Tin Can List

The bucket list. Who hasn’t heard of, maybe even taken the time to start their own bucket list? You know, that well thought out record of things you want to do before you die. Some are accomplishments, many are just experiences. It seems like everyone’s talking about them.

Honestly, I try not to think about how long I may have and what I want to do here before I go. It could be the stress I’m under, who knows. What I do know is that most days I’m just trying to get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other without having a heart attack or a stroke. Lofty ambitions, I know.

So I’ve come up with my own, short-term version of the bucket list. Less “bucket” and more “tin can”, really. Here it is, my hopes and dreams, what I aspire to. For now, anyway:

* To only need to go to one grocery store in a single week. Just one. No having to go to a second or third store to find everything on my list. No having to run out the door in the middle of a recipe because I don’t have an ingredient. One and done. That’s all I want. Just once.

* To get carded again. I don’t care if the checker is wearing coke-bottle glasses. I don’t care if he’s legally blind or drunk or even both. I just want someone to check my license when I buy a bottle of wine. Is that too much to ask?

* To finish an e-book before the library loan expires and it deletes itself from my Kindle, resulting in “who done it” remaining forever a mystery. Honestly, I’ve got enough things keeping me up at night.

* To have more toothpaste in the linen closet when I need it. I can buy a tube a week. I can buy 2 or 3 tubes a week, but whenever I run out . . . nada.

* To cook a big dinner on the same night that my family is actually here for dinner. Either I make it and put it away, or they’re all here and I got nothin’. 

Festive Pea Casserole

* To go to the bathroom without hearing my ring tone.

* To make it through a night without doing the covers dance: throw them off, pull them up to my chin, throw them off, pull them up to my chin, throw them off . . .

* To have all the laundry done. Why is it that every time I move the last load into the dryer I remember 3 more things that I need to wash?

* To be the first one into the shower. Maybe not even the first, just not the last. You know, when there’s still shampoo, soap, maybe even a smidgeon of hot water.

* To be published in the Huffington Post.

Wait, I did that last one. Three times even. I am so winning at this tin can thing.

Festive Pea Casserole

                                                                           ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
1 can condensed cream of potato soup
1 TBSP worcestershire sauce
½ cup sour cream
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 scallions, chopped
1 jar (2 oz) pimentos, drained
1 can mushrooms (4 oz), drained
1 bag (16 oz) frozen peas
1 can (2.8 oz) french fried onions
 
Directions:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
*Mix together the soup, worcestershire sauce, sour cream, salt and pepper. Add the scallions, pimemtos, mushrooms and peas. Mix well.
*Bake, covered for 30 minutes.
*Uncover, sprinkle the French fried onions over the top and bake, uncovered for 15 minutes.

Use Your Words: Grumpy but no Cat

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: grumpy ~ treasure ~ eternal
They were submitted by: The Bergham's Life Chronicles

 I’m totally having a panic attack. Or suffering from PTSD or something. Last month when I got my words for this challenge, I sat down to happily write my post when I looked at my last words, Grumpy Cat. Suddenly I had no idea what to write. All the other words went together but Grumpy Cat? Yikes.

I finally wrote my post and, I thought, moved on.

Now this month I look at that first word I’ve been assigned and I immediately start to hyperventilate. Nooooo . . . what is this, deja vu?

Jules must have decided to have pity on me because she actually only gave me half of Grumpy Cat, the “grumpy” half. I’m thinking next month I’ll get “cat”?

But I’m a good sport, I can do this {{breathes into paper bag}}.

OK, five things I treasure:

*Finding whatever it is I’ve lost this time {{insert item here}} BEFORE I buy another one.

*The few times I can get pictures of my boys these days. Mostly when they’re not looking, but a mama’s gotta do what a mama’s gotta do. No, taking pictures of your boys when they're sleeping is not creepy.

*When I have the house to myself. Even if it’s just for a few minutes. Even if I have to send Hubs out to get milk when we’ve got plenty and College Boy out to get the mail I already brought in.

*Feeling like I got a really great bargain. We just got College Boy a thick, fleece lined hoodie. Between the sale price and the discount coupon it cost $6. Winning! Especially since he’ll probably leave it somewhere within the next week.

*When a recipe comes out just like, or even close to, how I’d imagined it.

Five things that make me grumpy:
*When a recipe just doesn’t come at all and even bribes won’t even get Hubs to eat it.

*When I’m in the grocery store when I realize that one contact is in inside out and I have to do the rest of my shopping with one eye closed. Happens more often than you’d think and THAT doesn’t make me look just ridiculous .  . .

*When my cell dings and bings and rings and sings all day long, but (I later see) the one time PurDude texts me . . . silence.

*When it’s winter but we have one sunny semi-warm day and I’m going to take advantage of it while I get some writing done. I go out to the back deck. I’ve brought out a cushion for the chair, a drink, my phone and my laptop. I finally get settled in and THEN I remember that I can’t see the screen of my laptop in the glare of the sun.

*When dinner’s a hit and I realize that I should have made enough for leftovers.

Smoky Orange Cornish Hens

And eternal? Just one thing:

*I hereby officially put you all on notice that I, from now on, intend to treasure my eternal right to never use grumpy, cat, or grumpy cat in a sentence against my will again.

Links to the other Use Your Words posts:

Spatulas on Parade

Stacy Sews and Schools

The Bergham's Life Chronicles

The Momisodes

Battered Hope

Eileen's Perpetually Busy

Confessions of a part-time working mom

Someone Else's Genius

Sparkly Poetic Weirdo

Southern Belle Charm

Juicebox Confession

Smoky Orange Cornish Hens

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
2 package Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice
2 mandarin oranges, peeled, or 1 small can mandarin oranges
 
Garlic powder
paprika
4 cornish hens, approximately 1 ½ pounds, each
Garlic powder, paprika
1 jar (12 ounces) Orange marmalade
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp cumin
 
Directions:
* Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking pan with tin foil. If you don’t have a baking pan large enough for the hens to sit without touching, use two or they won’t crisp properly.
*Cook the packages of long grain and wild rice according to package directions. Set aside.
*In a saucepan, heat the marmalade, butter and cumin until it all melts together.
*Rinse and dry the Cornish hens. Sprinkle the back with garlic powder and paprika. Place them in the prepared baking pans, breast side up.
*Drain the mandarin oranges of all liquid and gently mix into the wild rice. Stuff the hen cavities, loosely, with the rice/orange mixture. If you have any rice leftover, you can warm it in the microwave for serving.
*Using a pastry brush, liberally brush the hens all over with half of the marmalade mixture.
*Bake about 45 minutes. Baste with the rest of the marmalade mixture.
*Bake another 15 to 30 minutes or until the juices run clear. Be sure they are cooked thoroughly, poultry should not be red at all. Remove from oven, cover loosely with foil and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Blog With Friends: Love You

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 a given month we may have a recipe, sewing tutorial, crocheting, crafts projects, book review, technology post and/or a short story, all related to the theme of the month.

This month’s theme is Love. In honor of VD, of course. Ummm . . . Valentine’s Day, that is. There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post. There's also a blog hop for bloggers to link up any of your Love themed posts.

Here’s a peek at what we all came up with:

As usual, my addition to the group is a recipe. And since we all know that time honored equation: Valentine’s Day = Chocolate = Love,  a Valentine’s Day post was right up my alley, my cup of tea, in my bailiwick and just what the doctor ordered. Did I miss any cliches?

I developed the recipe for these Hugs and Kisses Cookies one morning while dipping my Chocolate Almond Biscotti in my coffee. I thought it would be a great idea to create a recipe for a cookie that kids might like to dip in their cocoa. These Hugs and Cookies stand up perfectly to dipping in a hot drink. They’re easy to make but they do take some down time. The dough needs to sit in the fridge before you form the shapes, and again before you bake. If you wan to do it in steps, you can make the doughs a day in advance, they’re fine to chill overnight, and then make the cookies the next day.

Hugs and Kisses Cookies

going into the oven

I made these cookies giant because bigger is better when it comes to baked goods (or so my kids tell me), but you can certainly make them smaller too. You’ll just need to make the rolls thinner and adjust your baking times. No matter how you choose to make them, bet you get rewarded with hugs and kisses!

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

Stacy, of Stacy Sews and Schools shares King and Queen of Hearts Crowns, a sewing tutorial for Felt Crowns for Kids.

Robin of Someone Else’s Genius shares a Love Cage Captured Chainmaille Bracelet tutorial.

Christy of Uplifting Families shares how to make Sweet 'n Salty Valentine's Day Popcorn. This would even make a great centerpiece for a Valentine’s Day party.

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shows us Repurposing Wedding Flower Pedals and turn them into a beautiful piece of memorabilia.

Sarah of The Momisodes amuses us with a funny Love Poem.

Hugs and Kisses Cookies

                                                                        ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened                             
1 stick margarine, softened                              
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar                                         
2 eggs                                                                   
1 tsp vanilla                                             
3 cups flour                                              
1 tsp baking powder                                 
1 tsp salt 
                                               
5 TBSP baking cocoa
 
1 1/2 tsp strawberry extract
1/3 cup flour
red food coloring
 
Opt: Hot cocoa for dunking 
 
Directions:
*Beat butter, margarine and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and salt.
*Divide dough in half.
*To one half, add the baking cocoa.  To the other, add the strawberry extract, 1/3 cup flour and red food coloring.
*Wrap both halves of dough, separately, in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
*Put parchment paper onto baking sheet.
*For the “X”: separately take about 1 tsp of each dough and roll until it’s about 7 inches long. Place the strawberry roll on your parchment paper at a slant. Place a chocolate roll so that it forms an “X” with the strawberry roll. Press lightly in the center. Crimp the ends so the pieces are the same size, turn each end sideways slightly.
*For the “O”: separately take about 1/2 tsp of each dough and roll until it’s about 7 inches long. It should be thinner than the pieces you used for the “X”. Put the 2 colors of rolled dough side by side and, starting in the center and working out,  twist them together to form a circle. Place on the baking sheet and press the top gently to be sure the circle stays closed.
*Put the baking sheet into the fridge for 20 minutes.
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
*Bake cookies for approx. 10 - 12 minutes.  Let sit on baking sheet for 1 to 2 minutes before removing to cool completely.
*Opt: dunk in hot cocoa