Lonely Less: Poetry Monday

 

 

Poetry Monday's once a week.

I bet you know which day.

I don't participate every time,

But today I've come out to play.

My friends assign each week a theme,

Loneliness is what they chose.

Now it's up to all of us,

to put our thoughts into prose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lonely Less

 

Some enjoy the solitude,

others not so much.

For me, depends on that one day,

how much sleep I've had, and such.

You can be lonely in a group,

as well as when it's just you.

Loneliness is more how you feel,

than who's within your view.

 

But you can change your attitude,

the head space that you're in.

Or phone a friend, see family,

both such an easy win.

 

Nothing quite prepared me, though,

for moving far astray.

No friends at all, nor family,

New England, far away. 

We were truly all alone

to us, the Midwest, strange.

Fitting in, quite a tough goal,

for this was no small change.

 

But . . .

 

Something that I've found, you know

that food, it's love to me.

And if you make enough to share,

seems lots of friends you'll see.

 

 

Dijon Chicken Pretzel Sliders

 

However . . .

 

Dijon Chicken Pretzels Sliders,

were really just so good,

wasn't sure there'd be enough,

to share here, in my hood.

 

 

 

 

Wait!

Read more poetry, 

you're not through.

Some talented writers

are in this crew:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings 

Mother Owl 

 

 

Dijon Chicken Pretzel Sliders      

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 

9 pretzel slider buns

6 oz cooked chicken, chopped

1/2 cup beer

3 TBSP brown sugar

1/4 cup dijon mustard

9 slices black forest ham

2 1/4 slices pepper jack cheese  

Directions: 

*NOTE: This recipe works well if you make the chicken in the sauce a day ahead of time, cover, refrigerate, and heat up when ready to make the sliders.

*Over medium heat, whisk together the beer, brown sugar, and mustard in a saucepan. Cook and stir until it comes to a boil. Add the chicken, return to a boil, then reduce the heat and allow to cook for 3 minutes, stirring now and then.and continue to cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, shred the chicken. You can cover and refrigerate at this point or continue with the recipe.

*Grease an 8 X 8 baking dish. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

*Lightly toast the slider buns. Arrange the bottoms in the baking dish.

*Fold a slice of ham onto the bottom of each bun. Cut the slices of pepper jack into quarters, and place 1/4 slice onto each piece of ham.

*Using a slotted spoon, spoon the chicken mixture onto the cheese, then add the tops of the buns.

*Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes, just until warm.

 

 

My Sweet Dumpling

 

 

 It started innocently. Yeah, they all say that. OK, it started with a blog post. Then a comment on that post. It spiraled from there. 

 

I'd published a Fly on the Wall post in October. It's a glimpse of the humorous conversations and situations at my house, told in little snippets. In the post, I was talking about having asked College Boy for some inspiration for a recipe. He was no help, all of his suggestions started with me baking all of my money into a dessert and giving it to him. Pass.

My friend Rena, of Technology-Therapist, a longtime blogging friend of mine, technology guru, and wearer of many (metaphorical) blogging hats, left a message for me on that post:

 

"Speaking of recipes, I need you to figure out those sweet potato dumplings. That's your challenge!"

 

Turns out College Boy wasn't my muse. But Rena was stepping up.

 

One problem, though, and not so minor. I don't know what a Sweet Potato Dumpling is. I googled it but that didn't clear much up. So I emailed Rena:

"I've never had a Sweet Potato Dumpling. I don't even know if it's a side dish or a dessert. I googled it and there seem to be a lot of recipes out there, most seem to call for crescent rolls and Sweet Potato Patties, something else I've never heard of. But I'm intrigued. What is it. Tell me more."

I was starting to feel like I'd been living under a rock. Sweet Potato Dumplings? Sweet Potato Patties? Where have these things been all my life?

At least I know what crescent rolls are . . .

Rena told me that it was a side dish that was a relative's contribution to Thanksgiving, using canned biscuits, pieces of sweet potato, brown sugar, and maybe butter. A relative who she hasn't seen in quite some time, and who will not share her recipe. Then she left me with this:

"I'd love to figure it out and make them for my daughter at Thanksgiving, she adores them."

Wait, there are people who won't share their recipes? What fresh hell is this? Recipes are meant to be shared with those who appreciate them enough to ask for them. Everyone knows that. Right?

 

OK, challenge accepted. Well, sort of.

 

Because if you know me, and you should by now, you know I don't do things exactly the way others do. Especially when it comes to recipes. I like to play with concepts and ingredients, make the end result my own.

 

Which actually is the catch-22 of this recipe. 

 

Because not only do I have no idea which of the many incarnations of Sweet Potato Dumplings her family so adores, but after reading about 20 of them, I'm going in a different direction from . . . well . . . all of them.

 

Putting in jeopardy, I'm sure, Rena's continued role as my muse. 

 

I tried to take my inspiration from that iconic sweet potato casserole with marshmallows that shows up on so many Thanksgiving tables. So in place of the unknown sweet potato patty, I went with mashed canned yams. I used cinnamon rolls instead of the crescent rolls, just because I thought they lent themselves to this dish. A lot of the recipes I saw included a sauce of butter, sugar, and cornstarch. I wanted to change that up, adding a touch of ginger to the sweet potatoes, and ginger ale to the sauce. And yes, I even added mini marshmallows. It's the holidays, after all.

 

My same question remains though, is this a side dish? A dessert? Spread the canned icing on it and call it a breakfast? Well, you can't say it isn't versatile.

 

 

Cinnamon Yam Dumplings

 

Definitely not the recipe I was tasked with recreating, but I'm happy with what I came up with (if I do say so myself). But the real test remains, what will Rena (and her daughter) think? Keep your fingers crossed for me, I may need a muse again some day. 

 

Cinnamon Yam Dumplings      

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 can (15 oz) yams in syrup

2 TBSP brown sugar, divided

1/4 tsp ginger

1 1/4 tsp cinnamon, divided

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup mini marshmallows

1 tube (8 count) refrigerator cinnamon rolls 

 

4 TBSP butter

2 TBSP maple syrup

1/2 cup regular or diet ginger ale, room temperature

 

OPT: 1/4 cup chopped pecans

 

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 X 11 glass baking dish.

*Drain the yams well. Mash them lightly (they don't need to be smooth) with brown sugar, ginger, 1/2 tsp of the cinnamon, and salt. Mix in the mini marshmallows. Set aside.

*Open the tube of cinnamon rolls and separate them. On a piece of parchment paper, roll each out to about 5 inches in diameter.

*Scoop about a TBSP of the yam mixture into the center of each flattened roll. Fold in half, making sure the filling is completely encompassed. Pinch the edges closed and place in the baking dish.

*Melt the butter in the microwave. Whisk in the remaining 3/4 tsp cinnamon, maple syrup, and ginger ale. Pour over the dumplings. 

OPT: sprinkle with chopped pecans.

*Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until the dumplings are well browned.

OPT: you can drizzle with the canned icing, or freeze the icing for use in another application.