Exceedingly Mundane

This week’s questions are, once again, from fellow participants! Thanks to all of you for your questions, AND for playing! Have an awesome week! =)

1. From bev:
Small town or big city? Well, I was raised in what I’d call a medium sized city, but I’d probably pick small town over big city.

2. From turtlemoonwave:
Do you have a favorite childhood memory, and if so, would you share it? I remember going to my grandmother’s house. She had a really cool old house, and lots of books, and I had my own big bed to sleep in. She would leave a jar by the bed with some change that she had saved for me. That was a big thing to me. I didn’t get a lot of allowance and any extra money was a huge thing. I loved going there because she would fix me whatever I wanted to eat, and I just loved being with her.

3. From cat:
How do you calm down when something has really upset and/or angered you? Do you swallow it? Call a friend and rant? Go in the bathroom and cry? Punch a wall? Walk around muttering to yourself, complete with scary hand gestures? Hmmm, let’s see… I am more a combo of door slamming, then going into the bathroom to cry. 🙂 I get upset easily, but I usually get over it fairly quickly.

4. From dna princess:
What attracts you to memes?I like the variety and creativity of the questions and subject matter. I like having something to post on my blog on the days when I can’t think of a single thing to write about! And I love visiting other meme participants, and having them visit my blog in return. I’m a sucker for comments 😀

5. From mads:
How reliant are you on computers to get through your day? Good grief, totally. We run our own website, and I have my blog, and I surf a lot. I rely on the Internet to look everything up, from a recipe, to a cleaning suggestion, to read something about an actor on IMBD, to window shop at Amazon, to look up the schedule for a TV show I want to watch, and the list goes on and on. I’m totally lost without my computer and Internet connection

6. From tizzie:
In a crisis, are you calm or do you panic? Probably more on the panic side, although I don’t know if I’ve truly ever been in a crisis. And I hope it stays that way 🙂

Friday, October 27, 2006
Feast One Hundred & Seventeen

Appetizer
Create a new candle scent. Hmm, I’m not very creative. How about chocolate vanilla caramel swirl? 🙂

Soup
Name one way you show affection to others. Hugs and calling them by a special name or nickname

Salad
What is your favorite writing instrument? Blue pen, fine or medium point. Blue, not black, please 🙄

Main Course
If you were given $25 to spend anywhere online, from which site would you buy? Easy. Amazon.com and I’d get books!

Dessert
Are you dressing up for Halloween? If so, what are you going to be? No dressing up. I might wear a Halloween t-shirt I have to give out candy at the door, depending on the weather.

Friday, October 20, 2006
Feast One Hundred & Sixteen

These are leftovers from the 10/15/2004 Feast. The Chef is busy and tired. Thanks for playing!

Appetizer
What is your favorite beverage? Hmm, toughie. Depends on the time of year. In the spring and summer, I love cold iced tea and cold root beer. In the winter, I love hot cocoa and all kinds of flavored coffee drinks. No definitive answer here!

Soup
Name 3 things that are on your computer desk at home or work. Piles of paper and receipts that need filing, various electronics (Vonage phone & adaptor, cable modem, router, etc), and a picture of Tim and I from the year we were dating 😀

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how honest do you think you are? Probably a 7 or 8. I’m fairly honest and sometimes wrongfully so, I will open my mouth and say what I think without thinking about it first and realizing I may be speaking out of turn or that I might hurt someone’s feelings. It’s a bad habit I am constantly working on changing.

Main Course
If you could change the name of one city in the world, what would you rename it and why? I would rename Ho Chi Minh City back to Saigon. It just sounds so much better, don’t you think?

Dessert
What stresses you out? What calms you down? Lots of things stress me out. I don’t like to have my plans changed, especially at the last minute. I worry a bit too much about having parties and people over at our house, I like things to be neat and clean and ready and very presentable. Lots of other things, too! What calms me down is usually Tim 😀 I have worked on being more flexible and spontaneous with other things, but I must admit, I do better when things are planned and structured, and things more or less go according to plan.

Sandra, over at Diary of a SAHM mom, sponsors this each week. Be sure to go over and check out Sandra’s lovely blog, and also check out this week’s entries… everyone has been posting lots of yummy sounding recipes lately! Click here for this week’s entries.

This week, I’m going to post an oldie but a goodie. I don’t make this very often, since I try to limit our intake of red meat. But, my husband dearly loves this roast. I’ve done roasts many ways, but this is by far our favorite. I also make some homemade buns to serve this on (recipe here) – be sure to check out the recipe for the hamburger buns if you have a bread machine. It could not be easier!

French Dip (Beef Au Jus)

Ingredients
1 – 3 pound eye or rump roast — see notes
1 package dry au jus gravy mix
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (1/4 to 1/2)

Directions

Place roast in slow cooker. Prepare gravy according to package directions and pour over roast.

Sprinkle garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper in.

Cover and cook on low 6 hours. After 6 hours remove meat and trim fat. Shred meat and return to slow cooker, cooking until desired tenderness. Add more water if roast is not covered with liquid when returning to cooker.

Stacy’s Notes: Made this Feb 2003. A definite keeper, it was delicious and very easy. I had a 2.5 lb sirloin tip roast in the freezer, so I used that. I sprinkled on liberal amounts of garlic & onion powders, salt and pepper and didn’t measure. Shredded meat and returned to mixture for about 1/2 hour to heat through. I didn’t have to add any extra liquid. Served this with homemade wheat hamburger buns.

Source: Fix It and Forget It cookbook, page 103

Friday, October 13, 2006
Feast One Hundred & Fifteen

Appetizer
Approximately how many hours per week do you spend reading other blogs? Probably an hour or more each day, it depends on the day, if I’m participating in a meme, and other factors. I have lots of blogs I really enjoy reading 🙂

Soup
Your community wants everyone to give one thing to put into a time capsule. What item would you choose to include? Something technological and instantaneous, which I think defines our society right now. So, probably a cell phone or iPod or Blackberry or something like that.

Salad
What is the most interesting tourist attraction you’ve ever visited? We went to Washington DC last summer and the most moving thing we did was see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. I’ve been to lots of touristy places I really enjoyed, but I’ve never been to one that was more moving and emotional to me. Those men are the epitome of professionalism and stoic observance of their job. They are impressive, but what’s more impressive is that they stand there, in all kinds of weather, and show honor and respect to our nation’s war dead. Through 98 degree heat, through blizzards and hurricanes, they guard the tomb around the clock, every minute of the year and have, for decades. I get goose bumps now just thinking about it, and what it represents.

Main Course
If you could give an award to anyone for anything, who would it be and what would the award be titled? To Tim, for world’s most patient person. I’m not an easy person to get along with, and he deserves a medal for putting up with me

Dessert
What do you think your favorite color reveals about your personality? Well, my favorite color is green and I’ve honestly never thought about it. Maybe that I’m earthy and natural – I’m a big believer in recycling and saving our earth. Yeah, that’s it

Overwhelmed with Joy sponsors this recipe meme every Friday. Last week, she very kindly invited me to play along. I don’t have a lot of recipes that are 5 ingredients or less, but I do have one that I make all the time. It’s so easy, it’s not even really a recipe, more of an idea 🙂

It’s called Crockpot Shredded Chicken and it’s just 3 ingredients. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, taco seasoning and salsa. We use this for all sorts of meals – I use it for enchiladas, we make Mexican wraps or soft chicken tortillas with the meat, and my favorite, a salad. Instead of using ground meat or ground turkey for a taco salad, I’ll use this chicken meat, and we’ll layer the salad the same way (lettuce, fat free tortilla chips, beans, salsa, avocado if I have it, cheese, sour cream, etc). We call it a chicken taco salad, and we like it! 🙂

Crockpot Shredded Chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breast — frozen (2-3)
1/2 package taco seasoning mix (more if using more breasts)
1 cup salsa (enough to cover if using more meat)

Directions
Spray crockpot liner. Place 2-3 frozen boneless chicken breasts in bottom and sprinkle taco seasoning over the top of them. Cover with salsa. Cook on high 2-3 hours until done. Remove breasts and shred using 2 forks or knife and fork. Return meat mixture to pan to mix with salsa mixture and heat through.

Doubles or triples easily!

Sandra, over at Diary of a SAHM mom, sponsors this each week. I love cooking with my crockpot, and love seeing all these great recipes. Be sure to check out this week’s entries… click here.

This week, I’m posting an easy version of a thai-flavored chicken. This is not gourmet, but easy comfort food that tastes really good, and is a bit unique for a crockpot recipe. The ingredients sound really odd, but believe me, once you mix them together, it comes out really tasty. I have used regular peanut butter (Jif brand) and also the natural one (I think it’s Smuckers brand), and both are fine. I usually serve this over plain whole wheat noodles when I make this. I tried a flavored noodle / box mix the first time, but the flavors sort of competed with each other, so now I just make plain noodles. There is a lot of good sauce, so we just spoon that over the whole wheat spaghetti.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup salsa
2 Tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon grated gingerroot
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro

Directions
Place chicken in crockpot. Mix other ingredients except cilantro and peanuts. Pour over chicken. Cook for 4 hours on low. Garnish with cilantro and peanuts.

Misc Notes: I use crunchy peanut butter and then just leave out the peanuts. Other posters noted it could use some minced garlic & crushed red pepper.

Stacy’s Notes – Made Feb 2005. Really good! I used 2 frozen, boneless/skinless chicken breasts and the full amount of sauce. Used Jif reduced-fat creamy peanut butter, bottled lime juice and bottled ginger. Also added crushed red pepper & some minced garlic. Did not garnish with cilantro, but did use chopped peanuts. Served with a box sesame noodle mix (Simply Asia brand) and stir fried vegetables. Really good, a keeper.

More Stacy’s Notes – I have made this many times since Feb 2005, and it’s always good. I have used natural peanut butter and it works fine. I never use cilantro, because I don’t like the flavor. I don’t make a boxed noodle mix anymore, but just use plain whole-wheat noodles (spaghetti, usually). There’s plenty of sauce, so we just eat it over the noodles.

More great questions from our fellow Monday Madness members! Have fun, and thank you all for playing, and for the questions!! Have a great week! =)

1. From amaranth:
Name three people you would pick (and why) if you could choose who to be stranded on a deserted island with. Well, Tim is a given. Maybe it should just be the two of us! hehehe!

2. From julie:
What is your favorite genre of film and what is your favorite movie from that genre? I love chick flicks, and some of my favorites are You’ve Got Mail, Notting Hill, Princess Bride, Sound of Music, The Notebook, etc. You get the idea!

3. From tiffany:
Which country would you like to visit and why? I have tons on my list… England, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, etc. I would probably pick some of the European ones first. I love history and want to see so many things like museums, castles, cathedrals, etc

4. From wil:
What are you driving these days? What’s it’s (their) good and bad points? Would you buy another one, and why or why not? I’m on my second Explorer. I love it and am so glad I finally got another one. I drove my first one for 8 years and hated to let it go!

5. From cindy swanson:
“Lost,” “24,” or both? Both!

6. From lady starlight:
You’ve been very good this year. What should Santa bring you for Christmas? (the sky is the limit) Well… if the sky is the limit, see #3, travel to some European or foreign destination.

Friday, October 06, 2006
Feast One Hundred & Fourteen

Appetizer
Name a song you know by heart. Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton (and a couple hundred more, probably, I have a knack for song lyrics)

Soup
What will you absolutely not do in front of another person? Hmm, some bathroom-oriented issues I’d rather not discuss!

Salad
How often do you use mouthwash and what kind do you like? A couple of times a week, or when I think I need it. I need to use it daily, but then again, I need to be flossing daily and that doesn’t usually happen. We use Listerine, one of the mint ones, I think it’s called Cool Mint

Main Course
Finish this sentence: I am embarrassed when… I do something clutzy and someone sees me! Like stumble when there was nothing on the floor, or open a cabinet in the kitchen and then run into it with my head 🙄

Dessert
What was the last food you craved? Chocolate always, and shrimp while we were on vacation!

Sandra, over at Diary of a SAHM mom, sponsors this each week. I played for the first time last week, and am really enjoying seeing all the great recipes! Be sure to check out this week’s entries… click here. I love cooking with my crockpot and hope to do more as the fall and winter progresses.

This week, I’m posting a creamy Italian chicken recipe. I think this recipe is fairly common on the Internet (that’s where I found it), but I made it last night and we really liked it, so I thought I would share. I add more seasonings, see my notes at the very bottom. Enjoy!

Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken

4 boneless chicken breasts
1 envelope Good Seasons Italian salad dressing mix
1/2 cup water
8 ounces cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
4 oz can mushrooms — drained
seasonings (see notes)

Place chicken in a crockpot. Combine dressing mix with 1/2 cup water. Pour over chicken. Cook on low 3 hours.

In a bowl, mix together soup and cream cheese. Stir in mushrooms. Stir in into chicken and cook 1 more hour or until chicken is done. Serve over egg noodles, rice or with mashed potatoes.

Stacy’s Notes – Made this August 2005. I used 2 boneless skinless breasts (frozen), and halved everything else. I didn’t have quite a half envelope of dry dressing mix (had used most of it in another recipe), so I squired some bottled Wishbone FF Italian dressing on top of the breasts. I cooked this in my regular crock-pot for about 3 hours or so, till the chicken was done, then added the soup/cream cheese mixture. Served this over linguine. It needed a little something, maybe more seasoning. Next time, try adding some dry Italian seasoning or maybe some garlic or something. Pretty good, like an easy chicken fettucine.

More Notes – made again October 2006. Used 3 breasts this time (having company), and the full amount of everything else. I mixed the one envelope of Good Seasons to 1/2 cup water as recipe states, but next time, consider using a little less water (since I put my breasts in frozen, there was some water from them, I think). I seasoned the breasts with garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, oregano, dash red pepper (and when I added the soup mixture, a bunch of freshly ground black pepper). Need to mix the soup and cream cheese with my hand mixer, then stir in mushrooms. We love mushrooms, so next time maybe add two cans. Really good! Oh, and I took the whole breasts out and chipped them up, easier to eat and makes the dish go a little further too! 🙂

I just realized that my blog buddy Susie tagged me with this meme. Thanks Susie!

Preface: Memes that revolve around memories are tough for me! If you’ve read my blog before, you might have picked up on the fact that not only do I have a terrible memory, I remember almost nothing from my childhood. Before age 18, I have almost no memory of my life, and very little before I met my husband. It’s like my life started over when I fell in love with Tim. However, in the spirit of doing this lovely meme, I’ve put a lot of thought into it and come up with this…. 🙂

1. Favorite memory of your mother? One strong memory I have of my mom is that she worked crossword puzzles every morning. She used to sit at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the paper, and work the crossword and the jumble. And of course, she was smoking. My mom smoked all her life and it ended up taking her life. Other fond snippets of memories I have are that she always cooked for us, we rarely ate out. I never remember going to a restaurant, not even on birthdays or special days, we ate at home all the time. I realize now that I’m older what a good thing this was, and a gift she gave to me. I think my love of cooking comes from that. Also, I have memories of watching certain shows on TV with my mom. We used to watch “The Love Boat” and my dad would not watch it with us! She loved “Wheel of Fortune” too, and we’d watch that, and try to compete to get the puzzles first.

2. Favorite memory of your father? My dad used to love to work outside in the yard in the house I grew up in. He had this beautiful rose garden out front, and he tended those roses and they were just gorgeous. I used to come home and my mom would have cut me a rose and put it in a vase in my room. My dad also would plant vegetables, although I don’t remember much about those. But the big thing was the yard, my dad took wonderful care of the grass. Our front yard looked like a golf course. He was very particular about how it was cut and cared for. It was a HUGE deal when he finally let me ride the riding mower and cut the grass. I can remember being excited that I was finally going to get to cut the grass! I remember one time I came down at too sharp of an angle on one little rise in the yard and scalped his grass in one spot, and he was NOT a happy camper! But, he loved working outside and still does. He is 83 and just now, in the last couple of months, has given in and gotten a “yard man” to come cut his grass.

3. What one skill would you like to wake up tomorrow and be able to do (though you’d never learned it)? Wow, another tough one! When I was growing up, I wanted to be a pilot, so I guess I’d love to be able to wake up tomorrow and fly an airplane. Or the space shuttle, or the Starship Enterprise 😀 Another thing I’d love to wake up and be able to do is play the piano or play an acoustic guitar. Then, I’d have something to cover up my terrible singing voice 😆

4. Which one of your dreams has come true? That I found someone to love, who loves me. Tim is a gift from God, he’s my soul mate. When I met him, I realized what I had been looking for all of my life. My heart felt whole and that’s because I realized he had been carrying around half of my heart with him, and when I found him, I felt like I’d found my other half.

OK, I’m going to tag my sisters (Gail and Suzanne), and my blog buddies Cam and Trista

More questions from our fellow participants! Have fun, and if you don’t see YOUR question posted, please be patient; it’ll show up soon! Thanks to all of you for playing! =)

1. From amanda f:
What do you do when somebody complements you?
a. Smile and say Thanks
b. Ignore it and change the subject
c. Complement them back
d. Turn red in embarrasment at the attention and look around to see other people’s reaction
e. Take it as your due!

How about (f), none of the above. I have this terrible habit of contradicting them. Like Tim will say “you look nice” and I’ll say “No, I don’t, I look fat” 🙄 I do try to smile and say thanks, but more often that not, I come back with a negative. It’s that low self-esteem rearing its ugly head 😀

2. From shelly:
What color are your eyes? Green

3. From kia:
What do you like most about yourself? I like that I’m structured and a good planner

4. From julie:
How do you spend Christmas? We go from pillar to post, visiting both sides of the family.

5. From wide imagination:
When do you normally blog? Day or night? Normally in the mornings. Weekdays are easier, the weekends get really busy and I usually don’t have a lot of time to blog

6. From rach:
What song can you relate to your personal life? Share a line or two of that song. Well, I’m going to cheat, as I’ve posted these lyrics before to another meme (maybe this one???). It’s from a song by country singer Brad Paisley, called “She’s Everything”. When I hear it, I think he’s probably singing it to his wife, and I always hear Tim singing it to me. He sings about all the things she is, good and bad, and then sings the chorus, which is that she’s everything to me. That’s the way I feel about Tim and that’s the way he feels about me. 🙂 Here’s a couple of lines:

She’s “I want a piece of chocolate�
“Take me to a movie�
She’s “I can’t find a thing to wear�
Now and then she’s moody

then the chorus…
She’s everything that I ever wanted
And everything I need
When I talk about her I go on and on and on
Cause she is everything to me

7. From sherle:
What is your favorite color for a sleeping environment? Something soothing like light green or light blue, I guess. Not that our bedroom is that color!

I saw this at Stephanie‘s blog and liked it, so I thought I’d be pushy and invite myself to play along! 🙂

1. If you make sweet tea, do you use Luzianne, Lipton or _______ whatever your brand is? We’re a Lipton family here. I buy regular black tea bags and I recently bought a bag of green tea bags to try. For herbal teas, I either buy Lipton or Celestial Seasonings (have Red Zinger right now)

2. What brand of toilet paper do you buy, and is it the larger rolls or regular? I buy the big mega-pack at Sam’s of Quilted Northern. 🙂

3. Which brand of bath soap do you use? Is it body wash or bar style? For both of us, I buy Lever 2000 body wash. Then, I have some scented stuff I use from time to time, from Bath and Body Works. Right now, it’s Cherry Blossom and in the winter, it’s usually Warm Vanilla Sugar.

4. Which cereal do you buy for yourself? Wow. We’re definitely cereal people. I probably buy at least 6 boxes a month for the two of us. We both eat Raisin Bran Crunch, I eat several of the Cheerios (plain, yogurt burst, both vanilla and strawberry, and I just bought the fruit ones), and then we also usually have either Special K or Corn Flakes on hand. I also keep granola on hand too, for cereal, topping or munching. 😀

5. What brand of dishwasher detergent do you use and is it liquid or tablets? Again, I go with what I buy in large quantity at Sam’s. For years, that has been Cascade gel. My mother-in-law swears by the tablets, but I haven’t tried them yet.

6. What is your favorite fruit to eat? Toughie. I love fruit and Tim won’t touch it with a ten foot pole. I would probably pick strawberries or grapes for me, although there’s really no fruit I won’t eat. I love bananas, apples, kiwi, watermelon, grapefruit, cantaloupe, peaches, pears, plums, nectarines, etc.

7. Which brand of clothes detergent do you use? All Free & Clear. We both have sensitive skin and this one works best for us.

8. Do you like chocolate? Good grief, do I! If you’ve read my blog any, you should know the answer to that. I’m a total and complete chocoholic.

9. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right-handed, and very much so. I can’t do much of anything with my left hand.

10. Do you still write checks or use a debit card? Neither very often. Most everything goes on one credit card that we pay off every month, that earns us cash back. I only write about one or two checks a month and we rarely put anything on the debit card.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Good day to you! Again, questions right off the top of my head! Here goes…

1. How long have you been blogging? Since Feb 2005
2. How many times have you taken a break from blogging? None. I try to blog every day.
3. How long is the longest you’ve gone, so far, without posting on your blog? After Hurricane Katrina, we didn’t have power or Internet access for several days. That’s the longest I’ve gone. Only one other time I’ve missed posting, and that’s when we were out of town and didn’t have computer access from our hotel.
4. How many fellow bloggers do you keep in touch with, through your blogs, on a regular basis? Several, usually through emails
5. Have you ever met, in person, a blogger on your blogroll? None, unfortunately 🙁
6. How often do you update/change the ‘extra’ stuff on your blog? I constantly update the book info on my blog, as I read more books. I try to keep the “extra” stuff on my sidebar updated as needed (movies, TV shows, etc). I guess I need to be better at it, but honestly, some of it doesn’t change that much!
7. Do you think you’ll be blogging for years to come? I hope so!

Friday, September 08, 2006
Feast One Hundred & Ten

Appetizer
Name 3 things that you are wearing today. Jeans, t-shirt and tennis shoes!!!

Soup
Who was the last person you hugged? my husband, just a few minutes ago

Salad
What do you like to order from your favorite fast food place? Hmmm, from Sonic, either a regular hamburger, fries and Cherry Limeade or if I’m being good, a grilled chicken sandwich, tots and Diet Cherry Limeade!

Main Course
What time of day do you usually feel most energized? Late morning

Dessert
Using the letters in your first name, write a sentence. (Example: Sweet unusual spaniels are nice.) So Talk About Cats, Yes? {Boy, I really suck at these sentence things!}

P.S. I think the reason I came up with a sentence that contains a cat, is because when we woke up this morning – we had a cat trapped in our live animal trap outside! We’ve been using it to catch the coons and possums in our yard, eating our bird seed and squirrel food. Apparently, one of the neighborhood cats got curious about the corn, and went in the trap to check it out. Tim went to let her out this morning and you should have heard her crying and meowing! I know the whole neighborhood thought we were torturing a cat in our backyard!