Cheese and Artichoke Dip

I am going to make this dip when Brent gets back from Iqaluit. Maybe he and I will sit down with a drink, eat some of this delicious dip, and play a game of crib. On second thought, maybe we should hold off on the crib...wouldn't want the night to get too rowdy.

 Hot Artichoke and Cheese Dip

• 1 can artichoke hearts (16 oz)
• 1 package 'light' cream cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Finely chop the artichoke hearts. (I am going to use my food processor)
3. Stir together artichoke hearts, cream cheese, Monterey jack cheese, salt, pepper and paprika.  Put in an ovenproof dish.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until just starting to brown.
5. Serve with carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, crackers or bread.  

Slow-Cooker Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Lordy, lordy... did this soup ever turn out to be the most delicious butternut squash soup I have ever slurped. Yummy! Oh, and did I mention it took only 5 minutes to make and then it cooked all day in my slow-cooker? Well it did. When I walked through the door tonight and got a whiff of this soup, I instantly started drooling.

I paired it with ham and swiss sandwiches and we all gobbled it up. What a nice treat on a cold winter's day.

Enjoy!

Ingredients (adapted from www.canadianparents.com)

• 1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 small apple, diced (I used McIntosh)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
• Salt & Pepper

 

Directions

1. Sauté onions and apples until tender.
2. Add curry powder and stir. Transfer mixture to slow cooker.
3. Top apples and onions with butternut squash pieces
4. Pour chicken broth to cover. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir.
5. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Puree with immersion blender, add milk and stir.

Best Pyjamas in the World

If you are looking for the perfect pair of pyjamas, you can end your search for I have found them. They were a challenge to find, but here they are....sleepwear from Gap Body. I recently purchased my second pair of pyjamas from Gap, and I am just as happy with this pair as I was with the other. My mom got me a flannel set last year, and I just bought myself a lighter set for this winter.

For me, pyjamas are extremely hard to buy. They have to meet the following criteria:

1. not too hot
2. not too skimpy
3. not too bulky
4. not too tight
5. not too long in the legs or the sleeves
6. not hideous

And these pyjamas meet all of the above criteria and more. They fit nicely, but are not too tight or too loose. They don't lose their shape when washed or stretched, and they have this nice little lace around the v-neck. I absolutely love them, and am maybe a little too eager to slip into them when I get home from work.

I have tried to find a picture of them online, but was unsuccessful. Here is the link if you are in the market for the perfect jammies:

http://www.gapcanada.ca/browse/category.do?cid=29504

What Happens When you Leave your Kids Alone for 3 Minutes

This video almost made me cry for this poor woman. What I love about it is that even though she is almost vomiting over the amount of time it will take her to clean all of this, she knows one day she will laugh about it and is smart enough to document it.

Boys Empty 5lb. Bag of Flour

KISSES Candy Cane Blossoms

With Christmas coming up, I thought I would post one of my new favorite Christmas recipes. These cookies are cute, easy to make with kids, and are super-moist and delicious. If you are not a mint fan, fear not. I'm not a mint-lover, but I love these little morsels.

Ingredients

• 48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Candy Cane Mint Candies
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Red or green sugar crystals, granulated sugar or powdered sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Remove wrappers from candies.
2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in red sugar, granulated sugar, powdered sugar or a combination of any of the sugars. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookie is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

Top Ten Reasons Why Living in a Trailer is Fabulous

1. It takes less than 10 minutes to clean it front to back
2. There are no stairs for babies to fall down, and you save money on baby gates
3. No lugging laundry up or down stairs
4. It doubles as a camper in the summer
5. You can watch TV, make supper, eat at the dining room table and do laundry in the same room
6. You have 'lack of space' as a legitimate excuse when your 4 year-old asks to get a puppy
7. Contrary to how they are unfairly portrayed on TV, Ricky, Julian and Bubbles are great neighbors
8. You don't have to worry about leaks or mold in the basement...you don't have one
9. The cramped quarters are free birth-control
10. No one wants to break in and steal your stuff because you have none

Create a Personalized Santa Video for the Child in Your Life

This will be our third year creating a personalized video for Sophie, from Santa. We will have to do one up for Maggie this year too, now that she is old enough. If you have never done this before it is the coolest little thing. Sophie's jaw dropped wide open the first year we did it. You type in your child's name, age, Christmas wish, and other info, and Santa will email you a copy of their own video. You can also upload your kid's picture which is shown in the video.

The website is not ready to go yet this year (it is usually not up-and-running until the last week of November), but you can sign up now for an email confirmation of when it's ready.


So check it out at http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

Baby + Dog = Freakin' Cute Videos

I love babies. I love dogs. Put them together, and you've got some real fine videos to make you smile when you're having a bad day.

Beware: These videos will increase your desire to have a baby and get a dog. Do not watch in the presence of women suffering from "baby fever" or children trying to decide what to ask Santa to get them for Christmas.

http://www.peoplepets.com/people/pets/gallery/0,,20545298_21081020,00.html

My Poppy - Chapter 3

A few years back Superstore was having a big sale on chickens. Poppy, being the great helper that he is, decided to do his good deed for the month and spend the day driving back and forth from his house to the Superstore, collecting as many chickens as he could in the run of the day .

The only snag in his plan was that there was a limit of two chickens per customer. This may have been an obstacle for the weak, but not for Brighton MacDougald. He made the decision right then that not only would he get those cheap chickens, but that he would also get some enjoyment out of knowing he could beat the system.

So Poppy spent a good part of his day driving to the Superstore, putting two chickens in his cart, going to the cash register to pay, and taking them home to his place. Before heading back though, he needed to alter his disguise. Maybe a new hat, or some sunglasses, or a different jacket. Real CIA-spy stuff. Anything to prevent this warrior from his chicken-mission, and just enough of a change (in his mind) to throw them off of his diabolical-poultry scam.

At the end of a very long and tiring day, I think Poppy had well over twenty chickens. Proud of himself, he called up all of his children and told them to come on over and pick up their birds.

And when my aunts and uncles arrived at his place to pick up their share of the chicken-smuggling operation, they realized that Poppy obviously didn't have room for that many chickens in his fridge, and they were all warm from sitting on his kitchen counter all day.

Cab Drivers

I am terrified of cab drivers. In Yellowknife, we seem to have a higher than average amount of cab drivers. Yellowknife is the center of health and social services for the whole NWT, so a lot of people come here for just a few days. As a result, the taxi business is booming in Yellowknife.

Normally I don't pay give them much thought. But around here, where it gets dark so early these days, they almost seem to be lurking in the night shadows. Last night as I was leaving the college, I was crossing the street to the parking lot, and because my mom taught me to look both ways before I cross the street, I did. Nothing coming. But two steps into my journey a little, white taxi comes out of nowhere and nearly runs me over. GEEZ.

And today at lunch time two of my students told me that they saw this elderly woman get struck down in a crosswalk by a taxi. She drives this big adult-sized tricycle with a basket on the front for her parcels. So sad, but how on earth could you miss the woman?

And then there is the story a friend told me once about taking a taxi home from a night out on the town, and he pulled over and tried getting frisky with her. How creepy is that? Maybe there are some normal, upstanding, non-greasy cab drivers out there. I just haven't met one yet.

Angela's Guide to Anne of Green Gables Chocolates

PEI is a magical place. There is nothing that it does not have (other than bears). My summers are spent at the beach, with the family, and nearby is always a treat from Anne of Green Gables Chocolates. If you think all Anne has going for her is a cute boyfriend and red pigtails, think again my friends. The girl's got chocolate. So imagine my surprise when I found out today that they SHIP ACROSS CANADA!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!

Now my sister-in-law Jolynn and I have a few things in common: we both married RCMP officers, we both enjoy reality TV, but most importantly, we make Cows Ice Cream and Anne of Green Gables Chocolates a priority on summer vacation. So when all the kids are around, and we are packing up the picnic lunch, you can be sure at least one of us will remember the chocolates.

Actually, I should make something very clear here. It is not just the chocolates that are delicious. In fact, my favorite items are not even chocolate-dominant, although chocolate does make an appearance in each selection. Going into the shop is like PEI's version of Disneyworld for your mouth....and every ride is sensational.

So here are the top pics, in my humble opinion:

1. Chocolate Caramels- They are not too chewy and not too soft with the perfect chocolate-caramel ratio.



http://www.annechocolates.com/

2. Chocolate-Covered Potato Chips- Those four words together almost make me cry.



http://www.annechocolates.com/

3. Brown Sugar Fudge..........mmmmmmmmm



http://www.annechocolates.com/

4. Sweeties- Oh. I forgot to mention that you can also get brown sugar fudge....dipped in milk chocolate!



http://www.annechocolates.com/

5. Bridge Mixture- It's like regular bridge mixture, but on delicious milk-chocolate covered steroids.

So to close, I again ask the age old rhetorical question, "Is there anything that PEI doesn't have (other than a strip club)?"

Double-Life

When we lived in Fort Good Hope, I often felt like life was on hold while we were there. It never quite felt like 'home'. I always knew it was a temporary place to live, and a crazy place to live at that. I often felt like we were just waiting until we could go home for our next one-month visit. And even though we did meet some amazing people, living in Fort Good Hope always seemed surreal.

But now that we live in Yellowknife, I find it even more confusing. Some days I feel like Yellowknife is my home, and other days I really wish I was living back in PEI, next-door to my sister, across the street from Jeff & Krista, and a short drive from all of our other friends and family.

Last night Brent and I were looking through his pictures from Depot. One of his troop mates lost his home in the Slave Lake fire, and all of his pictures from Depot were destroyed. He was hoping that we might be able to send him a few of ours to show his daughter one day. So I was leafing through our photo albums, and I found pictures from when Sophie was first born, when we were still living in PEI. I have all of these pictures of her taken with every single member of my family. On Sophie's first Halloween, we got pictures of her with practically all of my cousins, parents, grandparents and some very handsome RCMP officers as well. Sometimes it makes me very sad to think of all the special occasions that the girls do not get to share with our families. And what makes it harder is knowing that we are not able to be a part of all of their lives too. I hate not being there when Max is smiling and laughing with Krista, Mom and Ellen, I hate not seeing Matthew's new house, or hearing Poppy's hearing aid ringing out of control, or missing the Bedford crew's annual Halloween party, or eating lunch on Grandma and Grandad's patio. Hands down the hardest part of moving away has been realizing that we won't get these years back.

Now before my Mom hops on a plane to fly here and get me admitted, let me just say that I may miss home some times, but that doesn't mean that life in Yellowknife is anything other than amazing. We have great friends, I have the most amazing job and coworkers, and the girls could not be happier. I love our life here, and I am always looking on the positive side of any situation. Do we miss home? Absolutely, but living in the north has meant becoming a really strong family unit. Do we live in a trailer? Sure do, but it is our home, with a yellow bedroom for Sophie, a sandbox for Maggie, and the green chair that Sony used to perch in while he stalked the mailman each day. We have a crib board that my Uncle Lorne made me, pictures of our East Coast family all over the walls, and Matt Andersen blasting on the stereo during our weekly dance parties.

Moving away from home has been the hardest thing that Brent and I have ever done, but we have made it a point not just to survive the next few years, but to have the best possible time that we can. Special occasions can be hard, but they make us more appreciative of our trips home every summer.

And when we do eventually move back home, and whether that means to put down roots in PEI or Nova Scotia, our double lives will end. Right now I am part-northerner and part-maritimer, but I know someday that my northern identity will become part of my past. And I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to her yet. She's had a pretty good ride so far.

Brent MacDonald's Hockey Debut

My husband is a great dad for a number of reasons. The one thing that he has done lately that has really impressed me is to set an example for the girls that you are never too old to try something new.

Brent is 32 years old and has never played a single game of ice hockey. Brent has not skated since he was a child, but he decided last year that if Sophie was going to take skating lessons, he was too. How awesome is that? His goal was to get good enough to join the Yellowknife pick-up hockey league this fall, and Thanksgiving weekend that goal was achieved. Brent played his very first hockey game ever, and the girls and I went to cheer him on.


Tonight is his fourth game, and he already has one goal under his belt.