Front Door is Open, Come on In

Today.

Friends. Food. Arch Madness. Bloodies. Mimosas. Poker. Pants with elastic waistbands. 

The perfect ingredients for Sunday funday before those weekend party pants are hung up and the start of a new week. 

This is how it went down: 

Great friends

Ken is ready for St. Patricks Day.

Omelets, homemade hashbrowns, bacon and cinnibun cake.

Biscuits and gravy.

Oscar-happy to have the couch to himself.

Stop for a little business.

Back to poker business.

 With the time change and a full day (and stomach) this girl is ready to go to bed. Thanks to the Lord for a beautiful day, great friends that are like family, a UNI win and positive thoughts for a brand new week. 

Melody
xoxo
It's a great day to be alive, make it a great day!

----
Grandma Becker's entry March 8, 1990
Wonderful rain stopped at 8:30AM. Hair at 9-Gerald to Aplington at 10:45. Home early, small sale. Not doing much today. Quite foggy. Charles here for a few minutes in Eve. Talked to Naomi and Dorothy. 

Pinterest Fail = A Keeper

Pinterest Fail.


Turned into a "keeper". 

When does a recipe for Philly Cheesesteaks turn into Fajita's in a Blanket? 
When you come to my house.

If you're interested, here's my Pinterest fail: 
(kids will love this)

Fajita's in a Blanket

Ingredients:

1 lb. sirloin steak strips for stir fry, roughly cut into cubes
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 Tablespoons Worcester Sauce
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder (or to taste)
  Italian Mix shredded cheese
                                                                                      2 cans of Crescent Rolls

What to do:

Heat olive oil and add cubed steak, season with salt and pepper.

When almost done, add the chopped onion, green and red pepper, along with the Worcester Sauce. Add garlic powder. Stir fry until veggies are almost fork tender. When done, open the crescent rolls and divide into the triangles. On the wider end, put cheese on first, next adding roughly a couple spoonfuls of the steak mixture. Roll up towards the end and put on an ungreased baking sheet. Finish all, and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes or until the roll is done to the touch. As soon as they are cool to the touch, go ahead and serve.

If you want to be really fancy, brush the crescent rolls with a beaten egg white before baking. I didn't do this just because I wasn't feeling the whole fancy thing tonight. I also used an Italian cheese mixture, but Mexican might be a tad better. You can decide.

Hope you like!

On another note, we are two weeks out from drinking green beer and acting all Irish. This is what happened at my nail appointment today:

Gettin' my "Shamrock" on. Whatever that means :)

Melody
xoxo

It's a great day to be alive, make it a great day!

Grandma Becker's entry for March 3, 1990
"A bit cooler but still a beautiful day. Gerald gone an hour-looked at Heifers but didnt buy them. DeAnn and Byron came at 9:30 with their washing. Here for dinner and sure enjoyed them. Wis & Ind game- Wis won. Groceries, Walgreens and HyVee. Tired when we got home. Helen Utsler called."

Give Chicken a Chance

It was just as good tonight as it was last night.

Of course I'm talking about leftovers. You need to check yourself and get your mind out of the gutter. Or not. But what you should do if you like chicken is try this recipe. It's a little time consuming, but worth every passing minute. The caramelized sauce pairs very well with the chicken and it's as if you might want to eat it for dessert. This will be on our dinner table again and the only thing I might change is too make more of the sauce. Because I wanted to lick the plate and it was gone.

Caramel Chicken

Ingredients

Servings: 4

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2½ pounds skin-on, bone-in chicken legs and thighs
• Kosher salt
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• ⅓ cup (packed) light brown sugar
• ¼ cup (or more) unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 slices ¼"-thick slices peeled ginger
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• Cooked white rice (for serving)

 Here's the Directions:

• Heat oil in a large wide heavy pot over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and, working in 2 batches, cook until golden brown and crisp, 6–8 minutes per side; transfer to a plate. Add garlic to pot and cook, stirring often, until golden, about 2 minutes; transfer to plate with chicken. Pour off fat from pot.
• Return pot to medium-high heat and add ½ cup water, scraping up browned bits. Add brown sugar; stir to dissolve, then cook, stirring, until mixture thickens and turns a deep amber color, about 4 minutes. Carefully add vinegar (it may bubble up; sugar will crystallize); stir to dissolve sugar.
• Add ginger, broth, and soy sauce, then add chicken, skin side up, and garlic. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer gently until chicken is cooked through, 20–25 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate.
• Bring cooking liquid to a boil and cook until thick enough to coat a spoon, about 10 minutes. Return chicken to pot; turn to coat. Top with scallions and serve with rice.

Thank you Bon Appetit (http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/caramel-chicken) where I came across the recipe.

We had mashed potatoes instead of the rice which was the bomb.com. Oh, and I decorated the mashed potatoes with a few of the scallions that were left over from the chick. Oh my. OH MY. Why haven't I done that before? This meal was a little slice of heaven.

And still delicious the night after.   

It is. Trust me.  And one more thing...you can freeze ginger. I never knew.

It's a great day to be alive, make it a great day!

Melody
xoxo
--------
Grandma Becker's entry for March 2, 1990
"Beautiful, beautiful day. Cleaned bathroom and washed couple loads-got dinner and then - why should I be so weary. Quite windy. Esther Sch. called-Earl a little better. Jim, Helen in Iowa City. Went to see Helen-Elda & Helen Peters on there too. Tired when came home. Ice cream cone at Hardees. It was our supper. Watched U.S.A. Miss Michigan won".