Month: February 2010

Daily Thoughts

Worst Date Ever (this is a true story which aired on Jay Leno

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WORST FIRST DATE STORY EVER
   
If you didn’t see this on the Tonight show, I hope  you’re sitting down when 
you read it. This is probably the funniest date story ever, first date or

not!!! We have all had bad dates but this takes the cake.
  
Jay Leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date
that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst first date experience.
 
There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize!
 
She said it was midwinter…Snowing and quite cold… and the guy had taken
her skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City , Utah
  
It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and had 
never met before. The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they

were headed home late that afternoon..
  
They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to
realize that she should not have had that extra Latte. They were about an
hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere!

Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while.
 
Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point
where she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside the road, 
or it would be the front seat of his car
 
They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn’t have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself…

Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking… All she could think about was the relief she
felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation.
 
Upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she
bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car’s fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem, due to the extreme cold.
 
Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date’s concerns about’ what is taking so long’ with a reply that indeed, she was ‘freezing her butt off’ and in need of some assistance!
 
He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma. Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem.
 
Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal! Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free. So, as she looked the other way,her first time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender.
   
As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize hands down. Or perhaps that should be ‘pants down”. And you thought your first date was embarrassing.

Jay Leno’s comment…’This gives a whole new meaning  to being “pissed off.’
  
Oh and how did the first date turn out?

He became her husband and was sitting next to her on the Leno show.
 

 

—

Daily Thoughts

Holiday Monday

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What a glorious morning, the sun is shining, the wind is blowing and the fireplace is still on. Randy is outside clearing the branches which fell, due to the heavy amount of snow which fell on Thursday. Because of the weather, we have had more time than usual to be inside and talk. It has been nice to watch a movie at 5:30 in the afternoon, or make a sandwich at 2 in the afternoon, because we were working together on a house project. We got out of our “normal” schedule the past few days. A movie we watched on Saturday afternoon at home (which we just never do take the time to do that) was “Rumor Has It”. Now, maybe it is my age, and if it is, I apologize for spending so much time thinking about this, but once again, it just showed me that as we get older and desire our children to know what all is going on in our hearts and minds, it is sad to think that the children which we spent so much time trying to pour our hearts into, know so little about us. In the movie, the adult child, Jennifer Aniston, cannot understand why she is so different from her parents,  feeling  that she must be in the wrong family. Af the end of the movie, she is sitting there talking with her dad, telling him that she just doesn’t understand how he could be her dad, because of the difference. She tells him, “one example of how different we are is that you just drive so slow and I always drive so fast,” to which he responds, “I only drive slow when you are with me to keep you safe”.

In that moment I realized the actions that we, as parents, do, from the standpoint of just trying to do what we think is best for our children, whether they are 3 or 30. Sometimes, we don’t ever realize what our parents are thinking or why they do some of the things they do, unless we hear from someone else something about one of our parents. When I am in Corpus, I hear from people who know my dad, “that your dad is the best worker we have at the funeral home”, or” your mom is always the first to bring food to us when we are sick”.

So I am going to begin to day to be a little more caring in showing them that I do want to know about what they think regarding: certain movies, political views, what they do on a weekend, who are their best friends and why, what they would want to do if they could just escape for a weekend. Are we taking the time to really “know” our parents or do we just fill them in on what is going on in our lives. Beginning today I am going take an active interest in our conversations.  I am going to ask them what they have been doing. Where did they go over the weekend? Who did they see? What is something that they are planning to do? And if they have been someplace, I will ask them about it…..and really try to listen and care. Sorry, Mom and dad or any other good friend that I have not taken the time to listen to them or ask them about what all is going on in their lives. Let’s all try to truly listen to people we care about and get involved in their lives and listen to their hearts. We all might be surprised at what we learn.

Meats

Cilantro Scampi

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2 tables olive oil

1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined; dusted with flour

1 tables garlic, minced

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tables unsalted butter

1/2cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

2 Tables chipotle chiles in adobo, chopped

salt to taste

4 lime wedges

springs of fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add shrimp and saute 2 mins. Stir in garlic; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Deglaze with wine, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer until reduced by half, about 2 mins. Stir in butter until melted.

Combine cilantro, lime juice and chiles in a large bowl. Add shrimp to cilantro mixture and toss to coat; sseason with salt. When ready to serve, spoon shrimp and sauce over rice, pasta or freshly sliced french bread, which has been lightly toasted with butter and garlic.

appetizers

Happy Valentines Day!

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Here is hoping that each of you have had someone special in your life tell you how special you are to them. My little sweetie was so sweet and let me pick out where I wanted to eat breakfast yesterday, dinner last night and lunch today. Sometimes, when he lets me do that, we have what we like to call a “fast food day” and eat nothing but fast food, like Whataburger taquitos for breakfast, Taco Bell for lunch and Church’s Fried chicken for dinner and then end the day with Baskin-Robbins for dessert. But we didn’t do that this time. We went high class and had Shipley Donuts for breakfast yesterday, Mall Food court for lunch and a steak house for dinner last night. Then Luby’s for lunch today, one of my favs.

Well, on to bigger and more interesting stuff. At Bible study the other night every one brought something for the dinner and this avocado pate stood out in the crowd. So Judy was kind enough to share with me to pass it on. Here it is and besides being so good, it was just so pretty. Think you will like this one.

 

Avocado Pate 
4 Haas avocados
2 – 8 oz pkgs cream cheese
2 T chopped shallots
2 tsp. minced garlic
l T lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder (I like more!)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 T chopped pistachios
Line a 9 x 5″ loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving plenty of wrap to fold over the top.  Combine parsley and pistachios and put in the bottom of the loaf pan.  Put all other ingredients together in a food processor and blend until smooth.  Place cream cheese/avocado mixture in the loaf pan on top of the parsley/pistachio mixture.  Fold over plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Turn out onto serving plate and garnish with cilantro or parsley.  Serve with 2 or 3 different types of tortilla chips.
 
This recipe came from Stone Oak Elementary School’s cookbook titled “Stone Oak Stirs it Up” in San Antonio, TX, and was contributed by Ellen Barr.
 

Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Meats · Salads

Snowy, Snowy Thursday

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I am still looking out the windows and just keep staring at the beautiful falling snow. This is one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen truly in my life. It has been snowing all day, and I just keep looking, afraid that it has stopped, but so far, it hasn’t. God seems so close when it is the gentle, quiet snow falling all around. It makes me so grateful for eyes to see and ears to hear the quietness of the snow as it continues to fall and decorate the ground.

This weather is to me, one of God’s great gifts to us. It makes me slow down and enjoy the fireplace, read a book or write a letter. On Tuesday of this week, a friend and I were invited to a friend of ours house for lunch. We had a great time and it was one of those days that we are always talking about having. Just lunch and laughter at someones home. Yes, you heard right. She fixed lunch, all homemade and it was delicious. I am posting two of the recipes which she fixed. The chicken salad and fruit salad, I have never had.  So am passing these on to you. They make the perfect lunch or dinner for company. It was just a wonderful relaxing time for the 3 of us. Rita, you outdid yourself and I thank you for taking the time and effort to make us feel so special. Next time, my house……you deserve a break! Thank you so much for the recipes. They were so good and know our friends will enjoy cooking them and eatting them…..so here they are:

Parfait Salad
 
First Layer
 
1 large package lime jello
2 cups boilng water
8 ice cubes
1 #2 can crushed pineapple (reserve 1 cup juice)
Make jello with boiling water and ice cubes. In a 11×7 pan or dish add and mix in crushed pineapple. Jell until firm.
 
Second Layer
Follow directions on one envelope of dream whip
add softened 8 oz. package cream cheese to “whipped” dream whip
Mix well
Spread over first layer. Chill
 
Third Layer
1 cup pineapple juice
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 beaten eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Cook all ingredients until thick. Stirring constantly.  Cool. Spread over 2nd layer.
Can be made day ahead.
 
Chicken Casserole
3-31/2 pounds chicken breast (cooked)
1 stick butter
45 Ritz crackers
1 can cream of chicken soup
1  8 oz sour cream
Pull apart cooled cooked chicken. Layer on bottom of casserole dish. Mix soup and sour cream together.
Take half of the mixture and stir through the chicken.  Use the other half of mixture to spread over the chicken.
Melt the butter and crush the crackers into the butter and mix together.  Spread evenly over the chicken.
Bake 350 for 25 minutes
Desserts

Chocolate Molten Cakes

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Well, my sweet friend, Dena wrote today to ask me to blog this recipe. It is so awesome baked in little heart shaped ramekins. So bake some up for your sweetie and top them with cinnamon ice cream or BlueBell Homemade vanilla…..what a dessert!

4 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 table red wine (opt)

1 teas vanilla (I add two when I don’t use the wine)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

6 tables flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

powdered sugar for top

Grease 4  custard cups or ramekins. Microwave chocolate and butter. Stir in wine and vanilla (or just vanilla) and sugar. Whisk in eggs and yold. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spoon evenly into cups. Bake at 425 for 15 min or until sides are firm but centers are soft.

Loosen edges and invert onto serving plate. Top with a chocolate dipped strawberry to make it really pretty.

Salads

Too Many Thoughts and Don’t Know Where to Begin

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I have so many recipes going through my head this morning and so little time to sit and share. But am trying to think, “ok, what is something different I have not put on the ole blog before that would just suprise the heck out of everyone, and I thought…hum, something healthy! That’s it, I have nothing on the blog that would make our “healthy conscious friends” out there give us the ole pat on the back, so will share a great recipe that even I (Ms. Butterkin) think is pretty tasty and good. Got this out of Southern Living and is listed under “healthy Living” so we know it’s got to be just that!

Tomato, Bean, and Bread Salad

Serves 6

4 (2.5 oz) five grain hoagie rolls

vegatable cooking spray

1/2 cup light Caesar dressing (they used Girard’s Light , I used Paul Newman’s)

1/4  cup firmly packed fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips

1 teas fresh lemon juice

1 (19 0z) can cannellini brans, drained and rinsed

1 large tomato, diced

1/2 medium size sweet onion, thinkly sliced

4 cups choppped romaine lettuce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut rolls into 1 in cubes. Place cubes on a baking sheet; coat with cooking spray. Bake 6 to 7 mins or until toasted.

Combine light caesar dressing, basil strips, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Add bread cubes, cannellini beans, diced tomato and sliced onions. Toss to coat. Chill 1 hour. Toss with lettuce before serving.

Daily Thoughts

Son In Laws Approval

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Well, my son-in-law came by this morning and he had a piece of the blueberry cheesecake, as well, as Jodi, my daughter. They both agreed that they would be making this one. Eric had me cut a piece for him to take to work and Jodi just stood in the kichen and had a piece right then at 8:30 in the morning.

Just made a green chile chicken casserole to take to Bible study tonight. It is perfect for Mexican food today. Raining, cold and so cloudy. What a great day. Am babysitting alittle precious baby puppy today, the dust doesn’t show in my house because the sun isn’t shinning and am having mexican food for dinner. How good can life be? Will sit and look through recipes to see which one will go on the blog a little later today.

Desserts

Blueberry Cheesecake

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1 1/2 cups graham-cracker crumbs

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tables sugar, divided

1/3 cup butter, melted

3 1/2 cups blueberries, divided

3 (8 0z) packages cream cheese, softened

4 eggs

1/4 teas salt

2 (8 oz) cartons sour cream

1/2 teas vanilla

 1/2 cup water

In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and butter. Press mixture evenly into bottom and 1/2 in up sides of a 9 in springform pan (a cheese cake pan)

Bake in a preheated 325 oven for 9 mins. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Process 2 1/2 cups blueberries and 1 tables cornstarch in blender until smooth, stopping once to scrape sides. pour into a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 15 min or until slightly thickened. Stir constantly. Set aside to cool. Cover and chill 1/2 cup of mixture for glaze.

Beat cream cheese with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup of sugar mixing well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in remaining 2 tables cornstarch and salt. Pour batter into crust. Pour blueberry mixture over batter and swirl gently with a knife. Bake in a preheated 325 oven for 45 min or until set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rach for 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine sour cream, 2 tables sugar and vanilla; stir.Spread over cheesecake and return to oven and bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours.

In a small saucepan, combine reserved 1/2 cup blueberry mixture, water and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Add remaining 1 cup blueberries and gently fold into glaze. Set aside to cool.

Remove sides of springform pan. Top cheesecake withglaze. Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

Everyone said that they liked this cheesecake because it wasn’t so sweet. It is a great and easy recipe even if you have never made a cheesecake before. It is so pretty with the blueberry swirl running through it.

Daily Thoughts

Spiffy Saturday

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What a great weekend. We have no “have too’s” this weekend for the first time in about 2 months and so we are taking off to the show. Have baked a cake, played “word with friends” on my iphone, have dinner with friends planned for tonight and church in the morning. What a fun time this will be. Randy even cooked breakfast this morning so I got to sleep in (of course, I will NOT mention that I was up half the night listening to hum…….someone snoring (but will not mention any names)….but that is last night and this is today, so we are off for a responsibility free afternoon and night. We don’t get many of those, so will really enjoy the day. Just had to tell you that I cooked a blueberry cheesecake last night for Bible Study and everyone LOVED it. Will post that tomorrow, but I am headed out the door, as my sweetie has promised me a trip to SteinMart!