Corn Dip, so yummy!

Warning!!!
This is so good you will want to eat it all!

Corn Dip
3 cups of corn-I use one bag of frozen
1/4 cup green onion
1/2 cup yellow onion
1/2 cup red bell pepper
2 teaspoons of garlic
1 jalapeno
2 cups of cheese
1 cup of Mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
pinch of pepper
pinch of salt

Chop all the veggies. Saute the corn in 1 tablespoon of the butter until it browns a little, add salt and pepper, cooking about 4-5 minutes. Set corn aside in a large bowl so you can cook the veggies. Melt remaining butter, and add yellow onion, garlic, and red pepper, saute until soft. Add green onion and jalapeno and saute until soft. Remove veggies from heat and add to corn. Add mayo and 1 3/4 cups of the cheese. Mix the corn, veggies, cheese, and mayo together, adding the cayenne pepper. Place the mixture in a baking dish top with remaining cheese. Put in oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until bubbly.

Serve with tortilla chips...take to a potluck, serve at a party, it's sure to be a BIG hit. I made it as an appetizer for Thanksgiving and everyone LOVED it!

I Just Knew

The prompt I chose this week for Mama Kat's writers workshop:

4.) Write a story in exactly 101 words...so here goes...

He made us a fire on the shore of the lake; we enjoyed a simple dessert of vanilla ice cream topped with fresh blueberries. We finished our dessert and walked to the end of the dock. Together we sat, letting our legs dangle over the edge, talking and watching the fish swim beneath our feet. Once the June sun set, we laid on our backs gazing at the stars and the moon, pointing out the satellites floating through space. Hours later, he held my hand and walked me to my car. We said good-bye, kissed our first kiss, and I knew.

Awards!?

Holly over at 504 Main passed this blog award on to me, and as part of accepting the award I get to list 10 random facts about me...

So here goes:

1 I love Journey
2. I ran the Army 10 Miler in 2005
3. I have lived in 6 states: WA, VA, KS, CA, GA, and NY-in that order
4. I love the way books smell
5. I've probably read Flowers in the Attic more than any other book
6. I hate stepping in water with socks on
7. I was adopted by my Dad
8. I have been to 41 states and 10 countries
9. I love to cook-duh!
10. I only ever want to be self-employed

I have to admit when she left me a comment that she had something for me on her blog, I got all excited thinking I had won her giveaway! Even though I didn't get the stamper, I still came out a winner!

I don't really have anyone to give this award to...yet. I am new to the blogosphere, so I am going to hang onto it a bit before I pass it on.

really really! no really!

When I was thirteen I lived with my Dad. My parents were still “married” but my mom was living in another state attending law school. At thirteen, I thought it was just that, it never entered my mind that my parents were actually separated and didn’t tell me. So my mother wouldn’t lose touch with me, she bought us both journals. We traded journals whenever we saw each other, about once a month. We both wrote in our journals every night before bed. Once we traded journals we could go back and read what the other person had been writing. It’s strange thinking back on that time in my life. My mom was only 2 years older than I am now. At 30 I know the truth and the circumstances behind my parents divorce, and it gives me a whole new perspective. At any rate, I don’t know what ever became of those journals, maybe my mom still has them, or maybe I threw them out. If I were to open one of those journals today I think the entry would read something like this:

Sometime in 1992…
Hi Mom,
I wish that you didn’t have to go back to law school this week. I really really really miss you! It was really nice having you here this weekend. I know you said it would only be three years, but I just can’t wait for it to be over! I really don’t like my math teacher, he is so boring, it’s even worse that he’s my homeroom teacher too. I really think that I wouldn’t mind living with you, I think it could be fun trying a new school, but I guess I understand why I have to live here. I really can’t wait to see you again, only 26 more days until you visit again. Well that’s all for tonight, I am tired I guess, I’ll write more tomorrow. Marbles says “meow”

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo, ME

This has been a part of Mama Kat's Writers Workshop

I Made a Cake

I have been looking(still looking BTW)for ways to fulfill my time outside of being a WAHM. Working from home can be very isolating. I stay home all day with my son, I then go to work from 6-midnight, sleep, and repeat...it doesn't leave much room for social interaction outside of Nick Jr, and Very Hungry Caterpillars. So about a year ago I enrolled in some cake decorating classes through Micheal's.


In the first class they started out teaching us how to make frosting, YUM! We got a discount on decorating supplies, so I bought all sorts! It was fun, and I was excited.


The second class we brought a frosted cake to class so we could learn some actual decorating techniques. Not to be boastful or braggy, but mine was the smoothest buttercream frosted cake there. I don't know what some people were using to frost their cakes, a sledgehammer perhaps?

The third class we learned how to write on our cakes, make flowers and a few other cutsie tricks...the classes continued and I stuck with them for about 6 weeks. Then I decided, I don't need classes anymore. I think I'll go at it on my own now. Not long after, feeling like I knew it all(step aside Duff) I offered to make my niece her birthday cake. I told her no holds barred, anything she wanted, she could have. Turns out she wanted a two tiered fondant cake. The one thing I didn't know how to do...decorate with fondant. I never made it to that course!! Now what?


Well I did a lot of googling, and watched a lot of You Tube videos. I practiced two weeks before her party, on my husbands birthday. My first fondant cake, to my relief, wasn't a disaster! I was able to deliver on my promise, and my niece, she got her 2 tiered fondant cake.


I have since not promised or offered to make a cake for anyone. Outside of making my children's cakes, my cake decorating days are over. It's not something I particularly enjoy, it's just something I know how to do. One of these days I will find a hobby I can be passionate about, and I'll stick with it.


For now...I present to you, the Fondant Cake!!

My DIY fondant cake, a Twilight inspired cake, for my niece's Twilight themed 12th birthday party.

This is part of DIY day at A Soft Place to Land. Head on over and check out all the other great projects!

And it's also part of Mama Kat's Writers Workshop, head on over and read the other great entries.

Bedtime Conversations

My husband and I are getting into bed, and having one of those night time chats before we fall asleep. Well really, I am chatting away with him while he tries to gently let me know that talk time is over and now it's sleep time. I decided to thwart his attempts and I came up with a fun game...

Me: "Honey, if you could have any other name in the world, what would it be?"
Him: "I don't know"

Me: "Come on, any name...what would it be?!"
Him: "My name is fine"

Me: "Ugh, forget it, you never want to play my little games...in the car, or anywhere. No one does"

I then shuffle my pregnant belly and the covers, and turn over in a huff.

Him: "What games are you talking about, and who else plays them?"
Me: "DOESN'T play them" I correct. "You don't play them, my mom doesn't play them, anytime we're on a long drive I try to have fun and come up with fun little games...like my 'Guess the State' Game, but anyway forget it. I am thirsty, can you get me some water?"

My wonderful husband turns on the light, gets out of bed, and gets my water for me. Then he turns off the light and lays back down.

Him: "If you were a radial tire, what kind of tire would you be?"
Me: "Shut up, just go to bed"
Him: "No really, what kind? Studded, high performance, all weather?"

UGH, my husband, the smartass.

Love this dish!

Stuffed Green Peppers

4 Green Peppers

1 lb ground beef

Small Onion

1 cup minute rice-I use brown minute rice

1 can tomato soup

Garlic Powder

Salt & Pepper to taste

Core and clean peppers. I start off by parboiling my peppers for a few minutes, this way when they are done baking the peppers are soft. Place peppers in a 9 x 13 baking dish.Cut onion into small 1/4 inch chunks. Combine onion and ground beef and brown beef over medium high heat. Drain excess grease. Combine rice, meat, onions and tomato soup. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and flavor to taste. Fill peppers with meat mixture. If you have leftover meat mixture, shape into meatballs and cook alongside the peppers. Cover the peppers with foil and bake for 1 hour at 350. Remove from oven, uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

* Since I always seem to have an open can of marinara sauce in the fridge, I also add a little sauce if the meat mixture seems dry, and it gives it just a little more flavor

Why Can't He Sleep?

No, not my son, he's a great sleeper, he takes after me. Why can't my husband sleep? Well...let us delve into 10 reasons why:

10. He has a lot on his mind, and he's thinking of the different flies he can tie on his fly rod to catch the big one.

9. He's enviously watching me fall asleep less than 2 minutes after my head hits the pillow, and wondering how he could have married such an anomaly.

8. The crackle of the baby monitor and our son's quiet breath keep him up.

7. Pain, the pain in his arms, legs, hips and shoulder, now if he only had a wife who would lovingly massage these pains he might be able to sleep

6. He's too hot.

5. He's too cold.

4. He's re-living the chase and fight scenes from the action-adventure movie we watched before bed.

3. He's not sure, but he could be hungry

2. Our black cat is meowing blood curdling muuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrooooooooow's to be let outside and no one else(his sleeping wife) will get up to do anything about it.

1. His very pregnant wife is snoring, and if he does anything to stop it she'll wake up and bite his head off.

This has been my first entry as part of Mama Kat's writers workshop

oh the deception...

The only veggie my 18 month old will eat is a green bean. It's very aggravating, we have tried giving him other forms of veggies, but dousing his broccoli in cheese sauce just didn't seem like the best habit to get into. So I've been attending a family nutrition class put on by a local university and they've been giving us all sorts of good nutritional tid bits for feeding our little ones. We make the recipes at the class and then the kids taste test them for us afterward. During the class my son always eats everything! Which is great, but so far we've only done fruit, which isn't my problem!!

In the meantime several mothers in the class were talking about a book called Deceptively Delicious, by Jessica Seinfeld. I kind of paid attention, but not really. Then two of my friends, mentioned the same book after I told them about my finicky eater. After finding out our library doesn't carry the book, I headed to the bookstore to see if it was worth buying. I wanted to find out what this secret was to getting kids to eat and like nutritious foods. After perusing the book, I found out it's all about the purees. Very exciting, I will finally get good use out of my food processor that my husband gave me last Christmas!!! So I bought the book.

I already put the book to work and I made the Tortilla "Cigars"(pureed carrots, *pureed black beans, My son was so intrigued with what Mommy was making for dinner, that he came by stuck his fingers in the bowl of filling and taste tested it before it my son and said, you know you're eating carrots and black beans right? He responded with "MMMMM" The final product was also a success, and our son ate his veggies and didn't even know it. However, as he gets older I'll have to focus on getting him to make healthy food choices when the food can't always be "hidden" from him. Hopefully the rest of the recipes are just as easy and tasty :)

*I substituted the pureed squash in the actual recipe for pureed black beans since I have like 20 cans of them, and no squash :)