Friday, May 10, 2013

Take 1- May Secret Subject Swap

Welcome to Take One of May’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.


Secret Subject Swap | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

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
Just A Little Nutty
Follow me home . . .
Stacy Sews and Schools
A Working Mom's "Whoas"
The Sadder But Wiser Girl
Menopausal Mother
Dates 2 Diapers
Akashic Aisles: The Basement View
They Call Me Mummy
Evil Joy Speaks

My subject is: You just saved someone’s life! You are a hero! Tell us all about it. It was submitted by: Follow me home . . .

Before you read my post, I just want to say how much I love Shellybean. She was the very first blogger to befriend me and has read every word I’ve written ever since. I’m afraid that after she reads how I completely mangled her wonderful prompt she’ll never speak to me again, so I just wanted to go on the record.


Secret Subject Swap | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

Stop the life you save may be your own. . . (Jackson Five)
Oh wait, that’s not “life” that’s “love”. Nevermind.

So it all started like this:
It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right. I hope you had the time of your life . . . (Green Day)
I grew up like many little girls do: walking to school with the neighborhood kids, skipping rope, cookouts, ballet, days at the beach and learning to ski.

It’s my life, it’s now or never. . .  (Bon Jovi)
When I hit the teen years, I hit them hard. Loud music, late nights, minimal school work, one word answers to parents, concert, fast cars. But I was young, carefree, and consequences were for other people.

Life in the fastlane, surely make you lost your mind . . . (Eagles)
But there’s only so long you can live that way. Oh, it was fun. I don’t regret a minute of it (the ones I remember, that is). But eventually I made my way out of college, into a job and damn, this little thing called responsibility (bills) started to cramp my style.

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy . . . (Queen)
And then there was always the fantasy of marrying, having children, white picket fence attached to the white picket fence of my best friend. Perfectly behaved kids, manicured nails, dinner parties, girls’ nights out.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream . . . (old folk song)
And at first it IS a dream. Life goes merrily on. We do buy a house, brown fence but we love it. My kids are very well behaved. Of course there are struggles, but these are good kids. I do get my nails done weekly, have dinner parties and girls’ nights out.




Squash Casserole | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe

Squash Casserole | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe

Squash Casserole


Obladi oblada life goes on . . . (Beatles)
But life goes on; kids go off to school, we move to a bigger house, husband changes jobs, I take a job then leave it when the kids are on summer break. Through it all we’re a family. We eat together, play together, spend time together.

Everybody’s got their dues in life to pay  . . .  (Aerosmith)
Now my kids are teens. When they hit the teen years, they hit them hard. Loud music, late nights, minimal school work, one word answers to parents, concerts, fast cars. But they are young, carefree, and consequences are for other people.

And I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life . . . (The Fray)
And so I’m challenged. Do I pull the sheets up over my head and pretend I don’t know that all their choices won’t be good ones? Or do I find a way to cope:
cocktails, baking, blogging, Red Sox, mysteries, sudoku, beach, skiing, ballet, cocktails and cocktails.

So stop the life you save may be your own. Oh wait, that’s still not “life”, that’s still “love” . . . Nevermind.


Baking In A Tornado signature | Graphic designed by and property of www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics




(My Mom's) Squash Casserole
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com
Ingredients:
2 - 3 summer squash
2 - 3 zucchini
4 tomatoes
seasoned bread crumbs
sliced mozzarella
salt
pepper
oregano
garlic powder
onion powder
Directions:
 *NOTE:* I've made this recipe in many different sized and shaped dishes. The amount of the ingredients will depend on what you choose to use. In the pictuer above I used a 8 X 11 dish.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease your pan.
*Slice the squash, zucchini and tomatoes into about 1/2 inch rounds. Put a single layer of half of the squash in the bottom of the pan. You can cut pieces to fit, but don't have to cover the whole bottom of the pan.
*Layer half of the zucchini slices over the squash. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder and onion powder.
*Layer half of the tomato slices over the seasonings, then sprinkle with seasoned bread crumbs.
*Cover with cheese slices.
*Repeat all layers. Cover and bake for one hour.

46 comments:

  1. First off, I LOVE what you did with the prompt!!!!
    Secondly, you find a way to deal.... Jacob seems to tell me just about everything that is going on in his life... Some of those things I think I would be better off NOT KNOWING, thank you very much... Because now I worry more than I would have to begin with. SIGH......

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    1. LOL, there has to be some middle ground. It's great that Jacob tells you what's going on, I'm hoping my kids get a little more open, but for now I'm prying info out of them!

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  2. Emailing my husband to see if he'll eat that... It sounds so good!

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    1. It's delish. I use it as a side dish when the family is home for dinner, but on nights when they're not home, it's dinner for me.

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  3. Karen!! First, It's about dang time you get my prompt! What a great job too. Not only did I get another peek in your life, I got a recipe AND a new playlist. I'm off to by some iTunes... Love you girl!

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    1. Thanks for not hating what I did with this. I'm sure it's not what might be expected, but this is where your prompt took me!

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  4. Love, love, love your perspective on this. Those are ALL songs that I absolutely love. Time to fire up the Ipod. Great post Karen! Just loved it.

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    1. Thank you. Wasn't sure how this one would go over.

      Happy listening!

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  5. This is great--I love how you started at the beginning and brought it all full circle. I think you did a great job with your post--and I am sooo making this recipe!!

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    1. Enjoy the recipe. It's one of my favorites, from the times my Mom made it and still now that I'm making it myself.

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  6. LOVE IT! And you have AWESOME taste in music. Great job on this post!

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    1. Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. I was a little worried about where I went with it!

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  7. Great music AND great food: It's the perfect combination! ;-)

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  8. I love how you managed to make the nostalgia almost tangible in this post. Well done!

    AND, I'm so glad to hear that the one-word answers are typical of all teenagers. I was really beginning to think my son just doesn't like me anymore.

    It's scary, isn't it: to think about our children practicing the same reckless abandon we did? Ugh. I guess all we can do is hope we taught them enough to keep them safe, and keep lots of xanax, wine, and tequila on hand.

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    1. Sounds like your son would fit in nicely in my home. I'm trying to decide which I'd prefer, one word answers or being ignored altogether. YIKES!

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  9. I LOVE THIS!!! And I'm psyched cause I knew all the songs you used! Sweetness!

    And seriously - I"m drooling - I'm so making that on Mother's Day - they have to let me make whatever I want - or have Dr. Evil make it for me....nah - he can just clean up my mess from cooking.

    Happy Mother's Day to the coolest Mom!!!

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    1. And I'm psyched that you knew all the songs too.

      Happy Mother's day, evilJoy!

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  10. love this post...you are so flipping creative and funny. you rock and so amazing for setting this all up once again.

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    1. So glad you liked it. I wasn't sure, when I was writing it, how people would take it. It is a sort of weird take on the prompt!

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  11. Such a clever way to write this post ~ incorporating the different songs. You are a genius! And I don't think Shellybean cares at all!

    ¤´¨)
    ¸.•*´
    (¸¤ Lanaya | xoxo
    www.raising-reagan.com

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    1. Thank you and yes, it does seem that Shellybean's going to give me a pass on this one!

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  12. Hey Karen...

    Your quote: "cocktails, baking, blogging, Red Sox, mysteries, sudoku, beach, skiing, ballet, cocktails and cocktails." absolutely says it all, stemming from the Life/Love of your Post.

    Awesome concept, awesome "story." Have a great weekend & Happy Mother's Day, Slu

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    1. Thanks Slu, that says it all for me too. And I loved this prompt, even though I came at it kinda sideways.

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  13. Well I think it's wonderful. Any post that you can connect that many amazing songs to is a winner in my book. Plus, good food. So what's not to like?
    p.s. can't wait til my life straightens up and I can rejoin SSS. I miss it!

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    1. Love that people are appreciating my take on the prompt.

      Looking forward to getting you back on one!

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  14. You, my new bloggy friend, are a genius!! This was a great way to approach this prompt! I LOVE it and you are inspiring!
    Vicky
    Happy Mother's Day to YOU!

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    1. Thank you. I was nervous from the time I wrote it til the time I published. I thought, many times, about scrapping it and starting over.

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  15. Music often does so well to sum up our lives. Love this.

    -The Insomniacs Dream

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    1. Although it was a weird approach to the prompt, music literally inspired me through the writing of this whole piece.

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  16. I have it on good authority that what the Secret Subject Swap is all about is interpreting the prompt in your own style. And also that there is no Swap police to get you if you don't do what people expect. Somebody said that to me when I was so nervous about my first one.....somebody..... ;) Excellent post, I loved it.

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    1. LOL, my own words come back to haunt me. But it's true, and Shellybean's still my friend!

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  17. You did a great job with this swap! Well done and that squash is beautiful!

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    1. Thanks, I always have so much fun with the prompts in these swaps!

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  18. I love your take on this prompt. It was refreshing and surprising. I will most certainly be making this dish. It looks amazing!

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    1. Either it went over better than I thought it would, or people are being very polite.
      Do try the squash, it is SO good.

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  19. My comment never posted on Friday morning! Did you have some comment issues? I wrote it around 10:40 and no other ones had been posted. Odd

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    1. I don't know, this is that first I'm hearing of it. I hope I didn't lose comments. But thanks for letting me know you were here right after I posted and read my piece.

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  20. Great selection of songs!I actually did save a man's life a few years back as he was chocking to death and ran over to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him. No one else ran over to help him and we were in a full casino!

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    1. Maybe you should have gotten this prompt. Hard to believe so many people chose not to help. Bet that guy was glad you were there.

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  21. This sounds really good! I cannot wait for summer veggies!

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  22. loved your post and this was my mothers favorite casserole - she made it all summer every summer and it is delish! I love this swap post - so much fun! Glad to have found your blog!!

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    1. I'm glad you found me too!

      I think part of why I love this casserole so much is because we only make it in the spring and summer when the squashes and tomatoes are fresh, so we go all fall and winter without it.

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  23. I must be way older than you. The musical references went way over my head. By the time my boys hit teens they had blessed headphones. They did that out of defense of my Waylon and Willie days. Wait I'm still there, but my guys are grown and gone, my grands all but two are way out of teens.

    But I do love squash. I'll have to try your casserole.

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    1. Check out those songs, bet you like some of them. And I bet you'll LOVE this casserole.

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