Metamucil and Fire

Today I supplied myself with more ever-increasing proof of aging. As you are all aware by now, I have a fetish for free samples. Today I received flavored Metamucil and it made me happy. I now have the power to force my body to "function" when I want by simply drinking a Berry Burst or Pink Lemonade flavored water. Sweet!
Tonight we invited Big Jim over to dinner for tacos. I was trying to heat up the crunchy taco shells by putting them in the toaster oven at a low temperature for a few minutes, but they caught on fire. My first instinct was to grab my camera because it was too dang funny, but alas, my battery was dead. My second instinct was to get rid of the evidence before my Jim walked into the kitchen, but he beat me to it. This is not the first time I have created fire during my domestic attempts. Once I even created a mass of maggots, but that's another story for another day....

Because I can

This is for not posting in forever.

Cheesy Ranch Potatoes

Ingredients:
5-6 medium potatoes
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup milk
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Place in saucepan and cover with water. Boil until tender but still firm, about 10 minutes. Drain.



In the same saucepan, combine soup, milk, seasoning and 1 1/2 cups of cheese.



(Please note Jim's contribution to this week's recipe.)
Add the potatoes into the sauce and stir. Salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the potato mixture into a greased 9 x 9 pan. Top with remaining cheese.



Bake uncovered for 30 - 35 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.



This would be really good with some crumbled bacon (which I would have added if I'd had any). Serve and enjoy!

Random Internet Finds

Somtimes I stumble onto some pretty good websites and blogs. I have shared these sites from time to time, but one in particular tickles my funny bone. I told you all about Failblog.org a while back. If you haven't looked at this site, you need to. Soon.

Here are some of my favorites...

(The caption above is very important!)

So long Red

We've been nearly inseparable for the last 2 1/2 years. You have remained steadily by my side, but it's time to say goodbye.

It's not you, it's me. I've outgrown you Red.

When we first hooked up, you promised it would last forever. But look at you now.



I need a partner that's strong, and let's face it, sometimes you fall apart. I'm embarrassed at the way you've let yourself go.

I have found a new partner. One that's presentable and can grow with me.



So long Red. Thanks for the memories.

Chicken and Dumplings

This is one of the best, easiest recipes I have.

Ingredients:

4-5 lb Whole Chicken

1 49 oz can of Chicken Broth

1 can Homestyle Butter Flavored Biscuits (not Buttermilk)

Flour

1/4 tsp Pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Take all the guts out of the chicken and place, breast side up, in an oven safe pot. Pour the chicken broth into the pot and place in the oven for 1 1/2 hours or until the chicken is done.

Remove the pot from the oven and place the chicken on a plate to cool. Let the broth cool a few minutes and skim any fat from the top. Place the broth on the stove top at medium high heat to bring to a gentle boil.

In the meantime, spread some flour on a work surface. Coat both sides of each biscuit and flatten by hand.

Cut each biscuit into bite sized pieces.

Carefully place all the biscuits into the boiling broth. They will immediately swell up, but don't worry, they'll shrink back down. Continue to gently boil for 15 minutes, stirring often so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

While the biscuits are boiling, remove the chicken meat by shredding it with 2 forks. Add the chicken and the pepper and cook 5 minutes longer at a lower temperature, stirring continuously.

Serve with some crusty french bread or garlic toast.

Enjoy!

The Garbage Can

It's really not easy being clumsy all the time, but I manage it nonetheless.

On Thursday I did my normal day off thing, bum around the house (watch Golden Girls, etc) and then got some groceries.

Let me break away from my story for a second to bring up this old question: If no one is in the forest to hear a tree fall, does it make a sound? Of course it does, that's a ridiculous question.

But if no one's around to see a clumsy Angie, does she still bungle up something? Not sure. It seems to only happen when there's a witness. But I digress...

On Thursday, Jim left to get Dr John's car so he could bring it back to the house to work on it. I had plans to get groceries while he was gone. Being the faithful Golden Girls watcher that I am, I didn't end up leaving until right at the time Jim was pulling into the drive. He told me to back out so he could get Dr John's car in the garage. That's when it happened. I backed squarely into the garbage can.

This garbage can is only on the street one day a week. I usually only drive one day a week (at home). The probability of this happening at the exact moment Jim was in the street watching me back up is minuscule, but I was still able to pull it off. It wasn't a little tap either. I sent that sucker flying. I clearly won the battle with the garbage can, but I didn't get away unscathed.

365 - Week one

Yesterday's photo was in honor of another tedious house project checked off the super long "to-do" list. This is what the downstairs bathroom looked like originally.



It was literally a sink glued to the wall with some scrap laminated wood in the form of a makeshift box underneath it. It was super classy, let me tell ya.

This is what the downstairs bathroom looks like now....



It's actually not completely done. We have to resurface the shower, replace the mirror, change out the window trim, and tile the floor. OK, so it's a long way from being done down there, but the sink was a huge victory for me. Let me have this moment of celebration without dealing with reality just yet.

As promised (several times), here is the first completed week of Project 365, the sequel.



I think if you click on the picture it will zoom in so you can see it better.

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken cut into bite size pieces
1 small onion, diced
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cans great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chicken broth (14 oz)
1 can chopped green chilies (4 oz - recipe called for two, but 1 was good for us)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream or half & half
1 - 2 Tbsp oil

In large saucepan, saute the chicken and onions in the oil until the chicken is no longer pink. Add the garlic powder and cook a minute or two longer. Add the beans, broth, chilies and seasonings.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes so liquid has time to thicken. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream and half & half.

This has lots of ingredients, but it's very easy to cook and we thought it was very yummy!

365 Sampling

This is the daily photo for yesterday. It was either this or a picture of the grocery store, because that's just about all I did on my day off.
I'm excited for Recipe Sunday to roll around again. I have a couple new recipes I want to try, but I have backup recipes just in case they're gross!

2 for 2

Project 365, the sequel, has commenced.

I won't be posting my 365 pictures every day because I made a decision when I started this blog to never post anything about my work. This blog is about us and our life.
Having said that, Project 365 will probably have many pictures involving my work since the purpose is to capture what goes on every single day.

I had an idea of what I wanted to snap a pic of today, but then we decided to grill hamburgers for dinner and the following picture was just too perfect to pass up.



I love it because it captures Jim and his peculiar tendencies perfectly. What a funny guy.

Cornmeal Pancakes

Welcome to Recipe Sunday. I have a new goal to post a tried and true recipe every Sunday. I love to try new recipes and will enjoy sharing them with you once a week as part of my yearly theme to cultivate different areas in my life. This one is about learning to cook better.



Ingredients:
2/3 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cormeal
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp vegetable oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Oil for frying

In a mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients together.

Add beaten egg, milk and oil to bowl and mix by hand until blended.

Heat about 2 Tbsp of oil in a skillet on med heat until oil is hot. Pour small amounts of the batter to make 2 - 3 pancakes at a time. Cook until edges are brown and crispy and the middle of the pancake has several bubbles in it. Flip and finish cooking until golden brown.

I had to add more oil each time I started a new batch, otherwise I didn't get crispy edges which is my favorite part.

This is enough to serve 3 - 4 people. Under no circumstance at all are these to be served without bacon. It just wouldn't be right.