Okay, so I’m dead tired, and it’s already past my bedtime (the Giants are winning, so the man is in a good mood, but boy oh boy, this is the longest game … ever!).

Tonight did not go as smoothly as I hoped.

First, the grocery store was not only still out of pumpkin puree (not totally unexpected, but disappointing nonetheless) but also out of polenta!  Basic question ~ how does one make MNF Polenta without … polenta?!?!  John and I had to visit our least favorite place … the other grocery store.  You know what I’m talking about.  The store you checked out once upon a time and deemed lacking in all areas before choosing your current, amazing grocery store (which did, in fact, drop the ball today… but let’s not focus on that!).

This followed us getting out of the city late, every person in Philadelphia driving like they just got their learner’s permit, and various other road blocks that, if I were a suspicious person, would have made me go “Hmmmm…..”.

This will be short & sweet, with pics to come later.

This past Christmas Eve I visited with my Italian side of the family, and they served this dish.  I loved it so much, I recreated it for the man and my New Year’s Eve celebration (we’re pretty low key, but it was a great day/night).

Jalapeno Poppers

What you need:

10 – 12 small, firm jalapeno peppers

1 160z package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (or comparable)

1/2 package of bacon (I literally cut a package of bacon in half, and wrap and freeze the other half)

What to do:

Preheat oven to 325.

1.  Cut the peppers in half longway ( I cut the top off first, and then cut them in half).  Clean out the seeds and interior, and wash in the sink.

2.  Fill pepper halves with cream cheese.

3.  Wrap in bacon.  Arrange on cookie sheet.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until bacon cooks.  (I never seem to have toothpicks that do that trick, but you can secure the bacon in place with a toothpick or spear of some sort … altho’ it’s not necessarily necessary).

4. Serve!

Just so you know, these are addictive.  So if you’re cooking them, snag one before putting them out for people.  I also made them for the Super Bowl this past year, and when I finally got to the food table, only 4 were left.  I think of this as a huge triumph (rather than an epic disappointment) -I like contributing food people eat!

It’s Monday afternoon already, and despite my greatest effort, I did NO baking over the weekend. We did, however, reorganize our refrigerator and our laundry room/walk-in closet, and I am very excited about that!  I am hoping to amend my lack of baking this evening during the Monday Night Football game (Giants v. Rams) because one of John’s fellow Giants’ fans is coming over and I think they’ll be totally involved in the game ~ which will allow me to pop in and out while checking the oven.  (Always thinkin’ ahead, says I!)

I had planned to bake on Saturday, but as mentioned above, we tackled the very necessary project of our closet/laundry area.  Yesterday, after church and a baby shower, I went to the store to purchase pumpkin puree and semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels, and the shelves were empty.  I’m talking, not even a single, solitary can of pumpkin puree or bag of chocolate chips.  Nothing.

Was everyone baking this weekend? Seriously.  I was so bummed out.

John cheered me up with a second firepit night ~ sometimes it’s just nice to relax together and talk about life, and goals, and ideas …. Then we wound down by watching the Emmys. Just as a sidenote, Ty Burrell of “Modern Family” fame is a graduate of my program at PSU. Cool, huh?

I’m hoping that tonight my grocery store will be re-stocked (I did ask at the Help Desk, and they said they usually get deliveries on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but to call ahead to make sure that what I was looking for was on the shipment).  Since we have to stop in and get ingredients to make MNF Polenta, I figure I’ll risk it.

Hopefully, I do not make that choice in error.

I realize that I haven’t blogged a recipe in awhile, so in addition to adding photos to the Polenta recipe, I am also making the easiest Jalepeno Poppers ever (they are also highly addictive!) and hopefully some Pumpkin Bread.

I didn’t realize that after awhile I would have to have a little more forethought regarding what I’m cooking and blogging about ~ I’ve run out of tried-and-true recipes, I’ve made a lot of things that I’ve always wanted to make … and doing spur of the moment cooking doesn’t really work with the heavy workload I’ve been carrying of late.  So please, bear with me as I navigate through this new phase of blogging!  I’m still super excited about trying new things in the kitchen, and I like sharing my recipes (they’re usually pretty easy, too, which never hurts!).

So, as always, watch this space ~ I’ll be back tonight with some yummy recipes, and probably some thoughts on football (Opening Day was so utterly painful that it’s taken me some recovery time to think about it logically ~ I hate it when the Steelers break my heart like that … luckily, they didn’t do it again yesterday, which is at least a relief until this upcoming Sunday!).