Pinterest Proven....Super Bowl Go To Recipe...Jalapeno Popper Dip

The Super Bowl is this weekend and if you are hosting or heading to a party or just watching the game on the couch in your sweats, here is an easy go-to recipe to snack on during the game.  I have made this appetizer several times for tailgates, holiday parties and more.  It is easy and it is good.  What else can you ask for?  And you can control the heat by how many jalapeno peppers you add...so customize away on your own jalapeno dip this weekend. 

I found this recipe on Pinterest (of course) which led me to www.simply-gourmet.com to grab the recipe.  This is their exact recipe from simply gourmet and it works great.

Recipe:  Jalapeno Popper Dip

6-8 slices of bacon, diced and cooked crispy

2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, soft

1 cup of mayonnaise

4-6 jalapeno's, chopped and deseeded.  The seeds will make it fiery hot.

1 cup of cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup diced green onion

Topping:

1 cup of crushed crackers ( I used Ritz)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 stick of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine all of the ingredients into a medium bowl.  Stir well.

Transfer to an oven proof dish. The size of the dish depends on how thick the dip is.  The thicker the dip the longer it may need to warm up.  

Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle all over the top of the dip.

Bake the dip for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Photo from www.simply-gourmet.com

 

Pinterest Proven: PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Another Pinterest Proven Recipe! We love PF Changs Lettuce Wraps, but living an hour away, it is difficult to visit very often.  I found this Pinterest recipe and decided to give it a whirl.  I altered it a bit, but they tasted delicious! No pics to share since my phone bit the dust but don't all lettuce wraps kinda look the same?  The original recipe was found at www.food.com.

PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

3 tablespoons oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts ( I used two pounds of ground chicken instead)
1 cup water chestnut
2/3 cup mushroom
3 tablespoons chopped onions
1 tsp minced garlic
4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce

Special Sauce

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot mustard (  I used a leftover packet of hot mustard from our last Chinese take out)
2 teaspoons water
1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste ( I didn't have red chile paste so I threw in a few red pepper  flakes for some kick)

Stir Fry Sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Directions

1- Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl. Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.
2. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve. Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.  Eventually, add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps. Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute the chicken breasts (or brown the ground chicken) until done. Remove chicken from the pan and cool.
3. Keep oil in the pan, keep hot. As chicken cools, mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.  Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar and rice vinegar together in a small bowl. When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.  With the pan still on high heat, add another tablespoon of hot vegetable oil. Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to pan. Add stir fry sauce to pan. Saute mixture a couple of minutes then serve in lettuce leaves.

Red Velvet Cookies Are Worth Sharing Again

I shared these yummy Red Velvet Cookies a few years ago and received a lot of feedback from folks who had tried the recipe and loved it.  As we gear up for Valentines Day, I encourage you to give these a try! They are pretty and so delicious!  Just look at the ingredients....you can't lose! You can thank me later!

Here's the link to my first post with this yummy recipe!

Winter Entryways...Ideas For When Your Christmas Wreath Comes Down

Christmas is over and now all of our doors seem sad.  Well at least mine does.  I have wreaths for Christmas, Easter, Summer, and Thanksgiving.  But I don't have anything for dreary January.  Maybe these ideas will help spark my creativity and help me liven up my front door this month.


Here is what my entry looked like for Christmas.  I always use fresh greenery for the garland and then wire in lights, ornaments and ribbons. I made the bow for the monogram with printed burlap ribbon and fresh greenery wired together.  I found most of these ornaments at Kirklands this year.

Check out these ideas for your "after Christmas" door!

1. From Setting For Four: A Boxwood Wreath with Framed Chalkboard Printable



2.  From Two Junk Chix: Love their blog name! They also share the DIY instructions.  You could make this wreath in any color scheme.

3. From This Silly Girls Life: Pretty wreath for transitioning after Christmas and she shares her DIY with photos!

4. From Blue Cricket Design: Cute, Easy and Inexpensive! See Their DIY for this project.

5. From On Sutton Place: This wreath could actually take you through Christmas and into the early winter months.  They give complete DIY tutorials with pics on how to construct.

 

 

What do you do with your front entry after Christmas? I'd love to see it! Share your ideas with me here in the comment section below or post your pics on my Facebook Page!

He Never Changes....Thank Goodness!

Let The Good Times Roll....Gumbo!

We traveled to New Orleans this past summer.  It was a bit of a side trip on a trip to Louisiana to pick up a duck boat.  You can probably fill in the blanks on that one.  In short, not the vacation I thought we were doing.




But in an effort to make the most of this "needed" trip, we decided to check out New Orleans.  None of us had ever been and of course it seemed like the natural stop since we were so close.  It wasn't what we expected.  To be fair...it was hot, we were traveling with a 14 week old lab puppy.  Did I mention it was hot?




We found our way to the French Quarter (by way of a few pretty sketchy side streets).  I think we were all surprised that it didn't quite match what we had seen on TV and in magazines.  Maybe I was expecting the Disney version of the French Quarter.  We did a quick walking tour of the area (did I mention it was hot?) and as lunchtime approached we looked for a place to eat that would allow puppies. It is fair to say that none of the eateries with air conditioning allowed puppies.  We found the French Quarter Café and sat at a table along the sidewalk.  Wanting to experience the flavors of New Orleans we all picked something unique that we had never tried.  Gumbo was a must. 




The gumbo was good.  A little bit of everything thrown together that ended up successful. We had gyros and red beans and rice I think.  It was all good.  I imagine all of the food in New Orleans is good.  The best part of lunch was the live band that played all of the sounds of New Orleans.  A hodgepodge group of guys that came together in this little sidewalk band made some awesome music and helped us feel like we had really experienced N.O.




From that trip, we learned that we like gumbo.  Of  course it wasn't in my recipe file, but as the New Year rolled in it seemed like the perfect recipe to break in my new stockpot that I had received from our girls for Christmas.  A special recipe for a special inauguration.




I looked all over for gumbo recipes and ended up combining three different recipes.  Here is the general recipe that I used.  Turn on some zydeco music and give it a try on one of these cold winter days.

Gumbo Recipe:

Ingredients
1 cup butter, plus 1 tablespoon
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup chopped yellow onion chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 medium chopped green pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bag cut up frozen okra
3 cups of chicken stock
1 bottle (2 cups) bottled clam juice
2 can diced tomatoes with juice
3 bay leaves
1 tbs dried parsley flakes
1 tbs Cajun season
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbs Old Bay Seasoning
1 1/2 cups cooked Andouille sausage, sliced diagonally
1 cup diced smoked ham
2 lbs shrimp, cleaned and de-veined
cooked white rice for serving




In a large heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt 1 cup of the butter.  Add the flour and cook on low heat until the roux is dark brown; about 30-45 minutes, stirring constantly. * Cook's Note: Brown does not mean burnt; if you burn the roux you have to throw it out and start over again. Friends at this point I recommend taking your tablet in the kitchen, or turning on your kitchen tv and watching one of those episodes you DVRd.  This step is painstakingly slow.


Add the onions, celery, peppers and garlic and sauté until translucent. Mix in the okra and the remaining ingredients, including the remaining tablespoon of butter and simmer over medium-low heat until thick, about 1 hour.  (I waited until about 5 minutes before serving to add the shrimp).


Before serving remove the bay leaves. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve over rice.

Marking Time

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(Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sherrie-sthilaire/6210326026/)

The second  weekend in January is a big weekend for us.

Christmas and New Years are over.  We have rushed for a month.  Rushed to get ready for Christmas.  Rushed through Christmas (I know that isn't good but sometimes it just happens). We then take down the two (sometimes four) Christmas trees, decorations in every room in the house, outside decorations...sweeping up dried up Frasier fir needles for weeks afterwards.  (You know what I mean by "we" right?)

And just when we get back to work after New Year's, we begin to get ready to celebrate our anniversary and our youngest daughter's birthday.

Our anniversary is on January 9th.  Our daughter's birthday is on January 10th. (Different years of course.)  Sometimes we have separate celebrations but most recently we find ourselves having joint celebrations.  We went with a joint celebration this year. We actually started with a joint celebration.

When these two days roll around each year I find myself looking back.  Our anniversary and Lyndsay's birthday is a way of marking time for me.  How old was I when I got married?  How old was I when I had Lyndsay?  What has happened in the last # years?

There are some memorable January 9ths and 10ths that stick out for me.

27 years ago we were married in a blizzard.  Yep a blizzard.  A blizzard in a town that never gets snow.  When the wedding day rolled around the town was hamstrung with snowy roads and no snow removal equipment.  We may have been the only ones in town with a four wheel drive.  Which meant my soon to be husband had to drive around to pick up the bridesmaids so they could make it to the wedding.  A lot of folks couldn't get there at all.  But there was no cancelling at that point.  27 years later we are still hearing the horror stories recounted by our Florida family members and offering up our apologies with a little laugh and "wasn't that funny?".  Good thing I don't believe in omens.

Twenty two years ago I was VERY pregnant with Lyndsay on our anniversary.  At 5'2'' and "blessed" with a very short waist my pregnant belly had no where to go but out.  Straight out.  On January 9th they were calling for very bad weather, sleet, ice, maybe snow.  We lived an hour from the hospital...down a mountain.  My father-in-law put some cash in an envelope with a note that basically said..."Go celebrate your anniversary and have that baby." In otherwords get off this mountain before we have to birth that baby ourselves.

So we packed up, left our 2 1/2 year old with the grandparents and headed down the mountain.  Our first stop was at a beautiful quaint bed and breakfast.   Why I was thinking of a romantic beautiful place to stay on THAT anniversary night I have no idea.  I could hardly walk or breathe. And the "Inn Keeper" must have thought the same thing.  We arrived at the front door of the Inn and she took one look at me and said "There is no room in the Inn".  So funny!
We made our way to a nice hotel and settled in for our anniversary night.  That entailed trying to eat in a booth at the restaurant downstairs...I couldn't even sit up straight....not a great meal.  Then watching MTV as my contractions began.  I held out until midnight when we made our way a mile down the road to the hospital and five hours later had our sweet baby girl.  That series of events continues a couple of days later when we are making our way back up the mountain (in the ice) with our little bundle of joy and our car breaks down.  There we sit on the side of the road waiting for my brother in law to come pick us up.  Classic. Memorable.

Fast forward to four years later.  Our tenth anniversary.  I think the symbol for the 10th anniversary gift is tin.  Not sure we would have come up with a good idea for tin gifts, but no need.  We were in a hospital room in Seattle Washington nine days post bone marrow transplant for Jack.  Jack struggled to keep food down during those first weeks, so our tenth anniversary was celebrated with a meal of matching orange popsicles. We were thankful and grateful to see year 10 together.  The next day Lyndsay celebrated her 5th birthday opening her birthday presents in the hospital room so her dad could be at her "party".  See what I mean by marking time?

Marking time.  January always stops me and causes me to mark the time of our lives.  The big and the little things that have happened the second weekend in January through the years. Some good.  Some scary. But always together.  Whether we celebrate our special days in a beautiful bed and breakfast or the nice chain hotel. Whether we celebrate our special days in a birthday party venue or a hospital room...as long as we are together that's really all that matters.  It really brings home the meaning of gratitude for me.  Gratitude turns what we have, or where we are, into enough.

I Discovered My Favorite Scripture in the Bathroom

@GirlfriendsIn God posted this photo recently and since it is one of my favorites, I had to share.  This verse became such a soft place to land when we were in Seattle for Jack's bone marrow transplant for leukemia.  There I was, 2,000 miles away from home, with my sick husband, our two children ages 4 and 7, and my mother and father in law. I felt pretty alone and helpless.

I can vividly remember going into the bathroom in our rented apartment in downtown Seattle and flipping open my Bible.  Jack was to enter the hospital the next day to begin his radiation and chemo prior to the transplant.  He was given a 30% chance of survival.  We were trying to keep things "normal" for our kids, trying to keep my positive face on for everyone around me.  But I was struggling not to fall apart right when we were going into the heat of the battle. 

I flipped open my Bible in the bathroom (I know ....it's the bathroom...but it was the only place to be alone) and this scripture flipped open.  Isn't God amazing how he just meets us wherever we are, even the bathroom in a rented apartment thousands of miles away from home, and gives us what we need?  I had just prayed...Lord I don't know what to do.  I don't know what is going to happen.  Help me be strong.  And then He sends this scripture.

He says...I am sufficient...I am enough...I am all you need.  And if that isn't good enough...My awesome power is make PERFECT in weakness.  Bible scholars may argue that what I took from this isn't what was intended.  But what it meant for me was ....Patti I know you are at your weakest.  You have never been in a more scary or vulnerable place.  And now I AM AT MY BEST....MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT.  Lean into me.

And I did.  From that day on I just simply said, Lord your power is perfect today.  We can do today.  One Day At A Time became my motto.

On New Year's Eve, we marked 17 years since the bone marrow transplant.  17 years since that moment in the bathroom where I simply flipped open His Word and said Help Me.  He is faithful friends.  We lived through that time to be here today to tell you that He is Faithful.  We lived through it to tell that when you are at your bottom, He is at the top.  He showcases His Perfect Power when you are at your weakest point and cry out and say Help Me. He will be there.  I promise.

BFFs I Have Never Met and Their Recipes

I think I am weird.  I think I may have some stalker tendencies.  Social media did it to me.  At least that's what I am blaming it on.  There are "friends" I have "made" through social media that I love to hear from.  I love to see their life unfolding.  I love to see their families growing.  I love it when they share their recipes with me.  Of course they have no idea who I am.  That's stalkerish right?  Well, think what you will, but I have the best girlfriends I have never met.  Edie is one of those.  Edie authors the Life In Grace blog.  It is one of the first I followed way back when I first started blogging and reading blogs.  She is such a real person.  A person that I believe could be one of my BFFs ...if she knew me.  She actually messaged with me once...I thought I had made that true friend connection. 

I hope you will read her blog and follow her on Facebook.  No...she didn't ask me to say that.  It's just what friends do.

She shared this recipe this week and I wanted to pass it along to you.  I love soup...I love tortellini...I love quick and easy.  And since the weather is actually hovering around one degrees today...soup sounds pretty darn good.  (And gives me another reason to use my fabulous new stock pot I mentioned.  I have to use it OFTEN to handle the guilt of actually owning it.)  So here's a great recipe from my friend Edie.  I hope you enjoy it!

A pic of Edie's Soup from Life in Grace...Edie's Pic...Edie's Soup

Cheese Tortellini Soup by Edie

Ingredients

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 2 1/2 boxes of chicken stock (10 cups)
• 1 bag of fresh spinach
• 1 large bag or two small bags of cheese tortellini (our grocery store has it in the dairy section)
• 1 28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes (you can use another brand but these make the BEST soup)
• 1 T. balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 T. honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Saute the onions, celery and carrots in olive oil for 5-7 min or until the onions are translucent.
2. Add the diced garlic and sauté another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the chicken stock, tortellini, tomatoes, spinach, vinegar and honey.
4. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until the pasta is tender.
5. Serve with grated parmesan cheese and crusty bread!

The Big Picture

Isn't that the truth?  Whether it is focusing on my appearance, weight, worrying about my children, how I manage my household, the house I "wish" I had, the Christian I ought to be....I can get so distracted and broken down by what I perceive as being wrong that I forget to keep my eyes on what is right.  God loves me...even with everything that is wrong with me.  He has blessed me time and time again.  I have witnessed miracles in my own life.  I have a family that I love, a job that helps to support our family and that I find fulfillment in.  I have friends that I know are there for me whenever I need them. 

Help me Lord to not lose sight of  all that is right in my life by being pulled down with the whispers of all that I perceive is wrong.

(BTW...I love the writings and devotionals of @Lysa Terkeurst.  You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Her new book "The Best Yes" is on stands now.

Pinterest Recipes Keep Our Kitchen Going!

If you are like me, Pinterest is an addiction...a sweet addiction.  But I pin a lot more projects and ideas than I ever follow through on.  But the one area that I do pretty good with are the recipes.  Last Saturday was Pinterest Saturday in our kitchen and I started with this Blueberry Croissant Puff (I mean the name pretty much snags you and makes you cook it!) that I found on The Girl Who Ate Everything's blog.  It was a success and so yummy!  My oldest daughter said "it feels good in my mouth".  Now that's a pretty good endorsement!  I hope you try it...I think you will like it.

Blueberry Croissant Puff

 

Yield: 10 servings

 

Ingredients

• 3 large croissants, cut up (about 5 to 5 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place croissant pieces in a 9 inch square pan. Sprinkle with blueberries.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla in medium bowl with electric mixer until well blended. Gradually add milk, beating well after each addition. Pour evenly over croissant pieces. Let stand 20 minutes.
4. Bake at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes or until set in center and golden brown. You may want to cover it with foil for the last 10 minutes if the tops are getting too browned.
5. Serve warm sprinkled with powdered sugar.
6. Variation: Instead of baking in a square pan bake individually. Place croissant pieces evenly in 10 (1/2-cup) ramekins; sprinkle with blueberries and pour cream cheese mixture evenly over croissant pieces. Let stand 20 minutes. Bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes or until set in center and golden brown.

Notes

This can easily be doubled in a 9X13 pan.

Source: slightly adapted from Kraft

 

Four Years....Really?

It's been four years since I wrote the first post on this little blog.  Really? Where did those four years go? So much has happened in the last four years...one child graduating from college and getting their first jobs, one child beginning college...then transferring to start a new adventure...new jobs, old jobs again....a lot.




It's 2015 now and it's been a while since I visited my little blog.  I don't know if I just lost the motivation to share, if I just felt that no one was listening....maybe it was just the day to day life that took my time away, but I am here again to share.  Maybe I will just be sharing with my close friends and family.  That's ok.




This will be a big year...I will turn 50 this year. Good grief. Our youngest will graduate from college.  And who knows what else we are in store for.  But it seemed like a good year to document things. A year to be grateful for so much.  I mean you only turn 50 once right? And these days if I don't write down those favorite recipes, DYI projects and special events I will probably forget them.




So this blogging year is for me and hopefully if you read this you will find something to help you along the way too! Thanks for coming along for my big 5-0 year.