Sunday, September 25, 2016

Sunday, September 25, 2016

What the Beck???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!

Recipe Review   NOT A PIONEER WOMAN RECIPE!!

Today’s Recipe and Location: Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

Found in: http://damndelicious.net/2016/01/03/chicken-bacon-ranch-casserole/

I figured out that there are 415 calories, if 8 servings are made or 368 calories of 9 servings are made. (Please note that the calorie counts vary depending on the specific brands of ingredients that you choose to use.)

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this casserole.  I was looking through Pinterest and found this recipe.  It called to me. It is creamy and so flippin’ good.  I do love a great Alfredo sauce and the chicken, bacon, and ranch make this one great.  How can any recipe go wrong when it includes three cheeses?

These are the ingredients that I used to create this recipe

I began by melting the butter

I made the alfredo sauce with butter, garlic, heavy 

cream, and Parmesan cheese.  Quite fabulous!!

Just set it aside now.

In order to season the meat, I cut it into chunks,

and put it in a Zip-Loc bag.

I added in the olive oil

and the Ranch seasoning and Salad dressing mix

I mushed the bag around to coat the chicken.

Is mushed a word?  Mush has to do with dogs - not chickens,

or some kind of oatmeal like stuff, I think. Oh well....

Time to fry up the chicken!

Cook thoroughly on one side, and 

try to flip it only once so it is all cooked.

The pasta was a cookin'

The sauce was ready to go.

Chicken's done!

This will be a layered casserole.

First, in went the pasta.

Then the chicken was put on next.

Yum!  Yum!  On went the Alfredo sauce.

The bacon was sprinkled on now.

and the cheddar cheese

and mozzarella cheese.

Fresh out of the oven.  I so, want a bite right now!

The final ingredient was to add fresh parsley from my deck

I was thrilled that it made so many servings. 

In the freezer they went.

Heavenly delight!!!

Friday, September 23, 2016

Friday, September 23, 2016

What the Beck???

Recipe Review

Today’s Recipe and Location: Best Green Beans Ever

Found in: The Pioneer Woman blog

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/the-best-green-beans-ever-recipe.html

I figured out that there are 80 calories, if 6 servings are made. (Please note that the calorie counts vary depending on the specific brands of ingredients that you choose to use.)

I liked these beans a lot. In order for me to call them the best green beans ever, I would want to add chopped up pieces of bacon and maybe half the bacon grease.

These are the ingredients that I used to create this recipe.

I began by browning the bacon, and putting it aside for my next recipe, since I just needed the grease. 

I chopped up the red bell pepper

I measured out the bacon grease

The onions are chopped and ready to go

I began the cooking by cooking the onion and garlic. 

I added in the green beans, and cooked 

them until they tuned bright green

Now, in went the red pepper, chicken broth, salt, and pepper.

I cooked the beans until they were soft, but a little crisp. 

I needed the broth to evaporate.

The final dish was quite good.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

What the Beck???

Recipe Review

Today’s Recipe and Location: Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Loaf

Found in: The Pioneer Woman blog

http://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/chocolate-chunk-zucchini-loaf/

A lot of the newer recipes on Ree’s blog are from her followers. This one is from someone named Jessica. 

I figured out that there are 637 calories, if 6 servings are made. (Please note that the calorie counts vary depending on the specific brands of ingredients that you choose to use.)

I really loved this recipe.  I actually made it twice. The second time I adjusted how much of the dark chocolate I put in the recipe. There was not a lot of taste difference, so in the future I will only use 4 oz. instead of eight. This is one bread that I will definitely make again.

These are the ingredients that I used to create this recipe. 

 I began by shredding the zucchini with the skin on the veggie.

Zucchini has a lot of water in it, 

so the recipe said to pat it dry before using it.

I then, set it aside.

My Lord, my hand looks old!!! Yikes!!!

 Now, on to the dry ingredients.

I began with the flour...

 and the cocoa powder

and finally the baking soda, powder, and salt. 

 I whisked the dry ingredients all together,

and then set this aside, too.

My thumb looks pretty good -

can I just photograph that digit??

I'm becoming obsessed. YIKES!!!

The recipe said to get out a large bowl for the wet ingredients,

and this is one of my favorites.

I purchased this one from my friend, Bill Felt.

He was a gifted potter, and I have a lot of his pottery.

 The wet ingredients begin with the eggs

 and the brown sugar.

 I whisked these two together with my "little bitty whisk".

It is so great, because it never makes a mess.

 I added in the butter.  

Why oh why did I turn the camera???

OMG - my thumb now looks like a Shar-Pei 

(a Chinese wrinkled dog)

In went the vegetable oil,

and the vanilla extract.

I am still trying to use up what I have,

so I can switch to the vanilla paste.

It is now time to mix the wet and dry together.

The recipe said to just mix it until it comes together.

Don't overmix!!  I am learning.

I love the color of the zucchini!

Mix it up!

I chopped the dark chocolate into chunks.

One last quick mix.

I spooned it into the pre-sprayed loaf pan.

The top is smoothed, so it is beautious!  

Okay, beautiful for those proper people.

The final yummy product

Monday, September 19, 2016

Monday, September 19, 2016

What the Beck???

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

                                          Eleanor Roosevelt

I am really going to embrace this quote and remember to enjoy each day and each new challenge that is out there for me.

       I was reading Real Simple Magazine in September of this year when I saw my birth year on the Simple List.  Do you know what childrens' toy was invented in 1956??  Play-Doh!! 

       Now, I was never a big Play-Doh fan, since to me it was a messy substance. I thought it was interesting that it was originally used to clean wallpaper.  What?????

       Apparently, the maker listened to a preschool teacher, who was a relative, who suggested he add color, take out the soap, add fragrance, and make it a kids' toy. The brilliance of a teacher should never be underestimated. Of course, I am a bit bias, ya think??

       I was cleaning off my desk yesterday, and I found a clipping from May of 2016 that said that Alan Young had died. For some reason, that made me really sad. Do you remember who he was??? Hint:  he was the original horse whisperer. Okay, that is a little out there – he played Wilbur on Mister Ed.

I always thought that it was a dumb show, but of course we watched it. We never for a minute believed a horse could talk, but that was T.V. in the 1960s.

       I’m ending today with a Bible quote:

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, because in due time we will harvest.”

Sometimes life can get us down, and we tire of doing something for everyone else, but by doing so, we truly enrich our own lives. I believe that God blesses those who help others.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Saturday, September 17, 2016

What the Beck???

I spent this week in Kentucky, so I am
sorry that I missed posting a few days.
KY updates coming soon.

Bucket List Update

Academy Award Nominated Movies

1951     Quo Vadis                          

starring:  Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, Peter Ustinov       plot –    Taylor plays a military leader who discovers Christianity in                  Rome. He falls for Kerr, but she doubts it will work out.                Emperor Nero blames the Christians for his own failings                and choices.         

I had never even heard of this movie, but after watching it, I feel like I knew a lot about it from snippets of other movies. It was long but okay.

1966     The Russians are Coming…the Russians are Coming       starring:  Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner, Brian Keith, Eva Marie Saint,                          Jonathan Winters, Theodore Bikel, John Philip Law      plot –     A Soviet sub is grounded off the New England coast. The                     crew pretended to be Norwegians to get local help.      

I am so surprised that this silliness was nominated for an Academy Award. I loved all of the familiar characters, but it is so unbelievable, which is where the comedy comes in. Of course, it lost out to A Man for all Seasons.

1971     Fiddler on the Roof                          

starring:  Haim Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul                   Mann, Paul Michael Glaser

plot –      A poor Jewish man works on marrying off his three                     daughters. Many of the townspeople are beginning to have              anti-Sematic feelings.        

This is such a wonderful musical. I only saw the play, but never the original movie. I sang and danced through the movie and loved every minute of it.  If you haven’t seen this movie in awhile, it is worth a quick trip to the library to check it out!!!

1986     Children of a Lesser God                 

starring:  William Hurt, Marlee Matlin, Piper Laurie, Philip Bosco,                       Allison Gompf

plot –     Hurt plays a speech teacher at a private school. He falls for                   Matlin, an angry graduate who now cleans the school. 

                Hurt teaches deaf children to speak. She wants nothing                 to do with it, but she ends of falling for him,        

I really liked this movie. Matlin is an amazing actress. I truly felt her anger and loved Hurt’s incredible patience. This is a wonderful film to help people learn about and accept people’s difference.

1992     Unforgiven                          

starring:  Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and                         Richard Harris.        

plot –     Eastwood plays Mundy, who was once a gunfighter. He comes                 out of “retirement” to compete against Harris. The                       winner will receive a reward for committing a                             murder.        

I loved this movie!  First of all, I love most movies that star Morgan Freeman. Eastwood and Hackman were also fabulous in this movie.

1953     Julius Caesar                 

starring:  John Gielgud, Louis Colhern, Greer Garson, Marlon Brando,                   James Mason, Deborah Kerr

plot –     The Shakespearean story of the eventual death of Caesar              after his greed becomes greater than his love for his              country.        

Lord help me. Once again, another Shakespeare movie. This one had terrible casting. Who ever thought that Marlon Brando should star in this one was just not even thinking!  Yikes!!!

2005     Munich                          

starring:  Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Claran Hinds, Mathieu Kassoritz

plot –     The story of the revenge killings for the Olympic deaths                      of Black September in Germany.        

I was glad to learn the whole story of what happened at the Olympics, but it was pretty rough for me. I really don’t like to watch extreme violence, and I have such a hard time understanding how and why Middle Eastern countries are always at war, and never can figure out a peace that they can all live with in the future.

2007     Juno                          

starring:  Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman,                     Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons

plot – A pregnant teen has to make a difficult decision as to what to do             with her unborn baby.        

I loved this movie. The acting was wonderful and unfortunately, the problem is real for two many teenagers. I love J.K. Simmons who played the laid back Dad of the pregnant teen.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Monday, September 12, 2016

What the Beck???

Recipe Review

Today’s Recipe and Location: Spaghetti Pie

Found in: The Pioneer Woman blog

http://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/spaghetti-pie/?printable_recipe=86907

I figured out that there are 184 calories,  if 12 servings are made. (Please note that the calorie counts vary depending on the specific brands of ingredients that you choose to use.)

This was good, but I discovered that I am not a big fan of whole wheat spaghetti. I also would have liked this better with ground beef and/or sausage. I do love ground turkey, but this was a little bland to me.

Here are the ingredients that I used to create this recipe. 

 I began by heating the ground turkey in the olive oil.

I had already chopped the onion and carrots. 

 I had already cooked the whole wheat pasta until 

al dente, and rinsed it with cold water.

I then, added the pasta to the whisked eggs and cheese.

(I forgot to take a picture of that)

As the turkey was cooking, I added in the onion and carrots.

 Once the turkey, carrots, and onion were cooked, 

I added in the crushed tomatoes, and the spices.

Here should be a photo of me arranging the noodles in

the bottom of a pie plate (like a crust)

and here, should be a photo of me 

pouring in the meat mixture 

and then here should be a photo of me 

adding the Mozarrella cheese on top.

Good Lord, I was a mess when I was

making this dish!

What a dope!!

 The final product!!

Into the oven and it will be ready in 

half an hour.