Secret Subject Swap: You Found that Where?

Welcome to the first Secret Subject Swap of the new year. This month 14 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. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject Swap participants.

My subject is: Write a post that starts with the line “Where did you find that?”
It was submitted by: Someone Else's Genius.

 “Where did you find that?” I asked. Not for the first time. I’m guessing not for the last time either.

Who did I say it to? Bet you can’t guess.
PurDude? No.
College Boy? Not this time.
Hubs? Nope.
The plumber.
Yes, I said the plumber. And not only did I say it to him, but I had the honor of paying him to get to say it. Great.

When Hubs and I first moved to the Midwest we rented one half of a two family home. We weren’t familiar with the city and decided to rent while we figured out where we wanted to live.

We had spoken with a close friend who happened to have cousins here and one of them was a teacher in one of the multiple school systems. Although we didn’t have children yet, having moved here just weeks after getting married, we knew that we wanted a family. My friend’s cousin gave us a good start figuring out what area we’d be most interested in. It’s the same part of town in which we were renting and it became clear that we were comfortable with the amenities available in the area.

Once we settled on where we wanted to be, we worked out a budget and started to build our with list.

We wanted a decent sized kitchen because, well, you know I head there when stressed. And I didn’t know it yet, but trying to have children was about to cause a whole lot of stress.

Cornbreaded Cranberry Chicken

also known as

Every Day’s Thanksgiving Chicken

We worked with a realtor and eventually found a house with pretty much everything we wanted. The house was owned by a couple with two very young children. They’d already moved out of state and the house was empty, the sellers were motivated.

We agreed on a price and, within months of marrying had bought our first home together.

We moved in, settled in and were happily decorating when, one day, I looked up at the kitchen ceiling and saw a water stain. Worse, it was still wet. It was directly below the upstairs guest bathroom. Crap. Hopefully not literally.

We don’t know anything about plumbing and, unfortunately, didn’t know any local plumbers. We picked one out using the old tried-and-true scientific eeny-meeny-miney-moe method. Everyone knows that works.

The plumber checked out the situation, let me know he had to replace the beeswax seal, quoted me enough to buy the hives, honeycombs and the whole damn bee farm, and got down to business playing in my toilet.

I was in the kitchen wondering how that whole leak happened in the first place when the plumber came down the stairs.

Plumber: “Do you have young kids?”

Me: “No, but we haven’t lived here very long, the previous owners did. Why?”

He reached into his tool box and pulled out a snow globe.

“Where did you find that?” I asked . . .

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:

Spatulas on Parade

Stacy Sews and Schools

The Bergham's Life Chronicles

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

Confessions of a part-time working mom

Juicebox Confession

Someone Else's Genius

The Momisodes
Climaxed 
Sparkly Poetic Weirdo 
Cluttered Genius 
Southern Belle Charm 
Evil Joy Speaks 

Cornbreaded Cranberry Chicken

(or “Every Day’s Thanksgiving” Chicken)

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (OPT: can use chicken cutlets or turkey cutlets)
3 cups bagged cornbread stuffing, processed to bread crumb consistency
1 ½ tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 can (14 oz) jellied cranberry sauce
½ cup apricot jam
½ cup orange juice
¼ cup chopped toasted pecans
¼ cup dried cranberries
½ stick butter, melted (OPT: can use non-stick spray)
 
Directions:
*Place cranberry sauce, jam and juice in a pan and, over medium heat, bring to a boil stirring occasionally to mostly break up the cranberry sauce. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat.
*Pour ¾ cup of the sauce into a bowl and set aside to cool a little.
*To the remaining sauce, add the pecans and dried cranberries.
*If using chicken breasts and not cutlets, cut each breast into 3 pieces and pound gently so all pieces are approximately the same thickness.
*Mix together the cornbread stuffing, thyme and tarragon in a bowl.
*Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Dip the chicken or turkey pieces into the ¾ cup of sauce you had set aside earlier. Bread the chicken completely with the cornbread breading mixture. Place into prepared baking dish.
*Melt the ½ stick of butter and pour evenly over the chicken in the dish. OPT: you can spray the chicken with non-stick spray.
*Bake the chicken for approximately 45 minutes or until completely cooked. The amount of cooking time will depend on the thickness of the meat.
*The last 10 minutes of cooking, return the rest of the sauce to the stove and heat over medium low until hot.
*Serve the chicken with the sauce drizzled over the top.

The Whole Truth

I wrote this letter to my boys this past Fall when my oldest was heading into his sophomore year of college nearby and my youngest was about to be a college freshman very far away. I never posted it here on the blog, but now as semester break is far too quickly coming to an end and I'm once again sending PurDude far away, I've come to realize that this blog is truly where this post belongs. See what you think.

My darling boys:
I blinked.

I must have, that’s the only explanation.

I had these beautiful little baby boys. A year apart. So sweet, the loves of my life (ummm, don’t tell your dad that part). Even when you went through the terrible twos and then the worse threes, I loved you every minute.

And then I blinked.

Through the teen years, no matter how high you succeeded in boosting my blood pressure, even when I could hear it roaring in my ears, I loved you like crazy.

Blink.

Now you, my older son, are a sophomore in college. And you, my baby boy, after just one semester are now a sophomore too, but 700 miles away.

I don’t want to disillusion you. I spent many years trying so hard to instill morals and values and impart all the little nuggets of wisdom that make up the Mom’s List of Handy Dandy Cliches. So please don’t judge me too harshly, I was only doing what I thought was expected of me. But now you’re grown, I think you’re ready, you can handle the truth. So good-bye cliches, here it is, what I really want you to know:

Play in traffic. You still want to look both ways, make sure a big old truck isn’t coming, but don’t spend your life on the side of the road. A little traffic play will do you good.

Count your chickens before they hatch. If not, you’ll live expecting that they may not. Expect them to hatch, all of them.

Don’t make wardrobe decisions based on the possibility that you may get into an accident, but do wear clean underwear. Please.

Honesty is not the best policy. In some situations telling a lie is just the right thing to do. The secret to maturity is in knowing when.

Do not keep your enemies closer. Who wants close enemies? Keep your friends closer.

The grass is not always greener. It’s the weeds that make us who we are.

Cleanliness isn’t next to G-dliness. In fact, I don’t have a clue as to what that means and I don’t want to.

It’s not all about what’s inside. Looks matter. I’m not talking about some classic idea of beauty, I’m talking about the way we feel when we look our best. Take showers. Wash your clothes. Get your hair cut. Exercise and eat well. Pizza’s an option but not the only one.

The glass is not always half full. But you can fill it.

Your eyes will NOT get stuck like that. Promise.

An apple a day makes you a good friend to the apple growers. Won’t hurt but don’t expect any miracles either.

You can have your cake and eat it too. In fact, if you let me know when you’re coming, I’ll even bake it for you.

  

Key Lime Sponge Cake

The early bird may catch the worm, but who wants worms anyway? Get a good night’s sleep, be well rested, I’m sure there’ll be a worm or two left if you really have your heart set on worms.

The ends do not always justify the means. That’s an excuse, not a way of life.

Good things may come to those who wait. They also come to those who go out and work for them.

A bird in the hand . . . naaaa, I’m just not going there.

Ultimately there’s no such thing as getting off on the wrong foot. The point is to get moving. If you have to change direction, put on your blinker, make a u-turn and step on the gas.

Love is not blind. You’ll see.

Sometimes you do have to sweat the details, it’s called being prepared.

Time does not heal all wounds. Some will stay with you. Forever. Be very careful not to be the cause of others’ wounds.

Variety is the spice of life but you can ruin a dish if you over-season.

Where there’s smoke there’s not always fire. Sometimes there’s just smoke. Don’t assume, take the time to assess the situation.

Why buy the cow when the milk is free? Because not all cows are good for only one thing. Look deeper.

It’s not always the quality, sometimes it’s the quantity. Fill your life with close friends and family, but leave room for acquaintances, friends of friends and the guy next door.

It’s not just how you play the game. Sometimes winning does matter. Play to win.

Whether or not absence makes the heart grow fonder is immaterial; call your Mom.  This one’s never going to change, may as well just go with it.

And when you fall in love and marry and have kids of your own . . .

                    . . . don’t blink.

So proud. Every day. That part was true. From 9 months before your first breath until long after my last.

Mom

 

 

 

PS: This article was published on The Huffington post as The Truth About Life I Finally Shared With my Grown Sons on 1-13-15, 
on BlogHer as The Whole Truth: A Mom's Letter to her Grown Sons on 1-19-15,
and on The Today Show's Parenting site as The Whole Truth on 5-11-15.

Key Lime Sponge Cake

                                                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar, separated
1 tsp lime zest
2 cups flour
12 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup Key Lime juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
3 TBSP Key Lime juice
1/2 tsp lime zest  
OPT: 3 drops green food coloring
 
Directions:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.
*Bring the eggs to room temperature. Separate into two bowls.
*Beat egg yolks, 1 cup of the sugar and lime zest until thick. Mix together the baking powder, salt and one cup of the flour. Stir into the egg yolk mixture.
*Stir 1/4 cup of Key Lime juice into the egg yolks, followed by the last cup of flour and finally the last 1/4 cup of Key Lime juice. Set aside.
*In the bowl where you put the egg whites, beat them until they're foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until solft peaks form. A little at a time, add the last 1/2 cup of sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.
*Carefully fold the egg whites into the egg yolk batter.
*Pour into pans and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until center springs back to the touch.
*Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely.
*While cake is cooling, place a bowl and beater attachments into the fridge.
*Once the cake is cool, remove the bowl and beaters from the fridge. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat until soft peaks start to form. Beat in the Key Lime juice and lime zest, then carefully beat in the powdered sugar. Continue to beat until stiff peaks hold. OPT: add the food coloring.
*Place one cake layer on a serving plate, top with about 1/3 of the whipped cream, gently place the second cake layer on top and frost the cake with the rest of the whipped cream.

*Store cake in the fridge.
 

Yummy Things Come in Small Packages

So there I was, just sitting around minding my own business monitoring my social media accounts when up pops a tweet from Cristy, someone I don’t know, asking if I’d like to try some tomatoes.

I was a bit dumbfounded but I knew just what to do. Jump onto Google and start asking questions:
“what is “try some tomatoes” innuendo for?”
“what does it mean if someone asks you to try their tomatoes?”

Either I stumped Google {{gasp}}, or sometimes a tomato is just a tomato.

But I’m extremely skeptical (to say the least) about people I “meet” online. You never really know if they are who they say they are.

Through some back and forth and me stalking checking out the name she was using (I said EXTREMELY skeptical, right?) with my old friend Google, it seemed that Cristy’s a Media Specialist in Blogger Relations for a PR firm. OK, so what’s the catch . . .

I asked specifically and was assured that if I sent her my name and address, Tuttorosso Tomatoes would send me a kit. Although they’d love for me to post a recipe, there is no expectation.

I do not give out my full name and location. It’s a commitment I made to my kids when I started bitching kvetching writing about them way back when I first started this blog. I’ve also had my blog stalked and my content stolen many times, who knows what someone could do if I started sending out personal information to strangers. But I admit I was intrigued.

It took me 4 days but I finally sent her my name and address . . . and waited for my identity to be stolen, my bank accounts to be cleaned out and credit cards to be opened in my name all over the planet.

And I remained vigilant until two weeks later when I was sitting on my couch and got ding-dong-ditched. You know, someone rings your doorbell, runs, and there’s no one there when you answer.  Well, there was on one there when I answered. There WAS a box, though.

Let me tell you something: good things, in fact yummy things, do come in small packages. In mine there was a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes with basil, a 28 oz can of peeled plum tomatoes, a 28 oz can of tomato sauce, a 6 oz can of tomato paste, an apron, a Martha magazine and a cool carry bag (perfect size for wine bottles, just sayin’).

I did exactly what you know I’d do, logged out of my on-line bank account and headed straight for the kitchen.

I thought and I plotted. I worked and I toiled. I boiled, breaded, sauteed, simmered and baked.

And when night fell . . . behold . . . there was Chicken Pasta Bake. And it was glorious. Yes, even College Boy liked it. He actually had seconds. Can I get an “amen”?’

I started with pasta. Not only was that going to be the best way to win College Boy over but, well, tomatoes and pasta, duh!

I had bought some thinly sliced chicken breasts on sale that I knew I wanted to use so I breaded them and sauteed them in olive oil.

I put the chicken on top of the cooked pasta in my baking pan and moved on to the veggies I had in the fridge. For the chicken, then the veggies and finally the sauce, I used the same skillet. When in doubt, always opt for less to clean up.

For the sauce I chose to use the can of crushed tomatoes with basil and the tomato paste. I kept the other ingredients to a minimum, wanting to let the flavor of the tomatoes shine.

And they did. This simple chicken, veggie and pasta recipe baked in the tomato sauce was absolutely delicious.

NOTE: As described in this post, I did receive free product from Tuttorosso Tomatoes. I made sure the gift came with no expectations so the development of this recipe and this resulting post was my choice. The assessment of the product is my honest opinion.

 

Chicken Pasta Bake

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
16 oz package rigatoni
1 cup cold water
2 ½ # boneless, skinless, thin sliced chicken breast
1 egg, whisked with 2 TBSP cold water
1 – 1 ½ cups seasoned bread crumbs
4 TBSP olive oil, divided
1 medium green pepper, sliced
1 medium red pepper, sliced
8 oz mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 large onion, sliced
 
¼ cup olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes with basil
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
¼ cup white wine
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp brown sugar
 
Directions:
*Spray a large baking dish with no-stick spray. I used a 15 X 10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Cook the rigatoni to al dente. Spread out into the prepared baking dish. Pour a cup of cold water over the pasta. This will help it to steam and keep it moist while baking,
*Cut chicken slices into medallions. Individually dip each one in the egg mixture, then coat completely with bread crumbs.
*Heat 2 TBSP olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat until hot. Place as many chicken pieces in the pan as you can without crowding. Brown the bottom, flip over and brown the other side. Place onto a paper towel, gently pat and put into the prepared pan on top of the rigatoni. Add another TBSP of oil to the pan and repeat with the rest of the chicken pieces.
*In the same skillet, add another TBSP olive oil with the onion, both  peppers, and mushrooms. Cook until the vegetables soften. Place over the chicken in the baking pan.
*In the same skillet heat the ¼ cup of oil. Add the garlic and stir for one minute. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Carefully pour the sauce over the vegetables in the baking pan.
*Cover tightly with heavy foil. Place in the oven and cook for one hour.