Mediterranean Chicken & Sausage (Reinvented) During a Rough Week

It is only Wednesday and I am done!!  My poor family has had to deal with my crankiness for three straight days and I don't see an end in sight.  My hormone level is extremely high and patience level is beyond low.   I just want to go hibernate for the next three months, like our neighbor bears.

I had my first neurotic "mother-in-law" moment and stirred up my attitude (sorry, Tyler and Rachel).  I will make it up to all of you and send out another Nana Care Package for everyone.

My truck had to go in for repairs on Monday and I still don't have it back.  My husband has been gracious enough to help me with my 30 minute commute each way, but the poor soul has to listen to me the entire way with my rantings.

It is -7 degrees and we haven't seen much of the sun this week.  It snows, gets warm, freezes, black ice everywhere, and then it starts it's trend all over again...just can't get a break.

Dogs need to keep dodging our ice daggers on the patio.

  Then tonight my daughter says she needs my help with math.  Now mind you, I was an "A" math student, but my Freshman Algebra topics, my kids were learning in 4th grade - times have most definitely changed.  She is working on a math story problem from the book The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe.  Now what this story has to do with math is beyond me, but I went along with it.

Essentially they needed to figure the rate of the pendulum and if the prisoner had a reasonable amount of time to escape.  I said, "Of course he had a reasonable amount of time, he escaped didn't he?".  She thought that was pretty funny after she pondered on it for a minute.

Then she said as part of her assignment, she has to make a pendulum from household objects...of course she does, because it is due tomorrow and it's 8:00 pm on a weeknight and once again I have been given no warning of another major school project due.

After my blood pressure calmed down, I thought - I got this!!!  Two item pendulum:  Banana Hanger and Pizza Cutter !!  Thank God for kitchen gadgets.

The "pizza" pendulum - Genius!!

Yes, I know this recipe says it is from 2005, I have an archive of recipes from magazines, family, friends and now websites.  You just can't toss away the classics.  Since I wanted to clean up the refrigerator from the weekend, I reinvented it by changing up some of the ingredients.

Mediterranean Chicken & Sausage
from Kraft Food & Family Magazine, Winter 2005

1 lb. sweet Italian sausage (I used my turkey smoked sausage kielbasa)
1/2 cup Kraft Creek Vinaigrette Dressing (I used my Red Wine and Olive Oil Dressing)
3 lb. chicken pieces (I used 2 large chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces)
5-6 slices of bacon, cut into pieces (this is my addition, since everything is better with bacon)
1/2 lb. medium mushrooms, halved
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) chicken broth
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup water
3- 4 dashes of balsamic vinegar (I added this for flavor and color)
3-4 dashes of Worsteshire sauce (I added this to give a little richness and depth)
6 cups cooked Minute White Rice (I made a box of our Rice-A-Roni, Rice Pilaf)

PIERCE sausage with fork. Cook in large skillet on medium-high heat 15 to 20 min. or until browned. Remove from skillet. Cut into pieces; set aside. Cook bacon in same pan, until just getting crispy; remove from pan and set aside.

ADD 1/4 cup of the dressing and chicken to skillet; cook 10 min. or until chicken is browned on both sides. Stir in sausage, bacon, mushrooms, broth, balsamic vinegar, Worsteshire sauce and remaining 1/4 cup dressing.

DISSOLVE cornstarch in water; add to skillet. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover. Simmer 15 min. or until chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice.

Paninis and My Handyman

I married my husband for three reasons: His blue eyes, great sense of humor and his Makita drill set, seriously.  Well, maybe there were a few other reasons too.....

At any rate, he really is quite handy.  I guess being in the construction industry for over 25 years, you tend to pick up a few tricks of the trade.  The problem is I have also been in the same industry for the same amount of time and we are both think we are the Chiefs in the house...neither one of us wants to be the Indian.  Makes for an interesting marriage that's for sure.  That sense of humor on both our parts comes in very handy also.

The Handyman's helpers in training.

Well my husband also has very good (and expensive taste) in washers and dryers.  Laundry is a very big thing to him.  His perfect dream house would have a laundry room bigger than our bedroom, I'm not even kidding here.  He loves to wash, dry and fold laundry, and truth be told he is much better at it than I am.  He says it's a sense of accomplishment to have everything clean and neatly put away in its place.

As you can imagine, we really put our washer and dryer to the test with all our family's laundry.  Recently our appliances were not working up to par, so I called in a reputable appliance company to come out and see what the dryer noise and leaking washer was all about.  Since our appliances are from Sweden, there aren't many companies that can repair them.  I should have kept that in the back of my mind during our "diagnostic appointment."

I will fast forward and spare the details.  The bottom line from them was " It's going to take several hours to take them apart as they are very difficult and timely to replace the dryer drum ball bearing and replace the water pump in the washer", to the tune of nearly $650.00 to fix the problems.

Now mind you, I am just coming off of Christmas and birthday budget$, so needless to say I almost had a breakdown right then.  I said thank you very much for coming out and I would need to discuss it with my husband.  Well, I called him and broke the news....a half hour later he called me back and said he was able to purchase the new ball bearing for $71.00 and the new water pump for $48.00.  Now, I am mad!

My husband assured me, no problem....we can do this.  He Googled instructions on how to replace these pieces and guess what (thank God for Google), there were actual YouTube videos on replacing these items in our exact brand, make and model appliances.

My Makita Man

In less than an hour, we had both parts replaced.  Now I am really, really mad!!!  I cannot believe that a company can get away with that - $650.00 ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? !!

Well once again, God Bless my husband and his Makita.  We were able to conquer corporate America and achieve DIY sucess - Victory Is Sweet !!  It was time to celebrate with his favorite lunch - paninis.

Prosciutto Paninis
Adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis

2 slices of fontina cheese
2 slices of rustic white bread
1 thin slice of red onion
1 thin slice of tomato
1 thin slice of prosciutto
6 fresh baby spinach leaves
freshly ground black peper
2 tsp. olive oil

Place one slice of fontina cheese on 1 slice of bread.  Top with the onion, then the prosciutto, tomato and the spinach.  Sprinkle with the pepper.  Top with the second slice of fontina, then with the second bread slice.  Brush both sides fo the sandwich with the oil.

Preheat panini grill or a ridged grill pan over medium heat.  Grill the sandwich until the bread is golden brown and the cheese melts, pressing down.

A Comfort Food Morning

If you have never heard of Longmont, Colorado....I am quite certain after these past 72 hours, you have definitely heard of it by now.  The Front Range and most of Northern Colorado has witnessed immeasurable devastation by terrifying rains, floods and mud slides from Fort Collins all the way to Colorado Springs.

It all started on Wednesday morning on September 11th.  I work in Boulder and we were seeing the typical rains, but this time it felt different and it was not letting up.  The roof in my office was starting to leak and there were no signs of clear sky anywhere.

The next day at 4:30 in the morning, the school district notified everyone that school would be closed due to excessive rains and immediate flood warnings.  I went ahead on to Boulder just to make sure our offices were okay and to get our computers out before the inevitable storm.  As I came into the city limits the mud slides in neighborhoods had already begun.  After a couple hours at work, we were hearing another 7 inches would be coming down - time to head back home before it was too late.

Zweck's Farm around the corner from our house - this is how we usually see it.

As I came off the highway on to the main road that goes to our house I could see the flashing lights...not a good sign.  I saw some water on the road, but had no idea what was about to take place. I quickly took the detour to the next main road.  Again, more lights, but I was just barely able to get through before they closed that road down also.  I looked over and saw the St. Vrain "Creek", now look like whitewater rapids and at street level, ready to make the jump across the main road.

Zweck's (the same farm as above) on Thursday afternoon, September 12th.

When I returned home our cell phones and television were in constant EAS (Emergency Alert System) mode and warnings were going off every hour regarding flash flood watch.  The early afternoon dark skies and rains came around.  We started to hear the fire trucks and police sirens whirling all around us and getting louder.  They were coming from every direction and then we started seeing them drive through our neighborhood one after the other.

The quiet little "creek"  running through our neighborhood is now 10 feet in depth.

We put on our rain gear and walked down the street to see what was happening.  I had remembered about the small creek that runs through there and immediately thought perhaps someone got caught in the ever increasing water and was being rescued, you know in your heart at that point something terrible had just happened...I prayed that a child was not hurt.

When we came upon the adjoining neighborhood we had no idea what had just happened.  We walked up to the area that had been completely taken over by once  a creek, now a 1 mile wide raging river.  All the streets were covered in water up to the top of garage doors of every house.  Residents were running as fast as they could to get out with their families, pets and whatever they could immediately grab... they had no warning whatsoever. There were 3 fire engines, divers, boats, sheriff and local police department units surrounding the area.

The amazing rescue teams in our neighborhood and the flooded streets.

The sky was dark, rain was engulfing everyone and I stood there in shock of the devastation we witnessed.  We saw rescuers in boats and divers looking for people in need.  Just then the loudest horn I have ever heard went off. At that moment I see a large fire engine pulling out from a house half way engulfed in the moving water.  This engine had just rescued a woman, her children and dog.  They pulled them out in the most amazing rescue I have every seen.  In your lifetime, you see these "Hollywood rescues" on t.v. shows and in movies, but you are never prepared to see the real thing happening before your eyes.  I have all the utmost respect for these natural disaster survivors and the emergency crews that save lives everyday.

We returned home in our soaked clothes and no electricity.  By this time, our girls are starting to panic a little.  We went into emergency preparedness: candles, flashlights, pack overnight clothes, snacks, drinks, and getting the truck ready in the event we had to evacuate.  All we could do at this point was wait it out and be as best prepared as possible.  A few hours passed and power came back on in the house.  The rains never let up that night, but thank God we were high enough that the water stayed away.

My guardian Theo, looking out for more emergency units this morning.

Today is much quieter, although it is a beautifully sunny morning we have heard emergency flood alerts and the forecast is more rain tomorrow.  The city is still divided in half by the river, but it is slowly starting to recede.  Now the ever daunting task of debris clean-up begins.  This whole experience certainly puts a person's life in perspective.  Only God knows what tomorrow will bring, but for now I knew my family and I could use a comforting breakfast to calm the nerves of the past few days.

I made a coffee cake, husband cooked the bacon to perfection and my daughter made her always flawless and fluffy scrambled eggs.  We enjoyed it with our orange juice in freezer chilled glasses and just took in the beginnings of a sunny and tranquil day.  It was not a fancy breakfast or fit for the cover of a foody magazine, but for now it certainly hit the spot.

Streusel Coffee Cake
Cake:
2 Cups Original Bisquick Mix
2/3 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Sour Cream
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 Tbl. Granulated Sugar
1 Egg

Streusel:
1/3 Cup Original Bisquick Mix
1/3 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
2 Tbl. Butter (room temperature)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9-inch round pan.  Make streusel and set aside.

Stir remaining ingredients until blended.  Spread in pan.  Sprinkle with streusel.

Bake 18 - 22 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy with melted butter drizzled on top to soak in each slice.


Count your blessings each and every day....