Random Thoughts...Food, Firearms, and Fun

I recently wrote an article for Yahoo on why I'm happy without kids. You can find it here .

Tiff and I headed to Dream Dinners for our March session on Thursday. This is the first time we've attended a weeknight session, but until the car issues, Mac and I had planned to be out in Philadelphia this past weekend. When the car issues started, we changed our plans, but opted not to change the session. I ordered an extra 6-serving of the Southwest Pulled Pork with Confetti Cornbread, figuring that Mac and I really enjoyed it when it was the test recipe, so we'd enjoy the extra in the freezer! Wow, is it interesting to prepare. It's not difficult really, but it can be challenging to get the cornbread to spread across the pork mixture easily. I'm sure mine won't look anything like the Dream Dinners pictures, but I made the best of it! We're having that for dinner tonight. The Orange Asian Chicken smelled wonderful, and we'll probably break that out of the freezer sooner, rather than later. The Pesto Cheese Ravioli with Chicken and Walnuts is curren...

On Friday, Mac and I were headed to State College to buy a Jeep, or so we thought. We didn't even make it halfway there, when we ended up turning around and heading home. Turns out that the Jeep that was listed on their website as a manual transmission was really an automatic. Grr! So, we're still looking for another vehicle. I'd taken a half day on Friday, picked up Mac, and headed to State College. We didn't get the more than halfway there before I received confirmation that the Jeep was an automatic. We headed home, and both took a nap for a bit. We've both been so exhausted that a nap was exactly what was needed. I woke up before Mac, and decided to start dinner. I really wanted to go back to sleep, but figured that as soon as I did, he'd wake up and want dinner. I'd decided to cook the Dream Dinners Buffalo Ranch Chicken. It was easy enough to prepare, although I didn't follow their directions. I didn't want to drag out the Foreman grill, so...

On Saturday, I cooked the Mariachi Chicken Rolls from the  Fix, Freeze, Feast cookbook. I had to venture into work for a bit, so when I got home, Mac was ready for dinner. I don't know if it was a problem with the chicken or the cheese, or what, but both Mac and I had some tummy issues on Sunday, we think as a result of this meal. It was easy enough to prepare, except that I couldn't get the chicken to stay rolled, I think due to how large the chicken breasts were. So, I simply topped them with the cheese/salsa mix. I baked it as directed. The cheese/salsa mix resembled a watery soup when we pulled this out of the oven. Mac took the roll portion of the name to mean that there were rolls or tortillas or something with it. The chicken and sauce was lacking in flavor, as the outside of the chicken had a very mild spicy flavor, but the inside of the chicken was just chicken. Mac and I discussed how to improve this, and we had a few ideas: Add the chicken and sauce together,...

On Thursday, Mac worked overtime, while I worked a shorter day, and then Tiff picked me up at work. We stopped at home, took the dogs outside, grabbed my cooler, and headed to Dream Dinners for our session. More on that at another time, but first, we'll address Thursday's dinner. We got back to the house around 7 PM, and until Mac and I got the Dream Dinners meals packed away, we didn't start dinner until close to 7:30. Tiff and I apparently both purchased giant chicken breasts for our freezer meals, as she prepared the Dream Dinners Chicken in Herbed Mustard Sauce, and the chicken breasts were huge! Since they were so thick, I probably should've butterflied them, but didn't think about that at the time. I followed the directions, but added cooking time to the chicken. Sadly, they still hadn't finished cooking when everything else was ready. We cooked them a bit longer, covered, and that seemed to work. The dish had a very nice flavor. I'm not a huge ...

We'd been told that we might get upwards of 8-10 inches of snow yesterday, so I thought it would be a great day to have soup. Likewise, I knew I could toss the Beef Barley Stew in the crock pot at 4:30 AM, and it would still be warm when we got home. I loved how easy it was to prepare. I simply emptied out the freezer bags into the crock pot, and then added 4 cups of water. I set the crock pot for 8 hours, low heat, after which it would simply revert to a "warm" setting, keeping it warm but not cooking it. Mac dropped me off at work, because we were concerned that if we did receive that much snow, they'd close the base, and I wouldn't be able to make it up there in time to pick him up from the base. A coworker dropped me off at a local restaurant after work, so I could sit at their bar and at least play Buzztime Trivia. I figured that it would at least help me pass the time until Mac could venture down here, since he worked overtime. While I was at the bar, ...

Tiff prepared the Beef Stir-Fry from the Dream Dinners cookbook, and delivered it on Saturday, while Mac and I were at our Czech cooking class. Since my freezer space is at a premium, and because we're dealing with the car issues, I've been trying to cook things that are quick and easy after work. This seemed to be one of them, and I cooked some rice, followed the instructions for the meat, and soon enough, we were ready to eat dinner. Well, Mac was ready to eat dinner. I had a migraine, and was not in a good mood. He was upset I opted not to eat, but he tried the meal. Yuck! He ate about 3 or 4 bites, commented that it was incredibly salty, but had no other real flavor, and proceeded to package up all of it, back into the Ziploc bag, and then proceeded to drop it into the garbage can! I used a code for a free Papa John's pizza, and he enjoyed pizza for dinner. I had a slice of pizza, and then proceeded to go to sleep. Tonight's dinner is the Beef Barley Soup from ...

Mac and I headed out to Ambler, PA for a Czech/Slovak cooking class on Saturday. We both have at least a little Czech or Slovak in our ancestry, and we both are interested in learning how to prepare some of that type of cuisine. He found the cooking class, I took care of registering us, and for $50 total, we both were able to learn to prepare a Czech meal, plus we both were able to sample additional main courses and soups. The meal we learned how to prepare was Svíčková, Polish Dumplings, and Cabbage. Wow, was it amazing! The cabbage was like a cooked, sweet and sour version of sauerkraut, with cranberries! The Svíčková was unbelievable. It was topped with cranberry sauce and whipped cream, and served with dumplings to soak up the gravy. I am trying this for Easter this year! We used beef roast, marinated in veggies and injected with bacon. As if I wasn't already hungry, as I'm writing this, I'm salivating with the thought of this dish!!! Mac and I were asked why we wer...