We love tacos in our house, but sometimes we just want a little snack.  This Easy Taco Dip is one of our favorite to make because it gives us all the flavors we love in a refreshing snack.  Cheap, quick and simple to make – it is a standard for parties and events too.  My kids love it because it is like nachos, yet easier to eat.  I love it because I can make a big batch and they can simply grab a spoon with some chips and enjoy after school! If you love Tex-Mex food, be sure to check out our Crock Pot Chicken Tacos, Homemade Taco Seasoning, Cheesy Crock Pot Mexican Dip, Quick and Easy Tacos, and Copycat Taco Bell Mexican Pizza recipes too!

EASY TACO DIP

Ingredients:

2 Cups Refried Beans

2 Cups Sour Cream

1 Package Taco Seasoning (Try our Homemade Taco Seasoning)

1 Cup Guacamole (We often use ready made from the grocery store – but you can mash a ripe avocado with 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1/2 tsp. salt & 1 tsp cumin)

1 Cup Shredded Lettuce

1/2 Cup Diced Tomatoes

1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 Cup Sliced Black Olives

Directions:

In small bowl – mix together sour cream and taco seasoning until well blended.

In bowl or platter of choice, layer in order listed below:

• Refried Beans
• Sour Cream Mixture
• Guacamole
• Shredded Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Cheese
• Olives

Serve with your favorite blue or yellow corn tortilla chips.

Some people prefer a bit of chopped fresh onion or green onion in their dip, but we avoid that usually.  My kids don’t like eating foods that “bite them back”, and raw onion can be a bit tough in that category.  While you can make the refried beans and guacamole from scratch, it is just as yummy and super easy to simply grab ready made and throw this together quickly.  For those of us who love the taste of tacos or nachos, but find them messier than we would like – this Easy Taco Dip is a great solution.  Being able to scoop directly with chips always seems to be way less of a mess for my kids!

It’s Back to School time, and we’re excited to announce 2 lucky winners will snag a Free $25 Save-A-Lot Gift Card! Just leave a comment on this blog post to enter, telling us what you’d buy!

Are you familiar with Save-A-Lot Stores? Save-A-Lot stores feature Great Food, Great Prices, and Great People! I recently went shopping at Save-A-Lot in Independence, MO in search of super easy Back-to-School Snack Ideas! Check out what I found, and Find a Save-A-Lot Near You!

After shopping in the store, I came up with a delicious homemade snack mix recipe that has a “secret” ingredient that will quickly become everyone’s favorite ingredient in this snack mix… Caramel Mini Rice Cakes! These are seriously delicious and addictive. My 6 year old wanted to eat those first and kept wanting more. 🙂 This is the yummiest snack mix I’ve ever had… the Caramel Rice cakes are a MUST-HAVE in this snack mix recipe!

Plus, Save-A-Lot has lots of great ready made Snack Mixes that are perfect for Back-to-School and after school snacks, like Pistachio Chewy Bites and Chex Mix too! Here you can see some ready-made snack mixes we bought, and ingredients we used in our Super Easy Rice Cake Snack Mix:

Ingredients for Super Easy Rice Cake Snack Mix:

J. Higgs Caramel Rice Snacks (Save-A-Lot brand)

J. Higgs Honey Roasted Peanuts (Save-A-Lot brand)

Tipton-Grove California Style Raisins (Save-A-Lot brand) or Dried Cranberries (or both!)

J. Higgs Mini Pretzels (Save-A-Lot brand)

Kiggins Honey Nut Rollin’ Oats (Save-A-Lot brand)

The amount of each ingredient you use is ultimately personal preference and also depends on the size of batch you need. I made a small batch, with around 1/4 – 1/2 cup of each ingredient (with some extra Caramel Rice Snacks, since those were our favorite. 🙂

Notice that we used lots of Save-A-Lot brand ingredients in this snack mix and it was delicious! I recommend buying EXTRA of the Caramel Rice Cakes. 🙂

Save-A-Lot also has other great after school snack ideas! We found these Whole-Wheat Ritz crackers and Cheddar string cheese, and these scrumptious little pudding cups.

Delicious Crockpot Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats are great way to start the morning.

Crockpot Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats

These Crockpot Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats make waking up in the mornings a little bit cozier. Belly warming and filling spices, oats, and soft apples create the perfect fall flavor combination. Don’t have a crockpot or looking for a new one? This programmable version makes cooking this dish a breeze, once cooking time is over it will turn to warm mode so you can just put toss this recipe in before you go to bed and let the crockpot do the rest.  You end up with a healthy and tasty breakfast ready when you wake up.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cup Steel Cut Oats

3 tbsp Brown Sugar

4 cup Water

2 cup Milk

3 tbsp Butter

2 Apples

3 tsp Cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

Core peel and chop the apples.

Spray the inside of your slow cooker with cooking spray.

Put all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low for 7 hours or high for 4 hours.

Before serving give it a stir to mix all ingredients well.

Top off your bowl of steel cut oats with some additional milk and a sprinkle of brown sugar.

How to Make Onion Dip! Everyone loves chips and dip as a snack or appetizer at a party, but there is nothing quite like having your own homemade Easy French Onion Dip.  Not only is it way better homemade than the kind you can buy in the store, it actually ends up being cheaper most of the time too!  You can keep the ingredients for this on hand all the time, so it’s an easy snack with chips, or a great go to with fresh vegetables, pita chips, and even a dollop on the bun when you grill burgers!  There is nothing as tasty as a bit of this on your baked potato either!

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Brownie Bites

These delicious 2 ingredient Pumpkin Brownie Bites are perfect for a snack, make a batch or two to bring into the office, or fill up a basket and set it out for brunch. Easy and simply delicious, these brownie bites are moist and loaded up with yummy pumpkin and chocolate flavors! And the best part is that it doesn’t take more effort or ingredients to make them! They look just as pretty as they taste, so they make a wonderful presentation on a buffet or on the table.

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Brownie Bites

Ingredients:

1 can (16oz) Pumpkin

1 box Chocolate Brownie Mix

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin and brownie mix until the 2 ingredients are well mixed (no dry mix left). Grease a mini muffin pan and scoop the brownie mix by the tablespoonful into each cup.

Bake the brownies at 350 for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the brownie bites comes out clean. Enjoy warm or cool or even drizzled in caramel!

After they have cooled completely you can put some in a freezer safe zippered bag and place in the freezer for later, a little thaw and a  quick heat in the microwave will have you a warm, sweet treat in no time. Enjoy these delicious 2 Ingredient Pumpkin Brownie Bites!