Hey look, I can post about something besides the baby!

We had a dip contest at work and believe it or not, my crab dip did not win. I know, shocking! Perhaps that was due in part to the fact that this onion dip was so amazing I had to vote against myself. The original recipe is from Ina Garten and is called Pan-fried Onion Dip. I've made a few changes to optimize, but my main suggestion- double the recipe. I haven't fed it to one person who didn't have to pause and give me the "OMG" look after their first bite.

Carmelized Onion Dip
3 medium onions, sliced into 1/8-1/4 inch slices- I use a mandolin. You want them pretty thin.
1/2 Tbs Butter
1/2 Tbs Olive Oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
scant 1/8 tsp cayenne (1/8 is pretty spicy for my palate, I try to go a little light)
1/2 c mayo (room temp)
1/2 c sourcream (room temp)
4oz (half package) of cream cheese (room temp)

In a medium skillet (large if you double the recipe), heat to medium-medium high and melt butter and olive oil together. Add onions, salt, pepper and cayenne and saute for 5 minutes until softened. Drop heat to medium-medium low (you kind of have to play the temp by ear, you want the onions cooking but not browning too quickly) and saute, stiring occasionally until onions are deeply carmelized. This can take from 25 minutes to an hour plus depending on a million different factors. Just be patient, its worth it. If you have a non stick pan its likely to go faster.

Once onions have carmelized, remove from pan and let them cool to room temp (or close to it). Put cream cheese in mixer and cream on medium for a minute or so. Then add sour cream and mayo and mix until thoroughly blended. Add cooled onions and mix until combined.

The longer you can refridgerate the better, overnight is best, but 4 hours is pretty darn good too. Let dip come to room temp if you can stand it before diving in, then serve with chips (I recommend something a little thicker to stand up to the dip, like wavy lays or kettle chips) Fairly easy but time consuming, the only trick really is to be patient with the onions.

My daughter is tickling the crap out of me

Big week here in preggoville! As you can tell by the title of the post, its a girl! And she's moving! Not like she hasn't been the whole time but now I can feel her and it is indeed super cool, and amazingly tickly!! I'm a super ticklish person so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that her movements would feel ticklish. I was wondering at first but now since the tickles are right where we were for the ultrasound, I feel pretty certain its her. She is so cool.

And yes, I'm so excited to have a daughter I could bust. I really never thought I'd get a girl after marrying a man with 4 generations of boys but sure enough a girl she is. I already bought her first shirt :o)

This is what I get for complaining about a smelly fridge

Ants people. I have Ants in my pantry! So gross! I've been spending the better part of the evening taking everything out of my pantry, throwing away everything opened (sigh) and wiping down everything else to make sure its ant free. And of course I have to wait for Scott to get home to finish, because I can't actually touch the ant traps. Oh and if anyone every tells you vinegar wards off ants- they lie. Sigh, I guess I should concentrate on the fact that I'm lucky enough to have food for ants to eat.... We'll see how well that works. Maybe if my skin wasn't crawling like they're all over me! Oh wait, I just killed one on my arm. I'm going to shower now. :o(

Learning to listen to my body

My body and I have a long and torrid history. Most of the time I hate it, although currently I'm a big fan of task its undertaking. Even though I've always been a large and in charge if you will, my body has for the most part cooperated with whatever endeavor I needed it to complete. Now to be fair, its not like I was asking it to run marathons or take hours of aerobic, but unlike many woman my size, I could always keep up with my friends at outings, didn't really huff walking up stairs etc. Part of this is because even if my body would yell at me, I'd tell it to be quiet and suck it up because it was a big fatty. Well no more.

I attended a wedding yesterday for an old friend. It was a GREAT wedding, one of those where everyone is out on the dance floor, having a great time, smiling to the end and begging the DJ to play just one more song. I danced my little heart out and had a great time. However as the evening wore on, I became increasingly aware that shaking of my booty was causing some pains in the front. Not crazy, OMG I'm going to die pain, but definite discomfort. So I stopped dancing for awhile and though tired, felt fine. But being my stubborn self, when I heard a song I HAD to dance to up, back I went to the dance floor...and back came the pain. I guess this is yet another sacrifice of motherhood, learning to listen to my body and sit on my fanny even though I still want to dance! Its not a big deal, its just for a season, but its just yet another example of how life changes oh so quickly when you're becoming mommy.