Curry Chicken Pasta Salad

I had this way cool pasta

and needed something to do with it.

I also had some cooked chicken breasts and time.
So scouring the internet I devised
this little concoction:

Most curry dishes have you add chutney or raisins
or some other sweet component,
I didn't have either but I had some apricot preserves.

I also didn't have any curry powder
but was pretty certain Indra had told me years ago
that curry powder was a misnomer,
there is no ONE curry powder.
Every cook has his or her own blend.

To the internet!

And here you have my creation!

The salad is made up of:
slivered almonds
diced celery
peas
pasta
diced chicken.

The dressing is:
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour  cream
1/4 cup apricot preserves
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

The curry powder:
1 tablespoon turmeric
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons coriander
1 tablespoon cumin seed
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 whole clove.

You toss this all in a dry skillet
over medium heat and
toast them for 5-10 minutes and then grind it all.

The most surprising part isn't that this turned out great.
The most surprising part is that I
didn't have curry powder
yet had that preceding list of spices!

S'mores Bars

 Michelle sent this recipe to me and I had every intention

of making them Mother's Day weekend 

but things got away from me. 

They do sometimes. 

A lot of times.

But I did manage to make them for

Memorial Day weekend.

In theory they sound great, basically a

Rice Krispy treat make with Golden Grahams 

and chocolate chips on top.

The originator suggested putting the chips on after

it cools a bit so they don't melt. 

The only problem with that is that 

the chips then fall of as you try to bite into them.

I kind of solved that problem by serving them in 

cupcake liners.

The other problem was that they got rock hard

in 24 hours, so make them 

right before you want to eat them. 

Other than that, they were a good

alternative for a bunch of 

people who were not inclined to 

stand out in the rain and toast 

marshmallows for S'mores.

Southwestern Chopped Salad

I've been waiting to write about this until

I could remember to take a picture. 

I finally did!

This is a great salad for the summer.

It's pretty hearty and so goes well

with a simple 

chicken breast or piece of salmon.

In fact you could probably add in some

chopped chicken and call it a meal.

It's black beans,

bell pepper,

corn, 

cherry tomatoes, 

green onions

and a head of romaine.

The dressing is lots of cilantro, 

so if you don't like cilantro

maybe some store-bought 

southwest-type dressing would work. 

Here's the link for the dressing.
She suggests trying avocado instead
of the greek yogurt.
That sounds really great and I may try it next time.

http://www.thegardengrazer.com/2013/04/creamy-cilantro-lime-dressing.html

Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day.

This and Veterans Day 

always make me think of my dad

and the life he lost because of his service

to his country.

He earned the 

Bronze Star

and the

Purple Heart.

He also earned my mother's heart.

He didn't die in the war but he did

lose his life.

Mom says he came back different.

This was the time between the terms

shell shock

and 

PTSD.

My dad fell between that crack.

I have to believe he tried  

and I know for

certain my mother tried to help him

but he was a broken man.

I am lucky, I am the baby of the family.

I have some fond memories of my dad.

My siblings may not be able to make that statement.

I am thinking and praying for all the 

soldiers who have fought 

to protect the life I have and in 

the process lost theirs.

God bless them and the 

ones who love them.

Pretty Food

Paella 

Just try looking up this word when you

don't even know where to begin.

Viki's mom was in from Florida.

She didn't start out in Florida.

She started out in Spain.

Score!

Lighting Bug

I saw these at the garden center 

last weekend and I thought, 

Hmmm, wonder if I can make one of those...

Turns out I can.

Just another good reason to keep that big box

of dead lightbulbs.

I Like To Put Things On Maddie's Head 5

Nothin' but cheeks.

Wine Bottle Planter

Lory and I had no visual when Kelly

invited us to join her at a workshop

to make

wine bottle planters.

But Kelly knows Lory and me,

if it has to do with wine we are probably interested

and if Kelly came up with it, it's probably fun.

The hardest part of this project would be cutting the

bottom off the wine bottle.

Good news is they had them pre-cut.

So the project really just entailed us

shoving a plant up the bottle

and stringing it with fishing line.

Well, the fishing line may be 

up there with cutting glass.

But the funnest part of this day was roaming around

Blumen Gardens...

and the margaritas at the end.

Only way it could have been better

would have been if we had to drink

the wine to empty out the bottles.

Oh well, you can't have everything.

http://www.blumengardens.com/

I Like To Put Things On Maddie's Head 4

 I'm not the only one.

These two a professional did.

 There are many caption possibilities with this next one.

 I'll leave you to your own devices.

But this child was 

MADE

for Disney ears!

Transporting Cupcakes

Found this little idea on

Pinterest.

Pretty self-explanitory.

What I'm not so sure about is how they got them 

out of there. 

Cannellini Couscous Salad

In an effort to reduce my cholesterol
and come up with dinners that don't involve the oven,
I have *created* this.
I say *created* because I did start with a
recipe but I think I've changed enough
ingredients that it has become a new thing.

It's:
pearl couscous
red onion
cucumber
grape tomatoes
cannellini beans
tuna fish
fresh corn
jicama
sweet peppers
basil
all tossed together
and dressed with
1 T. olive oil
2T. balsamic
1 T. lime juice.

It was better after it sat for a while.

Also, when chopping multiple ingredients
I think it's always a good idea to make
everything about the same size.
So for this everything was between
 the size of a grain of couscous and a bean.

It will be lunch today.
Along with this:

It's Margarita Friday!

Oh, and I asked the doc about Margaritas.
He says they won't impact my cholesterol numbers.
Besides, he said, you need some vices in order
to give something up.
I told him, more like to have
something to lie to him about.

I Like To Put Things On Maddie's Head 4

Her father did this one. 

BBQ Chicken Quinoa Salad

Sooo good!

And so easy.

I used the breast of a 

rotisserie chicken that I shredded,

a cup of quinoa,

and then added

black beans,

corn,

jicama,

avocado,

green onions, 

and cilantro.

Toss it all with some BBQ sauce, 

top with a little shredded cheese

and there you have a fantastic dinner.

This one will be going to the top of our 

summer dinner rotation.

Look What We Caught

Turns out the 

Baby Prison/Gated Community

is good for more than just corralling babies.

Gaye can just step right out of it. 

Big not so much. 

We knew where to find her all night.

I Like To Put Things On Maddie's Head 3

Hash Brown-Crusted Quiche

This is starting to look like 

The Maddie Channel

so I thought I had best post some food.

This is a little something I 

spied on Pinterest.

It's basically frozen shredded

hash browns that you mix with some melted butter,

line a greased quiche pan with 

and then bake for about 20 minutes to brown up. 

Then you add your own idea of quiche filling

and bake.

Couple of things:

The hash browns don't really stay up

on the sides to form a crust.

They don't really get very brown.

And the ones on the bottom get way

crunchy. Kind of hard to eat crunchy.

So, it wasn't a bust but not so good 

that I will be doing it again.

And here's a picture of Maddie for you. 

It IS the Maddie channel.

Sleep *Patterns*

It's fun to watch babies sleep.

When they're little they sleep where you

lay them down. 

When you can stand to lay them down.

But then they get bigger and are able to move

around the crib.

 I think Maddie fell asleep sitting up. 

That's her foot in her face.

 I think she was trying to make an escape.

If you look closely, there is one leg sticking out.

What you can't see is the other leg sticking out

under the blanket.

So now we have 

"breathable" bumpers. 

Night, night.

I Like To Put Things On Maddie's Head 2

I got a million of these.

That's a swim cap.

I bought it in December.

Wouldn't want to get caught unprepared.

THE Baby Prison!!

Maggie has pointed out to me that 

Maddie could totally bust outta our

Gated Community.

Her boys aren't going anywhere!

Baby Prison

My niece, Maggie, coined that phrase.

she has one for her twins.

They are boys. 

I think the descriptive title is fitting.

I can't find a photo of hers for the life of me.

But Maddie has one too.

She's reading a book and singing.

One of Shanna's friend coined the term

gated community.

I think we'll go with that.

I Like To Put Things On Eliana's Head.

Actually (actually) in this case it's just one thing.

 But given the opportunity to dress her again, 

I will accessorize her again.

Can you hear her laughing in this one?

Poached Egg

Once upon a time I made a perfect poached egg. 

Mike said to take a picture of it, 

you never know when you'll need a picture of a 

perfectly poached egg.

So here it is. 

I don't really need it but I thought I would share.

I reserve the right to post this picture

again should the need arise for a picture of a 

perfectly poached egg. 

PS, this is how I did it:

I cracked an egg into a small bowl, 

 got a small pan of water to just below a boil, 

swirled the water with a spoon, 

dropped the egg in the middle of the swirl, 

leave it alone for 3 minutes, 

turn off the fire and let it sit for 1 minute.

 WaLa

Perfectly poached egg!