Random photos I took this week.

The best damn Spinach Artichoke Dip in the world. Really.

So, I've been on this quest to make Spinach Artichoke Dip like you get in restaurants. After some trial and error, I came up with one of my own - and damn, girlfriend, it is good! I stole about 3 or 4 different recipes from Allrecipes and added a few things of my own.

Here's what you need:

1 can artichoke hearts, drained

1/2 cup romano cheese

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

3-5 cloves garlic, peeled (it depends on how much you like garlic, I guess)

1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1/2 block of cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mozerella cheese

1/3 - 1/2 cup heavy cream

pinch of nutmeg

1 tablespoon chili powder

some red (cayenne) pepper to taste - I like it with a little kick, so I used about a teaspoon

Put the first 4 ingredients in a food processer and chop the hell out of them.

Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl. Add the artichoke mixture. If it is too tight, add a little more cream.

Put the whole mess in a greased pan and bake it for 20-30 mins in a 400 degree oven. It should be bubbly and brown on top.

Eat it with crusty bread, veggies, or my favorite, tortilla chips.

Schedule an extra session with Lars from the gym tomorrow.

ENJOY!

You Can't Win With Corn.

A few weeks before Christmas, Hubby called me to let me know that the infamous Office Christmas Party that I always dreaded would be a potluck this year. Oh, and the meat was taken care of. Oh, and somebody else was bringing potatoes, and somebody had dibs on stuffing, and someone else was doing a green bean casserole, and oh yeah, by the way, dessert was already taken care of.

My mind was already going through my repritoire of interesting, exotic, tasty dishes that wouldn't clash TOO badly with the traditional ham dinner... "I signed us up for corn." Hubby proudly announced.

"You signed us up for CORN!!!???!?!?!?" What was this man thinking? "You can't win with CORN!"

In his defense, Hubby was genuinely confused. "Win what?" he asked innocently.

"Win the Potluck! Win at life!" I shrieked. After living with me (on and off, of course) for the past 15 years, how could he not realize that life is a competition to me? How could he not understand that, as a pretty darn good cook, I needed to have the opportunity to shine at any gathering that was deemed "potluck?" How could he possibly think I could win with CORN?

"well, I know you're busy, and I thought corn would be easy," was the (damnit, really really sincere) reply.

Ok, lesson learned.

Sweet!

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