No Reflection: July Poetry

Setting the bar low. It's a tough job (not really) but someone's gotta do it (not really). Yes, you guessed it, it's monthly poetry time. For the past 21 months I've tried to torture amuse you with my stabs and jabs at poetry. I've had the opportunity to explore many different types of writing in these posts, both in style and in tone. I tend to gravitate towards the light humorous rhyming poems as they're fun for me to write and I hope you get a bit of a laugh when you read them. I'll do that again today.

Each month the bloggers who join in this challenge get together and choose a theme for their poems. This month we're working on the theme Reflection.

Passing through the woods at night
came upon lovely Snow White,
half eaten apple in clear sight.
Fighting off his urge to bite,
 
for the first time in his "life"
fell in love despite the strife,
"I must make Snow White my wife,
here and in the afterlife."

Selfishness he must postpone, 
if he's to make her all his own.
I am king, she'll share my throne,
but she's asleep, he did bemoan.

Surely I can deal with this,
no bite, I'll wake her with a kiss.
"Nothing!" angrily raising a fist,
"What is wrong? I did not miss." 

When of a sudden he could hear,
cackling, that much was clear,
through the woods who did appear?
A witch with quite an ugly sneer.

"Wicked Witch, you must tell
how else I can break this spell?
You must answer so think well,
'cause at drawing blood I do excel."

Terrified, the witch did speak,
"Without a kiss, options are bleak.
If alternatives are what you seek,
then in the mirror you must peek."

Look in your own eyes and say,
mirror, mirror show the way, 
What magic potion must I spray
to awaken Snow White on this day."

The answer does not bring him glee.
Shaking, yelling angrily,
"No! No reflection can I see,
because a vampire's what I be". 

PS: Didn't work a recipe into the poem today, but my White Chocolate Oreo Raspberry Sundae is just too good not to share. Think of it as your reward for having survived my warped poetic interpretation of the theme Reflection.

White Chocolate Oreo Raspberry Sundae

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

Dawn of Cognitive Script shares Reflections of My Past Life.
Diane of On The Border shares Gahhh!
Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares One Year.

White Chocolate Oreo Raspberry Sundae

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients (makes 8):
1 stick butter
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

48 oz raspberry sherbet
10 oreos, crushed

OPT: Whipped cream and/or sprinkles for serving 

Directions:
*Melt the butter in a sauce pan turned to just below medium heat. Add in the white chocolate chips, powdered sugar and salt.  
*Once the white chocolate chips have melted, whisking constantly, slowly add the heavy cream. Continue whisking until it comes to a boil. Allow to boil for one minute, whisking now and then. Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla.
*Divide the sherbet into bowls and sprinkle with the crushed oreos. Pour the desired amount of white chocolate topping into each bowl.
*OPT: top with whipped cream and/or sprinkles.

Spicy Broccoli Slaw and Chicken Salad: Blog With Friends, Hot Fun

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.

This month's theme is Hot Fun.

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:

I'm sharing the recipe for my Spicy Broccoli Slaw and Chicken Salad.

Spicy Broccoli Slaw and Chicken Salad
with Fiesta Quick Bread

Often over the hot summer months, I choose to serve a cold dinner. There are three reasons for this. First, a cold meal is refreshing on a hot night. Second, it keeps me from having to turn on the oven, further heating the house. The main reason, though, is because it can be made ahead. In fact, this salad really needs to be made in advance so the ingredients can soak up the sauce. We can go to the pool or the park or whatever we happen to be doing to cool off and have fun knowing that I have no time constraints. Whenever we get home, dinner will be ready.

Because I live in a house full of grown men, a cold dinner cannot just be light. That would be fine for me, but for them there has to be some substance or they'll walk away still hungry. This salad has a protein, plenty of optional toppings, and I serve it with a fruit salad and my Fiesta Quick Bread, both of which can also be made in advance. The only thing I do for serving, since the bread is best served hot, is toast slices of the bread.

It's a very simple salad to throw together. I use a bag of prepackaged broccoli slaw, leftover chicken, and my homemade Pico de Gallo. If you need to, you could substitute salsa.

The dressing, with just 3 ingredients, comes together in seconds. I add the chicken to the broccoli slaw, then the dressing.

Cover and refrigerate. Really. That simple. To serve, mix in whatever toppings your family likes.

And provide more toppings so everyone can customize their own serving.

Creamy, spicy, delish. And best of all, a perfect dinner after a day of hot fun!

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:

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares a fun family project, Repurposed Porch Decor.

Kia of Think in English shares Activities that Keep your English Classes Laughing and Learning. 

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares Lighted Lighthouse Porch Decorations. 

  Eileen of Eileen's Perpetually Busy shares Packing Tips for Your Next Caribbean Cruise.

Rabia of The Lieber Family Blog shares Backyard Fun in the Summer. 

  Minette of Southern Belle Charm shares a DIY Red White and Blue Wreath.

Spicy Broccoli Slaw and Chicken Salad       
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Chipotle Ranch Dressing
3 TBSP fresh lime juice
1/2 cup Pico de Gallo
1 bag (1#) broccoli slaw
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped

Topping options: chopped tomatoes, chopped avocado, Queso Fresco cheese, cilantro, roasted Pepitas and/or Chili Cheese flavored Fritos for serving 
  
Directions:
*Mix together the Chipotle Ranch Dressing, lime juice and Pico de Gallo. 
*Add chicken to broccoli slaw. Pour the dressing over the chicken and slaw, mix well.
*Cover and refrigerate, stirring now and then, at least 2 hours. 
*Add toppings of your choice or plate the toppings and allow everyone to choose their own.

Secret Obligation: Secret Subject Swap

Welcome a Secret Subject Swap. This month 13 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 participants.

My subject is: How good are you at keeping a secret? What if it was a secret that could change someone's opinion or even their life? Would you tell?
It was submitted by: Carol of Never Ever Give Up Hope.


Ah, the naivete of childhood. Secrets were fun. They were a connection, a solidification of a relationship, the epitome of trust. We often shared them, rarely kept them, yet they remained a building block of friendship. It was the sharing more than the keeping. Possibly because ramifications of telling mutual friend X that friend Y was going to have a Barbie birthday party just weren't all that great.

Then we grow up, dammit. And secrets really are just as much about keeping them. They are a solemn obligation, relationships ride on them. And if you tell mutual friend X that friend Y wants to go to second base with popular boy Z who friend Y had secretly told also mutual friend W (but not you) that she had planned to go to second base with same aforementioned popular boy Z? You can cause the kind of embarrassment that can be a high school catastrophe. Or world war three.

And then, if we survive those years, we really grow up. Fortunately there are fewer secrets told, but those that are have the potential to become a moral conundrum.

We're not talking about giving away the secret ingredient in a recipe (although there are, decidedly, those who would kill for less).

Spaghetti Crusted Pizza

No, what the prompt asks is what I would do if the secret, when divulged, would change someone's opinion, or even their life. And I have a quick answer to the opinion question. I would not divulge a secret just to change how someone feels. If I really felt, for any reason, that I should take it upon myself to change their views, I'd just have to look for another way to do it. 

Would I tell a secret to change someone's life? That's a hard one. To save someone's life is a no-brainer, but to change it? That needs to be considered on a case by case basis. And I have to say that if I'm put in this situation, there could well be an erosion in my relationship with the person who told me the secret because they have effectively yanked me up from my innocent oblivion and dropped me down into a mine field.

I have a very strict moral code. I believe that someone's personal information, even if they choose to share it with me, is theirs. Trust is a building block of relationships and is, once lost, incredibly difficult to regain.

I wrote a post in 2012. It was cathartic, it's about a serious subject that has and continues to have a profound impact on my life. But it includes information that I really feel is not mine to share. I spoke to the person involved and was given permission to publish the post. I still haven't. Would it bring about a change? A realization that something needs to change? Maybe. But somewhere in my heart I feel like it betrays a trust, crosses a line I can't scurry back over. I don't delete that draft either. Maybe some day I will post it, but it's taking years of careful consideration. As this kind of a situation should.

One of my sons told me a secret about 3 years ago. It was a confidence that hurt me in more ways than one. The most difficult facet of this situation is having to keep it from everyone, even my husband. It did not weaken my relationship with my son because . . . he's my son. He rarely lets people in so I know what it took for him to divulge, but I carry the burden of possible ramifications if it ever comes out with the understanding that I'd known. Nonetheless, I decided to err on the side of my own morality. If I have to answer for it, I will.

Bottom line is this, unless it's a life or death situation, I don't think I would tell someone else's secret. But I also have to say that we are all acutely aware that keeping a secret has the potential to be a burden. What we need to spend more time considering is the ramifications that sharing a confidence can have for the person in whom we've confided. It is a responsibility too. One we should not take lightly.

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:

Cognitive Script

The Blogging 911  

The Lieber Family Blog

 The Bergham Chronicles

Simply Shannon

Southern Belle Charm
Never Ever Give Up Hope
The Angrivated Mom  
Not That Sarah Michelle
Bookworm in the Kitchen 
Part-time Working Hockey Mom
Climaxed

Spaghetti Crusted Pizza

                                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe 


Ingredients:

1# spaghetti,broken into thirds, cooked and drained
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes
2 eggs
10 slices provolone cheese
1 1/2 cups Homemade Marinara Sauce
1 cup shredded mozarella
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese
1 TBSP dried parsley flakes
pizza toppings of your choice

Directions:
*Grease a metal pizza pan without holes in the bottom. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
*Mix together the chopped cooked spaghetti, butter, 1/2 cup of parmesan, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Allow to cool slightly, then mix in the eggs. Pat evenly onto the prepared pan.
*Cover the spaghetti with the slices of provolone cheese. Spread the marinara sauce over the cheese. Sprinkle with the shredded mozarella.
*Mix together the ricotta cheese, the remaining 2 TBSP grated parmesan and the parsley flakes. Dollop onto the the pizza. Add the pizza toppings of your choice.
*Cook for 20 - 30 minutes until the crust starts to brown and the toppings are cooked and the cheese is melted.