Jalapeno Popper Dip

Around this time of the year especially I'm always looking for new recipes to try. Whether it's to serve to friends coming over, or to bring to a party or just for a special treat for no reason!

I have pinned so many recipes on Pinterest but hesitate trying them out especially when it involves other people eating them for fear it may be gross. This one was a winner. Now, let me warn you, I followed the recipe exactly and it was too spicy for our liking so I would definitely cut down on the jalapenos. Other than my mouth being on fire, it was delicious and worth sharing.

OK that probably wasn't the best intro to this recipe and no one will try it now.
Obviously I am not in sales. This is good, I promise.

Jalapeno Popper Dip
Source: http://www.closetcooking.com/2009/03/jalapeno-popper-dip.html

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated
• 1 (4 ounce) can sliced jalapenos (pickled), drained (I would use 2 ounces next time, I was measuring from jarred jalapenos. I diced them rather than using the whole slices)
• 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped (optional) - I did not add these
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated

 Directions

1. Mix the cream cheese, mayonnaise, cheddar cheese, parmigiano reggiano and jalapenos in a bowl and pour into a baking dish.
2. Mix the panko bread crumbs and parmigiano reggiano and sprinkle over the dip.
3. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the sides are bubbling and the cheese cheese has melted and turned golden brown on top, about 20 minutes.
4. Serve warm with tortilla chips.

YUMMY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so thankful

I know I've been a little M.I.A this past week with traveling and Thanksgiving, my apologies! It feels like I've been doing nothing but eating, drinking, shopping, spending time with family, friends and eating some more!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays simply because what I've been doing is what it's all about. Relaxing and spending time with those you love without the stress of material gifts, but simply the gift of just being together.

This year we traveled back to Landenberg the weekend before turkey day to spend time with my family. At the Boxler house there is never a dull moment, and it's getting even better as our family grows. A dining room table that used to feel so big for just the 6 of us is now filled with 10 chairs (including a baby seat), and 3 dogs waiting patiently for someone to give them some food! Since it's only a couple times a year that we are all together, it's special. And even with the shoving elbows, screaming to pass the gravy, baby crying, dogs fighting, and spilled wine on a new table cloth... the twinkle in my parent's eyes when everyone is together, let's me know there is nothing they are more thankful for than this.

While we were in town the guys played in the annual Turkey Shoot golf outing at Chisel Creek and had a blast even though it was freezing. Much of the car ride back to Pittsburgh, all I heard about were these new golf clubs my soon-to-be brother in law has that John tried out and loved. (Thanks Justin!)  I was having a really hard time justifying why he needed new ones when he already had a nice set that was less than 2 years old! But I guess he could come up with a million things that I buy just because, not necessarily because I need them. Sigh.

Back in the burgh I had two quick days of work, dinner and drinks for Jess's birthday and then it was Thanksgiving Round 2 with the Kapusta's. The weather was warm and gorgeous that day, which was perfect for John and his dad to stick with their tradition of deep frying a turkey. This year they kicked it up a notch by injecting it with a cajun marinade and boy, was it tasty! We ate a little earlier this year and were all in food comas by 6pm :)  We laugh that it takes all day of preparing a table full of amazing food, and less than 30 minutes to sit down and eat it!

I'm so very thankful that I am a part of not one, but two wonderful and loving families. 

Even though I technically did not NEED anything that warranted Black Friday madness, Lisa was in town and we decided to brave the craziness and venture out to do some shopping together. That morning John kept dropping hints about these new golf clubs, even going so far to give me a coupon, and package up his old clubs, and even put them in my car jussssst in case we decided to stop at Golf Galaxy to trade them in. You know, because Golf Galaxy is definitely a store Lisa and I frequent often... Could he not be more indirectly telling me he wants these new clubs?!

Our first stop was Kohls and we lucked out and got a great parking spot right away, a shopping cart, and saw a group of nuns shopping. (These are BIG wins on Black Friday) I should probably mention the cart was a large GROCERY store cart and WAY too big to be navigating the narrow aisles of stuff in a crowded store.  Somehow I managed to fill it with stuff I technically did not NEED, but did get some great deals on presents. The lines wrapped around the store, but we had a great system down where one of us would wait in line with the cart while the other did some more shopping. It only took about an hour to get through it, which we didn't think was that bad. I love Kohls but they get me everytime with the Kohls cash, and they were giving $15 in Kohls cash for every $50 that you spent!! So now I have to go back and use it, on more stuff I technically do not NEED :)

I'm so very thankful that I have life long friends that can make anything, (and I mean anything), a fun time.

I decided to be the good wife and stop at Golf Galaxy since it was across the street. Well, I caved. With the trade-in money for the old clubs, the coupon and a sale on the new clubs, I couldn't pass it up, but now how do I keep this a secret from him?... he's impossible to surprise. I was trying to think of a story he would believe so when I got home I told him that I traded in his old clubs, but didn't realize that I was supposed to buy the new ones without him and said I thought we would go back at some point and buy them together. That's believable right?? I never bought golf clubs before, doesn't he want to try them out again to make sure?
I couldn't tell whether he knew I was lying or not, but he seemed to get pretty bummed and then a little upset that he now had no golf clubs. I mean, what is a man to do?! What if he wanted to play this weekend, or go to the range or practice his swings in the living room (even though I tell him not too because I dont want him scuffing the new floors!)
I let him stew on that for a couple days, just to add some suspense to it (I know, I'm mean, but I'm really not!).  I actually let it get to the point where he was ready to purchase them online when I stopped him, confessed and am suddenly the best wife. ever.

I'm so very thankful that I have a husband who loves me, (even when I sell his golf clubs) and plays along to let me think that I actually surprised him with the new ones.

1 down, many to go..

Not gonna lie, I was really dreading today after the promise I made last Friday to eat healthy, stay within my Weight Watchers points and work out.
The weekend had a lot of temptation, especially with brunch and the goodies I bought at the Strip District, and with it getting dark so early it's putting a damper on my outside exercise activity. So when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw that I had lost 1 lb I was pretty darn excited.

It may have been water weight, it may have been that I hadn't had my coffee yet, but I don't care. The number was less than what it was last Friday and that's a small victory for me.
After my initial shock that I hadn't gained 5 lbs, I started thinking that even though I made some poor choices, I made really good choices at other times, and those good choices outweighed the bad this week. It's hard to always stay on track, but knowing when you didn't and being able to adjust for it, is half the battle. A few things I did differently this week..

1) Stopped making excuses for not working out. The weather was gorgeous, so I really tried to get Izzy out for a walk/run almost every day also while sticking with my kettlebell work outs. I put a calendar on the fridge and marked the days I exercised so it's there staring me in the face on the days I don't do it.

2) Kicked my work-outs up a notch. Instead of just walking, I started jogging intervals. Izzy really hates this, but it gets my heart rate up. Even though there are hills on the course we walk, it was becoming less challenging so this spices it up a bit.

3) Stocked the fridge with healthy snacks. Fruits are zero WW points, so I bought clementines, grapes, bananas and cucumbers that were readily available when I had the urge for a late night snack.

I know this week coming up is going to be tough with Thanksgiving. I think it will really just come down to portion control and not going overboard. I'm not feeling too optimistic about next Friday's weigh-in but here's to trying!

ipad is driving me mad

I've been wanting to buy an iPad for a few months now, but there is the good angel on my shoulder saying "You should save, remember you want a new house? you don't need an iPad" and then the bad devil on my other shoulder saying "YES, YOU DO!!!!!"

Stupid devil.

So I had convinced myself I didn't need it, but then one night about a month ago I turned on the TV to QVC as I was getting ready to go to sleep and sure enough there was the iPad. In all it's glory staring at me. A special one-time value that included a bunch of free accessories!

Oh my gosh, they already sold 5,000 in under one hour of this promotion!
It's midnight and they are selling this fast!
They are going to be sold out by the morning!
I need to get one now!!!

I shake John and ask for his opinion, (pretty sure he was dead asleep) but he said, "yeah, sure", as I quickly dialed in and placed my order. Whew, that was close!

Stupid QVC.

When I woke the next morning, I had to think twice about whether I really did an impulse purchase like that. One quick check in my call history proved it to be the case. Oh well, I really wanted one and apparently it was a good deal.

Well wouldn't you know as my luck has it, the following week Apple announces that they are coming out with the iPad 4. WHAT?! I didn't even get my iPad 3 yet! Apparently a lot of people were pissed that they released a new version so soon, so Apple was offering an upgrade for anyone that purchased an iPad in the past 30 days. I called the Apple store and they were only offering this deal for people that purchased their iPad at an Apple store. Bummer. So I called QVC and they said they are not offering any upgrades. Well crap. It was all making sense why QVC was offering this deal that weekend, I think they sold close to 20,000 iPad 3's to people like me who had no clue what was being announced just a few short days later... So I did what I had to do. I canceled my order.
It wasn't that the new version was so amazingly better, it was just the fact that I didn't even have it in my hands before it was outdated.

Stupid Apple.

My mind was already made up about the purchase, so I'm beyond the point of second guessing whether or not I need one. Clearly I do. (That good side of my conscience has disappeared apparently) but now I'm battling when to buy the stupid thing and where. With Black Friday approaching I know that retailers won't be able to discount the actual iPad itself but they will offer various incentives like gift cards or free accessories.
I've been calling stores and scouring the internet and so far the only Black Friday deals I'm aware of are Walmart is offering a $75 gift card and Target is offering a $60 gift card. I called the Apple store because I have heard in the past they've offered discounts of 10% only on Black Friday as a surprise, but the service rep said she knew nothing. Liar.

I'm heading back home to Landenberg this weekend and am tempted to avoid the Black Friday crazies and just buy it in Delaware where I won't have to pay sales tax and be done with it.
I'm tired of trying to weigh all the options and figure out what will be the very best deal when it will probably only come down to saving me less than twenty bucks.

Sigh, Stupid Me. This iPad is driving me mad!

the strip on a sunday

One of the many things I love about Pittsburgh is that I am constantly finding NEW things to love. For how relatively small the city is, there is so much to do here.
(The winter weather, construction and distance from my family are really the only things I don't like about this place. Oh and the Squirrel Hill Tunnel....I.hate.THE.Squirrel.Hill.Tunnel.)

One of the gems that took me way too long to try out for myself was the Strip District. The Strip is a half mile square foot section of town just northeast of down town.
Here's a little bit for you history buffs:

The land that makes up The Strip ws initially developed back in the early 1800's. Due to it's convenient location to the rivers, it was home to iron mills and glass factories. Andrew Carnegie actually had his first iron/steel mill there.  In the 19th century wholesale produce merchants entered the Strip district because of the close proximity to the railroad tracks. In the 1920's these businesses were booming but then in the 1930's the Great Depression hit along with a major floor to the area and many businesses had to shut their doors. In the 1950's there were 71 produce merchants left and by 1970 less than 25. Today The Strip is still the home to several produce stands but also an array of awesome restaurants and specialty food shoppes. Not to mention numerous street vendors selling anything you can imagine with a Steelers logo on it.

To read more check out: Neighbors in the Strip

The first time I experienced the Strip District on a Saturday morning was last year and have to admit was a little overwhelmed. The sidewalks and stores are flooded with people.. some shopping, some playing various instruments, some trying to sell you stuf, and some  (like me) were not quite sure where to start! Since I did not know where to go for what, we shuffled in and out many places just buying a schmorgasbord of items. Where do you go for cheese? bread? meats? produce????
I promised myself the next time I needed a map and a plan. Subsequent trips have been much better and now I have my favorite places.

Yesterday the weather was absolutely gorgeous so my girlfriends Kendra, Rebecca and Jess, decided to grab brunch and go shopping in the Strip. We ate at an awesome restaurant called Eleven, named as such since it's on 11th street. As we were sipping our brunch cocktails we had to laugh when we realized we had a reservation at 11:00 at Eleven, on 11/11. Weird, we are still waiting for something really cool to happen. This place prides itself on using locally grown food and changes its menu quite frequently. I opted for a crab, leek and white cheddar omelet, it was delicious!

 

Afterwards, with our bellies full, we headed to do some shopping for the last thing we felt like looking at.. FOOD.

Smallman Street - the main road where produce merchants used to be

Penn Avenue - parallel to Smallman St where many of the restaurants, specialty shoppes are located

First stop: Pennsylvania Macaroni Company
This tops my list for best places in the strip to buy cheese, pasta, and olive oil. Yesterday wasn't too bad but on Saturday mornings you should see the line for the cheese counter. I've learned you take your number, do your shopping and come back and you will still be waiting a little bit.






















Next stop: Enrico's Biscotti
All different flavors of (you guessed it) biscotti! I didn't buy any yesterday but I enjoy the traditional flavors like Almond and Anise. They even make Doggie Biscotti in a Peanut Butter flavor which Izzy loves.

Next stop: Mancini's Bread for a Pepperoni Roll
You can't go to the Strip without buying a pepperoni roll from the street stand for $5.00. I have to admit, Mancini's is not my favorite for this, Sunseri Bros. is but they are closed on Sunday. When my parents visited earlier this year, my dad had a blast heckling the guy that stands on the corner screaming about how big his pepperoni roll is for only $5!

Next stop: Public Market for Coconut Macaroons
Some days the dessert vendor is in front of Penn Mac, but the last two trips they have been inside the Public Market which is actually in the building where many of the old produce merchents used to reside. There are a variety of vendors inside some with homemade pierogies, others with craft beers, soaps, meats, etc. I bee-lined to pick up some macaroons, baklava and brownies for Sunday dinner dessert and they were scrumptious. (Oops, I didn't mean that, remember I'm trying to be healthy this week!)



Other places I recommend that we didn't check out yesterday are Parma for italian sausage and Wholey's seafood for the freshest fish you'll find in the burgh. If you are from the burgh, what other places do you suggest?

For those of you who many travel to Pittsburgh someday, you must check this out.
You will feel like a pro since I'm telling you where to go so don't be intimidated!

TGIF... kinda

"It's Friday, Friday, gonna get down on Friday... Everybody's lookin forward to the weekend, weekend..."
Like the not-so-famous words of Rebecca Black, I too look forward to the end of a long week and a couple days to catch up with the rest of life. BUT there is one thing I do not look forward to.
Dun..dun...dunnnnn........

Friday is my weigh in day for Weight Watchers.

I hesitated going here with my blog because let's face it, this thing makes me accountable now for following through and sticking with it. I can easily face my own defeat on weeks where I know I didn't exercise or eat well, but having to admit them to someone else. That sucks.
It seems a lot easier to commit to updating my house, (that's fun!) than committing to dieting, (not fun!) But bottom line is I need motivation and if I find it through this channel, great! If not, then oh well you just hear me complain about why my pants don't fit. :)

Losing weight has always been a challenge for me. I wasn't born a size 2 and never had the metabolism of super model, but I'm noticing as I'm getting older, it's becoming harder. Just like we were all warned about! I feel like physically whatever metabolism I did have is slowing down and also my lifestyle and eating habits are changing. Prior to getting married I was totally cool with cereal or crackers/cheese for dinner, now I actually have REAL meals. Like meat and stuff.
I talked before about some of the challenges with working from home and not being able to buy snacks that would tempt me throughout the day and I've been pretty good with that, but it's what happens when the work day is over that gets me into trouble.

I decided to join Weight Watchers Online in August for lots of reasons besides just being ticked at myself for gaining all the weight I lost for my wedding and then some back within two years...
1) My sister Sara is getting married in April and her bridesmaid dress color is light yellow, which will be SO not forgiving.
2) We have a vacation planned in May to the Riviera Maya and I really want to be able to wear all those cute bathing suits I bought for my honeymoon again.
3) Was super motivated by seeing two of my friends on Facebook lose a lot of weight recently using Weight Watchers
4) John started working out and dropped 20 lbs almost instantly, NOT FAIR.
5) Confirmed my company/health insurance benefits covered Weight Watchers almost 100% and had no excuse!

I had used Weight Watchers in the past with success but this with mostly through the WW at work program where you went to meetings and weighed in with a person every week. With the online program you are completely on your own in terms of tracking and weighing in which does lessen some of the pressure.
The program has changed since I did it a few years ago and it took awhile to get used to certain foods being worth more / less points than before. The greatest thing is that fruits are 0 points now and that was always a complaint I had with the old program when a banana was worth 2 points and so was a snack bag of chips, I'm choosing the chips!

Within the first month this time around, I logged my food everyday and lost 5 lbs. I was feeling great about my success and here's where the downfall happens. It feels like immediately once I see results I feel like I can let go a little and then my progress stops. It's funny how I forecasted I would see that same 5 lb weight loss every month going forward if I just stuck with it and here I am at the beginning of November with just that same 5 lbs on my weight loss chart, and not the 20 lbs that I was hoping I would be at.

I know what my problem is, the math is quite simple when you are counting calories in  and what is being burned each day. I just need to get serious about what I'm eating and kick up my exercise routine a notch. (...more on that in a future post)

So here it goes... I'm committing to record all of my meals and stay within my allotted point values for this week so I will have something positive to share next Friday... gosh, I hope I don't mess this up!

24 hour kitchen update

We had no plans for the weekend. John thought he was going to get to relax and watch football. I thought it was the perfect time for us to start tackling the kitchen.

I won.

I've been debating for quite awhile about what to do with our little kitchen. There have been numerous times where I thought I had it figured out but when it comes down to spending the money and making it happen, it never pans out. What's hard about kitchen updates is you never know where to draw the line.
If you update the cabinets, should you update the counter tops? then you need to update the sink? and then is it worth updating all the appliances? It feels like one change, leads to many, turning what was supposed to be a small project, into a big one.

Updating the living room floor prompted me into revisiting this kitchen project. The threshold where the new wood floors meet the old linoleum floors looked pretty bad, and it is one of the most walked upon parts of our house. This juncture highlighted how old and worn the kitchen floors were. Not to mention two years ago John and I painted the kitchen a light tan color, but after it dried it looked more like peach. So I figured, if we're going to update the floors, we might as well paint too.
(Like I said, one change, always leads to another...)

Kitchen before

Kitchen before

Now, I didn't want to go spending a ton of money on this. While people say the kitchen is one of the most important rooms for updates when selling your house, I also need to keep in mind, people are not going to buy this place because they want a spacious gourmet kitchen. So the easy and cheap solution was vinyl floor tiles and a new coat of paint.

If you haven't used vinyl floor tiles before, they are great for projects like this. Ridiculously easy to install and relatively inexpensive compared to other flooring options that are out there.
I began my search online for different patterns that were available at Lowes and found this one that got great reviews and seemed to match nicely with the wood. The best part was it was on clearance!
I measured the space to determine how many tiles I would need, since most of these tiles come in 12x12 squares, ended up I needed 90 to complete the kitchen.

I called the store to see if they carried this pattern in stock, they did but it wasn't listed for the clearance price. I shared that it was on sale online and the guy ended up putting 90 tiles on hold for me and only charging $0.25 a square foot! Awesome!!! You know I LOVE a good sale.
Friday night we picked it up along with a gallon of a different (more brown) shade of tan.

The painting went fast since we aren't working with a huge space here. It got a little crowded with the ladder and three of us working together. Someone may have bumped into the wall and was not happy about her new hair color.

A little tip for painting... Have you used one of these gadgets before? it's called the Shur-line Classic Paint Edger. If you haven't, it's worth every penny. You'll never use that blue tape again, it's AMAZING!

We got the first coat of paint completed Friday night and Saturday morning, round two was done. We let it dry, confirmed it was NOT peach and started with the floor tiles. Now for us, it was pretty easy because the existing floor was a 12x12 tile pattern, so we just needed to match up the lines to what they were before. I can imagine this will take longer if you don't have lines to work from. The hardest part was figuring out a pattern to lay the tiles with the design and the places where a full tile wouldn't fit and you needed to make cuts. We used an exacto knife but these tiles were thin enough that I could use scissors for smaller cuts. The tiles already had adhesive on the back so it was a matter of peeling of the protective paper and plopping it down where it needs to go. Ta-da! It's so simple!

Lastly a fresh coat of white paint on the baseboards and we were all done in under 24 hours.
Well worth the $50 bucks for the tiles and paint!

.... but now with the new floors and wall color, the counter tops are looking pretty bad... perhaps they are next... there's always something!

life. october 2012

I'm still trying to get the hang of this blog thing... what to write about, when to write, how much, how little... a lot has been going on but it doesn't seem like I should dedicate posts to every thing that happens. Reading this thing would become a full time job for you, and trust me, my life is not THAT interesting most days.  So my plan is on the first of every month, I'll provide a life update post for all those things that happened that I didn't catch along the way that are worth sharing (in my opinion!).
Keep in mind, I've completely cut other forms of contact with my family and are providing them updates on my life strictly through this blog now so I need to be detailed so they know I am alive.
 just kidding

Oh October, where did you go?!

Turned the BIG 3-0!
I enjoyed the final days of my youthful 20's and rocked in the 30's with friends and family at Sing Sing, a piano bar. I can't decide if the highlight of the night was the piano player calling me up on stage and singing to me about private parts (as my in-laws walked in) or the video I found on my phone the next day of John and friend's dancing their butts off. Honestly there was more booty shaking than a Beyonce music video. Either way, we had a blast and paid for it for many days later.
First sign, that I'm not longer in my twenties.



Welcome to the world Mia Frances!
My cousin Mimi and her husband Brian welcomed their first baby Mia Frances, into the world on October 8th. They live in Florida so I haven't had a chance to meet her yet, but I cannot wait. It will be so exciting with my nephew Joey (Sara's baby) being so close in age. I wish we all lived closer.





What? Oktoberfest isn't in October?
It's been on my bucket list to go to Penn Brewery during Oktoberfest and check out what it's all about. So one Friday night along with my friends Kendra and Jane, we decided to go. Apparently I was wrong for thinking this would happen during the month of October, it actually happens in September. So needless to say this will remain on my bucket list but we did get to drink some great beer at the brewery and partake in some delicious German food. I tried Buffalo Chicken Pierogies, which I'm sure is not traditional at all and of course pretzels and beer cheese!  





Julia turns 3!
My niece Julia turned three this pastTuesday and her birthday party was at McDonalds. Not just any McDonalds, but the world famous McDonalds that has a Big Mac museum (and a pretty awesome playground!) Guaging by the running around, screams and smiles on their faces, the kids had a blast! It's been so fun seeing the dynamic change each year at her birthday parties as the same group of kids grow up together. Julia loves princesses right now and I am pretty sure she received every single Disney princess item that is sold at Target, Walmart and Toys R Us! I can't imagine what Santa will bring in a couple months!



Just dandy, Hurricane Sandy
This past week many of us have been impacted in one way or another by Hurricane Sandy (or should I say Super Storm) that hit the north east coast. My heart goes out to all of those that have lost loved ones, their houses, and other precious belongings. I was especially worried about my sister Lauren and brother in law Ryan that live in New Jersey, less than 2 miles from the beach. Fortunately they are safe, with no damage to their house, but still without power. I've also had several friends ask about my grandmother's beach house in Fenwick Island, Delaware which is just north of Ocean City, Maryland and it also appears that everything is fine there too.
In the Burgh, it's still raining. We didn't have any flooding, but the ceiling in our bedroom closet started leaking Monday night with all the wind and rain. The leak stopped Tuesday morning so now it's just another thing to add to the list of projects for this place.

I am hoping the sun will come out in November, it's been almost a week since I've seen it!!