Category: Daily Thoughts

Daily Thoughts · Soups

Tues, February 23 Tomatillo Soup

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Had lunch at a friends house yesterday and she served us this most amazing soup. It is like the green chile stew that you might have read on this blog, but the tomatillos give this soup just a little different flavor and it is a lighter soup than the one previously posted. It is easy, quick to prepare and goes so well with a pan of corn bread or warm tortillas which you have spread with a bit of butter and salt. Great for those nights when you have some left over roasted chicken you bought at the store, or some saved frozen chicken you have in the freezer. It is so good. You will make it again, and again….
2 T. butter
1 onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
Saute onion and garlic in the butter
Add:
1 small can chopped green chilis
1 28 oz. can chopped tomatillos (I found these in that special international section at Kroger at Frankford & Midway)
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. white pepper
32 oz. chicken broth
1/2 cup shredded chicken breast (I used the roasted chicken from Kroger)
1/2 cup uncooked rice
Cook on low/medium for about 20-30 minutes.
That’s it. 
Breads · Daily Thoughts

Miracle Monday

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Hope each of you had a marvelous weekend. I was so ready to write yesterday, but my computer would not let me on the internet, so all my thoughts had to be pushed back. If you are wondering what the miracle is, it is simple. It was just the miracle of some of the greatest gifts God has given to us. The gift of friendship and love, of sharing special times with friends, the abundance of “necessities” that we are so blessed to have, God’s grace and love and protection! It is with this in mind that I must tell you that though this weekend, wasn’t a long awaited trip to some far distant country, or a spa weekend, it held so many wonderful memories. The memory of just laughing with sweet friends who dined on wonderful Mexican food on Fri night, while our husbands were at church for a men’s retreat. The memory of standing over a stove on Saturday morning, stirring and stirring for almost an hour, the best candy you have ever put in your mouth. The accidents of adding too much cream by one of the “cooks” caused so much laughter, as we all knew that this “cook” wasn’t living her dream of standing over a stove, cooking…but doing it, nonetheless. What wonderful memories we can have laughing and telling our “girl” stories to each other. This was one of those weekends. They have told me to post the candy we made, and will do so tomorrow, but today, I have been requested to post these “pop in your mouth” little fudge muffins. This weather will make you appreciate these wonderful little mouthfulls of sweet, light chocolatey muffins.

Fudge Muffins

4 (1 oz) squares of semi sweet chocolate

1 cup butter

1 3/4 cup sugar

1 cup flour

4 eggs

1 teas vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Melt Chocolate with butter over low heat or in microwave. Stir in remaining ingredients, except vanilla. Stir in eggs 1 at a time. Add vanilla and nuts (if desired). Fill minature muffin pans, which you have sprayed with Pam, 3/4 full. Bake at 325 degrees for about 23 to 25 minutes. Let cool before removing from pans. You can sprinkle powdered sugar over these. Serve with hot tea of coffee. These also freeze well, so could be thawed and served when unexpected guests arrive.

Daily Thoughts · Meats

Breakfast Burrito/New Car Breakfast

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OK, I am now “golden” in my husbands eyes. I actually got up early enough to cook something besides cereal or toast. It is 28 degrees outside and I thought to myself, “hum…..if I were going out at 7 a.m. in 28 degree weather, what would I want for breakfast?” So…..I got in the kitchen, got out the Jimmy Dean sausage and went to town. I scrambled about 1/2 cup of the sausage in a skillet, cracked 2 eggs over the sausage when it was done, stirred that until the eggs were done. Sprinkled about 2 tables sharp cheddar cheese on top and let that melt, got out the flour tortillas and nuked them for about 8 secs, spooned the sausage-egg mixture over the tortillas and then poured El Pinto Mild Hot Sauce (how do you have ‘Mild” hot sauce”) over the mixture, rolled up the tortilla and put it on a plate, poured him his grapefruit juice and had it on the table in less than 10 minutes. You would have thought I had served him the moon……..He just kept staring at me and asking me “what is it you want”? When I told him that I just wanted to send him out the door with a good hot breakfast, he just kept staring at me…….Now, seriously, it doesn’t have anything to do with the new cars we went to look at on Monday, really, oh and did I mention that I also sent him out the door with a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies for his coffee time at work? Anyway, I just kept assuring him that it was all because I love him so much and really, it doesn’t have anything to do with that gorgeous, dark gray car with soft leather interior, Boise sound system, convertible top that actualy goes well with my hair root color…It has all to do with I think he is the most wonderful husband in the world, sorry, I have to go, I am looking up all the info on the web on my potential new car………

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.

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
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.

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!

Daily Thoughts

FYI

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In some of the recipes here on the blog as well as others, when the recipe calls for buttermilk, if you do not keep this on hand, you can make your own “sour milk” by adding 1 teas vinegar to 1 cup of milk and allowing that to sit for about 15 min, stirring ever few minutes. The vinegar “sours” the milk allowing it to be used in place of the butter milk.

I do not keep buttermilk on hand. I buy the can of dried buttermilk and store it in the fridge. That way, you always are able to have it when needed. Just follow the directions on the can for the amount you need. This keeps several months and it is so easy to use.

Daily Thoughts

Monday Morning Dr Pepper

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Welcome to another wonderful week. As you can tell from the title, I have Dr Pepper in the morning instead of coffee. I could just never enjoy the “heat” or taste of coffee trying to wake up and the cold energizes me and wakes me up. Well, we did it again, we moved furniture all afternoon yesterday and so my computer is now in front of a window so I can watch the sunrise, or watch patio furniture melt, depending on what month it is. But, it always feels so fresh and new to go from room to room to see the changes and to know that the floor is at least clean underneath all the furniture until the next time I get in the mood to move it all again, at which time it will be swept again.

We had a wonderful time Saturday night with our daughter, Jodi and son in law, Eric. We went on a double date with them to Silver Fox and had a ball.  No children, as they had hired a babysitter. We were able to talk about things other than grandkids or family and just enjoyed ourselves immensley. We left there that night realizing that not only do we enjoy them as family, but as friends as well. We talked on the way home that even if they were not family, (which I am so thankful they are) we would enjoy being with them. It was just nice to laugh and talk about things that we normally talk about with friends. That’s when it hit us. We are friends, not just family. So thank you Jodi and Eric. We enjoyed the night and hope that you did also.  Let’s do that again soon…….