Exceedingly Mundane

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

Well, last week my Thursday Thirteen post was a list of ideas to help my husband buy me a birthday present. My birthday was Wednesday, and it was a really great birthday. 😆 I got to see my sister and go shopping with her (thanks Gail!), and I bought myself a couple of little happies. And got a Maple Macchiato from Starbucks, yum 😀 Then, when I got home, my husband surprised me with a small chocolate cake, and a coffee table full of presents! He did really good, and got over half of the things on my list, which was way more than I expected!

So, as a combination birthday follow-up and Thursday Thirteen, here’s Thirteen Things I got for my Birthday:

1. On Tuesday, my husband gave me an early present from a new candy store that just opened up near our house. I blogged about it here – it’s some yummy chocolate nut fudge!

2. In the mail, I got a very sweet (from my in-laws) and a very funny (from my dad) birthday card, with money enclosed, to go spend on whatever I want 😀

3. From my sister Gail, who came and spent the afternoon with me and went shopping with me, I got some Bath and Body Works stuff:

4. While out shopping, I bought myself a red purse:

5. And a little happy, a new magazine (have never bought this RR one before, so I’m looking forward to checking it out!)

6. When I got in, Tim was standing in the kitchen, holding a little chocolate birthday cake, with the candle lit, singing Happy Birthday to me!

7. Then, he got a call on his cell phone, from a lady he had contacted… he called about a dog! We’re going to look at him on Friday, so maybe we’ll have a new member of the family soon!!!!

Then, I started opening presents…

Read the rest of this entry »

I wasn’t going to blog today, but then decided I would look and see what happened on this day in history. I looked at a couple of websites, and you know what? This is not a very exciting day in history! Not much happened, and not very many famous people were born today Oh well, you win some and you lose some!!

Here’s what I did find (Via the History Channel website):

1867 — U.S. takes possession of Alaska. On this day in 1867, the U.S. formally takes posession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than 2 cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiastically expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson

1767 — Mason-Dixon line drawn. On this day in 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete their survey of the boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland as well as areas that would eventually become the states of Delaware and West Virginia. The Penn and Calvert families had hired Mason and Dixon, English surveyors, to settle their dispute over the boundary between their two proprietary colonies, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

1469 — Ferdinand and Isabella marry. Ferdinand of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile in Valladolid, thus beginning a cooperative reign that would unite all the dominions of Spain and elevate the nation to a dominant world power. Ferdinand and Isabella incorporated a number of independent Spanish dominions into their kingdom and in 1478 introduced the Spanish Inquisition, a powerful and brutal force of homogenization in Spanish society. In 1492, the reconquest of Granada from the Moors was completed, and the crown ordered all Spanish Jews to convert to Christianity or face expulsion from Spain. Four years later, Spanish Muslims were handed a similar order.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer sponsored by Isabella and Ferdinand, discovered the New World for Europe and claimed the rich, unspoiled territory for Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella’s subsequent decision to encourage vigorous colonial activity in the Americas led to a period of great prosperity and imperial supremacy for Spain.

And notable people sharing my birthday include:

1961 Wynton Marsalis – trumpeter, bandleader
1960 Jean Claude Van Damme – actor
1951 Pam Dawber – actress (Mork & Mindy)
1939 Mike Ditka – football player, coach, sportscaster
1928 Keith Jackson – sportscaster
1927 George C. Scott – actor (Oscar® winner, 1970)
1926 Chuck Berry – singer, guitarist
1919 Pierre Trudeau – Canadian Prime Minister (1968-79)

Tim came in from work and said he’d been shopping. He wanted to give me one of my birthday presents early, so he made me pick a hand (he always does that, hides both hands behind his back and makes me pick the right one :D).

He found the new candy shop that I posted about last week (#4 in this list) and brought me some chocolate fudge!

Does the man know the way to my heart, or what?! 😆

Ok, first, let’s pretend you all like flavored coffee drinks. {I know, a lot of you don’t and I didn’t drink them until just recently.} Then, let’s pretend that we can all afford to splurge on donuts. I have donuts like once or twice a year, and I immediately regret it after I see them going directly to my thighs.

I digress.

If you were going to have a flavored coffee, what would you have? I had a Maple Macchiato the other day at Starbucks and it was good. Should I get another one tomorrow to celebrate? Or, should I swing by Seattle Drip and try one of theirs? Do you have another coffee drink to recommend?

And I probably won’t splurge on the donuts, but I do like thinking about it! I love and adore Krispy Kreme donuts. And I’m trying to decide between my normal favorite (blueberry cake) and their featured donut of the moment – pumpkin spice.

So, please pick for me. I have to leave early in the morning to get my hair cut, but I might swing by and get a celebratory donut and coffee. What would you get?

It’s dreary and raining here today, even though it’s not very chilly. It’s in the 70’s this afternoon, but it has been drizzling and raining here off and on all day. I already had stew planned for today’s menu, but it worked out really well with the weather. Now that fall and winter are upon us, I’m going to try to make soup once a week. Normally, I will try to make soup on Thursdays, to go along with the homemade bread that I make then also. Nothing like homemade soup with hot bread fresh out of the oven (slathered in butter, of course). But, this week, I’m going to “let” Tim grill me a steak on Thursday. My birthday is Wednesday, but he has to weigh in at the office on his weight loss group on Thursday mornings, so I don’t want to sabotage his hard work by overindulging on Wednesday night. I’ll gladly wait until Thursday to eat a big juicy ribeye 😀

So, we’re having beef stew tonight… can’t wait! We’ll be watching the football game too. We were watching 7th Heaven, but they moved the darn thing to Sunday nights. Can’t watch it then, we have Amazing Race on, and another game too. Football is very important, you know 😆

As always, the wonderful Laura over at OrgJunkie has this great menu-planning meme. I love planning menus, love checking out others, and love seeing ideas and recipes. Be sure to go check out Laura’s blog, as well as all of the other yummy menus that everyone is posting!

OK, here’s what is planned for this week… gonna be an easy one with my birthday, less cooking for me!

Monday – Stacy’s Beef Stew, homemade bread

Tuesday – Slow Cooker Thai Chicken over whole wheat spaghetti noodles, stir fry veggies, salad (Didn’t get to this last week, and I want to make it, it’s so good!)

Wednesday – Stacy’s Birthday, but also Light Night before Tim weighs in. Tomato Soup and grilled cheese

Thursday – Ribeye Steaks, baked potato, salad, homemade bread

Friday – Date Night / Birthday Celebration… Stacy gets to pick (and I pick Fratesi’s, a local Italian place). I’ll have salad, garlic bread with olive oil to dip it in, probably an eggplant parmesan or some kind of pasta, and Tiramisu for dessert. Yippee!!

Saturday – TBD

Sunday – Game Day Food — this week, bratwurst with sauerkraut, chips

Yes, we are beyond excited in our house Tim’s beloved Saints are now 5-1 so far this season. We are amazed, excited, and generally in a state of shock that our Saints have posted that kind of record so far. It’s awesome though! We’re just not used to it!!!

Go Saints!!!

Who would have thought that the gentleman’s game of golf could be considered a contact sport? Football, yes. Hockey, yes. But golf? It’s not supposed to be!!!

But leave it to my Tim to make it a contact sport. He was hitting balls late Friday evening and one popped back out from his net in our backyard and smacked him in the eye. He now has a really pretty purple eye to show for it. I wanted to take pictures to post, and I got him to let me take just two, and they both came out blurry. But, since he wouldn’t let me take anymore, I decided to post them anyway!

Golf can be dangerous. Very, very dangerous:

Busy, busy around here. Haven’t had a moment to blog

I was gone all day Friday. Had lunch and went shopping with a friend of mine (thanks Wendy, we’ll have to do it again soon!), went grocery shopping, then Tim and I went to a movie with Don and Gail last night. We went to see “Facing the Giants” and it was a very good movie. Not top rate acting, but a good story and a good message. This morning, Tim and I went and got mums and pumpkins for the front yard and got all of that setup. Then, he left to go play golf out of town with Don, so I went back shopping again 🙂 Had to return a couple of things I bought yesterday, then I picked up a couple more things while I was out. Also bought some pansies, but just for a couple of pots on my deck. The big planting of all the outside flower beds will have to wait another week or two.

So, up until an hour or so ago, I’ve been gone almost round the clock, and no time to blog, nor respond to all the nice comments I’ve had over the last couple of days. I hope to make the rounds later today or tomorrow, and visit some of my favorite blogs, and answer some emails as well. Funny how it piles up sometimes!

I also went to the library Friday and have new books up on my sidebar. I’m still working on my Fall Challenge reading list. I’ve now read 5 of 11, and have 3 more from the library to read next. Also, I seem to be in a book-buying mood, and with my birthday coming up, I hope to have a little money to go buy some new books at the bookstore with. Yippee!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend…

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.

Thirteen Ideas to help my husband buy my Birthday Gift

My birthday is next week, and I thought I would help my husband out by giving him some ideas of what he could get me for my birthday. I have started giving him a list (I refused the first few years we were married, I made him suffer through it all alone!!!), and I think it helps him out. I know I like to get stuff I want or need. I like surprises too, but it’s always nice to get things you’ve been lusting after!

1. Jewelry is always good
2. Yankee Candles are even better, two are twice as good! (He got these for my birthday last year, went in and smelled them and picked out the ones he liked best, I LOVED that!)
3. anything from Bath and Body Works
4. Godiva chocolates, or chocolates from a new candy store that just opened right by our house
5. an iTunes gift card so I can get more new music for my iPod
6. any book from my Amazon wish list; books are always a huge hit with me
7. any cookbook from my Amazon wish list; I love cookbooks!
8. a docking/speaker system for my Ipod, for my nightstand
9. any Life is Good t-shirt or sweatshirt (size Medium), or lounge pants for winter
10. another Life is Good mug; I love mine!
11. gift card to Borders, so I can buy my own books!
12. any of the “chick flicks” on my Amazon wish list
13. a new dog, canine companions make wonderful birthday presents — don’t you think?!