Enjoying Another Missoula Theater Performance and An Honors Concert

A couple of fun and exciting things happened while I was away from blogging.  While my dad was in the hospital, my sister and her husband spent time sitting with dad.  He was beginning his recuperation so all of us didn't need to hover over him constantly.  My husband and I were then able to attend another Missoula Children's Theater program.  I have written about Missoula before.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/01/missoula-childrens-theatre.html  and http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/06/missoula-childrens-theatre-snow-white.html

Our granddaughter was in the play and was one of the merry men in a production of Robin Hood.  They always do such a good job especially since they audition, practice and perform in one short week.

The group of Merry Men even though most of them are girls.

Melissa in costume and makeup.  

Sheriff of Nottingham, Prince John and Robin Hood

 

Yes, that is Prince John's real hair.

One week later dad was out of the hospital, but I didn't want to leave him alone.  My husband volunteered to stay home so I could see our granddaughter Melissa and our grandson Dylan in a Middle School honors concert.  Several schools participated in a band and chorus concert.   The students arrived early in the morning and met with the guest conductors.  The band conductor was from Lakeland College and the chorus conductor was from Ripon College.  The individual schools had the music in advance and helped prepare the students, but putting it all together was a big task.  They had a complete concert in the afternoon.  I was so impressed how well they did.  Kids can develop their potential if they take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.

The students were very respectful and I didn't notice any disruptions.  Then when the show was over and everyone was exiting, I saw a heart warming sight.  Just ahead of me was an older woman trying to navigate the bleachers we were sitting in.  A man asked her if she needed help.  He took her hand and helped her down to the floor.  I heard her ask him if he had a child in the performance.  He said he did and asked if she did as well.  She pointed out her grandson.  This nice man held her hand tight the entire time.  Usually you see impatience and pushing in these situations, but the whole mood of the day made everyone happy and grateful.  

When I returned home, my husband had done a wonderful job of taking care of dad and his needs.  It was a wonderful day.

Holy Yum Chicken

Last Tuesday I was sitting in the hospital ICU with my dad.  I wasn't able to post a Tuesday recipe.  I can't believe it is Tuesday again.  I am so busy with oxygen, nebulizers and doctor appointments, I had no idea what I was going to post today.  Then my daughter emailed me a recipe she tried.  She said it was delicious.  I have not tried this recipe myself, but I will take her word for it.  She got it on Pinterest from a blog called Table for Two.  I see the source is actually the I Love Trader Joe's cookbook.  She didn't take a picture of her own creation, this picture came from the blog.  I can't wait to try it myself.  I am sure it is good.   My daughter is an excellent cook.

Holy Yum Chicken

• 1 1/2 pound(s) Skinless, boneless chicken thighs Fat discarded
• 1/2 cup(s) dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup(s) Pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon(s) Rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon(s) cornstarch
• 2 teaspoon(s) Rosemary Garnish

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a 8×8″ oven-proof pan with 2 layers of tin foil.
2. In small bowl, whisk together Dijon mustard, maple syrup, rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
3. Place the chicken thighs in the foil layered pan then pour the mixture on top of it. Turn the chicken around in the sauce to make sure it gets all coated.
4. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and let chicken sit for 5 minutes then transfer to a plate. Do NOT discard the liquid.
6. Immediately after plating chicken, whisk in the 1 tbsp. of cornstarch into the liquid in the pan. You’ll create a nice, thick sauce to drizzle over your chicken. You need to do cornstarch mixing immediately because the liquid needs to be hot in order for it to thicken properly. If it’s still not thickening after 1 tbsp., you can add a little more.
7. Sprinkle rosemary on top before serving.
8. Serve with rice or potatoes or vegetables.

My Dad's Super Bowl Ad-A Fan For Life

It is Super Bowl Sunday.  We have been looking forward to this day for a couple reasons.  The first ended as a disappointment on January 18, 2015, when the Green Bay Packers lost a heart breaking game to the Seattle Seahawks.  I know it was exciting for Seattle Fans, but coming from a family of long time Packer fans, it was sad.  The Packers were so close.  My Dad has been a Green Bay fan for as long as he can remember.  The Packer organization was founded in 1919 and dad was born in 1924.   He was still in high school and getting ready to listen to a Packer game with his grandma when the news came of Pearl Harbor being attacked.  The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers were tied in the Western Division and playing a playoff game.  Chicago won that game, but no one cared because the United States entered World War II the very next day.  He is also a Chicago Cub fan which has also been a source of disappointing seasons, but he never wavered.  Wisconsin didn't have a major league baseball team until 1953, so his Chicago allegiance stuck with him.  Sports are a big part of Dad's life, and that is why we were so excited when a large media company from New York contacted us.  They were looking for Fans for Life and came across one of my blogs talking about dad.

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/12/dad-and-his-lucky-sweatshirts.html

These were the photos they were interested in.

For two months we corresponded.  They wanted image releases and forms signed.  I was suspicious at first because now days you can't be too careful.  I researched the company and had others do the same.  I made sure all correspondence was through the company.  When I learned through the contracts that it was a project of NBC Sports, I felt better.  Then last week we learned that his image had made the final edit.  They still wouldn't divulge the exact project but said it would be shown in a large media event taking place on February 1, 2015.  Wowza, that was the Super Bowl.  There was a confidentiality agreement so I couldn't speak of it to anyone.  Then Dad's illness happened.  He was so close to death but has made such a remarkable recovery.  I thought there must be a reason.  It must be that his picture would be shown to millions of people.  Up until two days ago, we were sure it would be shown somewhere or somehow on Super Bowl Sunday.  Then last night I discovered a preview of commercials.  I looked up the You're A Fan For Life promotion.  It was there on Tumblr and another website.  So much for confidentiality.  It was a minute long video and there was no picture of dad.  I thought his image must be sitting on the cutting room floor.  At first we were disappointed.  It would have been nice, but it wasn't to be.  I guess Dad survived for an even bigger purpose or maybe it's just that it wasn't his time.  Mom died three years ago yesterday (January 31).  He was sure she would grab him up and he still isn't sure why she didn't.  I guess we need him here with us for now.

Imagine our surprise when we turned on the Super Bowl pre-show.  My husband set the DVR just in case.  I was talking to my sister on the phone with the television muted.  I looked up and saw dad's photo.  There at 1:39 was my 90 year old father in a Super bowl ad.  He couldn't believe it.  We can't either.  How many of us will ever be able to say that.

Ham and Egg Cups

I have been married for 46 years.  During that time I have done most of the cooking.  Everyone says you can't teach an old dog new tricks.  I thought that was true until the last couple years.  My husband (AKA Old Dog) has turned into the Galloping Gourmet).  He watches cooking shows, he prints recipes and sometimes reposts them on Facebook and then he makes out the grocery list.  I am very tired of cooking so I welcome this with open arms.  On top of that, last weekend I cut my pointer finger very bad and have it all bandaged up.  I didn't realize how much I relied on that finger.  Even typing this is a challenge.

 
I posted his Meatloaf recipe as while back.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/11/tangy-meatloaf-comfort-food.html

This weekend he made an egg dish.  I don't know where he got the recipe, but it was very good.  He wrote it in long hand on a piece of copy paper.  I almost said typing paper, but I would have been dating myself.  Oh yes, I already mentioned how long I have been married.  Talk about dating ones self.

Ham and Egg Cups

24 slices of honey ham
10 large eggs
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
Pat of butter
1/4 cup milk
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1 Tablespoon shredded cheese per cup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Prepare muffin tins with cooking spray.
Place green pepper and onion in a bowl with the pat of butter.
Cook in microwave for 1 minute.  Remove from microwave and cover with plastic wrap.
Line each muffin tin with two pieces of ham, overlapping.

 Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper

Ladle some egg mixture into each cup.
Top each egg cup with green pepper and onion mix.
Top each with 1 Tablespoon of cheese.

 
Bake for about 25 minutes or until the eggs are set.

These are very good.  The edges of the ham gets crunchy which is the way he likes them. 

Loomed Rag Rug

Last Christmas I received a present from Santa that I have wanted for a long time.  Most of you are familiar with Rag Rugs made on looms.  They are for sale in many places from Amish farms to craft sales.  You can even see them in commercialized stores.  I like those, but I always wanted to make one myself.  I have crocheted many rugs made from fabric scraps but I never made a loomed rag rug.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/02/rag-rugs.html

Through my blog, I have become familiar with other blogs similar to mine.  One such blog is http://ouroldcountrystore.blogspot.com/   I ordered a loom from them.  OK, it's confession time.  I ordered the loom myself, wrapped it in Christmas paper and said it was from Santa.  In defense of my family, they had no idea I wanted this loom or they would have ordered it for me.

On Christmas Day I had my husband assemble it.  My son-in-law and my husband wondered how much I paid for it because it was a very basic design and the actual cost of materials was minimal.  I just said Santa got a deal, which was a little stretch of the truth.  If I would wait for someone to make me a loom, I would have a very long wait.  I think it is harder to make than it looks.  The looms come in different sizes.  There is one for place mats plus the rug sizes.   I opted for a 25 x 37 inch rug loom.  If I was going to learn how to do this, I wasn't going to mess with a tiny place mat.

Loom is just wood, nails, eye hooks and metal rods.

 Fortunately I could start the day after Christmas.  Since I crochet rag rugs, I had some fabric strips already prepared.  I also had unraveled a rug years ago that had been damaged by a puppy.  I could get a good start with this even though a finished rug of this size takes eighteen yards of fabric.  It would be very expensive to buy this much fabric so that is why they are called rag rugs.  People use old clothing, thrift store fabric and best of all, old sheets.  The fabric is ripped into strips about one and a half to two inches wide.  

The warp of this rug is fabric where some use other materials.  Starting on the left hand nail, just string the fabric up and down around all the nails.  The warp threads won't show much except on the very top and bottom.

Warp threads in place.

Now it is time to start weaving.   Instead of using one strip to go over and under like the potholders we all made as a child, this technique uses two strips one in each hand.  In a braiding type technique put right hand strip over the left strip and under the next warp.  Good instructions with pictures come with the loom.

A good start to a long process.

This is a big piece to work on so I had to lean it against the wall and put it on a chair to get the right height.  A few times everyday, I would work on it.  A lot of the rag rugs have a raggedy look.  I like it smoother, so I folded the strips as I wove them through.  They suggested a process for connecting the strips that involved making a knot.  I didn't like that bump, so I used a needle and thread and sewed the strips together as needed.  Since this is my first rug, I tried to develop things that would work for me.  There is nothing wrong with adding strips by layering both strips,  cutting a slit through both and taking the tail of the top strip, pull through the slits and pull tight.  I did both so there weren't a lot of knots.  I think the hardest part is learning to secure the row ends around the metal rod.  If not secured properly, the rug will fall apart on the sides when it is taken off the loom.

After working for several inches, it is time to flip the loom.   This rug is worked toward the center.  It makes it easier to choose colors and helps keep the rug from stretching out of shape.

Rug is worked toward the center to keep it straight.

Finally after a little over three weeks, the rug is finished.

The only thing left to do is take out the metal rods and remove the rug from the nails.  It was a fun project, and I will be making another one soon.  When I was putting away Christmas decorations, I discovered a plastic tote with a lot of pre-cut fabric rolls.  I had forgotten all about purchasing them from a garage sale many years ago.   I don't know how people make these rugs to sell and make a profit.  They take too much fabric and too much time.  For now, I will make them for our use and the fun of it.

How To Make A Knitting Seam

Normally I don't get a lot of views to this blog.  It is mostly my kind Facebook friends and some family members.  I don't sell ads or use it to make money.  It is mostly a journal of this moment in my life.  We turn the blogs into hard covered books.  I imagine future generations won't believe how primitive ma and pa lived in the 21st century.  The blog I wrote for knitting a Christmas Stocking is the exception.  I have over 10,000 views to that blog.  People have asked some very good questions about knitting the stocking and knitting in general.  I am not an expert, unless knitting for over 50 years makes me one.

I usually knit in the round, if I can.  However, some things need to be knit flat and then sewn up.  One question I had was how to sew a neat looking seam.  In order to demonstrate that, I knit two small sample pieces.

The stitch in this sample is called the Stockinette stitch.  It is knit one row and purl one row when knitting flat.  Looking at it you can see the vertical rows that look like a crochet chain stitch, and the horizontal rows look the same only side by side.  These rows are connected by cross pieces that are created by knitting from stitch to stitch across the row.  I use these cross bars to seam two pieces together.  In the picture below you can see the hidden cross bars between the stitches.

To start seaming, I thread a yarn needle with matching yarn.  In this case I am using a contrasting thread to show how it's done.  It will be easier to see this way.

Put your needle under the first bar on the right side piece.

Under the bar on the right, then the left.

Working under a bar on the right, then under a bar on the left, continue back and forth as pictured.  Pull the the yarn tight to close the piece together as you continue.

Pull the yarn through on each side.

Continue until the seam is closed.

I used contrasting yarn but it can't be seen when finished.

Inside of seam looks like this, but the outside is nearly invisible.

I hope this helps those having trouble creating a smooth seam.  You can also pick up two bars on each side if you want a more relaxed seam.  Just be sure to do both sides the same or you won't come out even when you are finished.  

Honey Oatmeal Bread

Today we were going to have patty melts for supper.  Oops, I can't say supper anymore.  That word annoys one of my facebook friends.  From now on, I must say dinner or evening meal.  Anyway, in order to make patty melts, I needed bread.  I thought of how years ago, when I was a child, my mom would put the bread dough in round cans.  They were either tomato juice cans or Hi-C juice cans.  That was back in the day when we didn't worry about drinking Kool-aid or Hi-C.  Maybe they didn't put all the additives in the juice like they do now.  We used to love that bread, and a hamburger fit on the bread perfectly.

Today my Tuesday recipe is in honor of my mom and her round bread.  This isn't her recipe.  She made plain white bread.  This recipe has a little oatmeal and honey in it to make it slightly more nutritious.  This recipe is based on a Taste of Home recipe but my technique is a little different.  I make the dough in the bread machine but bake it in the oven.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup oatmeal (quick or old-fashioned)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup milk (warmed enough to melt the butter)
1/4 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup honey

In a bowl combine the flour, oatmeal, yeast and salt.

Warm the milk in a measuring cup but do not boil.  Add the butter and stir until melted.

Put the warm milk and butter in the bread machine container with the honey and warm water.
Put in the flour, oatmeal, yeast and salt mixture.  Turn the bread machine to the dough setting and turn it on.  This will mix the dough and let it rise for the first time.  It takes about an hour.  This process can be done in a mixer with the dough hook or mix by hand if you want a workout.

The dough as it comes out of the bread machine.

At this stage you can add more flour if the dough is sticky.  Today it was perfect.  I greased the tomato juice can and put the dough in.  I warmed a little more honey,  brushed it on the top of the dough and sprinkled on a little oatmeal..  I covered it with a towel and left it to rise for an hour or so.  Our house is quite warm so it rose quickly.

The recipe suggested putting a loaf pan of water in the bottom of the oven.  I don't know if it is necessary, but in this case I followed instructions.  I think it adds some moisture to the oven heat.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the loaf for 45 minutes.

The warm bread was so good, we didn't have patty melts after all.  My husband had tuna fish sandwiches and left over chili.   Dad had leftover round steak, mashed potatoes and blackberries.  I had the best dinner of all.  I had fresh bread, peanut butter and Lingonberry jam that I bought at IKEA.  What could be better than that?

* I made the bread again, but this time put it in a loaf pan.  It turned out great.  The perfect loaf of bread.

Homemade Lip Balm

Last August I made a batch of deodorant.  It worked out very well and one container lasted for over four months.  The only problem I had with it is that a little goes a long way.  If you use too much, the excess collects in the wrinkles of your armpits.  Others may not have wrinkled armpits, and I didn't know I did either.  Fact is, I do.  It is an easy fix.  Either don't use so much deodorant or wipe off the excess.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/08/barbs-homemade-deodorant.html

Today I thought I would make some lip balm.  There are a few different recipes for this, but most are basically the same.  I don't use lip balm much, but my daughters and grandchildren do.  It uses much of the same ingredients used in the deodorant recipe, without the baking soda and cornstarch.  You will need Beeswax Beads, Vitamin E oil, Coconut oil, Essential Oil and empty Chap Stick type tubes, round EOS containers or small jar or tin. 

Melt two tablespoons of beeswax beads, four tablespoons of coconut oil and 1/2 teaspoon of vitamin E oil.  Mix these ingredients together and melt over boiling water or a few seconds in the microwave.  After it is melted put in ten drops of essential oil.  I used peppermint oil.  I have seen it colored with beet powder to make a colored lip balm.  When it cools slightly pour into empty lip balm containers.  These can be purchased online or clean out and wash and dry completely a container you have on hand.  This recipe will fill several containers.

Fill a Chap Stick type tube.

It works in these containers also.

Or a small jar or tin.

Poor Little Deer

 
It is still cold.  Yesterday we received about three inches of snow throughout the day.  At dusk I noticed a small sized deer under our bird feeders.  We think it is one of the twins who come regularly.  The mother and the other young deer were off near the edge of the woods.  Eventually they walked off together, but I noticed one of the young deer was limping.

Today that was confirmed.  The little deer came back to bird feeder and then went over to our perennial garden.  He or she was limping badly.

It is so sad to see.  Today I didn't see the mom or sibling.  I hope she didn't lose them or worse yet, I hope they didn't abandon her.  I took a number of photos before she left.

I zoomed in and it looks like a puncture wound behind her right front leg.
  I hope it isn't a bullet hole.  There is another wound on the right back leg.

She was looking over her shoulder for something.

Then she looked directly at me.  I wish I could help her.

After she had eaten several dried leaves and seed pods, she walked away in the opposite direction. 

For those of you who read my blog, you are familiar with another deer we call limpy.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/06/our-little-white-tail-deer-we-call-limpy.html  She made it through the brutal winter we had last year.  She had a fawn this past Spring and we see her with her young one often.  She has a hind leg injury or malformation, but this little one may have more problems with the front leg injury.  I hope she doesn't get an infection.  I will put extra food out for her and hopefully she can heal.

Throwback Thursday Remembers Groceries Express

Today it is snowing a little, and it's still very cold.  The birds are so busy eating anything they can find.  We don't cut back our perennial garden in the fall because on days like this the birds spend a lot of time pecking at all the dead flower heads.  They must be finding something because we have a lot of birds on the feeders, on the ground and in the flower garden.  At one point we had 7 male cardinals and 3 females, 20 mourning doves, 6 bluejays and more junco's and purple finches than I could count.

This finch looks kind of miserable.  I believe he has the grumpy cat look.

Besides a snowy January 8th, it is also Throwback Thursday.  I was cleaning out a closet recently and came across a memory from the past.  It was 1997.  That seems like yesterday, but it was 18 years ago.  My friend Vickie and I worked across the hall from each other.  We were having a day where it was hard to imagine doing our jobs until retirement.  Her job was much more stressful and important than mine, but some days a person is just ready for a change.  We conjured up a plan to open our own business.  We figured we were on the cutting edge.  Our business was a grocery delivery business. We thought that people would line up for miles around to have us deliver their groceries.  We got set up with a phone line, a computer, car signage and even special hats and jackets.  We offered an email ordering system as well as phone or snail mail.  We charged a small fee plus a percentage of their grocery order.  We used coupons and shopped sales.  We thought we had everything covered.  We did not take into consideration that people are basically cheap.  They complain about working all day and not having time to shop for groceries, but didn't want to pay for the service.  Gradually we acquired a few customers.  They became friends.  Vickie had a daycare and became very fond of the children.  I had a few lonely senior citizens who were willing to pay a little for a visitor once a week.  I ended up staying for an hour talking and even writing checks out for them to pay their bills. 

My friend Vickie's husband even created a logo for us.

Eventually our business fell by the wayside.  We moved away to Princeton, Wisconsin.   Vickie continued with deliveries to the daycare until it too went out of business.  Groceries Express wasn't a failure, even though we didn't make our fortune.  We made some friends, and we have some good memories.  We were on the cutting edge but just a little before our time. 

Knit A Helmet Hat

After a fairly mild, snow-free December, we are having a bitter cold start to January 2015.  Below zero temperatures are common throughout the area today and many schools are closed.  My middle grandchild, Sam, asked if I would make him a knit helmet hat.  I needed a project for our car trip to Michigan, so I grabbed my knitting needles and some yarn.  I put the supplies in the front seat with me and started to knit shortly after we began the trip.  Knitting in the car makes it easier for me to travel.  I am not a good traveler.  If we listen to a book and I knit, I can handle it.  I get car sick if I read, but for some reason I can knit.  A while ago, I blogged about making a skull cap.

 http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/03/ribbed-knit-skull-cap.html

I took the ribbed skull cap pattern in the child size and modified it a little.  With a worsted weight yarn, I cast on 92 stitches.   I used a size 8 twelve inch circular needle but four double pointed needles would work.  I put a marker at the beginning of the row and knit 2, purl 2 around for seven inches, slipping the marker when I came to it.  You can adjust this length depending on how far you want neck coverage.  Next I made the face opening by knitting 30 stitches, binding off 31 stitches and finishing the round by knitting 31 stitches in the rib pattern to the marker.  The next row, I knit in the rib pattern the 30 stitches after the marker, then cast on 31 stitches (the same number I just bound off) and then finished that row.  Again I knit round and round on 92 stitches keeping in the rib pattern for about five more inches.  The piece is about twelve inches.  Now it is time to decrease for the top of the head.  This is not ribbed, it is just plain knit.  If using a circular needle you may have to switch to double pointed needles to finish the decreases as the number of stitches becomes less.

Row 1: Knit around
Row 2: Knit 2 together, knit 21, knit 2 together, knit 21, knit 2 together, knit 21, knit 2 together, knit 21. (4 decreases-88 stitches)
Row 3: Knit around
Row 4: Knit 2 together, knit 9, repeat across row (80 stitches)
Row 5: Knit around
Row 6: Knit 2 together, knit 8, repeat across row (72 stitches)
Repeat in this manner knitting one less stitch between decreases until 12 stitches remain.
Knit three together across leaving four stitches.  Cut yarn and pull tail through those 4 stitches and secure.  

This is NOT my grandson, but it is a really cool dude.

Side view of the helmet hat

Here Sam is modeling his helmet hat.  The reason he wanted it was that he was invited to a fisheree birthday party.  The term Fisheree may not be a familiar term for those who live outside Wisconsin.  A Fisheree is an ice fishing tournament.  Many communities who have a nearby lake host fisheree's in the winter when the ice is frozen thick enough to be safe.  They cut holes in the ice and fish.  I guess this kids birthday party will be an ice fishing fisheree party.  Sam is very excited about this and now his face will be warm.

Baked Chimichangas and Chicken Pockets

I admit it, I have been a blogging slacker.  I took the last week off.  In fact, I have written only two blogs since Christmas.  This is the third in two weeks.  We were busy most of that time, and I am lacking in subject matter.

My dad spent the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday with my sister in Michigan.  He was happy to visit with them, and it gave him a change of scenery.  Then, on New Year's Day we went to bring him back to Wisconsin.  The trip there was great.  I was a nice day with no snow and very little traffic.  The trip home was another story.  We had some pretty icy roads and blowing snow.  Going through Chicago is a challenge for us country bumpkins no matter what, so snow and ice made it miserable.  I could have blogged about that but I was so nervous, I didn't even think about taking pictures.  I will try to get back on track now.

Today for supper I made a recipe similar to another I have blogged about.  Many of you probably missed that one as it was included in another post, and it wasn't on a Tuesday.  It was a recipe for Baked Chimichangas.   http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/08/where-has-summer-gone.html

Baked Chicken Chimichangas

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
8 oz. pepper jack cheese, shredded (I used Mexican blend cheese)
1 1/2 Tbsp. taco seasoning
1 lb. cooked chicken, shredded (I used browned ground beef)
8 flour tortillas (Don't use the extra large ones or you will have too much tortilla to fold and they will be dry).  I tried all sizes and I liked the small to medium size best.
cooking spray
shredded cheddar cheese
green onions, for garnish
sour cream
salsa

Stir together cream cheese, pepperjack cheese and taco seasoning.
Fold in chicken.
Divide among flour tortillas.
Tuck in sides, and roll up each tortilla.
Lay seam side down in a sprayed 9x13" baking dish.
Spray tops of the tortillas with cooking spray.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Turn the chimichangas over, and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Serve with cheddar cheese, green onions, sour cream, and salsa.

 
Tonight's recipe was also made with cream cheese and shredded chicken.  I didn't make my own biscuits, I used crescent rolls.  My husband thought they needed more filling and less crescent roll.  I will have to figure that out, if I ever make them again.  I didn't try them and have never made them before.  I took some of the filling and added some noodles and peas.  I thought my version was good, but I like that type of thing.  I'm a noodle-holic. I like anything with noodles or rice.

Chicken Pockets

6 oz. softened cream cheese
4 T. melted butter
2 cups of cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
4 T. milk
2 T. chopped onion
Homemade biscuit dough or 2 packages of crescent rolls

Mix all of the ingredients together except for the dough.  Roll out the biscuit dough into 5 x 5 inch squares or divide the crescent rolls into rectangles, sealing the perforations.

Spoon chicken filling in the center of the square and seal the dough.  I didn't do a very neat job.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until brown.  These freeze well.
Recipe is from http://moneysavingmom.com

Peppermint Mocha Creamer

Generally I'm a black coffee drinker.  I like the taste of plain coffee.  I am not crazy about any flavored coffees.  It's like the bacon flavored donuts.  All it does is confuse the message from my brain to my taste buds.  I did a blog about discovering flavored iced coffee.  Cold coffee changed my mind set so it can accept the flavor.  My family has a different opinion about coffee.  They like the flavors.  For family meals I either have to remember to buy creamer, or they bring it themselves.  One of my son-in-laws can not stand coffee, but he has probably never had a good cup of coffee.  He is a tea snob and has brainwashed our youngest grandson into saying he doesn't like coffee, but prefers English tea.  It is all in good fun, and we joke about it.  My husband doesn't drink coffee or tea.

Coffee creamers can be rather expensive and are sometimes filled with ingredients that are questionable.  I looked on the label of a well known brand.  It had water, sugar, hydrogenated coconut oil, sodium caseinate, dipotassium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, salt, natural and artificial flavor.  The caseinate in this product is a derivative of milk.  I couldn't find a creamer that didn't have milk or if it was milk free, it was full of chemicals kind of like margarine.  I read that margarine is one molecule away from being plastic.  Fake milk is the same thing.  That is why I was excited to find a youtube video by Elizabeth Medero on making natural creamers.  If you want to see the video, just search for her name and Peppermint Mocha Creamer on Youtube.  There are a lot of copy cat recipes for Starbuck's peppermint mocha drink, but this is a creamer you can keep in the refrigerator and add to your coffee or even hot chocolate, whenever you want.  I used Almond Milk for a non milk option, and it isn't very thick and creamy but it tastes delicious.  At least for me, but I don't have much experience with creamers.  Hopefully you will like it too.

Ingredients you will need for this recipe. 

Peppermint Mocha Creamer

3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 t. cocoa powder
1/2 t. vanilla
2 cups milk

Mix together 3/4 cup water and 3/4 cup of white sugar.  Bring this to a boil to make a simple syrup.  When all the sugar is dissolved, mix in the cocoa powder and vanilla.  Add 1 drop of peppermint essential oil (my new best friend) and 2 cups of the milk of your choice.  It can be heavy cream, half and half, whole milk, skim milk, soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk or any milk you want. 

Mix together.  As you can tell, over two cups of creamer can be made for pennies instead of dollars.  I would imagine you could experiment with different flavors and spices.  Leave out the cocoa and add pumpkin pie spice for a pumpkin flavored creamer.