Day Two Hundred Seventeen 2013

What’s For Supper?





Sweet and sour chicken with broccoli over rice. It is crazy easy. For just the two of us, I cut two thawed chicken breasts into bite sized chunks and put it in the slow cooker. Salt and pepper it. Stir in two 10 oz.  jars of  La Choy Sweet and Sour Duck Sauce. Add several handfuls of frozen broccoli florets. Stir it all up until well coated with the sauce. Cook on Low heat setting for 5 to 5 1/2 hours, or, if you’re in a hurry, cook on High heat setting for 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 hours. Serve it over cooked rice [I use one big bag of Success Rice for the two of us]. You can also use the La Choy Sweet and Sour Sauce which is red and has a bit of a different flavor than the yellow duck sauce, but Neil and I like the duck sauce better. You can also use a bag of loose pack frozen broccoli, carrots and water chestnuts. I can’t seem to find these anymore. We enjoy it with only broccoli. I found this recipe a long time ago in the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes and tweaked it to suit myself. That’s what’s for supper. And it sure was good! Happy Monday, y’all!

Day Eighty Four 2013

SNOW DAY

Ah, Spring! Who’d have thought March 25th would be a snow day? Talk about March madness. Students and teachers in our neck of middle Tennessee woke up and rejoiced and then went back to sleep.

I was going to make a new recipe this morning for the Crockpot that called for mild chopped green chilies. I had the chopped green chilies, but the operative word here was ‘mild’. Alas, mine were hot. Just wouldn’t do. So off I go to Wal-Mart for the proper ingredient. First, had to scrape the snow off the car. Looks like we got an inch or more.

It’s spring time in Wal-Mart (or maybe more like summer time). Guess Mother Nature didn’t get the memo.

It couldn’t have been a bleaker day, but I do like the snow flurries. It flurried here all day long. May get another inch or two tonight and tomorrow.

The new recipe  is White Chicken Chili ~ thus the need for chopped green chilies [mild]. I’m not a great cook, but I do know how to create a great mess when trying some new recipe.

Looked good. Smelled good while it cooked all day long.

I used the last of the bird seed to fill up one of the feeders this morning. And I always put out peanut butter when it’s this cold. The birdies love that stuff.

Even the doves didn’t want to be walking around on the cold ground today. They’re always welcome on the feeders …

… if they can manage to hang on and eat at the same time.

Grandpeeps Elijah and Shelby came to stay with me around lunch time today. Since our fave Thai food place is closed for the next six weeks, we had lunch with the Colonel. I wish I knew what Elijah was saying to Shelby … that’s what happens when you’re too busy taking the picture … you miss stuff.

Meat and potatoes kind of guy.

And girl. Love those KFC taters.

We hit Ralph’s Donut Shop after porking out on chicken and brought home a dozen to be savored later at snack time. With cold milk, of course. We didn't eat them all ~ just in case you're wondering.

The White Chicken Chili turned out great. A hearty meal on a cold windy snowy spring day. Especially with a dollop or two or three of sour cream. Fritos, too, which are always good anytime anywhere.

Seems like it was a day for chicken in various forms. Since we were out of bird seed, Neil and I went to Tractor Supply after supper to pick up some seed [the birds still need to be fed until the bugs start to hatch] and they had baby chicks for sale. [Easter is on its way.] They’re such cute fuzzy little peeps. You just want to hold them and squeeze them and love them.

And they had Easter bunnies, too.

And Easter ducks. Quack! Hope they all end up in good homes.
Happy Monday, y’all!

Day Eighty 2013

35 degrees at lunch time today. Welcome, first full day of Spring!

I’m trying some new recipes. Made Black Bean Soup in the Crockpot after lunch. I got to use things like lime and cilantro and cumin and ground cloves and balsamic vinegar, all in the same dish, a departure for me, especially the cumin. I made this unholy mess in my kitchen and for all my effort was rewarded with a most pleasing aroma wafting through my house.

This Black Bean Soup was great for a cold night, especially since it set our taste buds on fire. Didn’t expect it to be inferno hot, but Neil and I both agreed it was the most unusual tasting soup we’d ever experienced and it was quite good. Some sour cream on top helped take the bite off, and Fritos were good with it, too. And since there were leftovers, we’ll most likely be having it for lunch tomorrow.

Ah, Spring! It’s 36 degrees which called for a fire in the wood stove. There’s snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Like I said, ‘Mother Nature’ doesn’t care what the calendar says where the weather is concerned. Not one bit.

Day Fifty Three 2013

TGIF Randomness

Never stop. Never stop fighting. Never stop dreaming.  ~Tom Hiddleston

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Actually, I was cooking up some rice to go with a slow cooker meal for supper tonight.

Because where else would you be?

This might look like eye of newt and toe of frog, but it’s really sweet and sour chicken with broccoli over that rice I was just telling you about. Sure beats wool of bat and tongue of dog.

A little Facetime after supper with grandson Knox and daughter Kelly. Here, Knox was watching his fave PBS show ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’ (based on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood). It’s such a sweet show. He was about two inches from the TV screen.  He loves to dance to the music.
Happy TGIF, everyone! Hope you got to dance, too, maybe when nobody was looking.