Food from New Year's Eve and a Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe

I have been such a slacker with blogging lately.  I thought that once the semester ended and I was on break, I'd have lots of time to cook and post about it.  Well, I have been cooking, but I've also been reading, watching movies, going to Las Vegas, and enjoying time with family.  I have a lot of food pictures, and I will try to post more regularly from now on, but no promises.  

Last year my husband and I had plans for New Year's Eve.  These plans were unexpectedly canceled at the last minute, and I was feeling very down about it.  We decided we would just stay home, watch movies, and each appetizers.  We ended up having so much fun that we've decided to make it a tradition.  I varied the food a little for this year, and the movies changed (last year it was a Police Academy marathon, and this year we went with Die Hard).  Below are some pictures, and at the end of the post is my really easy recipe for Spinach Artichoke Dip.  Enjoy, and I hope to see you soon.

 The table with crackers, stuffed peppers, dill dip, cheese, veggies, hot spinach artichoke dip, goat cheese, and a bottle of Proseco.

 We got this appetizer tower as a wedding gift.  It was very useful, and cute for the evening.

 Close-up of stuffed peppers.  These were sweet peppers, but I added red pepper flakes to the filling.  You can find the recipe here.  They were great both hot and at room temperature.

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip


1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 to 2 cups raw spinach, torn into pieces (may omit for an artichoke dip)

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix together until well blended (a potato masher works really well).  You can not either heat this in a crock pot, place in a 375 F. oven for 15 minutes, and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each time until the dip is warmed.  This doubles and quadruples beautifully.  Serve with crackers, pita, or veggies.  I've also had this on baked potatoes, and it was excellent.

Stuffed Jalapenos

I made these a few weeks ago, but I forgot to post.  I bought some jalapenos for a salad dressing, and I only needed one, but they came in packs of four.  My husband doesn't like anything too spicy, so I didn't want to throw them into the other dishes I was making, but I knew I needed to use them.  I decided to split these in half and remove the seeds. Then I stuffed them cream cheese, finely diced fresh mozzarella, minced garlic, salt, and a tiny bit of mayonnaise.  After they were stuffed, I baked them at 375 for about 20 minutes.  The longer they are baked, the milder they will be.  These were delicious and very mild until you got close to the stem.  All the heat seemed to linger at the top.  I think these would be great for a party.

Prosciutto Wrapped Pears

I love appetizers.  They make any night feel special and festive.  When I saw the recipe for Proscuitto Wrapped Pears, I knew I wanted to make it.  I didn't get home until 8:00 tonight after I had a hair appointment and grocery shopping, but I still decided I wanted appetizers for supper, and I'm glad I did.  I wrapped pear slices in proscuitto and a mixture of blue cheese, cream cheese, and almond milk.  These wraps were delicious.  They were the perfect combination of salty, sweet, and "blue cheesy" (yeah, I made that up, but it sound better than funky).  I served the wraps with parsley buttered red potatoes and more fresh asparagus.  The entire meal took less than 25 minutes to make.  I will have this again!