It’s a Conspiracy

There is a technological conspiracy going on, and I seem to be the target. I’ve ducked, hid, bobbed and weaved, but this missile has some kind of tracking system. It can find me whatever I do.

Anyone who follows me on FB (click here and “like” this page if you haven’t already and we’ll just let bygones be bygones: Baking In A Tornado Facebook page) may have seen the whole right click dilemma a few weeks ago:

I copy and paste constantly. One day, the right click on my laptop stopped working. I couldn’t copy and paste. When my son finally got home from school, I went to show him and, of course, the right click miraculously worked. He walked away and it didn’t. He came back (yes, rolling his eyes) and this time he saw that it didn’t work for me. He tried it and it did work for him.

I know it’s a conspiracy, ‘cause it can’t be me.

I took a picture, I post them often both on FB and in my blog posts. It was a picture (coincidently, of alcohol) that I was going to use in a future Guest Post. I wrote something on my FB page and went to add that picture, but it went up sideways. Huh? I deleted it from FB, went in to edit it in my picture file, did everything I could think of, but that picture only posts sideways.

I know it’s a conspiracy, ‘cause it can’t be me.

I wanted a badge (button, whatever) for my blog. Everyone has one, how hard can it be? So I found step by step instructions, and couldn’t do it. Found instructions elsewhere, couldn’t do it. My son came home from school and did it in about a minute and a half. About 6 months later, some friends were asking if I would make badges for the Secret Subject Swap and the Fly on the Wall challenges. Well, no, apparently I can’t, but I know who can. In about a minute and a half.

I know it’s a conspiracy, ‘cause it can’t be me.

Every Sunday evening, the number of people who have “liked” my FB page goes down by one or two. It always makes me sad and I look at my postings to see if I’ve said anything unusually offensive. But then sometime on Monday, the number goes back up by one or two more than the people who’ve newly liked my page. I think Fb likes to screw with me.

I know it’s a conspiracy, ‘cause it can’t be me.

Strawberry White Chocolate Chip Meringues

(Pictured with a Chocolate Mint Chip Meringue in the middle)

My password to one of the sites I use changed itself. I knew what my password was and I had been using it. But it would not let me in, no matter what I did. I finally had to contact the site and get them to reset my password. Now I can’t remember the new one they assigned me and I’m too embarrassed to contact them again.

I know it’s a conspiracy, ‘cause it can’t be me.

Most people have seen the blue screen of death at least once. It’s a computer style dire warning that you’ve been naughty and are headed for the firing squad. The blue screen of death pays me a visit. . .  weekly.

I know it’s a conspiracy, ‘cause it can’t be me.

My computer moves things around while I’m sleeping. I’ll go and look for a document and It’ll be gone. Or it’ll take a picture out of my picture file and stick it in a document. I cannot win this game of hide-and-seek no matter what I do. But my son can always get it to give up its hiding spot. Yes, rolling his eyes the whole time.

I know it’s a conspiracy, ‘cause it can’t be me.

After dinner one night, Husband went into our home office to do some work on the computer. He had some important paperwork he had to do online for the next day’s meetings. I took the opportunity to work on the blog. I went to scan in my food picture and it didn’t show up. Great. Then from the office I hear “Hey, what is this picture that just showed up in the middle of my financial document"?”

I know it’s a conspiracy, ‘cause it can’t be me.

Right?

Strawberry White Chocolate Chip Meringues
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Strawberry Nesquick (powder) 25% less sugar
1/4 tsp strawberry extract
dash salt
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

*Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

*Beat egg whites until soft peaks begin to form. Slowly add the sugar, Nesquick powder, extract and salt. Keep beating until stiff peaks hold.

*Gently mix in white chocolate chips.

*Pipe or spoon onto parchment paper.

*Bake for 30 minutes.

*Turn oven off but leave the cookies in the cooling oven for 20 minutes.

*Remove cookie sheet from oven and remove cookies from the sheet.

*Store in a sealed container at room temperature.

Today I’m a Dad?

I’m doing something a little different today. I’m appearing as a Guest Contributor at DadsRT. Dads Round Table is basically an online parenting magazine featuring a Dad’s perspective.

Why am I writing there? Because they’re doing a series on raising the Dads of tomorrow, from a Mom’s point of view. They know Jen and asked her to recommend Moms who are parenting boys and might be willing to offer their perspective. She was kind enough to think of me.

DadsRT allowed me access to their site, let me set up my own profile and gravatar, and submit the post myself.

The piece I wrote for them is called “It’s a Boy”, and I’m really proud of it. I hope you’ll click on this link and take the time to read it: It's a Boy: Raising Tomorrow's Dads. And if you like it, please leave me some comment love over there.

Thank you.

Winds of Change

Today’s post is a collaboration between my friend Sarah, who blogs at The Momisodes and I.

Sarah and I generally have very little in common. We’re living different lives, are at different stages in our lives in very different parts of the country. And yet, we have a lot in common right now.

The winds of change are blowing in both of our directions.

So Sarah and I are both writing about it, on our own blogs and in our own way. And we’re both offering recipes; me because I’m still here baking in my tornado, and Sarah because they’re an integral part of what’s changed for her.

Sarah’s made choices, but the changes coming to my life are more organic. The implications will not just affect me, but also my baking and my blogging.

My blog was born of my baking to relieve the stresses in my life, and to feed the hordes of teenagers who tend to hang around to see what’ll come out of the oven.

And although my first choice of name for this blog was taken and, unable to choose amongst my other choices I let my son do it, I love the one he chose. Because the whole imagery of a tornado is uncannily appropriate to what I’m doing here and why.

A tornado is a rapidly whirling cone of wind that extends down from a cloud to the surface of the earth. It can destroy everything in its path or it can jump, demolishing one house and leaving the next untouched.
*Sometimes, when living in a tornado, we need to find a way not to let it destroy everything in its path. I’ve found baking. Then I got lucky enough to find blogging.

A tornado builds. It starts with a thunderstorm.
*Everyone has thunderstorms of one sort or another in their lives.
But sometimes these storms become supercells, and that’s when you need to watch out. Because tornadoes are the most violent of storms.
*There’s a thunderstorm on my horizon. And I can feel it building.

Every tornado has its own shape and color. They start off almost colorless, until they collect debris, and then take on their ominous shade.
*We all have our own stressors. They collect debris and color our lives.

My older son leaves for college in 4 short months. Well, that is if he ever gets around to signing up for his dorm and orientation. But if he does those things and goes, there will probably be less contention for me to deal with.  But there will also be a level of loss. I fight with him non-stop. But thinking about it, I miss him already.

Half of the people I bake for won’t be around much. One of the reasons I write will not physically be in my everyday life.

Chocolate Mint Pie

You can hear a tornado coming. They roar.
*And there’s a roar filling my ears right now. Because the winds of change are coming. And I’m not sure how it will affect the baking. And I’m not sure how it will affect the blogging. I just don’t know what color this tornado will take on.

Be sure to check out Sarah’s Winds of change post at The Momisodes, along with her recipe for Turkey Meat Loaf. Yum.

Chocolate Mint Pie
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
2 TBSP sugar
1 Chocolate Pie Crust (9 inch)
1 can Evaporated Mile
1 package instant Vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz)
1/4 cup Creme de Menthe 

Directions:
*Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks hold. Sprinkle the 2 TBSP sugar over it and continue to beat until stiff peaks hold.
*Wisk the Evaporated Milk, pudding mix and Creme de Menthe until completely combined. Gently fold in about 3/4 of the whipped cream. Put the mixture into the pie crust.
*Pipe or spoon the remaining whipped cream onto the pie.
*Refrigerate until set before serving and store the leftovers in the refrigerator.

Enough is no longer Enough

I’ve gone through different stages in my life when it comes to cooking. When I lived in my very first apartment, it was just to eat. So I’d boil the hell out of vegetables, over cook noodles, it was a disaster. And I didn’t care. Places to go, things to do.

When I first got married, cooking became fun for me. I wasn’t working so I had more time to think about it, plan, shop, experiment. That was the time that I enjoyed cooking the most.

And one of the things that I loved about cooking (and baking) is that I had so many of my Mom’s recipes to start with. Most I made “as is”. But as I became more comfortable with ingredients and processes, I changed many too.

But now, thanks to the attempts to get more money from consumers while providing them with less product, many of my old recipes from my Mom need to be reworked. Because so many of those recipes called for a can of this or a package of that. But if a can used to be 16 ounces, and then 15 1/2 ounces and now is 15 ounces (next I’ll need a magnifying glass to see it), what does that do to the integrity of the recipe? I won’t be buying 2 cans just for another ounce, so you can cross that genius marketing tactic off of your list.

And that got me thinking about some other items I’ve seen on the shelves lately that are, in my opinion, a thinly veiled attempt at pick pocketing:

*Aerated chocolate: I thought this was a joke but it turns out it’s not. They’ve taken chocolate bars, replaced some of the chocolate with air and sell them at the same price as the original chocolate bars. This makes sense to who? Just for the record: aerating is for my lawn.

*Boxes of snack cakes where the cakes are wrapped in twos: So your kid opens the little cellophane packet and there’s two cakes in there. What to do? Either the kid’s gonna eat both or blood’s about to spill trying to get that second one out of their tightly clenched fist to wrap up for another time. Pass.

*10 calorie sodas: I drink a lot of soda and I don’t drink the full sugar ones. I have my favorite diet sodas and I stick to those. So now you want me to try, not your new product but yet another version of the exact same sodas, just with more calories added back in. Like that’s gonna happen.

*New family sized packets: I used to buy packets of, well, pretty much anything that looked interesting to make as a side dish and it would feed the family. Lately those packets have gotten smaller and smaller. Now the companies have “introduced” family sized packets. Basically they’re about the size that the now miniscule packets used to be, but guess what? They’re almost double the price. Umm . . . no.

*Shampoo: deceit at an even higher level. Have you looked inside your shampoo bottle lately? I made that mistake. I thought that just because the size of the bottle hadn’t changed that I was getting the same amount. Think again. The bottle’s the same size but it’s only 3/4 full.  Check the number of ounces listed on the bottom of the bottle, if you can read it.

Then there’s make-up, laundry detergent . . .

It all gives new meaning to that old potato chip commercial “bet you can’t eat just one”. Of course now we actually can eat just one. That's all they’re putting in the bag.

So that’s my rant about how far your money is no longer getting you. Back to reconfiguring all of my recipes, thank you very much.

Chicken Pasta in Tomato Cream Sauce

This post was also published to Mamapedia as Pay More Not Less.

Chicken Pasta in Tomato Cream Sauce
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

 Printable Recipe
 

Ingredients:
2 TBSP oil
1 zucchini cut in half lengthwise, then sliced
1/2# mushrooms 
2 cloves garlic, minces
1/2 onion, chopped
garlic powder
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
salt
pepper
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/3 cup heavy cream
parsley
1# boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1# Mostacchioli, cooked al dente

Directions:
*Heat oil in pan at medium heat. When hot, add zucchini, mushroms, garlic and onion. Cook until the onion is soft. Remove to a plate.
*Add chicken to the pan. Sprinkle with garlic powder and saute until chicken is cooked through. Add the veggies back in.
*Add the canned tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and the Italian Seasoning. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 10 minutes.
*Turn down the heat to low and add the heavy cream. Once completely incorporated, add the mostacchioli. Stir until all ingredients are warm. Sprinkle with parsley.

April Fly on the Wall

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 12 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

When you’re done, click on the links below for a peek into some other homes:
Baking In A Tornado
Just a Little Nutty
Follow me home . . .
Stacy Sews and Schools
The Sadder But Wiser Girl
Menopausal Mother
Moore Organized Mayhem
The Insomniac's Dream
The Momisodes
Tiny Steps Mommy 
Outsmarted Mommy
The Rowdy Baker  

This month’s Fly on the Wall post is about some of the things a fly might see if he were to watch me posting on Facebook:

I posted: Question: If you get burned taking a cookie off of the cookie sheet, you should immediately eat the offending cookie so it can’t hurt anyone else, right?
One response: I think it’s the law!
The consensus of opinion: Yes, that cookie needed to be punished

I posted: If absence really does make the heart grow fonder, I think my teenagers should go away for a while!

I posted: I know its been a while since I’ve been in school, but I’m having a bit of a problem with this math:
A pile of my son’s friends slept over in the basement last night. This morning I came downstairs and in the laundry room (where the kids all throw their shoes) there was one extra pair of shoes. In the basement there were 2 extra sleeping kids and in the driveway there were no extra cars. Somehow this does not all add up.
One friend answered: Maybe Marty McFly landed at the wrong house.
And I said: I wish he had left me his car!

I posted: PLEASE don’t let my teenagers come home while my tongue is stuck in this Vodka bottle.
Followed by: Looking for believable explanations for a swollen tongue. Quick. Help. Before the kids get home. . .
And then: Ooooh, someone doesn’t like my predicament tonight. Just lost a “like". OK, who left?

My Mai Tai

I posted: The sun’ll come out tomorrow. Ya gotta hang on ‘til tomorrow, come what may. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. I love ya, tomorrow! You’re always just a day away!

ANYONE WANT TO GUESS WHEN MY KIDS GO BACK TO SCHOOL?

One answer: when the sun comes out?

And another: Hmmmm. . . Always so cryptic. . . It seems like there must be a clue . . .

I posted: Bad: every time I want to know whether or not I’ve seen a movie, I have to ask my older son. Worse: he always knows.

An answer: Who Are you??!! Are we related? I thought I was the only one that had that same situation.

And I told her: Maybe we ARE related. I wonder if my son knows what movies you’ve seen too!

I posted: Good news/bad news. Good news: the snowblower started. Bad news: school’s already been canceled for tomorrow. That’s the end of MY life. Well, my Thursday anyway.

I posted: Anybody else hear this in their home? “Mom, my friends are coming over so you can make cookies if you want”.

 

I posted: Proof I have impulse control: My kids are still alive.

So that’s a peek at my Facebook page. Sound like fun? Join me (shameless plug) by clicking this link:

Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page

My Mai Tai
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:
1/2 ounce Spiced Rum
1/2 ounce Coconut Rum
1 ounce Patron Citronge
2 ounces Orange Juice
2 ounces Pineapple Juice
1 dash Grenadine

Directions:
*Combine all ingredients. Serve over ice.
*Opt: Can embellish with fresh pineapple chunks, orange slices and/or maraschino cherry

Take 2 – April Secret Subject Swap

Welcome to another Secret Subject Swap (and my 100th blog post). This week, 11 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Baking In A Tornado
Life on Peanut Layne
Menopausal Mother
The Sadder but Wiser Girl
Evil Joy Speaks 
Black Sheep Mom
Home on Deranged
Victory Rose
Dates 2 Diapers
Bad Word Mama 
My Life as Lucille  

My subject is: Survivor or Amazing Race? Which one would you be on (or not be on) and why? It was submitted by: Evil Joy Speaks

Here goes:
 Here’s something you may not know about me, I have already been on both shows. And lived to tell the tale. Just barely, but lived just the same. I was on Survivor many, many years ago, went on to Amazing Race, and just in the last few years ended up on Survivor All-Stars. Yes, I’m that good.

Years ago, as a result of my own production (actually two, a year apart) I found myself on Survivor – Infant Island.
Challenges included:
the How long can you keep your eyes open with no sleep when you’ve run out of coffee challenge.
the Buy new bottles vs. clean the ones you have challenge.
the Falling into bed covered in spit-up challenge.
the What you do when you’re out of diapers challenge.

followed by:
the Learning to jump out of the way when the Hyperactive Gag Reflex kicks in challenge.
the Making it through a shopping trip without a meltdown challenge.
the Waiting to dance in the streets until the youngest has already left for school challenge.
the Getting out of going on EVERY school field trip challenge.
the Finding foods they’ll eat challenge. Apparently just pouring sugar on everything is classified as cheating. Damn.

Brown Sugar Kugel

I was sure I’d never do another show like that again, but somehow found myself on The Amazing Race, Extracurricular Activity Edition.
The race took me to:
Tae Kwon Do testing where I had practiced so much with my son to prepare him that the instructor asked me if I wanted my belt as well.
Baseball games where my son stood too close to the practicing batter.
Soccer games where both boys’ games started at the same times but on different fields.
Football games where I had to answer my husband’s “who’s that player down on the field?” with “your son”.
Track meets where my son was too cool to tie his shoes.
Skateboarding obsession that ended in the Emergency Room.
Swimming on Cape Cod where my son got stung by a Jelly Fish.
Skiing in Colorado where I watched my son, on his second day, point his skis straight down a Black Diamond and go. . .

And now, because you just can’t turn down the honor of an All-Stars show, I find myself on Survivors yet again. And this one may kill me. Yes, I’m in the hell they call Survivor – Teen Island.
Challenges include:
the Not finishing off everything in your bar the first time they drive off in the car challenge.
the Keeping food in the house challenge.
the Getting them not to spend every penny the minute they make it challenge.
the Not ripping the mail out of the Mailman’s hands when college acceptance letters start to arrive challenge.
the No, you can’t drop all of your classes since you’ve already been accepted to college challenge.

And the one that just may send me packing:
the Getting out of bed and seeing what they’re going to do to you the next day challenge. Harder than you’d think, under the circumstances.

So there you have it: my Hollywood resume. Didn’t know I was a celebrity, did you?

Brown Sugar Kugel
                                  ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 lb. wide noodles
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Spray a 9X13 glass baking dish (for thinner, cripsier kugel pictured above) or 8X8 dish for thicker kugel with no-stick spray.
*Put the melted butter into the dish, and using a basting brush, brush the butter over the bottom of the dish and up the sides a little.
*Add the 1/2 cup of brown sugar and using the basting brush, spread it evenly over the bottom of the pan and a little bit up the sides. Set aside.
*Cook the noodles al dente. While still hot, add the 1/2 stick of butter and the salt and mix until the butter melts into the noodles. Set aside until the noodles cool a little and the eggs can be added without them cooking in the hot noodles, then mix the eggs in completely.
*Gently put 2/3 of the noodle mixture over the brown sugar mixture in the pan. You don’t want to move the brown sugar mixture around, but you do want the noodles evenly distributed on top.
*Sprinkle with 1/4 cup brown sugar and top with the rest of the noodles.
*Bake for 45 minutes
*Remove from oven and cut into squares. Let sit in the pan for 5 or ten minutes before removing.

The Circle Hypothesis

If you’ve read this blog before, you’re well aware that I have teenagers. And yet when dealing with my boys I often find myself thinking (OK, even sometimes saying) “isn’t that something you learned when you were, like, two?” So I entered Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine (some of you may need to Google that), to revisit the behaviors I addressed when the boys were little. And I was a little stunned.

In the name of scientific discovery, I ended up developing a hypothesis about a vicious circle in parenting. And further, based on a simple questionnaire (of the Women’s Magazine type), you can see where you are in that circle. My theory is that the older your kids, the higher your score. Want to join my study? Take the test? Easy Peasy, it’s multiple choice.

Answer Options:
A) a 2 year old
B) a teenager
C) both A and B
D) none of the above

Here’s how it works; for each of the 15 statements below, choose the answer that best fits the age of the child described; A, B, C, or D.

1. The answer to everything is “no”.

2. Don’t pick up their toys.

3. Whine at dinner.

4. Don’t come when called.

5. Is always in the way when Mom’s in the kitchen.

6. Doesn’t always play well with others.

7. Thinks Fruit Snacks are a fruit.

8. Wants to drive the car.

9. When Mom says “no”, goes and asks Dad.

10. Responsible for Mom needing a Brunch Cocktail.

Brunch Cocktail

11. Watches TV way too loud.

12. Goes into their room and slams the door when they don’t get their way.

13. Deliberately uses naughty words.

14. Takes whatever they want and thinks everything they see belongs to them.

15. Takes naps, but only now and then.

Finished? Want to see how you did? For each answer, give yourself the corresponding points:
A) 1 point
B) 2 points
C) 3 points
D) 0 points

Now just add up your points and check out your results:
0 to 15 points: You just wait. . .
16 to 29 points: You’re getting it . . .
30 to 44 points: Having teens is sorta like Deja vu, isn’t it?
45 points: Welcome to the club. Care for a Brunch Cocktail?

Now let me know, is the Circle Hypothesis holding up? What’s your score?

Brunch Cocktail
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (per cocktail):
1 ounce Chambord, Black Raspberry Liqeur
Prosecco, an Italian Dry Sparkling Wine
Grapefruit Juice

Directions:
*Put one ounce of Chambord into a Champagne flute.
*Fill the rest of the flute with equal parts Prosecco and Grapefruit Juice.

Take 1 –April Secret Subject Swap

Welcome to Take One of April’s Secret Subject Swaps. This week 12 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Baking In A Tornado
Chewylicious
The Momisodes
Dinosaur Superhero Mommy
Just A Little Nutty
Follow me home . . .
Stacy Sews and Schools
A Mother Life
Confessions of a Failing Domestic Goddess
The Insomniac's Dream 
Suburbia Interrupted 
Moore Organized Mayhem 


My subject is: Well, I’m actually not telling you. I’m doing things a little differently this time. I’m going to let you read my post and then when I’m done, I’ll tell you what the prompt was. I WILL tell you that it was submitted by my friend:  Just A Little Nutty

Here goes:
The story I’m going to tell you today is a pretty typical story of what goes on when I ask one of my boys to help me in the kitchen. Although I admit that many times they just make mistakes, and many times I’m not specific enough in my directions, I also believe that these boys do some of this stuff just to get out of helping me in the kitchen:

I was making dinner and my son was sitting on a stool at the counter talking to me. Possibly against his will, but every now and then I make him tell me a little something about what’s going on in school. It’s actually funny to see his tactics for attempting to get out of the discussion and go back to more important things. So he starts with an insult “well, Mom, I’ve learned the importance of calcium for people your age”. Not to be deterred I answered “thank you, Son, for thinking of me. Leave the ice cream that’s in the freezer, I’ll need to eat that”.

Insults not working, we move on to feigned ignorance; “We’ve been debating the issue of chloride in the drinking water”. Of course I know that he knows it’s fluoride. Lame Son, really lame.

I went to grab tomatoes for the Pico de Gallo out of the vegetable bin when I noticed that I had a green pepper that was about to go bad. What I’ll generally do is chop the pepper and freeze it for later use in soups or stews. Since I was busy, I asked my son if he’d grab the pepper and chop it for me.

Pico de Gallo

I was concentrating on dinner when suddenly I hear swearing from the other side of the kitchen. “Stop that citric acid tongue of yours” I said as I looked up. And stopped short. My son’s eyes were bright red, teary and swollen. I looked down to see that he was chopping, not a green pepper but a green chili, seeds and all. He must have rubbed his eyes. Oh, no.

I grabbed him, unfortunately spilling all of the chopped green chili onto the floor, pulled him to the sink and flushed his eyes with cold water.

Yes, it got him out of chopping anything else. And no, I have no idea whether that was an accident, a miscommunication, or deliberate. But every time I ask him for help in the kitchen, he starts to rub those beautiful blue eyes and I decide not to bother. Well played, Son, well played.

My subject was: Take a package of an item you used for last night’s dinner. Look at the ingredients and work ALL of them into a post.
Dinner was: Enchiladas, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole and Mexican Rice.
The package was: A can of green chilis (since my fresh chili ended up on the floor).
The ingredients were: Green chilis, water, citric acid, calcium chloride.
How did I do?

Pico de Gallo
                                         ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 to 1 chili pepper (to taste), seeded and chopped *Can use a 4 oz can of chopped jalapenos
3 tsp white vinegar
1 TBSP Olive oil
1 tsp Lime juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp cumin
Fresh cilantro (to taste), chopped

Directions:
*Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate a few hours or preferably overnight, stirring every now and then.