Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

ST. NICHOLAS DAY | December 6th - National Day Calendar

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. Instead of the usual turkey, I made an Italian Thanksgiving. Home-made ravioli, eggplant Parmigiani, home-made bread, Cannoli Dip, and apple pie (I had to make one concession to tradition)

2.The day after the holiday no cooking and  I re-watched the Downton Abbey movie.

3. A coating of snow that turned to slush.  "A" came to clear the walk, driveway, and the cars.

4. I postponed a visit to Teague, but we had a video chat. Not as good as a real visit, but close

5. A herd of turkeys came through the yard and pecked the seeds out of the gourds and pumpkins

How was your week?

TBT Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

  In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Professor Einstein

The phone rang. Caller ID identified the caller as Prissy.

"Hi, Prissy."

"What's 20 percent of $15?

"20 percent of $15?"

Himself was getting ready for graduation, and he chuckled. I'm not known as the brightest crayon in the math box.

"How do you get 20 percent of $15?"

"Oh, the easiest way is to take 10 percent and double it." I stuck my tongue out at Himself. There was dead silence on the end of the phone. Ten percent of $15 is a buck and a half. A buck and a half and a buck and a half is...."

"Three dollars."

"Good. Ok?"

"I thought she cheated me. But I can see now she didn't." She hung up the phone.

After I hung up the phone, I turned smugly to Himself. "Proud of me? I did the math in my head."

He snorted. "You could have multiplied the dollar amount by 2 and just moved the decimal point."

I stuck my tongue out.

Doodle for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away. 

The suggestion for the doodle was to draw wavy lines and then doodle between them. We are always free to go our own way. Since I'm working on Christmas card designs, I decided to try cranberries and leaves. Color was added with Tombow Dual Markers

T Stands for Cannoli Dip

 

Besides apple pie, I was thinking of making cannoli for Thanksgiving dessert. The trouble is, I don't have the metal forms to make the cannoli shells. Yeah, I could have gone to an Italian bakery to buy them. Buying them ahead of time would mean the shells would be soggy. Cannoli need to be filled just before they are eaten. What to do?

I made Cannoli Dip. Just the filling. I found Cannoli Chips, broken bits of cannoli shell at a discount store along with pizzelle, Italian waffle cookies to use as the dip vehicle. Simple. The only thing is I forgot to buy the heavy whipping cream. I substituted half the amount of the whipping cream with Half n Half and increased the powdered sugar. The dip was a little thinner than I would have liked, but still delicious. If you make this, don't forget the heavy whipping cream.

Oh, no! I forgot to include my tea with the cannoli dip. Well, if you look in the china hutch, you can see lots of teacups.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

 

are going to share my recipe for Chicken and Dumplings. 

I don't like fussy recipes that have lots of moving parts. I'm pretty much a half-assed cook. Since I have an ample sized ass, my half-assed is still pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

You can go through the trouble of cooking chicken breasts or other parts. I find it easier to use either left-over rotisserie chicken, leftover roast chicken, or canned chicken.

I also use an electric skillet, but you can cook this on top of the stove.

I don't really measure ingredients but try to plan on making enough for 6 people so I'll have leftovers and won't have to cook the following day

Ingredients:

Leftover chicken (cut up or shredded), or canned chicken

2 cans of Cream of Whatever soup. I like to use Cream of Chicken and Cream of Celery

3 cups of water or chicken stock

1/2 a bag of frozen mixed vegetables

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon or so of Bell's Seasoning, or whatever herbs you like best

Optional:

Carrots, peeled and chopped (3 or 4)

Potatoes, peeled and chopped (2 or 3)

Celery stalk, chopped (2 or 3)

Bisquick or other baking mix to make the dumplings. Follow the directions on the box. Prepare the dumplings and set aside

Directions:

Add the water or chicken stock to the pan. Stir in the Cream of Whatever soup, salt, pepper, and Bell's seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium

(If using fresh vegetables, add them to the pan and cook until the potatoes and carrots can easily be pierced with a fork. About 20. minutes)

Add the frozen vegetables and chicken, Cook for another 5 or so minutes until the frozen veg are cooked.

Drop the dumplings by tablespoon onto the top of the soup mixture. You may have to adjust the temperature so the soup mixture doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. Keep the temperature to a low boil.

Cover and cook the dumplings for 10 minutes (for lightness)

Remove the cover and cook the dumplings for 10 minutes (until done)

Serve in bowls with a salad

Quick and easy.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The week started out devilishly cold in the studio

Snow flurries or maybe graupel on the windshield screen

A snowball in the window

Since snow is predicted for Tuesday, Martha wanted to get the outside decorating done.

I split open the gourds from Martha's Fall decorations as a treat for the birds and critters

Lanterns light the way

Martha decorated Ink's lantern with a red bow.

a Welcome flag

Martha was very busy

He put out little trees with lights

and decorated the planters with ribbons, lights, and faux pine

Solar Christmas bulbs on the rails

Martha said he wants the solar lighting to be seen from space.

Santa untangles the Christmas lights for the Advent tree. I think I heard a Horse's Patoot! Or two.

All lit up.

How does your garden grow?