Inside Sarah's Kitchen: My Famous Buffalo Chicken Dip

Hey Friends!

Today I am going to show you how I make my famous buffalo chicken dip. This is my 'go to' party pot luck dish. It is super easy to make and I get like ten people a month messaging me asking for my recipe. 

1.  Gather your ingredients. 

I use everything in the photo below:

Buffalo sauce, shredded cheese, cream cheese, salt, pepper, onion powder, minced onion or garlic, chicken breasts or tenderloins, and ranch sauce (I used the bacon ranch this time and it was amazing).

2. Prep the chicken.

Wash your chicken thoroughly and then cut it into chunks. I typical use two chicken breasts.

3. Put your chicken in the crock pot

Pour your chicken chunks into the crock pot and put in the salt, pepper, onion powder, and minced onion or garlic in with it. Mix it together well. Also, I don't measure anything, I've been cooking for a long time so I know how to eye ingredients. 

4. Mix the other ingredients in the Crock Pot

Pour in the bottle of buffalo sauce, one stick of cream cheese, the entire bottle of ranch sauce, and I do about two hand fulls of shredded cheese.

Your dish will look like this starting out. Mix it together as best as you can but do not worry, when the ingredients begin to cook you can mix it better later on. Let it cook for an hour.

5. Continue to mix ingredients

After an hour has passed, comeback and mix your ingredients more. You should start seeing the cream cheese melt more into the dish. You may continue to mix it every 30 minutes.

I usually cook my dip in the crock pot for about 2-3 hours and check on it every 30 minutes to stir.

Two hours later....

  And we are finished!

Enjoy this amazing dip with chips, make a sandwich, and serve it over white rice like we do! 

Let me know if you end up making this recipe and share it to my Facebook blog page!

Celebrating Your Life

My grandfather and I at my college graduation party on May 7, 2016

What a week my family and I have been through...

I was woken by my sister in law early Sunday morning notifying me that my grandfather had a massive stroke around midnight and he was rushed to the emergency room. Due to COVID-19 none of us were allowed to go see him.  He had blood clots and blockages in his heart that went up to his brain.  On Monday morning we had a lot of hope that he could make it through. They said everything was not looking like "the end of life" just yet and there was a chance. Then by Monday afternoon we got told that he was brain dead and there was nothing more we could do to save him. He was moved over to hospice on Tuesday  where they tried to keep him as comfortable as possible. Then this morning at 8:20am, his body finally let go and caught up to his brain and he passed. Hospice said he went very peacefully.

I am so exhausted from bawling. My emotions are on a roller coaster. I am trying to deal with this and grieve as best I can but it is so hard when you are under quarantine and cannot be there with your family. 

I want to dedicate my blog post this week to my grandfather. I want to write a letter to him here that I would possibility read to him at his memorial service - whenever that will be sadly! This may be kind of all over the place but bare with me.

To my 'Ubbie':

I am devastated. I have no words to describe what I am feeling right now besides the fact that I am heartbroken.  

Growing up, you were always my father figure. You lived with us and you took care of me just like I was your own daughter even when you did not have to. I remember when you dropped me off at my first day of preschool, I was bawling because I did not want you to leave me to go to work. The same thing happened with my first day of Kindergarten, I was always crying because I never wanted you to leave me. You took me to every father - daughter dace, my girl scout meetings, you took me to my doctor appointments, you would always bring me home my favorite foods from McDonald's, and I remember us always going to Memaw's  and Papal's and Granny's house every holiday. I remember how you would hand me your credit card to make sure I had new clothes for school every August. 

As I got older, I would spend as much time as I could with you. Until now, I always worked holidays and weekends with the field of work I entered into so I know that it was difficult at times but I always did the best I could,  I remember seeing you starting to get older. Your hair became whiter than usual, and you began to become more forgetful due to the dementia taking over and you also survived several strokes, but you never gave up.  You always fought through and overcame everything your health threw at you because you wanted to be here for us. 

You always told me how proud you were of me for graduating college and having a great job and for supporting myself without anyone's help. I knew how much you loved me... you always showed it. 

I will never forget our memories together. I will never forget all of the lessons you taught me and all of the love you gave to me even when you did not have to,. I am selfish and I wish you were not gone, but I know you are in a way better place than we all are right now and I know that you are not suffering anymore. 

I love you so much. You will always live on in my heart. Please watch over us and guide us to where we need to go.

Happy National Telecommunicator Week!

This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week!

We are celebrating all of our 911 dispatchers. They are been instrumental for years and years being that calm voice in the middle of the darkness. They protect their officers, firefighters, medics, and they are the "first" first responders on scene during your emergency. When you call into dispatch whether if it is an emergency or not an emergency, these are the people that are pickig up the phone and helping you by sending repsonders out to help you. They do more than just take phone calls though, they keep their responders safe by providing them information over radio traffic, they research potential threats in the National Crime Information Center database for traffic stops, they provide navigation to their responders, and so much more!

I am a former 911 dispatcher myself and it is true that dispatch will always be a part of you no matter what. When people find out that you have done this type of job they always ask about the craziest calls we take and things that we have heard,however, I can speak for most that most of the time we really don't want to talk about it and try to lock these traumatic experiences away because we do not want our loved ones to experience what we did. 

I can sit here all day and give you my point of view but  I have decided to reach out to one of my best friends who is still currently a dispatcher so we can visit her experience.

Everyone I would like for you to meet Jensy who has been my best friend for the last 18 years.

Taken back in June 2019.

Jensy was introduced to the dispatching world after I was there for a good solid six months. She started in the Academy and absolutely fell in love with it.

I have asked her a seris of questions so that you may learn about what 911 dispatchers do and the importance of their job roles. 

See her interview below:

Jensy dispatches for Williamson County in Franklin, TN. Williamson County Emergency Communications consists of over 12 different agencies all including Police, Fire, and EMS.

How long have you been dispatching? 

Two years in November. 

What is your favorite discipline to dispatch? What disciplines are you trained on?

My favorite is probably fire, but I really love law too. I am trained to work every radio in the center. 

What is the easiest thing about the job?

Getting along with co-workers, I get to work with some great individuals <3

What is the most difficult thing about the job?

Hearing someone on the other line suffer and knowing I can't physically do anything about it; at times you can feel like you're stuck or your hands are tied. 

How important is building a community with fellow dispatchers?

Very important. No one knows what your go through or how your job really is unless they've sat in that chair and had a headset on. 

What is a piece of advice you would give to someone thinking about  joining dispatch?

Look into it, go do a sit in and see a little of our world. You also have to be okay with no knowing every detail and outcome. It's a demanding job that you get little credit for but at the end of the day its very rewarding. 

Why did you become a dispatcher?

I always wanted to do something with emergency management. I wanted a career that I could make an impact on someone's life. This is a career where people will always need you and you can always help someone whether it's their best or worst day. 

What do you love the most about dispatch besides the regular cliches of helping others?

Felling accomplished, knowing at the end of the day I made a positive impact on someone's life. Knowing my responders depend on me, and the rush of not knowing what the day will bring. That's what keeps me coming back each day. 

What are some important things people need to know about 911/ before they call 911?

911 is for life threatening emergencies only! We do have a non emergency line you can call for any other problems or questions.. Please, if you call 911 and know where you are tell us first thing what your address is or where you are.. remember we can't get you the help you need unless we know where you are!! 

 What are some things you wish your responders knew about dispatch?

That we do more then just sit around and wait for the phone to ring. While they may be on one call we are dealing with every call that agency has at that time. Be patient with us, we're more than likely doing about 10 things at once. :) 

What do you do in order to handle the high stress this job brings?

Go outside breath in some fresh air, clear my mind. Also jamming to music to and from work helps.

How does dispatch affect you:

Mentally? Mentally it's draining at times.. your brain is constantly going during any given shift even when you're not busy.

Emotionally? Some calls are very emotional, but you can't show that emotion on the phone because you have to be the calm voice in the midst of chaos.  

Psychically? Psychically its not so bad.  Sitting in uncomfortable chairs all day can do a number on your back.

Spiritually? It has brought me closer to God, he gives me the strength to get up and put this headset on everyday.

What is your favorite memory in dispatch ?

I have too many memories!! Probably the time  I was training and a guy called me about his dog..  it wasn't breathing well and I was totally blindsided on what to tell this guy. I asked my trainer "How do you give CPR to a dog?" I still laugh about that. Or the time I resuscitated a ground hog- that was pretty cool!

Why do you think there is such a high turnover rate?

This is a hard job! You are either made for it or you're not and unfortunately a lot of people aren't "cut out" for the job. I think a lot of people get into thinking it's going to be like what it is on TV and it's nothing like what you see. 

Why do you think you're made for this job?

I'm a problem solver. I like to fix people's problems. I like the fast paced that this can bring at times. I am very level headed and patient. 

What are some characteristics a great dispatcher should have?

Team player, Patience, level headedness, willingness to learn, and be able to cope with changes all the time.

What characteristics do you look for when finding a mentor in dispatch?

Someone who truly loves their job, someone who is willing to help with anything you may need and not make you feel stupid for asking questions - even though we all ask stupid questions,  Someone who will not give up on you even when you feel like giving up on yourself. 

How has dispatch changed your life?

I've met people that I work for and became great friends with them. It's taught me more patience and not to take life for granted.

What is something you wish the public knew about this job?

That we're here to help. We work extremely hard behind the scenes to get the correct responders to you to help you. Please be kind and know every question were asking you is meaningful. We ask questions to update our responders and it sometimes changes our response plans. Please know from the time we confirm your address we have already sent help to you and that the questions don't slow anything down - I promise! 

What is the most important thing you've taken away from training?

That you can't always be 100% perfect. You will make mistakes, but at the end of the day as long as you got the appropriate help to the person in need of it then you've done your job.

What  makes a great CTO? Supervisor? 

Someone who is willing to teach you everything they know about the job. Someone that is willing help mold you into the dispatcher you are going to be.

What is the most successful tool an agency can give to their dispatchers?

Good training and proper equipment to do their jobs. 

What makes a good dispatcher?

Hard work, dedication, patience, a good sense of humor, and teamwork. 

Thank you so much Jensy for participating in this week's post! I am so happy to have you on to share with the world on how important 911 dispatchers are to our communities!

Guys, please thank your 911 dispatchers and let them know how appreciated they are!

Inside Sarah's Kitchen: Homemade Garlic Bread Recipe

Are you guys ready for these bomb recipes I am about to start dropping??

You know we eat good in our house!

Today I will  show you how we make our homemade garlic bread.

First off, we use Cuban bread because Jonathan is Cuban and everything just tastes better when it's Cuban style. You can find Cuban bread at Publix (for my non Florida readers) or if you're lucky and reading this from Miami you can apparently get them on almost every street corner made fresh!

You literally have like 24 hours to eat Cuban bread before it goes hard... that is how good it is!

You can also use Texas Toast or whatever kind of bread you prefer. 

So slice your bread,  duh right?

Then we made the sauce. It's butter, garlic powder, salt, pepper, little onion powder, and parsley on top. 

Mix the sauce up and paint it onto the bread. Focus on getting it heavy on each slice.  You want the sauce to drip onto the other side.

Throw some cheese on top and put it in the oven at 400 degrees for five minutes to let it toast.

There ya have it!!!

It is so yummy! Let me know what you think if you try it! Also, let me know what other recipes you want to see!

My Experience With Being In A Spiritually Abusive Relationship

Warning: This post is not for the easily offended; if you are one of these I suggest you check out my other posts instead. I am digging deep in a tunnel of pain and hurt that has been bottled up for the last few years so I may finally heal from it. My intentions are not to discriminate anyone regardless of their religious and spiritual beliefs.  This is simply MY experience and MY story. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, however, negativity will NOT be tolerated in a space where someone is trying to heal.

Hey Friends!

So this post is a tough one for me to write about. I am not one to express feelings much anyway, but in order to be authentic with you all on this one I have to bring up a lot of pain and hurt that I was once put through.  This might be a little all over the place so bare with me as I try to break it down as much as I can without writing a novel. 

I was in a religiously/spiritually abusive relationship with my ex boyfriend. I will keep all names private  BUT if you personally know me I am sure you can pinpoint who is who.

A little background story on my religious views:

I would identify myself as Catholic when it came to religion. I was a convert from protestant to Catholicism. I studied LOTS of denominations and other religions before I made this decision and I picked the one that I related to and was the most passionate about. I was very involved with my religion all throughout college. I considered myself actually very religious at that moment in time to a certain point. However, I never shoved my views in other people's faces or condemned them for not believing in the same thing I believed in - that to me is a low ball and I am not about that kind of life. I have always had friends of different backgrounds, religious beliefs, cultures and I loved it because I would l always learn so much from them and it made me a better, more understanding person. So different point of views were always welcomed into my spiritual world and most of the time it made me appreciate mine even more.

Then I met my ex.

He knew nothing of Catholicism and what he heard was all of the untrue rumors that have been surrounding the church for centuries. It provided me an opportunity to dig into my faith even deeper to educate him the true teachings of the church and how unique she was. I  was open to his view points as well. He was VERY religious HOWEVER he had no education of theology nor studied scriptures... he would just go off of what his pastor and what his parents said.

This is so off topic but keep in mind he was ten years older than I was - it will help you connect the dots later.

At the beginning we would go to church every Sunday -  both morning and night services. He always had a goal to attend a different church every week for his own personal reasons. He would always give all his money to each church as well and it was not until later on when I found this being a problem. Trust me, it is coming on why this is an issue.

When I got introduced to the family the first thing that was asked was "Are you Christian? What church do you attend?"

Of course I think nothing of it because the people I am always around are so welcoming and I told them I was Catholic.

The look on their faces was terrible. They looked at me like I was a walking demon.

"Why do you want to be a part of a molesting loving community?"

Once again, I have to defend my faith that I have worked so hard all of my life to become a part of. 

Fast forward a little because I am trying not to make this a book:

Tension rise as I learn more about this man. He was in his thirties and could not make one decision without his parents' permission and if he did not ask them for advice beforehand they made a big deal about it. The more friends that came around the same question was asked "Are you Christian? Oh, you wouldn't say or act like that if you were a real Christian. You don't go to church every Sunday? Oh then you are a terrible person." 

Yes, they were like that. Basically if you did ANYTHING and talked about anyone they would not believe you were good unless you were a Christian. If you were of someone of a different religion or culture they stuck their nose up to you and refused to speak to you. They would claim that living off credit cards, charging everything, going out to eat three meals a day, not talking to people who are the same religious views as them, and attending church every Sunday are the only things that made you holy. 

I tried to convince him not to follow suit with that line of thinking and  encouraged him to learn and pave his own path.

 It worked for a while.

When we lived together the entire apartment felt like a church. It was always full of crosses, bible verses, and Jesus photos EVERYWHERE. I was not allowed to have any of my own decorative tastes out in the public areas that did not agree with 'the rules of Christianity'. I was not allowed to say "I hope for so and so" I was always condemned to "you should always keep everything in prayer, be prayerful when you say these things".

AND OH MY, GOD FORBID that I had a lifelong struggle of depression and anxiety. I got so much 'ish' from ALL of them. I got told "If you were Christian enough you would not have those issues. God is punishing you and I can't blame him since you want to follow those Catholics". 

I was required to host a weekly bible study for all of our friends using these stupid books that he knew nothing about except for it was on sale at Life Way and he got it because he only had to pay $0.50 for it.

I could not have a normal conversation with him without him mentioning God or Jesus. 

Then it got to the point when I was working full time after college and I had to pay ALL of the bills in the house because someone had a vision that God said to give all of his money to church instead of paying for his responsibilities. This is what put me into the credit card debt that I just now finished paying off.

He would never pay rent on time. I would always have to fork it out and I got lucky if he gave me his half to replenish what I took out of my own money. Yup, you read that correctly, this thirty something year old man would not pay his half of the bills at our apartment because he said GOD told him not to.

It gets worse.

It continued to be God this and Jesus that for a very long time. I got so tired of having religion just constantly thrown into my face 24/7. I got to the point where I would leave the house for hours just to get away from it. I remember thinking that this is not the God I know and worship. This is not what true Christianity is. The God I follow is loving and caring and would not want me to feel the way I currently do.

One of his great friends came out of the closet about their sexuality and he went nuts. I remember him yelling at him saying God hates gays and that he was going to burn in hell and blah blah. I imminently ripped the phone out of his hands and laid into him big time - that was a huge fight.

Your friend trusted you with something very sacred  and you just judged them and went off on them . That is wrong. Put your personal beliefs aside and be there for your friend!!!

This really opened my eyes because I am personally a HUGE supporter of the  LBGTQ community.

What he did to his friend just broke my heart and really challenged my views on religion as a whole. This is not loving your neighbor as yourself. If being a Christian means being nasty to others just because they love their partner differently than I love mine then I want NO part of it. The God I know is supposed to love us no matter if we're gay or not.  

When we would go out he would put us in dangerous positions just to give someone a bible pamphlet - with this I mean going into the not so good parts of town,  he would pick up people off the corner of the street and drive them where ever they wanted to go not caring if they had a gun on them possibly ready to shoot him or MYSELF!

He put me in a LOT of dangerous situations and got mad at me for complaining about him wanting to spread God's word. This dude has drunk the kool aid and is too far gone to be saved.

I realized that after he basically told me my safety and well being did not matter that it was time to end things with him. I could not take the abuse anymore. I would get screamed at about how awful of a human I was by not only him but his family. They would make fun of me constantly, they told me I was never good enough, and that everything I believed in was wrong.

They (his family) did not even come to my grandfather's funeral because he was murdered! They  said they did not want to be associated with an event like that because of how he died. I just want to point out that I was there with them through both of their grand parents' deaths.  My blood just boiled and tears just filled my eyes after writing this line. 

The icing on the cake happened when I moved to Memphis:

He quit his job to come down there with me. I was about to call this relationship done because I was exhausted. My soul was hurting. I was sick of the bashing. I was sick of always having to put myself into more and more debt to support this bum because he wants to give all his money to these churches. We did not work anymore and I had not been happy in years.

The first week of him being down in Memphis with me was the last. He did not even attempt to look for a job. He ate ALL of my groceries and kept all of my lights on 24/7 running up my electric bill. He sat on the couch the entire time and watched TV all day. He went to a few churches out there and when I came home from work one night he kept saying, "We should not be living together this is just unholy and it is un Goldy. God is going to make me pay for this."

"You don't want to be here anymore? Do you want to go back to Nashville?"

"This is un Godly I cannot be living with someone anymore."

"We have separate bedrooms as we always had." 

"It doesn't matter God does not want us doing this it is not what he wants me to do in his visions to me. God is telling me to leave you so I have to go I cannot be here anymore."

I laughed, went upstairs to pack his stuff and put it outside. I told him to get out and that the abuse ends here."God is telling you to walk out on me? Cool, then go!"

It was a bad fight after that. He cried, I kept laughing. I have been wanting to release the negativity for so long and now is the time. 

After a few hours he was gone back to his parents' house.

He kept most of his stuff up in the second bedroom for almost an entire month. I had to threaten to throw it all away just for him to come get it. The day he came to come and get it he even tried to give me another religious  talk. "God still loves you even though you don't accept me as his prophet." 

"Are you serious? Get out of my life!"

From there on, I went back to try to dig more into my faith and cling to God as much as I could... I went through a season of depression when I was in Memphis and to be honest, God was nowhere to be found for me. NO matter how much I tried to dive more into my faith, I kept getting rejected. I kept having the door slammed in my face. That is when I began to distant myself from religion all together. 

I tried not to but the more I cried out for help the more people told me to "pray about it" so I did, and the more that I did the emptier my soul felt. It never worked for me. Was this being a follower supposed to feel like? Empty? Suicidal? Hopeless?

I finally gave up.

Fast forward from then to now.

I have not attended mass in over two years. I don't talk about religion anymore. When a family member brings it up I become very uncomfortable. I just nod and agree so they can quickly change the subject. 

My current boyfriend is so patient with me and he understands the abuse I went through when it comes to this subject. He considers himself agnostic. He believes in God. He believes there is a God out there who built all of these amazing things and that protects us... he just doesn't know if it is the Jewish God, Allah, the Christian God, or whichever. He has  a huge issue with organized religion as which as I do as well. Organized religion has damaged my faith.. I cannot get behind to support it anymore. It is all just a business scheme to me. I'm not sorry either that I refuse to be a part of it.

 Every single time I went for help they have slammed the door in my face and told me I was not welcomed.

Today, I do not really know what I believe in anymore as far as religion. I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, and I even believe heavily in the Catholic Church still but I do not believe in all of the aspects that are being taught in  Christianity. 

I have became very spiritual since these hard times have been passing. Since I have been in therapy, I have been practicing a lot of mindfulness. I have learned a lot about spirituality and how the human divine comes from within yourself. I've used this to control my depression and anxiety now. Me learning these tools on how to control my thoughts and emotions is so much better than 'praying' about it and expecting it to magically disappear.

I guess if I was asked today that because of everything I have personally been through in reference to religion I would classify myself as spiritual and just a little bit religious. I have attached a diagram below explaining what that means:

I believe in doing good to others. I believe in Karma. I believe that the Universe will reward you for doing good and helping others when you can. Again, I do believe in God and I do believe in Jesus. I also believe in different aspects from other religions as well - the unalome from Buddhism, the mindfulness techniques and yoga practices from Hinduism just to name a few.. The ultimate thing though is I believe in treating others as you want to be treated, The Golden Rule is in every religion and spirituality belief.  I believe in opening my heart and giving the very best of myself when it comes to my work. I refused to be spoon fed this CRAP anymore that you must do so and so  so that you may be forgiven and live life as a good person.

Again, I am not downplaying Christianity or any other religion. I just want to encourage you to find the beauty in everyone's beliefs and respect each other even if they do not believe in the same god as you do. Please do not be like my ex and destroy people's views on religion..

If you have been through a similar situation I hope you tell your story because it is so important to do so in order to heal.