Chicken Parm

I took Frozen individually wrapped chicken breasts out of the freezer with the intent of making Chicken Parmesan.  I used, 

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

Shredded Parmesan with Turmeric and Paprika

1 egg with a Tablespoon of heavy whipping cream 

Parmesan Chicken

I started to mixing together the Parmesan, turmeric and paprika.  I didn't measure.  I'm guessing 1/2 cup of cheese and 1/2 teaspoons each of the seasonings.

Breading Mix

Once I had the breading prepared, I created a liquid to dip the chicken in before breading.   I have plenty of eggs but I wanted a milk product with it.  All that I had in the kitchen was heavy whipping cream.  It worked.

Egg and whipping cream

I rolled the chicken in the liquid then in the breading mixture before placing it in the pan.

Breaded Chicken

Because they were frozen I cooked them for an hour.  Yeah, a bit too long for the cheese.

Chicken Parmesan

But you'd never know that this was cheese on the pan.  It slid right off with a plastic spatula.

WOW! no sticking!

Why the difference egg shell colors?

At 10 o'clock is the white shell, then at 2 the brown shell egg and at 6 the green shelled egg. To help answer this question, I took 3 eggs (jumbo, large and small) that Dale picked today and prepared them side by side. 

Farm Fresh Jumbo, Large & Small eggs

Some people say that the yolks are different colors. The variations of yolk color is dependent upon the feed.  All the chickens at our farm are on the same feed program and therefore have the same yolk color.

Eggs from shells that are white, brown & green

I usually don't cook my eggs over easy or medium. But, today I wanted the yolks of these three to run together just to prove that the colors are the same.  I kept the shell colors segregated in the same sequence. 

The shell color doesn't make a difference

The difference between the shell colors has to do with the breed of the chicken. Dale purchased some longhorn chickens. They are older and are laying Jumbo and Super Jumbo white eggs. The chickens that we hatched last spring are young and they lay small brown and green shelled eggs. I guess it is similar to people that have different hair color, eye color and skin color.

Hurry up in there!

The white chickens are the longhorn chickens. We have a total of 7 nests available.  When I took this picture 2 nests were open but this lady was waiting for hers to clear.

A Wise Cat sits watching

I watched carefully while 3 of the four dogs sniffed their way along the base of the barn. They were all baffled, "I smell a cat and it just POOF disappeared?!?!"

I smell a cat; but, where?

Dobermans aren't good trackers.  The cat just sat on its shelf watching the dogs. None of them even turned their head to the barn.

Sunset 1/29/2017

Sunset this evening was fabulous!  The camera picked up a special sun-ray that was not visible to the naked eye. As I turned the camera the direction of the ray changed.

Sunset 1/29/2017

I like it when the days get longer.  I have enough time to get outside and enjoy the sunset!  But then again this is one of the few days lately that we've actually seen the sun.

Sunset 1/29/2017

Looking on the bright side

Today was the first day in a long time that we have seen sunshine.  I really needed to sit outside in it.  But today was a work day which means that I only got a few short breaks outside.

Sunrise 1/27/2017

I enjoyed every minute of it!  (Do you see the alien invasion?   Oh, that is the reflection of my kitchen lights.)

Bacon Cheeseburger roll

Here is a delicious Paleo supper.

1 pound bacon

1 pound hamburger

2 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 onion chopped

1 cup shredded cheese

Bacon Cheeseburger Roll

Weave the bacon together to cover the bottom of the pan. You could have bacon left in the package.  I used thick cut bacon.

Woven bacon

Press the pound of hamburger across the bacon leaving about an inch all around for wrapping together.

Hamburger with garlic and half onions added

Then sprinkle the garlic and onions evenly across the top.  For the picture, I sprinkled the garlic then I put half of the onions on.  After the picture, I continued adding onions.

Adding the cheese

This was a tricky part. I rolled it up leaving the overlapping portion down.

Creating the roll

Then I browned it and rolled it over.  I should have browned all the sides.  It started to pull apart a bit.  I've made this before in a bread pan and wrapped in foil on the grill.

Brown on one side.

I think that I needed a larger spatula to to remove it from the pan. But all in all it turned out great! 

Remove from pan

I cut this into slices before serving.   (I used the cover to keep the bacon grease from splattering in the oven. I cooked it at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.)

Linoleum

I just want to know why they don't make linoleum patterns with paw prints?

Paw prints almost bigger than my feet

.... just a thought. 

New linoleum style?

Instead I grabbed the mop. I guess that I'm not quite ready for the spring thaw.

Ice is NOT my friend

At my last Doctors appointment the one thing he told me was NOT to walk on ice. I think that I will obey that request.

Icy driveway

But it has been just warm enough to create a driveway full of ice. So whenever I need to go to the barn or Dale's "man cave", I get into the car and drive.

The only safe way across....

Not that I want to wish my life away, but I will be glad when this winter is over.

Believe it or not!

Minutes before this picture was taken, I  was laying on the bed.  Duchess was laying by my feet on the living room floor. I asked her if she wanted to snuggle with me on the bed.  It wasn't long before all the dogs had joined me.

Doberman's bed?

They left me 4 inches on the edge of the bed.  Although they had me pinned down so I couldn't move. I guess, what more does a woman need than to be surrounded in love?

Being held on my 4" by a head and a butt

Now, that is a selfie!?!?!?!

Corn Casserole with bacon

The ingredients are 

2 cups dry noodles

 1 can cream style corn 

1 can corn leave the juices in 

1 stick butter

 1 small onion chopped 

3 to 4 cloves garlic chopped

 1 jar of bacon bits

1 cup of cheese

Corn Casserole with bacon

I did not have the recipe in front of me. I should have started by melting the butter. Instead I started at step 2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Yes! Dry noodles

Put the noodles in the bottom (dry). Then put the cream corn in the pan.

Add cream style corn

Then dump the can of corn in.  Do NOT use frozen corn. You need the liquid from the can for the recipe.

Adding corn

Onions are optional but good at the same time.

Ah, Onions!

I guess the same thing can be said about the chopped garlic. As I've mentioned before, I almost always use onions and garlic.

Freshly chopped garlic

Everything is better with bacon.  We buy real bacon pieces but you could make your own too.

Everything is better with bacon

You are seeing two sticks of butter because I doubled the recipe. It worked out for me to melt it and add it in here.

That's a chunk of butter

But, it would have been easier and fewer dishes if I would have done this step first in the Copper Chef Square Pan.

Melted butter :^)

Mix everything together, cover and put in the oven for 30 minutes. (I always rinse the bottom of the cream corn cans with water and dump in the pan. This will add about 1/3 can of water.)

Stir and cover

Stir at 30 minutes. At this point, I added the cheese. I like a lot of cheese so I added extra.

Add cheese when you stir at 30 minutes

(I don't follow recipes very well.) Cool for 30 more minutes with the cover on the top.

Corn Casserole with Bacon!

In the past I've made this in a cake pan which has been very difficult to clean up.  Making it on the Copper Chef Square Pan was perfect. Clean up is a breeze.

This isn't something that fits well into my dietary needs but I make it as a special treat for Dale.

Thank you Mills Fleet Farm

Since my shoulder surgery, I have had someone go to town with me when I've needed to buy supplies.  Saturday morning at Mills Fleet Farm I needed to pick up cat food, dog food and wild bird seed. All bags that are over my lifting ability at this point.

I need to thank three people in particular. A young lady who was stocking shelves between the bird feed & cat food section. She helped me load a bag of each. Then in the dog food section a young man help me load my dog food into the cart. The cashier called for someone to help me load all three bags into the trunk of the car. By help I mean they did all the work!

Now that is customer service! Thank you for doing such a great job Saint Cloud Mills Fleet Farm.

Laughs and Loves

Duchess wanted to sit on my lap this evening but Sonjia was in the way. So Dale invited her to sit on his lap.  I think that he got more than he bargained for!

Duchess sits on Dale's lap

It didn't last too long.  Duchess jumped off his lap and pushed between Sonjia and I.  But that didn't matter to Sonjia.  She kept looking up at with those sleepy yet loving eyes.

Sonjia's loving looks

What is my favorite color?

I cleared the pictures off my phone last night. As I was contemplating after work, what I could write about in my BLOG I looked down and smiled.

Cotton Flower Fading

This flower matched the colors that I was wearing so I decided to post it.  Keeping my toes warm, was a pair of my new socks.

My Socks

I am wearing a plaid shirt that my sister bought me to be able to get into and out of easily after my surgery.

My shirt

I bought the sweatpants to go with the shirt.  Since I would be wearing this very casual clothing line out in public, at least I could try to match.

My sweatpants

For Christmas, my brother bought me a pair of slippers.  They warm my toes up in the morning to get me going.

My slippers

I am sure that you can tell by now that favorite color is blue. Don't be afraid to live outside of the box!

Praying for a Van

I talked with a woman this evening that is praying for a van. Her son is making an impact. He has a tendency of making friends with troublemakers in school. Pretty soon, they are going to youth group with him. Their small car is loaded to the max.

And he has more friends that want to join him at youth group. I've heard that 2 of the boys just this week committed their lives to the Lord!  AMEN! 

Then there is his fight with the school.  The Muslims from Somalia are allowed to bring their religious traditions in to the school but he is not allowed. 

To top it off, the science teacher is teaching creation of the Earth over millions of years. So in the principal's office today the young boy spoke up and asked "Have you seen my friends that are going to youth group with me? Have you noticed the change in them? That is what my belief is about. And this teacher is teaching against my religious belief when they try to tell me the Earth was created over millions of years." 

Terrific Tuesday

I am looking for positives!  It was a rough day at work.  I learned growing up there is only one definition of stupidity.  Doing the same thing and expecting different results.  There is one project that I am working on with that project I am frequently asked to do the same thing with no changes.  What frustrated me is that a different result is expected.

One of my favorite TV shows is Leverage.  In a recent show, the grifter presents her mark with a glass of wine.  She clearly shows him the bottle and fully describes it.  When he wants a better wine, she hides the new bottle from him by wrapping it in a cloth. She sets the table by setting the glass on a decorative cloth to set it apart.  "The owner always keeps a special bottle aside for special occasions.  Here, try this one."  The story sells it when in reality it is a second bottle from the same batch as the first.  I'm close to spinning a story because this project isn't making any sense.

Sunset 1/17/17

 When I went out to the barn after work, the sun was in the last moments of setting.  It was gorgeous!  I needed that at the end of the troublesome day.  Then when I came inside, Skyler and Misty Blue wanted my attention.

Skyler loves on mama, Misty Blue

I got the two of them playing and pretty soon baby Skyler was loving on mama Misty Blue.  It was sweet to watch.  She just laid on the bed and soaked it up!

Skyler loves on Mama, Misty Blue

Then, there is a physical representative of my day.  One of my nails with over two months growth started ripping. Oh, well. I knew this would happen soon.

Bummer!