Ah, ah Chili Pie

Posted on January 19, 2004 by Frog

Last night we made Chili Pie for dinner. Since it was bleak and rainy all day, chili pie seemed like just the thing. I got inspiration from the current Real Simple magazine. I would link to the recipe but they only open the site to customers or AOL members. I basically used the recipe as a guide and didn’t do every last thing but it was supercalifragilistic good.

Here’s what you need:
A 12oz pack of chicken sausage in the mild italian flavor, take the casings off
2 15 oz cans of beans–we used 1 can of kidney and 1 can of black bean
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1 box of Jiffy Corn Bread mix (you need 1 egg and 1/3 cup of milk to mix)
1 cup of shredded cheese (I used an italian blend)
1/2 cup hot salsa (I used Mrs. Renfro’s Green Hot Salsa)

Preheat your oven to 400 and you should use a skillet that can go from stove top to oven.

I took the sausage (there are 4 in a 12 oz pack) out of their casings and then chopped. The better-half manned the skillet and crumbled the pieces up. If you have fat that needs to be drained, drain away. Then we added the chili powder and stirred like mad for about a minute until incorporated. Then we added in the beans and salsa and boiled for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I mixed up the corn bread and added the cheese to the bowl.

We removed the skillet from the heat and realized there was no way that skillet was going to hold the chili and the corn bread, so we got out another, and much larger, pan and dumped the chili into that pan and then put the corn bread on top–spreading it out to cover as much surface area as possible.

Then it went into the oven for 15 minutes. We checked it and the corn bread didn’t seem brown enough so it went in for another 4 minutes and then we broiled for a minute or two to make sure the bread was a wonderful tan color.

We sautéed spinach and garlic as a side dish. You could get out the sour cream for the chili but it didn’t really need anything. The bread soaked up most of the liquid and the ingredients worked very well together. It was pretty spicy and I suppose you could use a milder salsa if you have issues with spicy.

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Has this been going on?

Posted on January 18, 2004 by Frog

The other night I had dinner with my friend A. and when she got to the restaurant I had already ordered a margarita. She was grumpy and I said get a margarita and let me hear all about it. We didn’t actually talk about the thing that made her grumpy that afternoon because the wound was still raw, but we did get some good conversation in and it was good conversation and not just Rant A followed by Rant B followed up with Spleen Venting 1, 2 and 3.

The boiled down point of the evening (at least in my mind) is this…why is it that certain family members seem less and less likeable the older we get? Why is it that we both have members of our families who feel that it is OK to dump on everyone else and use guilt, anger and other passive aggressive behaviour to get what they want and damn everyone else? Has this cycle been going on for generations and we never noticed because we were kids when it was happening to our parents or is this something new?

I’m a fairly perceptive person and I never remember hearing (even when I wasn’t supposed to listen to what my parents were saying) my parents complain about in-laws, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, etc. treating them like dirt. So I don’t understand how we got to a place where the people who are supposed to love you the most treat you the worst. If everyone sort of chuckles into their sleeves or hangs their head when they hear that then why isn’t something done about it? I’m not talking grand gestures just that promise you make to yourself that you aren’t going to be like that when you grow up. And, you don’t need to be 5 when you make that promise. You can be 25, 35 or 45…I believe we’re all growing up until the day we die.

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On Thursday

Posted on January 18, 2004 by Frog

We have an appointment with a design/architect/builder company on Thursday to come to our house, take pictures, talk to us and ultimately give us some ideas/drawings/a clue about what to do with the house. We think it will be a good investment in that a professional will help us figure out whether or not we should/can afford to renovate/add-on to the house or if we should find something else. I’m not sure how long it will take this company to go through the process but I’m hoping it won’t be more than a few weeks. I’d like to be able to make some plans.

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Day of the Dead

Posted on January 16, 2004 by Frog

Yesterday I was reading something and followed a link to Mother Earth News. I hadn’t read that in years. I stumbled on a couple of articles that I found interesting and informative. For all you folks who are looking for a project this winter, may I suggest building your own casket or take some time to plan your green funeral.

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And I believe

Posted on January 16, 2004 by Frog

She said (as reported in USA Today): “I do believe in the sanctity of marriage; I totally do,” she told host Damien Fahey[TRL on MTV] from L.A. “But I think I was in Vegas and it took over me.”

And then she said: “We landed on Mars that day. Why aren’t they talking about that?”

I believe Britney is an attention-grabbing-media whore. In case you hadn’t noticed, “they” are talking about the Mars Rover.

Posted in General Spleen Venting | Comments Off

Gotcha Day

Posted on January 15, 2004 by Frog

Today is the Niece’s “gotcha day”. A year ago today my sister and her husband were in China and the Niece became part of our family. She’s the coolest Niece I have.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | 1 Comment

Yipee

Posted on January 15, 2004 by Frog

The Indigo Girls have a new album coming out in February and being the big freak that I am I have made a reminder on my calendar so I won’t forget to haul myself to the store. I also sent my FL sister an email about it but I’m sure she already knows–she’s always ahead of me on the Girls.

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I Have Always Liked

Posted on January 15, 2004 by Frog

Back in high school or junior high school or both, whenever we’d have to read poetry, we’d have to read this:

No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy
friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am
involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell
tolls; It tolls for thee. -John Donne, poet (1573-1631)

I have always liked this for its beauty and for its wisdom. I’m sure back in school I also liked it because it dealt with Death. What made me think about this today? In addition to getting a word a day you also get a quote a day.

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Dinner Last Night

Posted on January 14, 2004 by Frog

Last night we made Cioppino and it was out-freaking-standing. As we were stirring the pot, I said �I should learn how to pronounce the name of the soup in case this is good so I can order it out�. Yes, I’m a dweeb who makes things she can’t pronounce. My hat is off to epicurious for their concise pronunciation guide*.

Now that I’ve confessed my ignorance, I should also confess that we cheated and used a pre-made base but added our own seafood. We added little neck clams, scallops, cod and shrimp and the cod broke up which resulted in fish in every spoonful. Delightful and I like it when a company is not afraid to add spices to their concoctions. The garlic and cayenne really came through. As much as I liked their version, next time we’re going to make our own.

There was a little left over and I’ve decided to make a little bit of pasta tonight and use the cioppino as sauce. The better-half will be gone tonight which means he won’t get to enjoy the tomatoey goodness.

Edited Jan 21, 2008. It appears the epicurious link is no good. Here’s how to pronounce it: chah-PEE-noh.

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Trying to Remain Positive

Posted on January 12, 2004 by Frog

Today at ye olde contracting job we were told that we had to get our new security cards between 3 and 4 or as of Wednesday we won’t be able to get into the door. I thought that there was no way that I’d be able to get one of those since I still don’t have the id badge. I went with my supervisor to prove that I really do work there.

There was a line of more than 100 people. There was one person handing out the security cards. There were lots of people whining and yammering. There was one person behind me who got into it with the woman giving out the cards. In case you didn’t notice pal you arguing with the woman who is clearly swamped is holding up the line. We wrestled our way back out the door and then groused about how much money the agency lost by having lots and lots of people stand around for 20 minutes waiting for a security card.

But, if you think about it, there are lots of people who waste more than 20 minutes every day at their jobs standing around chatting, drinking coffee, smoking, deciding about lunch, talking to their whomever and in general not working.

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