choice - I used almond butter.


• up to 1/4 c. of milk


• 2/3 c. brown sugar


• 1/3 c. chocolate chips


• 2 to 3 tsp. oats

Steps:

1. Add the ingredients except for chocolate chips and milk to a good food processor.


2. Blend the ingredients - streaming into milk until desired considency.


3. Remove from food processor cup.  Mix in chocolate chips.


4. Put in the fridge overnight.


5. Enjoy with apples, graham crackers, or just eat by the spoonful!

Restaurant style salsa

The Wee One and I like to crack open a jar of salsa and then enjoy it with tortilla chips. This usually our evening snack. So when I saw this recipe the other day I decided to make it. After I made it, the Wee One and I snacked on it. Did it meet his deal of approval? You decide . . .



That's the bowl after we were finished snacking on it. He and I both loved it.

Restaurant Style Salsa
Mommy Hates Cooking

Stars of the recipe:

• 1 28oz Can of Peeled Whole Tomatoes with Juice


• 1 4oz Can of Green Chilies, Chopped


• 1/4 Cup White Onion, Chopped


• 1 Clove of Garlic, Crushed


• 1/4 Tsp Sugar or substitute


• 1/4 Tsp Salt


• 1/4 Tsp Cumin


• 1/2 Cup Cilantro, Chopped (I left this put and it was okay. )


• 1 Lime


• Red or Green Jalapeño Peppers (I left these out too. )

Steps:

1. In a food processor or blender combine the tomatoes, chilies, onion, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, and cilantro. (I used my blender on the purée setting. )


2. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice out over the ingredients.


3. Add the peppers if using them.


4. Purée this in the blender or food processor until puréed.


5. Enjoy with chips.

Freeze or can the leftovers.

Root Beer Barbecue Sauce

This barbecue sauce is easy to cook and also delicious!  Both the Wee One and Hubby gave their seal approval with this sauce.  

The only issue is that I'm trying to avoid eating or drinking foods or drinks that include high fructose corn syrup.  I recently found a ketchup that does not have high fructose corn syrup (Kroger's organic ketchup) so I used that.  The root beer however did contain high fructose corn syrup.  My next mission is to find root beer with out the corn syrup.



 

Root Beer Barbecue Sauce

Stars of the recipe:

• 8 oz. (1 c.) of root beer


• 1 c. ketchup


• 1/4 c. lemon juice


• 3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce


• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar


• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger


• 1/2 tsp. ground garlic powder

Steps:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan.  Mix well.


2. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Stir occasionally.


3. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.


4. Enjoy with your favorite meat!

Reader's Favorites

I went to my stats' summary page to find the recipes that get the most clicks.  This is the top post of 2012.
Baked Spaghetti

Here's the 2nd to 5th top posts of 2012:

Charleston Cheese Dip

Green beans, potatoes and ham

Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

Peanut Butter Blossoms Redone

Best Snacks and Appetizers

Brownie Biscoff Puppy Chow

Sausage, cream cheese, and Rotel dip

Homemade Ranch Dip

This post has been linked to Finding Joy in my kitchen's countdown to 2013 - best snacks and appetizers of 2012.

Sausage, cream cheese, and Rotel dip

Yummy! Three ingredients that sound strange together come together in ooey, gooey deliciousness goodness. We had a family game night scheduled for my church. I decided to make a recipe from a while ago and a new recipe. I have Stephanie O'Dea's slow cooker cookbook. This one of the recipes in it.

Sausage, cream cheese, and Rotel dip

Stars of the recipe:

• Pound of breakfast sausage


• 8 oz. block of cream cheese


•  1-10 oz. can of Rotel

Steps:

1. Brown sausage and then drain.


2. Place browned sausage, Rotel, and cream cheese in a 1.5 or 2 qrt. Crockpot.


3. Cook on high for 45 minutes or low for 90 minutes.


4. Enjoy with tortilla chips.

Charleston Cheese Dip

On New Year's Eve, I was looking at Mommy's Kitchen's blog.  She had listed a cheese dip named the Charleston cheese dip.  The name alone intrigued me because Charleston, South Carolina is on my list of favorite places to visit.  My mother-in-law was born there and would spend summers there while growing up.

Two months after I married my Hubby, we traveled with my mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law to Charleston.  We stayed in a beach house on Folly Beach with Hubby's grandma.  I quickly got to know the family during that week.  I met Hubby's family who live down there.  Most of all, I feel in love with Charleston.  It is a beautiful city rich in history.

Since then, I have been down there 3 more times.  The boys have been there 2 of the times.  Once when the Wee One was only 2 months old and the Imaginative One was 2 years old.  The other time was almost 3 years ago.  One of our not so good memories from that trip was the Wee One sticking his finger in the drain of the shower.  Fortunately my in-laws were also visiting Charleston that week and were down the road.  My sister-in-law came down and checked over his cut finger and determined the cut was not deep enough to warrant a visit to the ER.

Another memory from that trip was the Imaginative One's fear of the ocean.  His cousin, 22 months older, told him that there were jelly fish in the ocean.  The Imaginative One refused to get into the ocean again because he was afraid he was going to get stung by jelly fish.  So aggravating!  One day he and I went over to the beach and were playing by these concrete barriers.  He gets up and had dog poop all over him.  Visitors were allowed to have dogs on the beach as long as they cleaned up after them.  This visitor just covered the poop with sand.  That was disgusting to clean up.

[caption id="attachment_1785" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Folly Beach, Charleston, South Carolina"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1786" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The shower drain the Wee One got his finger stuck in."][/caption]

Anyway, back to the recipe.  I was looking at Mommy's Kitchen's blog entry and saw Charleston Cheese Dip and decided I would make it for New Year's Eve.  It was easy to whip up and delicious to boot.  I didn't have any monterey jack cheese so I just used extra sharp cheddar cheese instead.  Since we don't really like really spicy foods around here, I did not use any of the cayenne pepper.  Plus I don't think we even have any in the house.

Charleston Cheese Dip

Mommy's Kitchen

Stars of the recipe:

• 1/2 c. mayonnaise


• 1 - 8oz package cream cheese, softened


• 1 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese


• 1/2 c. grated Monterey jack cheese


• 2 green onions, finely chopped


• Dash of cayenne pepper


• 8 Ritz crackers, crushed


• 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Steps:

1. 
   
   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


2. 
   
   In a medium bowl, mix the mayonnaise, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Monterey jack cheese, green onions and cayenne pepper.


3. 
   
   Transfer the mixture to a shallow baking dish.


4. 
   
   Top mixture with cracker crumbs and bake for 15 minutes, or until heated through.


5. 
   
   Remove the pan from the oven and top with the bacon.


6. 
   
   Serve immediately with corn chips, bagel chips or crackers.

This post is linked up to Ingredient Spotlight.