Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: Jalapeno Poppers

Yayyy for the return of Saw It, Pinned It, Did It with Katie and Stephanie!!!

My fiance loves stuffed jalapenos, so when I saw this recipe for jalapeno poppers on Pinterest, I knew I had to make some for him.

Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese
1 small chipotle in abodo sauce (1 chipotle pepper, not 1 whole can)
2 tablespoons canned jalapeno peppers, chopped
8 square wonton skins (I couldn't find these at my grocery store, so I used fillo dough cups)
cooking spray
1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce
muffin tin (a large muffin is pictured below, but I ended up using a mini muffin tin)

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Step 2

Pulse together the cream cheese and chipotle until smooth and creamy.  Add chopped jalepenos.

I didn't "pulse" mine, I just mixed it with a spoon.  Next time, I don't think I will even add the chipotle.  I didn't chop it well, so I ended up picking it out anyway.  

Step 3

Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.  Place fillo dough cups in muffin tins and top with a spoonful of cream cheese mixture.

Step 4

Bake for 10 minutes or until fillo dough cups are golden brown.  Serve with sweet chili sauce and enjoy!

We didn't end up using the sweet chili sauce.

These were DELICIOUS after they cooled a little.  We ate a few the night I made them, and then I put them in containers in the fridge to eat later.  However, they were not as good after they had been in the fridge.  The fillo dough cups were not crispy anymore, they were soft, which I think is what ruined the taste for me.  I would recommend eating these while they are fresh, not trying to save them to eat later.

Overall, they turned out great!  There was good jalapeno flavor without being too hot, and the crunchy shell and creamy filling were the perfect combination!

-Ericka

Wedding Reply/RSVP Cards

We sent out our wedding invitations a few weeks ago, and if you remember, we bought the kits from Hobby Lobby and printed them ourselves.  We printed the invitations AND the reply cards, so we were able to personalize them a little.  I had seen these on Pinterest and knew I wanted to do something fun like that on ours:

source

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And this is what our reply/RSVP cards ended up looking like:

It was super easy to add that extra line to request a song and I have enjoyed seeing what songs our guests have been requesting.  My goal is to compile a list of songs to give to our DJ that I know our guests want to hear, and of course Kevin and I will add our own requests to it.  I'm so glad we decided to add this to our reply cards!

Did you do anything fun on your reply cards or wedding invitations?  Have you seen anything unique on someone else's reply cards or wedding invitations?

- Ericka

Weekend Recap - Better Late Than Never

I'm usually pretty good about posting my weekend recap right away on Monday morning, but this weekend was pretty busy, so I didn't get a chance to write my recap until tonight.

This weekend's weather was gorgeous, so Friday night, Kevin and I did some yard work.  We cleaned up some leaves and mowed the lawn.  My cousin Caycee (she's 10) stayed with us for the weekend, and she came over on Friday night.

Caycee loves Admiral, and he loves her too!

On Saturday afternoon we went to Caycee's soccer game.  They didn't win, but she scored a goal, so that was exciting!  Caycee and I went to the West Michigan Whitecaps baseball game on Saturday night and had a good time.  The weather was perfect and the Whitecaps won which made it even better!

On Sunday and my mom, my aunt, and I met Kevin's mom at the bridal store for my wedding dress alterations appointment.  The appointment went well and I can't wait to see the dress in a few weeks when it's done!  After the dress appointment we made a stop at Home Goods before heading back to my house.  Kevin grilled up some burgers and hot dogs for lunch and we ate outside on our patio since the weather was so great.  I took Caycee home on Sunday night and then Kevin and I caught up on our shows on the DVR.

It was a busy weekend, but a good weekend.  I have a feeling our weekends are going to continue to busy right up until our wedding day.  I hope you got to enjoy some nice weather this weekend too!

-Ericka

Bridal Shower #3

Last week, my wonderful co-workers threw me a bridal shower at work.  I work with some awesome people and I am so grateful to them for doing this for me!

They got me a Keurig coffee maker!!  I've wanted one for a couple of years, so I'm really excited to start using it.

Then to celebrate, we went to PF Chang's for lunch and ate way too much food.  I think we all needed a nap after such a big lunch, but it was soooo worth it :)

I am so lucky to work with such amazing people that are not just my co-workers, but also my friends.  Thank you Karen, Kaleena, Danielle, Paul, and Julie for making me feel so special during this exciting time in my life!


- Ericka

Special thanks to Julie for bringing her camera and letting me use these pictures :)

Weekend Recap

This weekend recap starts with dinner and drinks on Thursday night.  I met up with Sally and two of her daughters for dinner and drinks at the BOB in downtown Grand Rapids.  They were going to the Kenny Chesney concert, so I met up with them before the show.

Friday was pretty uneventful.  Kevin and I took the dog for a walk and then caught up on all of our shows on the DVR.  

Saturday morning I got up and did some grocery shopping and cut some fresh daffodils from our yard.  The daffodils are in our backyard where the dog plays, so I figured I better cut them and bring them in the house so I can enjoy them before they get trampled on by the dogs (we are watching Kevin's mom's dogs this week, and they love to play in the back yard).

I also may have purchased some RumChata during my grocery trip on Saturday morning...I had it for the first time on Thursday when I went out, and I LOVED it, so I had to pick some up.  The waiter that brought us our shots of it described it as "the milk that is left after you eat a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch cereal."  And that is exactly what it tastes like--soooooo good!

Kevin's dad and his wife came over and we all went to lunch at Smashburger.  I had never been there before, so I was excited to try something new.  You can order from their menu, or you can build your own burger, which is what we all did.  I forgot to take a picture of my burger before I devoured it, but trust me, it was delicious!

After lunch we went to the casino.  Kevin and I didn't leave as losers, but we also weren't big winners either.  I guess winning $15 is better than losing or winning nothing at all!  That night Kevin and I took Admiral for a walk and then we just hung out at home for the night.

On Sunday I ran some wedding errands.  I picked up my wedding band since it was back from getting re-sized and I purchased jewelry for my bridesmaids.  We went for a nice long walk with Admiral before Kevin's mom came over to drop her dogs off.  We just hung out with the dogs and did some things around the house for the rest of the night.

I hope you had a great weekend and here's to week of beautiful weather here in Michigan!

-Ericka

Bridal Shower #2

My family threw a bridal shower for me on March 24.  It was organized by my Aunt Liz, Aunt Laurie, and my sister, and it was at my Aunt Liz's house.  I have a ton of pictures from this shower, so I will let those speak for themselves (for the most part).  There was lots of purple (our wedding colors), delicious food, cake, cupcakes, and tons of presents!  I think the best part though, was seeing how many people came.  It was amazing to me that so many people came out to celebrate with me!  So as I said, here are lots of pics from the day:

Me and my Grandma

Soooo many gifts!

Opening our gifts from one of the "games"

Holding my BFF Kristen's baby boy Cam :)  He is seriously the cutest baby ever!

Time to start opening gifts!

Some of the guests

Kevin's grandma

From my cousin Nichole - duck tape to keep him quiet and beer to tone him out :)  Love it!

My grandma got me sexy undies :)  My family is crazy!

My sister holding Cam

Cupcakes that my sister made in the shape of a wedding dress and some with our wedding date!

Beautiful carrot cake - my favorite!

It was a wonderful shower.  It couldn't have been more perfect.  My family did such an amazing job putting this together for me and I appreciate it more than they know!

-Ericka

Admiral's Day at the Vet

For those of you who might be new, Admiral is our (my fiance and I) two-year old Goldendoodle.  He is the sweetest dog ever!  He's also the cutest dog ever.  Ok, I might be a little biased on this, but look at that face!

Today Admiral had to go to the vet, just for his yearly check up and shots.  He is so well behaved when we go to the vet...he just chills out and waits for the doctor:

I also had them look a couple of scabs that he had on his nose.  I'm not sure how he got the first one, but then he would scratch it every couple of days and it would re-open.  In the process of scratching it, he gave himself another little scratch/scab.  So the vet shaved a little area to get a better look.

Luckily, it wasn't anything to be concerned about and it wasn't infected (which is what I was worried about).  The vet thinks that now that the area is shaved, it will heal faster without all of the hair in the way.  Now we just have to deal with his goofy little shaved spot until it grows back :)

This week, we are dog-sitting for Kevin's mom's two dogs.  They happen to be Admiral's mom (Callie-the white one) and Diego is Admiral's brother from another litter.  Kevin and I took all three of them on a walk last night.  It was pretty fun!

Admiral is such a great dog, I just love having him in my life!!

Linking up today with Malloryfor the Paws to Claws link up--what a great way to give me an excuse to blog about my dog!