Friday Fragments

So I had these all typed up on Tuesday and then the post got deleted. Now I have to try and remember everything. This is not good when you have problems remembering things.

Whitney is home in a week. Better make sure I have food in the house that she likes.

I didn't get to go to anything for Staff Week. I planned on going to bingo but when it was time to go one person wasn't going to be in the office and we had a class going on. So I had to stay back.

The grass still isn't mowed. The mower broke on Sunday and it has taken us two days to figure out how to fix it. And now it won't start. So going to try a new spark plug and if not, we'll have to buy a new one. I did plant a few plants though and pulled out dead bushes. So something was accomplished and we don't look as bad as another house on the street.

People never learn at work to make sure and ask me about hiring BEFORE making offers. Now I've got to try and clean up someone's mess. And it isn't going to work out like they wanted but that's why you ask me first.

I've been spending way too much time on cruisecritic.com in anticipation of our cruise in 6 weeks. If you are taking a cruise I highly suggest going there because they have the answer to everything on the boards. Of course not much changes if I go check it out every couple of hours. I really need to stop that.

Blogger Problems

So last night I was trying to work on my Friday post on my ipad and I couldn't see it. This has happened before since the new blogger took over. It seems like I have to buy an app in order to blog from an ipad. I refuse to spend money on something that should be free. This sounds like a conspiracy to me. Plus now I've lost the entire blog entry. Super bad.

I'm also trying to figure out how to create a page to put all my recipes on with links. I'd like to gather enough of them and make it easy to find so I can join Secret Recipe Club. I've got a lot of recipes to go but I figure if I start now organizing it will be easier. I also could just put a keyword search button on the blog but I've tried to add the gadget and it won't work.

I use Google Chrome for my browser at work and Mobile Safari for the ipad.


If anyone has guidance, please let me know.

Chicken Tamale Pie

So I've played around with Pinterest like everybody else in the world. My main focus has been on food (of course). There are so many desserts that are posted I try and find savory dishes. Mainly because I want to pin stuff I might make and as much as I love dessert, I don't make it very often.

So I was going through my pins and found this recipe. It just looked comforting from the picture.

Chicken Tamale Pie

Author: Tracy adapated from Pinch of Yum, adapted from Cooking Light

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup fat free milk
• 1/4 cup liquid egg 
• 1 1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 (14 3/4 ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1 (8.5 ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy)
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• 1 (10 ounce) can red enchilada sauce 
• 2 cups shredded cooked turkey breast
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used a colby/monterrey jack blend)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Combine the first 7 ingredients (milk through green chiles), using just 1/2 tablespoon of the taco seasoning, in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a round pie plate (mine was glass) coated with cooking spray.
3. Bake at 400° for 20-30 minutes. While corn is baking, toss the chicken in the remaining 1 tablespoon taco seasoning. When corn is done – it will be just barely set and golden brown – pierce entire surface liberally with a fork (it might stick a little bit to the fork). Pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. 

So I used turkey instead of chicken since I had a frozen cooked breast in the freezer and I'm all for using what you got. Make sure you use a deep dish pie plate, otherwise you are going to flow over. The corn mixture cooks to the top of a deep dish. I wondered how I was going to get the sauce/turkey/cheese on it without a mess but it worked. I did cook it on a cookie sheet for the last part because I was afraid of spillover.

If you like tamales you will probably like this. The corn mixture turns sort of into the mushiness I associate with tamales. It had a kick to it but not overpowering.

We liked it but probably won't make it into our regular rotations. Just not special enough for us. But still tasty and lots of leftovers. I don't think they will freeze well though so we'll be eating it to finish it up.

Bacon Risotto

This weekend I cooked not once but twice. Believe me this is a big deal. I wanted to cook stuff that I knew Whitney wouldn't like and since she'll be home in two weeks, I figured I better get cracking. She doesn't like rice and Dan and I love risotto, so I thought that would be good to make. We have a recipe that we like but I wanted to experiment. I found a recipe for bacon risotto on allrecipes and thought hey, we like bacon, let's try it.

I have to pat myself on the back and say I made a perfect risotto. Creamy and cooked to perfection. The basic recipe could be adapted to use any kind of vegetables or meat you wanted. The bacon was nice but actually wasn't necessary. The important part is the creamy texture you get in the risotto.

Bacon Risotto (recipe from allrecipes.com)

• 1/2 pound bacon, diced
• 5 cups chicken stock (I used 3 cans + 1/3 cup white wine)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook and stir the diced bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon and reserve.
2. Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a saucepan over high heat; reduce heat to low to keep the chicken stock hot.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion begins to turn golden brown at the edges, about 2 minutes. Pour in the rice and stir until the rice is coated in butter and has started to toast, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; stir in one-third of the hot chicken stock and continue stirring until the rice has absorbed the liquid and turned creamy. Repeat this process twice more, stirring constantly. Stirring in the broth should take 15 to 20 minutes in all. When finished, the rice should be tender, yet slightly firm.
4. Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, the Parmesan cheese, and the reserved bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.

I made a couple of changes. I added white wine after coating the rice before adding any broth. It also took me about 25 minutes to get to the right consistency. I added salt and white pepper before it finished so that would cook in. Use this as a good base for making risotto and you can't go wrong.

Friday Fragments

Well I thought I would have a bunch of fragments and now I can't remember most of them. So we'll just see how well I do as I type freeform!

It rained last night. It was a lovely sounding rain with thunder in the distance. Of course that means we can't mow the yard (still). I'm afraid the neighborhood will ban against us. We've become the yard that looks bad because we still haven't mowed for the first time. Hopefully this weekend. I hope to get the bird feeders out and look at planting a couple of flowers. That might be pushing it though.

My tv viewing has come down quite a bit since shows I watched ended and I haven't added any new ones. Revenge and Glee just started back up so we have about 5 more weeks of those. Amazing Race is still going but losing steam. And I really don't have any other reality shows on right now. Guess that means we should be watching baseball.

Whitney will be home in two weeks for summer break. We'll have to go up to school to help her pack up the dorm room and move back. Where in the world are we going to put all her stuff?

Her summer job doesn't start until public school is out so she will have three weeks at home to do nothing. My guess sleep will be high on the list of activities.

Work has been super busy still. I thought last week when I had a bunch of proposals due that was going to be it. But now there is another proposal deadline next week and I know of at least 5 proposals going out for that one. Plus add on working on next year's budget and whew I'm getting worn out by spreadsheets and numbers.

Next week is Staff Week at work. Its one week where they have different activities for the staff who works here. I haven't attended any of the activities in years though. I had been on the committee for a long time and got burned out. But I'm thinking I may go to bingo on Monday. Maybe I can get lucky.

Those certainly were not exciting fragments. I need to make notes so next week I'm better prepared.

BBQ Pork/Cheese Panini

I originally had this post ready to use for the May Crazy Cooking Challenge. But I found a better recipe. This one is still good so I will share it with you.

The recipe I chose was from Authentic Suburban Gourmet. She mentions that this is a good way to use leftovers. Looking at the ingredients I knew I had just the right ones.

Panini with Roasted Pork, Caramelized Onions, Cheddar and Bacon 


Ingredients:

Ciabatta Loaf
Roasted Pork Tenderloin
Caramelized Onions
Cheddar Cheese
Crispy Bacon
Olive Oil

For each sandwich, cut about a 5 inch slice of ciabatta bread and then slice in half to open it up. Remove some of the excess bread if desired. Brush each outer side of the bread with olive oil. Start on the bottom slice by adding a slice of cheddar cheese, then several thin slices of pork tenderloin, then about 3 or 4 slices of the bacon and top with caramelized onions.

Place onto a panini pan or press. Cook for about 5 to 8 minutes until all ingredients are hot inside and the bread is crispy. Enjoy!


I actually didn't follow the recipe exactly. I used it as a base for my own creation. I know a little outside the box (especially for me) but I got a little lazy and didn't want to spend the time carmelizing onions or cooking bacon. Plus she said use it for leftovers and that would have meant I had to cook something more. We had some shredded BBQ pork in the freezer that we had made ages ago and we really needed to use. I also had a cute little ciabbatta loaf from Walmart (yes I shop there...don't judge me). It was the kind you cook in the oven and just the right size for us.


The loaf size was perfect for two sandwiches. I cut the bread in half and put my cheese (sharp Provolone not cheddar because once again I used what was on hand) on the bottom. I then scooped out some of the top (because it was already almost empty) and spread a little BBQ sauce on it. Then I added some heated up pork. After I put the sandwich together I put the olive oil on one side and put it on my George Foreman grill (it is perfect for this) and then oiled the other side. It only took about 3 minutes for the cheese to melt.

The result was a delicious panini. The bread was super crispy and smooshed just right. My only problem was that the cheese wasn't flavorful enough for the sandwich, but that was my fault. Half a sandwich was enough for myself and my husband so we have leftovers.


I will definitely use this method for making paninis again. The oil on the outside really helped crisp the bread up.

Hodgepodge - About Time I Do This Again

So after a few weeks off, I decided to join back in. Maybe it will help kickstart my thought process for blogs.




1. Spring is in the air (at least in my neck of the woods) and the birds are singing...what's your favorite bird?
I like birds, I really do. I just never know what type of bird I'm looking for. I can recognize a cardinal and a hummingbird. That's about it. So I like those because I know what they are when I see them. I do enjoy when the hummingbirds come to visit our feeder. I probably should get that out now.

2. Speaking of birds...do you tweet? If so tell us your screen name and we'll come flocking to your Twitter site. Even if you don't let's all pretend here that we do-in 140 characters or less, sum up your week so far.
I signed up a couple of weeks ago and don't know how to use it. LOL. I have tweeted one thing and I have one follower (not my husband). I don't even know how to login...good thing my ipad has everything saved. I don't know what my screen name is either. Is is with the @ sign? This is so sad. :( I feel inept.

So in 140 characters my week: Sunny no tornado Piles of work never end Vaca 60 days away

3. Its been reported recently that employers are not only viewing the facebook pages of potential hires but they're also requesting your facebook password to have a look at what you've kept from public view. What say you?

There is no way anyone should be asking for passwords. That is just wrong and I would tell someone no if they asked. However I don't have a problem with people looking at facebook pages of potential hires. If it is public, then it is public. Just like googling someone's name. I don't have a problem with that either.

4. It's April and you know what that means-Major League Baseball is back in action. What's your favorite baseball movie? If that's too hard, what's your favorite sports themed movie?

Do I have to list just one? Geez. Dan and I quote baseball movies all the time.

Bull Durham has to be the favorite though. Chock full of quotes. Just watch it and tell me you don't chuckle when they are on the mound trying to figure out what to get someone for a wedding gift, fix someone's hitting curse and breath through eyelids.

Field of Dreams is a close second. All you need to do is hear James Earl Jones say "Baseball" and you know. It gives you goosebumps. Of course that movie always makes me cry.
Both of them have Kevin Costner although that isn't my reason for liking them.

Then there is A League of Their Own. It's a simple game...You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball.
Can you tell I like baseball movies? Probably because baseball is my favorite sport.

5. Something else this season brings-asparagus. Yes please or no thanks? If it's yes please what's your favorite way to have it prepared?
I dislike asparagus. I've tried to like it but just don't.

6. What drives you? (Don't you love how I sandwiched that one in between asparagus and jugglers???)
I think I'll be a smart aleck here and say my 2009 Honda Civic Coupe!

7. April 18th is International Jugglers Day...can you juggle?
Does juggling projects count? I have to juggle money in my head. I think that counts so yes I can juggle!

8. Insert your own random thought here.
Whitney won the housing lottery. Well it isn't like they were giving away a house. But she did get the room type and roommate she wanted for next year. They have a double with a shared living space. Each girl had their own bathroom. Can you imagine having that luxury in a dorm when you were in college? They have a little kitchen too. Their theme: Disney/Sorority (won't say which one). Quite a combination I know. Whitney has already started buying Disney plates/cups. She is so cute sometimes.