Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Cooking & playing games

I am a true outdoors gal but I do love my indoor activities too at the log cabin. Cooking and playing games ranks right up there. I love finding new recipes - especially from other bloggers and sites such as allrecipes.com. I recently made this cheesy artichoke dip that my guests raved about (or maybe they were just being kind!) Now that I'm getting over the flu, food is starting to sound good to me again.


I've listed the recipe at the end of this blog post in case you would like to try this!











Here's a bite just for you!












Now, after I've loaded you up on some appetizers, let's play some games.


Sequence is one of our favorite board games. You work with your partner(s) to build a sequence on the board with the playing cards you have in your hand. Jacks are wild! I've listed the game link below on Amazon.







We also like to play scrabble and boggle too. What games do you like to play?


Cheesy Artichoke Dip - from http://www.allrecipes.com/
INGREDIENTS:
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained
and chopped
1 (6 ounce) can marinated artichoke
hearts, drained and chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile
peppers, drained
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (4 ounce) package grated Parmesan
cheese
1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella
cheese
DIRECTIONS:
1.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.
In a medium bowl, mix artichoke hearts, marinated artichoke hearts, green chile peppers, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
3.
Spread the mixture in a small baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, until lightly browned and bubbly.

31 comments:

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Shelley, How are you feeling? When will you get to go back to the log cabin????

Your dip tastes wonderful... Thanks for the bite. I didn't mean to bite your finger though!!! Sorry!!!

My family have always been board game players. We play Scrabble, Dominos, Monopoly, Upwards, Clue, etc. etc. etc.

Happy New Year!
Hugs,
Betsy

reliv4life said...

so happy you are recovering!! How is Greg? We love games, monopoly, clue, we also play dominoes - chickenfoot is a family tradition starting 3 generations ago. We play the dice game Blow It. and have recently gotten hooked on card... garbage and hand a foot, which is a variation on canasta.

Anonymous said...

The dip looks yummy. We play Trivial Pursuit or Clue. I love Scrabble but my two guys don't like the game. We haven't played games in ages though. :>(

KathyB. said...

I love that cheesy artichoke dip, and I can eat a lot of it without the bread, just give me a spoon and the bowl of dip.

Scrabble and Boggle, I'll play! I can't get my husband to play Scrabble with me. Love your blog.

•♦•©The Olde Weeping Cedar •♦• said...

Hi girl!
Are ya feeling better?
Thanks for the recipe...looks yummy! I love artichoke dip ;)
We play Sequence too!! We have "game night" when my parents are home! ALthough this visit was too busy, so we only had one game night, on Christmas eve...we played Hand & Foot! That's a card game...ever played it?

Have a Happy New Year!
Be safe if ya venture out to celebrate... I'll see ya next year! ;)

Hugs-Kath

Wall-to-wall books said...

The dip looks soo good! But... I can not eat Artichokes, a long time ago, I got food poisoning from them real bad! And ever since then I can not bring myself to even try them. Maybe I can substitute something like spinach?? My daughter and I play cards alot, Rummy and Gin. I love Trivial Pursuit! sometimes Monopoly and Life.

Hope you are feeling better!

Cedar ... said...

Scrabble Tournaments! When my friend visited for Christmas I lost 2-1. Oh well, I'll re-match when she arrives this evening for New Years. We're cooking a turkey dinner for New Year's Day,.. having Thanksgiving at my daughter's I missed leftovers. Have a great New Years,.. i sure hope you are feeling lots better now.

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Glad to hear you are feeling better! I make a similar dip. I substitute softened cream cheese for the mayo....

I love board games. And card games. We usually play pinochle or euchre with friends.

mj said...

Hi Shelley, So glad to hear you are feeling better.

Allrecipes.com is my favorite recipe site. I love the ingredient search. That artichoke dip looks delicious. I will definately have to try making that one.

We recently discovered the game Cranium for Families. Great fun for 2goodboys. Mom and Dad too!

Happy New Year!

Terri@SteelMagnolia said...

That dip looks so yummy, thanks for the bite... LOL

Hugs

Happy New Year

Catherine Holman said...

Shelley,
I'm so glad that you're feeling better. Thanks for the recipe and I'll have to look for that game. We'll try just about any game our kids bring over.
Hugs,
Cathie

Dawn Marie said...

I'm glad your feeling better!

I love this dip--LOVE it! You can purchase mini plain bagels also and tear them up and warm them in the oven quickly, those make an awesome dipping bread for this dip to!

I like to play games--none of my family does..when i ask who wants to--they all role their eyes at me--if you even MENTION Scrabble to them--they laugh and RUN! I've been trying to get them to play Scrabble with me for years--they refuse--i even offered Dirty Word Scrabble--didnt work!

Unknown said...

Happy New Year, Shelley!!

The artichoke dip may be a way to get my family to eat artichokes - thanks!

The Three Little Bears said...

Crap I just went grocery shopping and now I am suddenly craving artichoke dip. Thanks. lol.

If you haven't already, check out my blog for a picture of our little one. :)

George said...

Shelley, your games look like fun, but what I really want another sample of your dip.
Happy New Year.

Shelley said...

Betsy - I'm still not 100% but getting there! You are definitely the game player! Happy New Year!

Michele - you have quite the interesting games there too! I'll have to check some of those out! Greg is completely better (figures) and I'm the one still lagging.

Jylync - I love scrabble too!

KathyB - I like to play scrabble w/ anyone but the hubby cuz he makes up too many words! lol!

Kath - you are the 2nd one to mention hand & foot - I must get this! Happy New year!!

Wendy - how terrible on the artichoke poisening!! I'll have to post some other dips for you my friend.

Cedar - I have not been able to have turkey yet this year - I'm envious!

Penny - the cream cheese sounds good! And I forgot about euchre - one of my faves!

Mom2 - I'll have to ck out cranium too!!

Terri - you're welcome!

Catherine - thank you! Hope to feel even better in a few more days.

Dawine - LOL at dirty word scrabble!!

Bobbi - Happy New Year!

Hot Belly - I did see your beautiful picture!!

George - I will send some more over!

Dawn Fine said...

Hi shelly..glad you are eating again!
I love artichoke dip and I also love playing sequence!
Mile Borne is another fun game.
Happy New Year to you and yours!

Ginger said...

Hi Shelley:
I am out of my sick bed today too. Not ready to party yet though. I love the dip..anything with artichokes is yummy.
We played a new game at Christmas called WhooNu. It was alot of fun.
Just want to wish you a Happy New Year!!!
Ginger

Tammy ~ Country Girl at Home ~ said...

I'm glad you're feeling better, Shelley!

We'll be playing games, snacking, and watching TV tonight for New Years Eve!

I wish you and your family the best in 2009! Have a Blessed New Year!

Tammy

Powell River Books said...

Happy New Years Shelley - I like to cook (and eat) and play games at my cabin as well. Your dip sound yummy. Wayne isn't much of a game player, but I did get him some small magnetic board games for Christmas. The one he opened was chess, not an easy one for me. But just playing was fun. I usually use my Gameboy in the evenings when there isn't much light available to play card games and puzzles. - Margy

Heather said...

Yum, that dip looks so tasty! Glad food is sounding good to you again - a sure sign you're feeling better! We play board games mostly when the power goes out (which isn't often, but a certainty several times a year) and when we go camping. We like to play Boggle and Yahtzee (not true board games), Sorry! and Uno. Do you guys ever do puzzles? Every year when we go up to our cottage near Petoskey my sister-in-law and I work on a huge puzzle together - it's lots of fun!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad your feeling better. That dip looks so yummy. I will try this recipe for sure. Thank you. I hope you and your family have a wonderful New Year. It's been a pleasure getting to know you in blog land :>)

sandy said...

I copied off that recipe. I think this is one my sis makes and it is heavenly, sounds the same.

Games...I can't remember the name of it, but I love it...I'll post the name later if I can remember.

We always played it at the cabin.

Jane In The Jungle said...

OK we're useless at board games so we play games on the Wii with the kids! How sad is that!!

Shelley said...

Dawn - happy new year!

Ginger - glad you're feeling better too!

Tammy - we are having the same new years as you! Have fun!

Margy - I'm terrible at chess - wish I was better!

Heather - puzzles are a great idea! I've got to pick some up for the cabin! thanks!

Charli - the same here! Wishing you much health & happiness for your family in the new year!

Sandy - hope you like that dip!

Jane - I wish I understood WII! lol!

Anonymous said...

It all looks yummy. My favourite games are Canasta, Yahtzee, and Dominoes. But I will play just about anything.

Happy New Year Shelley.

Unknown said...

So glad you are feeling better, hunger is a good sign! We play Scrabble a lot!!

Jen said...

Have a Happy and Healthy 2009!
Love to play games too!! My brother sent us Scrabble Deluxe edition from LL Bean for Christmas this year; that's all we've done all week. :)

Shelley said...

Natural Moments - I forgot about yahtzee! One of my ole faves!

Darla - another scrabble fan!!

Jen- envious of your deluxe edition!

Denise said...

Like Emeril says, if only we had smell-o-vision...and in your case taste-o-vision.

OK, maybe this is the only child in me. But, I play Yahtzee against myself at the cabin! LOL

Allrecipes is my favorite site for recipes!

A Friendly Reader Only said...

Love to play Sequence - Hope you all had fun.