Happy Friday!

I did not fall off the face of the planet or forget my A to Z.  I will get those posted up!

My internet at home went out again.  It went out on Saturday and was just repaired last night.  The technician gave me his number because this happens every two to three month (long story) and told me to call him direct next time and I won't have to go through customer service! 

A couple of weekends ago, Alli and I did the Escape House.  We inadvertently picked the most difficult room.  We eventually made it out, but it was after the time expired!  She let us keep going until we were done.  Five stars to this place and we will return to do the other rooms!

Blogging from A to Z: Jambalaya

Cajun Jambalaya

I kinda cheated on this one, but I have a good reason.  I am horrible at making rice.  It's just pretty terrible.  So, I just a box rice mix for this one.  I think you should too, makes it so much easier.

Ingredients:
Polish Kielbasa, cut into little pieces
Chicken, again into little pieces
Shrimp, I didn't cut those up
Garlic to taste
chicken stock to make your rice mix in
1/4 cup of hot sauce
Then, the Jambalaya rice mix, which has seasoning and things in it already.

Prepare the rice first with the chicken stock.

Then, make your meat.  I did mine all in the skillet, with a little EVOO.

Mix it all together and add your hot sauce and garlic.

Such a cheat recipe, but that makes it easy, quick and yummy!

Blogging from A to Z: Indian Fry Bread

Indian Fry Bread


Ingredients

• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 3 teaspoons Baking Powder (slightly Rounded Teaspoons)
• 3/4 cups Milk
• Water As Needed To Get Dough To Come Together
• Vegetable Shortening Or Lard For Frying

Directions


Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir with a fork as you pour in the milk; keep stirring for a bit to get it to come together as much as possible. Add just enough water (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup) to get it to come together. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and let it sit for 35 to 45 minutes to rest.

When you're ready to make the fry bread, heat about 1 to 2 inches shortening/lard in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Grab a piece of dough (or larger if you want larger fry bread) and press it into a circle with your fingers: place it on a clean surface and begin pressing in the center and work your way out, stretching it as you go.

When the circle is about 4 to 7 inches (however big you want it) carefully drape it into the skillet. Allow it to fry on one side until golden brown, about 1 minute, then carefully flip it to the other side using tongs. Fry it for another 30 to 45 seconds.

Remove the fry bread to a paper towel-lined plate and allow it to drain while you fry the other pieces.

Wordless Wednesday

Blogging from A to Z: Homemade Donuts

Biscuits!  This is the main thing for making homemade donuts.  My grandpa used to make these with us in his deep fryer.  There weren't the fancy air fryers way back when.


So how ya do it?


Take out the biscuits and make a hole in the center, so it looks like a donut.  Put them in hot cooking oil and fry until a golden brown.


When you take it out, place it on a napkin to cool.  Once it is slightly cooled, dip it in a sugar/cinnamon mixture.


Don't forget to fry up those holes too!  Donut holes are the best!

It's Rex Manning Day!

It's April 8th!  That means it is Rex Manning Day!  Who is Rex Manning?  Well, he's that oh so famous singer, from the movie Empire Records, that gets knocked back down to size.  Why do we celebrate Rex Manning Day?  Because Empire Records is still one of my favorite all time movies.

This bunch of crazy teens/young adults work at a record store.  Who works at a record store nowadays?  Almost no one.  The movie follows their adventures on one day.  There is a lot of drama and a lot of growing up done on this day.

 

Have you ever seen Empire Records?  Let's talk about it!



Blogging From A to Z: Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Grilled Cheese.  Almost anyone can make this sandwich.  Even if you only know how to make ramen noodles and bake a pizza.


It has a base.  The base is butter and bread, toasted ever so golden on a cast iron (or regular) skillet.  I prefer cast iron for all the things.

What are we missing?  Oh, the cheese.  What kind of cheese though?  So many to pick from.  My go to cheese on the sandwich is provolone.    But here are few that come in a close runner up:  Goat Cheese (I love goat cheese so much!), Havarti and Colby Jack.  Which cheese do you prefer?  We don't do American cheese, because it's a piece of plastic.

Besides the bread, cheese and butter, what else do you put on yours?  I will occasionally add some bacon and apples.  Sometimes at the same time, sometimes not.   Ham is also yum on it.  And avocado.   

Blogging from A to Z: French Toast

Happy Saturday fellow A to Zers!  How's the blogging going?  Are you checking out others blogs?

I'm definitely going to catch up on some blog reading today, I haven't read as many as I've have liked.

Today's recipe:  French Toast

We had it for dinner the other night.  The children thoroughly enjoyed the sweet taste of all the sugar and cinnamon!

The oven needs to be dialed to 375 degrees.

Start by melting a cup of butter on the stove.

Once it is almost completely melted, mix in the brown sugar.  I didn't measure that, I would guess about 3/4 of a cup.

Once that is melted together, put the mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish.

Tear up some Texas Toast style bread and put it into the pan.

Next, put together a mixture of milk 1 1/2 cups and 6 eggs and 2 tablespoons of vanilla (Mexican vanilla, because it's the best)

Pour that mixture over the bread. 

Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg (not too much) and brown sugar on top.

Cover with foil and put it in the fridge for around 20 minutes.

Bake covered for 30 minutes.

Take it out and test it, if it doesn't seem just right, bake it a little longer.

Top with butter, syrup and powdered sugar.

You can't see me!

How many cats do you see? 
If you guess the correct amount of cats, I will send you a postcard. With sunflowers on it.

Blogging from A to Z: Eggs in a Hashbrown Nest

This one takes time to make, friends. 

A few time consuming steps.

I should have thought it more through and just made eggs.

Ingredient list is short:

Two large russet potatoes

24 eggs, large ones

salt and pepper to taste

Bake the potatoes at 400 degrees for around 45 minutes, until they are almost tender.

Once you pull them out of the oven and cool a little, peel them and then grate them.

Boost the oven up to 425 degrees.

Spray down some muffin tins before filling them with grated potatoes.

Make like a little boat.

Put them in the oven and bake for around 15 minutes.

You want them to have a golden brown color.

Pull them out.

Crack an egg and put it in each of the nests.

Bake for around 15 minutes, until your egg whites are white.

Cool and serve.

Make sure to season to your liking.

A Royal Date

On Monday and Tuesday, I worked in one of our county offices up north.  For a small town office, it was BUSY!  I spent my lunch breaks walking around the downtown area and historic housing district.  I'll post photos soon.

One of the ladies I was working with had won tickets to the Royals Game for Tuesday.  For them, it would have been a really long Tuesday night.  After the game they would have had a 1.5 hour drive home.  She asked me if I wanted them and of course, I jumped on them.  It included the two tickets and parking pass!  They were good tickets.  Down in the lower section.

Peyton and I went.  The first thing he wanted to do was eat.

We got the Helmet Brisket Achos!

We were supposed to share, but he ate the majority of them.

It was beautiful out.  Perfect day for a ball game.

This is the best he would give me!

The sky is still pretty!

It ended up getting a wee bit chilly.  I had brought blankets with us and he used it and covered his whole body.  Ha ha!

The Royals did end up losing in the 10th.  Boo! But it was a fun game and we had a good time!

Blogging from A to Z: Drop Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

Biscuits

• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1-1/2 stick (3/4 Cup) Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
• 1-1/4 cup Buttermilk
  Set that oven of yours to 400 degrees.
  Add the first three ingredients into a bowl, probably a large one.  Add the pieces of butter and use a pastry cutter to cut them into the dry ingredients.  Slowly add in the buttermilk until the dough sticks together and no longer crumbles apart.
  Put a large spoonful on to a baking sheet and stick it in the oven for 15 minutes or so.
  Sausage Gravy
• 1 pound Breakfast Sausage, Hot Or Mild
• 1/3 cup All-purpose Flour
• 4 cups Whole Milk
• 1/2 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
• 2 teaspoons Black Pepper, More To Taste
  For the sausage, I prefer the maple flavored ones.  It brings that little sweet kick in.  Put the sausage in a skillet and brown it up.  Once it’s all brown, reduce the heat a little and add some flour and allow the sausage to soak it up. Add a little more.  Pour in the milk and keep stirring.  Simmer for around 10 minutes, stirring consistently.  Don’t let it get stuck on the pan.  Add the salt and pepper to taste.  If it gets too thick, you can always add more milk.
  Serve the gravy over the biscuits you just pulled out of the oven.

Currently.....April

Today I’m  linking up with Anne In Residence for her Currently link up. April’s prompt words are: experiencing, appreciating, wishlisting, posting, and considering.


Experiencing:
Working in different offices.  I love seeing how the other offices function. It makes me want to work in another office. 
The first signs of Spring!  It's warm during the day and the night still has that chill.  And the storms.  I love the storms.

Appreciating:
A coworker gave me tickets to the Royals Game with a parking pass.  I appreciate her.
My children for behaving.
All the baking and cooking I've been doing for the A to Z Challenge.
Friday night movies at home

Wishlisting: 
A new fridge. 
Kitchen Table.


Posting:
A to Z Challenge Posts
Normal, everyday life posts.


Considering:
Returning my library books before the due date. :)
A weekend Oklahoma trip.

Blogging from A to Z: Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies.  OMGoodness!  They are seriously tops.  I didn't know Chocolate Chip Cookies could get any better, but they can, because BUTTER!  That's the secret, making cookies better, ingredient.

I used Challenge Butter.  The Ibotta app had a rebate for the Challenge Butter, so win-win.

If you don't use Vanilla from Mexico, are you even using vanilla?!?  The best

vanilla comes from south of the border.

The batter is so pretty and delicious.  I ate a bit of it.  The eggs didn't hurt me.

And they baked up perfectly!  I used the baking sheets because I didn't feel like working hard to get the cookies off the baking pan.

Recipe below:

2 cups butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups brown sugar (might have used more than that)

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 eggs

3 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 pkg semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs.

Blend in flour, baking powder and salt.

Last, but not least, add in those chocolate chips.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Let cool for a few minutes, then remove them from the pan...otherwise, they get hard.

Bake them up and let me know how they turned out for you!

Blogging from A to Z: Bean and Beef Burritos

That Peyton boy.  He loves his Burritos.  So here we go, a simple, easy burrito recipe that will please the crowd and makes a good lunch for the next day.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

You need a pound of ground beef.  That looks like more than a pound, but it's only because I used a small skillet.  I wasn't paying attention when I grabbed it.

You brown your ground beef and then mix in the seasoning.

You can make your own with cumin, garlic, chili powder and oregano, but I'm going to tell you what I did....I bought the prepackaged burrito seasoning for seventy-six cents.  Just make sense.

You need a large can of the red enchilada sauce.  You will want to pour half of the enchilada sauce into the pan.

Do you like my pan?  It's quite lovely and I enjoy it.

Next, we lay our tortilla out and put refried beans on one half and the seasoned ground beef on the other.  We top it with cheese.

Wrap them up all beautifully and place them in the pan.

Pour the rest of your enchilada sauce on top.  Then MOOORRREEE CHHEEESSEEE!

Cover with foil and bake for around 20 minutes.

You want them to get super hot!

Take the foil off and bake for around 5 minutes more.  Just to melt that cheese.

Pull them out of the oven and serve hot!

You can top with sour cream, guacamole, hot sauce, etc...whatever your heart pleases.

This is an easy dinner.  Let me know if you try it out.

Happy April!

We start the second quarter of the year!  Yay! 

So, I'm going to do a little April goal setting.  I've not succeeded at many of my goals this year, but darn it, I'm going to keep trying.

April Goals

Paint the front room and put the new décor up

Watch Season Three of Game of Thrones

Workout 17 times, this does not include practices

8k Steps a day

Stick to the budget I've established and save monies

Finish the A to Z Challenge

Meal Plans

Speaking of Meal Planning, here is what I have for this week:

Monday:  Breakfast for dinner..French Toast and Eggs

Tuesday:  Whatever I find at home

Wednesday:  Grilled Cheese and Soup

Thursday:  Quesadilla Party!

Friday:  Homemade or Frozen Pizza (will have to check budget)

Saturday:  Tacos

What are your goals?  What are you looking forward to this month?

I'm working in one of the smaller (but BUSY) offices for the next two days.  It's an hour drive time.  The security guard asked me if I was an intern.  Nope, just helping out.  I like how all the different offices function differently.