I like to post this on Thanksgiving. I am sure many of you have seen it before. It's not my story.
One year at Thanksgiving, my mom went to my sister's house for the traditional feast. Knowing how gullible my sister is, my mom decided to play a trick. She told my sister that she needed something from the store. When my sister left, my mom took the turkey out of the oven. She removed the stuffing, stuffed a Cornish hen, inserted it into the turkey, and re-stuffed the turkey. She then placed the bird(s) back in the oven.
When it was time for dinner, my sister pulled the turkey out of the oven and proceeded to remove the stuffing. When her serving spoon hit something, she reached in and pulled out the little bird.
With a look of total shock on her face, my mother exclaimed, "Patricia, You've cooked a pregnant bird!"
At the reality of this horrifying news, my sister started to cry. It took the family two hours to convince her that turkeys lay eggs!
Yep, you got it....
SHE'S BLONDE!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Ironic Chef #18,
I didn't post the featured item in the title this week for a reason. This week I want to have a Thanks Giving Theme and The themed ingredient is questionable. To word this right, is it Stuffing or is it Dressing?
My favorite part of the Thanks Giving meal is just that. Growing up we would have stuffing which came out of the bird but with a family of 9 no bird could hold enough stuffing to please that many mouths or the guest that were always there for the holiday. So on the side we had what to my recollection was called dressing.
The dressing was made like a stuffing but for some reason it had a few eggs mixed into it before it was baked. The eggs in my opinion were used to keep the stuffing together in a cake like form so that when being served it was cut into squares. It was very moist and delicious. I am wondering if anyone else has ever had dressing or a stuffing made in this manner.
I am looking forwards to seeing some of your families favorite stuffing recipes. I know that stove top hasn't ruined home made stuffing making yet. It my be nice for a quick chicken week night dish but no way can it be taking over Thanks Giving Yet.
My In The Bird Stuffing
Ingredients
8 cups of bread crumbs
4 celery sticks diced
2 large onion minced
1 carrot diced
1 stick of salted butter
1 1/2 cups of stock made from giblets and neck
1 teaspoon of bells Poultry seasoning
Lots of pepper and salt to taste
Directions
Really simple, I just saute the vegetables in the butter, add the bread crumbs that have sat on a broiler pan in the oven at 200 degrees until they are dry, add the stock and seasonings and then shove everything into the bird until it wont take any more. Stuff it loosely, no way, lol. The rest I throw into a casserole dish with a beaten egg or two mixed in .
Corn Bread and Cranberry Stuffing
Ingredients
1 loaf of MY CORNBREAD cubed
3 Sticks of celery diced.
1 Onion minced
1 Carrot grated
1 Stick of salted butter
1 bag of cranberries that have been cooked down with 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of orange juice, a pinch of salt and a small handful of crushed walnuts.
1 1/4 cups of turkey stock made with the parts from the goody bag.
1/2 teaspoon of Bells Poultry Seasoning
salt and pepper to taste.
Directions
As with the regular stuffing, saute the vegetables in the butter. Mix the rest of the ingredients with the vegetables and butter. And stuff the bird.
If someone does by chance have a favorite Thanksgiving recipe that they would like to share please do. I would love to see a nice southern sweet potato casserole recipe.
My favorite part of the Thanks Giving meal is just that. Growing up we would have stuffing which came out of the bird but with a family of 9 no bird could hold enough stuffing to please that many mouths or the guest that were always there for the holiday. So on the side we had what to my recollection was called dressing.
The dressing was made like a stuffing but for some reason it had a few eggs mixed into it before it was baked. The eggs in my opinion were used to keep the stuffing together in a cake like form so that when being served it was cut into squares. It was very moist and delicious. I am wondering if anyone else has ever had dressing or a stuffing made in this manner.
I am looking forwards to seeing some of your families favorite stuffing recipes. I know that stove top hasn't ruined home made stuffing making yet. It my be nice for a quick chicken week night dish but no way can it be taking over Thanks Giving Yet.
My In The Bird Stuffing
Ingredients
8 cups of bread crumbs
4 celery sticks diced
2 large onion minced
1 carrot diced
1 stick of salted butter
1 1/2 cups of stock made from giblets and neck
1 teaspoon of bells Poultry seasoning
Lots of pepper and salt to taste
Directions
Really simple, I just saute the vegetables in the butter, add the bread crumbs that have sat on a broiler pan in the oven at 200 degrees until they are dry, add the stock and seasonings and then shove everything into the bird until it wont take any more. Stuff it loosely, no way, lol. The rest I throw into a casserole dish with a beaten egg or two mixed in .
Corn Bread and Cranberry Stuffing
Ingredients
1 loaf of MY CORNBREAD cubed
3 Sticks of celery diced.
1 Onion minced
1 Carrot grated
1 Stick of salted butter
1 bag of cranberries that have been cooked down with 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of orange juice, a pinch of salt and a small handful of crushed walnuts.
1 1/4 cups of turkey stock made with the parts from the goody bag.
1/2 teaspoon of Bells Poultry Seasoning
salt and pepper to taste.
Directions
As with the regular stuffing, saute the vegetables in the butter. Mix the rest of the ingredients with the vegetables and butter. And stuff the bird.
If someone does by chance have a favorite Thanksgiving recipe that they would like to share please do. I would love to see a nice southern sweet potato casserole recipe.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Ironic Chef #17, Cabbage
Recently Bonnie did a blog on a cabbage soup so I figured that cabbage would be a good ingredient to use for this weeks Ironic Chef.
For those of you that are new friends since I have come over to Multiply, The Ironic Chef Weekends are Blogs used for everyone that would like to participate and share recipes on a themed ingredient. We have built a very nice recipe collection this way and if you are looking for some excellent recipes for real home cooking , please just look at the blogs titled Ironic Chef.
Now I am sure that with the name Mac someone out there is thinking, "oh know, here comes a corn beef and cabbage recipe." Sorry to disappoint anyone but I am not a big fan of corned beef. I don't mind cabbage and potatoes but throwing the two into a pot of water and boiling them up together isn't much of a recipe.
This weekend I am going to share my stuffed cabbage recipe. It's a bit different and takes some time to make but very enjoyable as long as you don't mind a little sour.
Ingredients
1 head of cabbage that has been cored and boiled just until you can pull the leaves off. I usually remove the leaves as it sits in the water and when I get a leaf off it goes into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking.
5 medium sized potatoes, Peeled and let them sit in the water used to boil the cabbage that has been removed from the heat while everything else is prepped.
2 cups of a good quality sour kraut.
1 quart sized can of V8 juice, spicy V8 juice is really good for this too.
1 16 oz. can of diced tomatoes.
Filling for cabbages-
1 1/2 lbs of ground beef
1/2 cup of long grain white rice not cooked
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and mashed
1 large onion, minced
2 large eggs, mixed
salt and pepper to taste, heavy on the pepper.
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
Directions
Take one cabbage leaf at a time, with a parring knife try to remove as much of the thick part of the center vein in the leaf. This makes for easier rolling.
Mix the filling together. If it looks a little to wet add up to 1/4 cup of bread crumbs to it. You don't want it to dry.
Add about 1/2 cup of the filling to each cabbage roll. Roll the filling in the leaf as you would a burrito or an egg roll. try to keep it compact and don't worry if it's not a beautiful work of art.
As you fill the cabbages place them into a deep pot that has a lid. Pour a bit of the V8 juice into the bottom and then put a single layer of cabbages.
After the first layer of cabbages are in the pot it would be a good time to get those potatoes from the water and slice them to about 1/4" slices. Add a single layer of the potato slices over the layer of cabbages. Put about 1 third of the sour Kraut over the potatoes and then 1/3 of the diced tomatoes. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper and then start building another layer starting with the cabbages. Keep building the layers with the cabbages first, then the potatoes and then kraut and then the tomatoes until you have used up your cabbages. Pour the V8 juice over the cabbages. Bing the cabbages to a simmer over medium heat and then lower the heat to low and cover. Cook for about 2 hours.
I have done this in a crock pot but it has to go on low for at least 8 hours unless you want to cook your rice first. If you have a roaster pan for your oven that has a lid or want to cover it with tin foil so no moister escapes works well to. Just keep the temperature to about 350.
This stuffed cabbage dish has become a Christmas dish here. I made it one year and brought it for a Christmas dinner to go with a ham at the in-laws and it has been requested every year since. That is about 12 years now. Wow, time flies.
I hope everyone enjoys this recipe and later I will share my egg roll recipe. I am really looking forwards to seeing the recipes for cabbage this week.
For those of you that are new friends since I have come over to Multiply, The Ironic Chef Weekends are Blogs used for everyone that would like to participate and share recipes on a themed ingredient. We have built a very nice recipe collection this way and if you are looking for some excellent recipes for real home cooking , please just look at the blogs titled Ironic Chef.
Now I am sure that with the name Mac someone out there is thinking, "oh know, here comes a corn beef and cabbage recipe." Sorry to disappoint anyone but I am not a big fan of corned beef. I don't mind cabbage and potatoes but throwing the two into a pot of water and boiling them up together isn't much of a recipe.
This weekend I am going to share my stuffed cabbage recipe. It's a bit different and takes some time to make but very enjoyable as long as you don't mind a little sour.
Ingredients
1 head of cabbage that has been cored and boiled just until you can pull the leaves off. I usually remove the leaves as it sits in the water and when I get a leaf off it goes into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking.
5 medium sized potatoes, Peeled and let them sit in the water used to boil the cabbage that has been removed from the heat while everything else is prepped.
2 cups of a good quality sour kraut.
1 quart sized can of V8 juice, spicy V8 juice is really good for this too.
1 16 oz. can of diced tomatoes.
Filling for cabbages-
1 1/2 lbs of ground beef
1/2 cup of long grain white rice not cooked
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and mashed
1 large onion, minced
2 large eggs, mixed
salt and pepper to taste, heavy on the pepper.
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
Directions
Take one cabbage leaf at a time, with a parring knife try to remove as much of the thick part of the center vein in the leaf. This makes for easier rolling.
Mix the filling together. If it looks a little to wet add up to 1/4 cup of bread crumbs to it. You don't want it to dry.
Add about 1/2 cup of the filling to each cabbage roll. Roll the filling in the leaf as you would a burrito or an egg roll. try to keep it compact and don't worry if it's not a beautiful work of art.
As you fill the cabbages place them into a deep pot that has a lid. Pour a bit of the V8 juice into the bottom and then put a single layer of cabbages.
After the first layer of cabbages are in the pot it would be a good time to get those potatoes from the water and slice them to about 1/4" slices. Add a single layer of the potato slices over the layer of cabbages. Put about 1 third of the sour Kraut over the potatoes and then 1/3 of the diced tomatoes. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper and then start building another layer starting with the cabbages. Keep building the layers with the cabbages first, then the potatoes and then kraut and then the tomatoes until you have used up your cabbages. Pour the V8 juice over the cabbages. Bing the cabbages to a simmer over medium heat and then lower the heat to low and cover. Cook for about 2 hours.
I have done this in a crock pot but it has to go on low for at least 8 hours unless you want to cook your rice first. If you have a roaster pan for your oven that has a lid or want to cover it with tin foil so no moister escapes works well to. Just keep the temperature to about 350.
This stuffed cabbage dish has become a Christmas dish here. I made it one year and brought it for a Christmas dinner to go with a ham at the in-laws and it has been requested every year since. That is about 12 years now. Wow, time flies.
I hope everyone enjoys this recipe and later I will share my egg roll recipe. I am really looking forwards to seeing the recipes for cabbage this week.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
My $500.00 Truck
I figured a good test drive for the truck was my ride to work Monday. I would say it ran pretty good. I was surely impressed with the mileage it gets to the gallon of fuel. The exhaust sounds good now that I took care of putting a new muffler on it but it still has a few leaks that need to be taken care of on it. So far the truck has a total of 163 Mac miles on it.
Yesterday I went to work and the boss wants me to go back to that cabinet job because the hardware (knobs and handles) had arrived. Cool because I wanted to get more pictures now that the granite had been installed. So I headed towards that job. I was zipping along coming up a bridge going over some rail road tracks, traffic was slowed down a bit and I ended up coming to a stop. A dead stop. No nothing from the engine.
I was close to the top of the hill so I figured that since turning the key wasn't doing it then if I got it to the top of that hill going down the other side I would pop the clutch. So I pushed and I popped and I popped and it would not start. At the bottom of the hill was a major highway but just before the highway was a Mr. Good Wrench chevy dealer ship. I coasted the truck into the driveway with all the impatient drivers honking their horns from behind me. I pushed the truck through the parking lot of nice shiny new cars and trucks to a parking spot by their service bays. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't pouring rain and the speed bumps across the parking lot. I checked for every conceivable problem I could think of and found nothing. I'm thinking I had bought a lemon and had a seized engine or bad timing belt or something major like that.
When the shop finally opened I went in and asked for help. I was told that it would cost 95.00 for a diagnostic. I replied, "if all I need is a jump start, your going to charge me 95.00?" Hearing this they were nice enough to send someone out with a jumper box but it didn't do any good, lol...
They finally had a chance to get it into the shop about 5 hours later. I don't know what their diagnostic consisted of but I was told that the air compressor had seized. A knew one would cost 975.00. What were my other options, a 38.00 belt that didn't go around the compressor pulley. That was my option for a 500.00 truck.
The repair was finished about 25 minutes later. Total bill, 198.00. Ok, I Had just about spent what ever money I have to spare on a 500.00 truck, new exhaust, registration, plates and title. I have like a 150.00 left to my name. I am stranded about 70 miles from home and can't get my truck.
I called my wife to come and get me. The last thing I wanted to do.
The drive to my location was by taking 2 major highways and 1 street. 3 hours later, 6 phone calls to her cell phone, at one point she was so frustrated she literally screamed at me through the phone for a good 5 minutes. I had to take the phone from my ear, everyone in the store could her her screaming at me, lol. I'm standing there saying, "calm down, relax, just turn around and come back the other way. You just drove by the place". "She is screaming I can't turn *********************************************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************************************
around."
We finally made it home last night around 7:00. I did my civic duty and voted. Now I have to figure out how I am going to get my truck back to go to work or do I wait for payday. Hmmmmm, thats tomorrow.
Yesterday I went to work and the boss wants me to go back to that cabinet job because the hardware (knobs and handles) had arrived. Cool because I wanted to get more pictures now that the granite had been installed. So I headed towards that job. I was zipping along coming up a bridge going over some rail road tracks, traffic was slowed down a bit and I ended up coming to a stop. A dead stop. No nothing from the engine.
I was close to the top of the hill so I figured that since turning the key wasn't doing it then if I got it to the top of that hill going down the other side I would pop the clutch. So I pushed and I popped and I popped and it would not start. At the bottom of the hill was a major highway but just before the highway was a Mr. Good Wrench chevy dealer ship. I coasted the truck into the driveway with all the impatient drivers honking their horns from behind me. I pushed the truck through the parking lot of nice shiny new cars and trucks to a parking spot by their service bays. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't pouring rain and the speed bumps across the parking lot. I checked for every conceivable problem I could think of and found nothing. I'm thinking I had bought a lemon and had a seized engine or bad timing belt or something major like that.
When the shop finally opened I went in and asked for help. I was told that it would cost 95.00 for a diagnostic. I replied, "if all I need is a jump start, your going to charge me 95.00?" Hearing this they were nice enough to send someone out with a jumper box but it didn't do any good, lol...
They finally had a chance to get it into the shop about 5 hours later. I don't know what their diagnostic consisted of but I was told that the air compressor had seized. A knew one would cost 975.00. What were my other options, a 38.00 belt that didn't go around the compressor pulley. That was my option for a 500.00 truck.
The repair was finished about 25 minutes later. Total bill, 198.00. Ok, I Had just about spent what ever money I have to spare on a 500.00 truck, new exhaust, registration, plates and title. I have like a 150.00 left to my name. I am stranded about 70 miles from home and can't get my truck.
I called my wife to come and get me. The last thing I wanted to do.
The drive to my location was by taking 2 major highways and 1 street. 3 hours later, 6 phone calls to her cell phone, at one point she was so frustrated she literally screamed at me through the phone for a good 5 minutes. I had to take the phone from my ear, everyone in the store could her her screaming at me, lol. I'm standing there saying, "calm down, relax, just turn around and come back the other way. You just drove by the place". "She is screaming I can't turn *********************************************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************************************
around."
We finally made it home last night around 7:00. I did my civic duty and voted. Now I have to figure out how I am going to get my truck back to go to work or do I wait for payday. Hmmmmm, thats tomorrow.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Comcast Is Playing Games ( For Bubs)
Comcast is causing problems with the users using their internet service. Comcast actually blocks competitor sites and makes it look as if the user has computer problems.
Comcast Does Indeed Block BitTorrent
Though Comcast has denied it in the past, a new nationwide test conducted by the Associated Press shows that the cable giant is indeed actively interfering with file sharing through services like BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella.
The AP’s tests showed that Comcast (CMCSA) is not hindering the downloading of BitTorrent files, but the company does block or delay uploads. The problem being that with the peer-to-peer nature of BitTorrent’s technology, uploads and downloads are interchangeable. When files are being exchanged between two computers, Comcast surreptitiously steps in and gets the two machines to hang up on each other.
A Comcast spokesperson told the AP:
“Comcast does not block access to any applications, including BitTorrent.” - Comcast spokesperson Charlie Douglas
When pressed, Douglas would not define what he meant by “access.”
Comcast’s actions are re-igniting the debate about net neutrality, as its practices are indiscriminate when it comes to the type of content being shared online. An independent producer distributing his own film, for example, is treated with the same regard as a pirate trading illegal copies of movies.
For its part, Comcast says it has a right to manage its network in order to ensure that a small portion of file sharers are not affecting the bandwidth of other customers. Other ISPs engage in so-called “traffic-shaping,” which slows down some types of traffic. But Comcast is targeting one type of traffic.
Comcast’s reputation suffered another blow, literally, when 75-year-old Mona Shaw took a hammer to her local Comcast customer service office and started smashing up the joint. She was upset, to say the least, when Comcast missed an installation date and basically treated her like a BitTorrent file.
Doing a Google on comcast and blocking I have found that people across the nation are finding that Comcast has been blocking many networks and sites.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
A Busy Saturday
I thought I was going to have a nice easy day today after installing that last brake on my wifes car that I put ioff doing the other night but as fate would have it, it's not going to happen.
The tranny started acting up on my Blazer so I took it into the shop to have it checked. The mechanic test drove it and came back with the reply that the tranny was shot. 1500 dollars to get it fixed. I give up. I love that Blazer for a work truck but I'm not going to sink anymore money that I don't have into it. Specially with Christmas not being to far off in the distant future.
My wife spotted a used vehicle on Craigs List on the internet. The owner wasn't to far from me so I ended up getting a Ford Ranger (93) for 500.00. It needs a few minor repairs like a new starter and muffler abnd I can deal with that simple enough. It has an oil leak and that is what concerns me. I had to look at it after work and I couldn't see much with a spot light. I runs good and the tranny is fine so I will keep my fingers crossed. I know that for the price I can't expect much.
I am very envious of those that can just go out and buy a new car. I have been married for almost 27 years and have never been able to afford that. These days the insurance alone for a new vehicle would cost me 300.00 a month. I don't know how people do it. It seems that car payments use to be that amount.
So I am heading over to the motor vehicle office as soon as I can borrow my wifes car to make it legal and then to work I will go.
For those interested, I will be making chicken and dumplins for dinner tonight. My recipe is in my blogs somewheres. The dumplins are not the drop type, more of a big flat noodle.
The tranny started acting up on my Blazer so I took it into the shop to have it checked. The mechanic test drove it and came back with the reply that the tranny was shot. 1500 dollars to get it fixed. I give up. I love that Blazer for a work truck but I'm not going to sink anymore money that I don't have into it. Specially with Christmas not being to far off in the distant future.
My wife spotted a used vehicle on Craigs List on the internet. The owner wasn't to far from me so I ended up getting a Ford Ranger (93) for 500.00. It needs a few minor repairs like a new starter and muffler abnd I can deal with that simple enough. It has an oil leak and that is what concerns me. I had to look at it after work and I couldn't see much with a spot light. I runs good and the tranny is fine so I will keep my fingers crossed. I know that for the price I can't expect much.
I am very envious of those that can just go out and buy a new car. I have been married for almost 27 years and have never been able to afford that. These days the insurance alone for a new vehicle would cost me 300.00 a month. I don't know how people do it. It seems that car payments use to be that amount.
So I am heading over to the motor vehicle office as soon as I can borrow my wifes car to make it legal and then to work I will go.
For those interested, I will be making chicken and dumplins for dinner tonight. My recipe is in my blogs somewheres. The dumplins are not the drop type, more of a big flat noodle.
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