Hot Jalapeno Dip: I'm that mom

If you know me, you know I'm stubborn.  And if I have my mind set on something, you bet I'm going to do my utmost to get it done.  It seems that this stubborn gene does not skip a generation, and has directly passed on to Children, all three of them, but the one that I battle the most these days is Son.

Son HATES haircuts.  I have let his hair grow since the first week of October, where I had to take him for a cut before Brother's wedding.  Since then I have let it grow and grow.  Believe me, it was long.  It was so long it covered his eyes, and he'd repeatedly rub them and be irritated by the hair in his face.  Everyone else talked about how "cute" it was and so many did love his hair.  Husband was extremely fond of the long locks and kept on telling me, "Don't cut it."  But I made my case that the long hair was poking him in the eyes, and therefore making it difficult for Son to enjoy his life.  Furthermore, as Son has sensitive skin already, because of the eczema, the hair would annoy him and he'd just rub extra hard.  Husband relented, and I got it in my head that a haircut was going to happen and now.

I made up my mind that today was the day.  I braced myself for the inevitable tantrum, the unreasonableness, and the weepiness over the haircut, and it came in a flood.  When we arrived at the haircut place, it took superhuman strength to pry Son from the car and I had to physically move him to the location for the cut.  The whole while he cried and screamed and I actually worry that someone might have thought I was doing something wrong to him.  When we got into the shop, I had to register Son and wait for a shot.  He wailed and blasted his screams the entire time.  I got super thick-faced and let him wail and disturb many of the other customers, but I felt their glares, their looks, their judgement of me.  I LET my child cry.

Yeah.  That's me.  I let him cry.  I let him wail.  I'm sorry it disturbed you, but sometimes, I'm not going to make him be quiet if he doesn't want to be.  Sometimes he just needs to be the most annoying child in the shop - and that is my child.  I'm sorry you were disturbed today by his shrieks, his noises, and his completely nonsensical babble.  Believe you me, that although my exterior was nonchalant and calm, inside I was seething and miserable.  But I chose this path, when I decided that he HAD to have a haircut.  TODAY.

While sitting in the chair, waiting for my misery to be over (because I have to physically HOLD Him in order for him to even let clippers near him), I thought of all the places I'd rather be.  And the image that came up was home, with this dip in front of me.  Warm, comforting, delicious with the bacon and artichoke, it was the single thought that kept me from losing my marbles.

The haircut finished and the main problem with the entire thing is...I don't like it.  Thankfully, I do like this dip. Very much.

Hot Jalapeno Dip
Makes about 3 cups of dip

Ingredients
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
¾ cups of mayonnaise
4 strips of bacon (good quality) cooked until crispy and golden
1 can of artichoke hearts broken up
2 jalapenos finely chopped, seeds and all
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (I usually put the jalapenos and garlic in a food processor and blitz them together)

Method
In a large bowl, mix together mozzarella and mayonnaise. Break up bacon into small bits and add to mixture. Add artichoke hearts and jalapeno and garlic. Stir to combine and incorporate all the ingredients. Refrigerate until needed.

You can do a LARGE 8X8 baking dish of this dip, OR you can do smaller ramekins (which is what I like to do) and keep the dip piping hot, and just keep on replenishing ramekins. I find that the dip is NOT yummy when it is cold and it is spectacular when it is just out of the oven.

Preheat oven to 400. Spoon dip into your desired baking dish. Bake until it is all golden and bubbly on top. (small ramekins is about 12-15 minutes, larger dish could be 20 minutes or more.)

Serve with crackers or crusty bread.

Printable recipe