Expectorant Expectant: Use Your Words

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. All of the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the recipient will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
I'm using: calendar ~ expectant ~ interjection ~ prevention ~ unearthly

They were submitted by Rena of The Blogging 911.

                          
The calendar tells me that Fall is on the way. How I dread cold and flu season. If only there were an injection that assured prevention from the unearthly suffering from these common fall and winter afflictions. Sadly, it seems, an expectorant is in our near future. And isn't that a pretty picture?

Wait, my word is interjection not injection? And expectant not expectorant? Oh. OK. Sorry. Never mind.

But as long as I'm complaining, may as well get a few issues off of my chest. 

1) The calendar does in fact say that fall is coming fast. In one week actually. Fall is a favorite season of so many people I love, my mom and College Boy are two of them, but I'm a summer lover and I hate that summer seems to be gone in a minute. Strict schedules, no flip flops, less daylight, slippery roads, turning on the heat, colds and flu . . . stop me when I get to something worth looking forward to . . .

Chipotle Ranch Corn Chip Chicken

OK, cold weather meals are really satisfying, I'll give you that.

The whole cold and flu season leads me to my next issue:
2) Prevention. This is an ongoing pet peeve of mine and it speaks to the whole "it's all about me" culture. Our ability to prevent illness, our right to protect ourselves is greatly undermined. This was a huge issue for me when College Boy was in elementary school. Parents based their decision to send their kids to school on their own schedules, not the health of their children or the best interest of their children's classmates. I can't tell you how many times kids came to class coughing, sneezing, even with a fever. And every time it was my kid who suffered, ended up on a nebulizer for a week.

It never ceases to amaze me how many school aged kids are in the grocery store coughing and sneezing at all the other patrons. You know the parents kept them home from school, at least one step in the right direction, but then took them to the grocery store to spread their germs on the parents. Great.

3) Expectant isn't just about babies any more. Seems everyone these days is living their lives in a constant state of expectation. If we are all takers, who's going to be left to give? Work ethic is a thing, everyone. Making goals, striving towards them, reaping what you sew, any of that sound familiar? Expectation can be a dangerous. So can needing an expectorant, but that may be another story for another day.

4) Interjection can be as painful as an injection. Conversation is a thing of the past. No one really seems to have the time to listen to each other any more. You know, exchange ideas? Other than in 140 character blasts. People more and more seem to be talking at each other not with each other. Interjection is the death of conversation, it shows you're not listening. Wait, hear the other person out, react to them, then make your point. 

5) What is this unearthly attitude of companies to whom we pay our money that they have no obligation to provide customer service? We all know if we need something from a company we'll spend hours in the automated voice service loop and if we ever do get anyone on the line there's a good chance they will be more indignant than accommodating. Yes, cable company, I'm looking at you. I'm about done with you.

End of rant? Not hardly. I'm sure I'll have more by the end of the day. Lucky for you, you won't have to hear about it. Anyone who sits down at my dinner table on the other hand . . .

Here are links to all the other Use Your Words posts:

Cognitive Script
The Blogging 911 
On the Border
 The Bergham Chronicles
Southern Belle Charm
Bookworm in the Kitchen 
Part-time Working Hockey Mom
Climaxed

Chipotle Ranch Corn Chip Chicken        

                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup Chipotle Ranch salad dressing
3/4 cup crushed Chili Cheese flavored Fritos
3/4 cup crushed Spicy Nacho flavored Doritos
3/4 cup crushed Tostitos
1/2 stick butter, melted

Directions:
*Trim the chicken and cut each breast half into 3 pieces of similar thickness. Place into a sealable plastic bag.
*Add the salad dressing to the bag, make sure all of the chicken pieces are completely coated and refrigerate for 4 hours or up to a day.
*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 baking pan.
*Place the crushed Fritos, Doritos and Tostitos onto a large plate. One  at a time, remove the chicken pieces from the bag and press all sides into the chip mixture until well coated. Place into the prepared pan.
*Drizzle the melted butter over the chicken. Place in the oven and cook for 45 to 50 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through.

White Rabbit and Me: A Be Late for Something Day Poem

It's monthly poetry time again and as I look through all of my past posts, I realize that this is our 24th group theme based posts. Two years. Amazing.

In those years I've taken this challenge, this opportunity to many different levels. I've written all kinds of poems from thoughtful to silly, from haiku to limerick. I tend to fall back, most often, to silly rhymes. They tend to be the most fun to write and I hope you find reading them to be amusing. 

If not, there's always a recipe in my posts. Think of it as a consolation prize. Thanks for playing reading, here's a consolation prize recipe.

On to the show. This month we've chosen the theme National Be Late for Something Day, a holiday started by The Procrastinators' Club of America. 

White Rabbit and Me

White Rabbit has nothing on me,
always late is what we be,
sometimes it's even hard to see,
when I'll even have a minute to . . .
                            . . . {{well, you know}}.

Start each day so full of hope,
with today's schedule I can cope.
Being on time would be so dope, {{cool, aren't I?}}
Can do it, can't I? Answer's "nope".

Procrastination may be the case . . .
one quick phone call to touch base,
blogging's a time-suck I embrace,
and oops, got lost on book-of-face.

I swear I try to be on time,
but it's a mountain just can't climb.
Coffee spills, mystery laundry slime,
then boom, before you know it, bedtime.

Racing through town is just no fun,
Kids' appointment is at 2:00 . . . no 1.
Grocery shopping must get done,
Seems I'm always under the gun.

Not surprised that dinner's late,
around here it's a frequent fate,
so it's your choice . . . you can wait
or just have nothing on your plate.

Orzo Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

So, Be Late for Something Day,

I'm not on time, but here to say,
good to see my normal delay
once each year is A- OK.

Before you go, click on these links to more poetry by some of my friends: 

Dawn of Cognitive Script shares Better Late Than Never, Right?

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Better Late than Never. 

Diane of On the Border shares On Being Late.

Orzo Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

                                                     ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe


Ingredients (makes 3):

2 TBSP butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1 green onion, sliced

3 TBSP pignolis

2 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper
1 cup orzo
1/4 cup grated parmesan
3 Portobello Mushroom Caps
2 TBSP olive oil

Directions:

*NOTE: I prefer make the orzo a day ahead but you can make it the same day if you prefer.
*Melt the butter in a pot on the stove over medium heat. Add the garlic, green onion, pignolis and orzo. Cook and stir for 3 minutes. 

*Add the vegetable broth, salt and pepper and immediately raise the heat to high to bring to a boil, stirring now and then. Once boiling, lower the heat and simmer, still stirring now and then, until the orzo is al dente, about 7 minutes.

*Drain the excess vegetable broth. Mix in the grated parmesan. Cool, then place in a sealed bag in the fridge until the next day.
*The next day, bring the orzo to room temperature

*Using a paper towel, gently brush any dirt off of the mushroom caps. If there is a stem stump, carefully remove it without breaking the mushroom cap.

*Grease a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the mushroom caps onto the baking sheet, gills side down. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, turn over.

*Spoon the orzo mixture into the mushroom caps. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked and the stuffing is hot.

Apple Pie Cheesecake: Blog With Friends

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends theme collaborations. Each month a group of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about this partnership is that it’s not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may have a recipe, sewing tutorial, crafts projects, book review and/or a technology post all related to the theme of the month.

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here’s a peek at what we all came up with:

This month's theme is Apples. This is a perfect theme for me not only because I love apple season but also because Rosh Hashanah is in 9 days. It's traditional to serve apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah, symbolic of our wish for a sweet new year. So for our apple theme I made an Apple Pie Cheesecake.

Apple Pie Cheesecake

When my kids were young, every year I'd invite a number of friends for an apple picking day. The day before, I'd make my Smoky Cornbread and White Chili. On apple picking day, I'd put Crockpot Beef Chili into the slow cooker and the families would head out to the orchard. We'd all ride the hay wagons, pick our apples and head back to my house where I'd have bought a pretty pie dish for each family. The kids would scatter to play, anyone who wanted to watch football would head to the man-cave in the basement and the rest of us would make batches of my Devil's Applesauce and Apple Pies. For dinner we'd all converge on the kitchen for White or Beef Chili and Cornbread with warm apple pie for dessert. At the end of the night each family would take home some applesauce and their own pie. SO much fun.

Although the local orchards have since closed down, my love of apple season has not diminished. I always make my apple pie and applesauce, but each year I work to come up with something new as well. This year, with Rosh Hashanah in mind, I've chosen to make a cheesecake with all of the flavors of an apple pie.

I start with the crust, and I chose to use cinnamon flavored cookies. I crushed them in the food processor, mixed with some melted butter and patted into my springform pan.

I beat together the cheesecake ingredients, including some apple pie spice, then added some toffee baking chips. 

Pour the cheesecake filling into the crust and it's ready for the oven.

Meanwhile I sauteed chopped apples for the filling. As per Rosh Hashanah tradition I added some honey to the apple mixture. I set this mixture aside to come to room temperature.

When the cheesecake was done, I let it cool on the counter, then refrigerate until cold.

Once the cheesecake is cold and the apples are cooled, they meet, fall in love and marry.

Happy apple season, everyone.

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:

Kia of Think in English shares Comparing Apples to Dragonfruit, How to Assess ESL Students from Very Different Backgrounds.

 Tamara of Part-time Working Hockey Mom shares her recipe for Apple/Sweet Potato Muffins.

Eileen of Eileen's Perpetually Busy shares her recipe for Mini Apple Crisp Pies.

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares how to make an Upcycled Harvest Door.

Rabia of The Lieber Family Blog shares how to make your own Fall potpourri, Scents of Autumn.

Be sure to stop by again next month for more theme based projects.

Apple Pie Cheesecake

                                            ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 package Chips Ahoy Thins Cinnamon Sugar Cookies, crumbed
4 TBSP butter, melted
2 packages (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp apple pie spice mix
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup toffee baking chips

2 TBSP butter
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped (I use Braeburn)
splash of lemon juice
2 TBSP brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp honey
1/4 cup caramel sauce


Directions:
*Grease a 9 inch springform pan. On the outside of the pan, wrap a sheet of tin foil around the bottom and partially up the sides of the pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
*Mix together the melted butter and cookie crumbs. Press into the bottom of the springform pan. Set aside.
*Beat the cream cheese, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and apple pie spice mix until smooth. Beat in the sour cream and heavy cream, then the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the toffee chips. 
*Pour into prepared crust and bake for about 60 - 75 minutes, until the center is just set. 
*Remove from oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
*Meanwhile, in a saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chopped apples and lemon juice. Cook and stir until they soften. Mix in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook and stir one more minute then remove from heat and stir in the honey and caramel sauce. Cool completely to room temperature.
* Gently run a knife around the cheesecake before removing the side of the springform pan. Spoon the cooled apple mixture over the cheesecake and serve.
*Store leftovers, covered, in refrigerator.