New Recipe, Week 4

This week I made a couple of new recipes. Good ones!!! I'm almost done with the challenge of making at least one new recipe every week for a month from my 101 in 1,001 list.

Sunday night, I used a recipe that I got at a wedding shower. At one of my showers, each guest gave me a favorite recipe and this is the first time I tried any of them!!! This one turned out good, so I might have to try the others. Since I can't link to the recipe card, here it is for you (my source is my former next-door neighbor Sheila). I modified it some, so here's my version.

Chicken Wings Pacifica.
2 lbs chicken wings
1 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp dry mustard
1 cup water

1. Combine all the ingredients (except the chicken) in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until butter melts and sugar dissolves.
2. Put chicken into a crockpot. Pour sauce mixture over the chicken.
3. Cook on low for 4 hours, or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

I made this with a fried rice recipe I modified. I got the recipe off of allrecipes.com, but there are a bunch and I didn't save the particular one I used. And it wasn't the best fried rice I ever made, so I don't even want to bother finding the recipe. :)

The chicken, on the other hand, was awesome. Dave gave it 5 jalapenos. I gave it 4.5 jalapenos. The rice: Dave gave it 2 jalapenos (b/c I put peas in it. Minus the peas, he says it was 4). I gave it 3 jalapenos.

Later in the week, I made chicken stroganoff. (I used chicken. The recipe says turkey.) I really liked this recipe. It was a lighter version of beef stroganoff. I loved having the carrots in addition to the mushrooms. My only complaint was that the sauce didn't get very thick. Next time, I'll have to use a little more corn starch.

Dave and I both gave the recipe 4 jalapenos.

To see the other recipes I've been making, please visit these posts: New recipe, week 3, New recipe, week 2, New recipe, week 1

Valentine's Day

This year, I have a new-found appreciation for Valentine's Day. No, not for the candy and the cards. But for the meaning behind it. Love.

Today I found myself comparing Thanksgiving Day to Valentine's Day. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, because the whole day is about being thankful for all that you've been blessed with in your life. It's a day of appreciation.

To me, Valentine's Day is a day of appreciation too. But instead of just sitting there and soaking in all the gratitude, you actively make it known to the one(s) that you're most thankful for....you make it known how much you love them and how much your life is complete with them in your life.

Granted you shouldn't just share the love just one day a year, you should do it every day. But it's just taking that extra effort to make it extra known that you care that makes the day special.

Just like Thanksgiving. Each day you should count your blessings. But there's something special about taking a day just to really express your gratitude and celebrate your blessings.

Here's the love of my life with his wedding present.

Nothing

"So what's new with you?" my grandpa asks me on the phone last night.

"Nothing," I reply. "Work's been busy. But nothing new."

--

Last night, I was trying to think of something to write and post on my blog.

I couldn't come up with anything. I ended up closing the window and going back downstairs to watch TV.

--

What is this? Am I really living a life where nothing goes on? Nothing more than waking up, going to work, coming home and making dinner, take the dogs outside, watch TV, and then going to bed. Night after night. Of course not!!!! There is much more to my life than that. There may not be life-shattering new things going on. Right now, I just want to take a step back and look at what's going on in my life. Time to take note of the small stuff. And I'm right it down here, so next time I talk to my grandpa, I can tell him what's really new with me.

• My class is in full swing. I just had the second class last night. Although it's a huge challenge to get motivated to do the homework.
• Tomorrow, I think I'm going to make a fancy dinner for Dave and I to celebrate Valentine's Day. The menu is TBD.
• This last week the weather was unusually warm for this time of year...above freezing. The snow almost all melted.
• Since the snow was melting, I took over an hour to pick up dog do-do in my back yard, filling up two plastic bags. The job is not done yet!!! Hopefully, Dave will help with the rest of it.
• Tomorrow is the baby shower for my good friend, Beth. I got her gift weeks ago, since I was excited to go shopping for baby stuff. I'm excited to see how big she is now and also to see what presents the baby receives. Not too excited to play baby shower games, but I am looking forward to winning some prizes. lol.
• Couple of birthdays for my friends this week. Andee's was yesterday and Krissy's is today. Last night I had class, so I couldn't see Andee. Krissy is vacationing in Arizona, so I won't see her either. Bummer!!
• Work is really, really busy. In a couple of weeks, I can show you what we've done.
• Otis has started a really bad habit. He's tripping out in the middle of the night barking like someone's trying to break in the house. It's loud and annoying and destroying my sleep pattern.
• Yesterday, Dave had a promotion for work and had to wear a tux. I'm waiting to see pictures, since I didn't see him dressed up.
• Wow. Can't believe I forgot this one. I bought a new light fixture for our master bathroom off of Craigslist and Dave installed it. I tried to help, but it was really hard to hold up the fixture while he connected the chords. But we did it! Stay tuned for photos (I've been lazy about posting them).
• I bought a curtain rod and curtains at World Market (they're going out of business). They'll hopefully be put up this weekend in the loft.
• Gracie is assimilating herself with the dogs. We've had Otis for almost three years now, but recently she's been picking up a lot of their behaviors. A couple months ago, she started licking Dave and I -- just like the dogs lick us. Now she's herding Cooper around. She likes biting his ankles. It's really cute to watch. And she's losing some of her more cat-like traits -- like hissing.
• Our garage door motor decided to work again! Thank goodness!! And now we can park in the garage again!

I'm impressed at the size of this list that I just put together really quickly. Sometimes I just need to take a step back to realize what's really going on, take note of it, and just be thankful for it all.

Gold price per ounce

This morning as I was applying my Abreva, Dave says to me, "I wonder if that really does cost more than gold?"

(Yea! He reads my blog!)

I thought I'd look it up....since really what would I rather have....an ounce of gold or an ounce of Abreva?

Cost of gold per ounce: $945.66

Guess there isn't gold in that Abreva bottle after all. But it still works like magic.

Must be gold in here...

Today I had to buy Abreva to help heal a cold sore growth that just appeared on my lower lip.

Cost of the tiny .07 ounce bottle: $19.99 (luckily Walgreen's had a $5 off coupon, but still).

Price per ounce: $273.84

The price per ounce is useful when I'm buying cans of beans at the grocery store, and I want to know what brand is the cheapest. It's not useful when there is only one cold sore medication that I know works, and I NEED that medication.

--

Same story different topic. My hopes for any possibility of a romantic Valentine's Day just crashed and burned.

Just as well, since Dave declares he doesn't celebrate V-day ever since "Sorry for 02-14-03." Guess what goes around comes around. That's a different story for a different day.

New Recipe, Week 3

This was a busy week for me. Actually only made dinner twice this week. I was rather unmotivated to do any cooking, but managed to make a new recipe one night.

Last Monday, I made Velveeta Broccoli Chicken and Potatoes. I had to make a couple of modifications. First, I had the Southwestern or Mexican Velveeta, not regular in my fridge. It's basically queso dip, but in your standard Velveeta form (a block). Second I used regular potatoes (red ones). They needed to be used and I didn't have hash browns in my freezer. My modifications worked well! I had to modify the cooking instructions too, since fresh potatoes take longer to cook than hash browns. It all turned out well. Imagine a baked potato with cheese sauce, broccoli and chicken chunks. That's basically what this was...with just a little kick from my spiced-up Velveeta. This recipe was easy to make and it was all done in one pan! I like easy clean up!

Dave gave it 4 jalapenos. I gave it 4 jalapenos too.

Pet Peeve

Putting on my "fat pants" only to find them feeling snug.

Grrr.

I'm hoping that this is the first time I've worn them since coming out of the dryer. Sadly, I don't think that's the case.

And yes, I think it's acceptable to wear jeans more than once between washings.