Random Thoughts...Food, Firearms, and Fun

I was very excited to see this on the menu, and while I normally don't order duplicates of new meals without first trying them, I did for this one. I was rather disappointed on many levels. It's a meal that comes only with grilling instructions, at least for the chicken. We don't own a grill--we gave away our charcoal grill a few summers ago, when I was tired of seeing it sit, unused, on our porch. I ended up cooking the chicken in a skillet, browning each side for a few minutes. I cooked the asparagus in the stove, broiling it as instructed. The flavor of the sauce and chicken was uninspired and quite lacking from what I thought it would be. Perhaps adding bourbon would have helped with it, but there were no directions on how much bourbon to add or when to add it. The asparagus was very enjoyable, so it was probably the highlight of the meal!

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I had a crazy weekend (more on that in another post), and as such, by Sunday night, I fell into bed, and didn't consider what we'd do for dinner last night! Dream Dinners to the rescue! I knew the Santa Fe Shredded Pork Burritos and the Southwest Pulled Pork with Confetti Cornbread could be cooked from frozen, but I wasn't necessarily anxious to prepare any of those, as I wanted something different. I thought I was going to have to scramble and just do pasta and sauce or some such, but instead, upon checking my list of Dream Dinners meals, I noticed that the Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed French Bread could also be cooked from frozen. Woohoo!!! Dinner was set! I got home a bit later than planned, and then had to sort through a lot of mail, but I won't complain about that, because in addition to two checks, we each received our free one-year supply of BioTrue contact lens solution that we won from http://www.biotruedrynesspoll.com/ . Now, to find a domestic violence s...

On Saturday, we ventured to Dream Dinners for our April session. I ordered a TON of meals, and barely fit everything into the freezer! Mac and I are going to have a LOT of cooking to do before our May session... In a slight change of events, this month, most of the meats were pre-bagged. The meats that were not pre-bagged were chicken strips, breaded chicken patties, and such. I assume those are all pre-cooked, and that the raw, frozen items were pre-bagged. This saved a decent amount of time, and also meant that I didn't need all of the Ziploc bags I grabbed when I arrived, since I didn't need bags for the meats. I'd guess that, in addition to being a convenience for the customers, it probably helps reduce shrink, in that it reduces the chances of someone taking extra meat, either intentionally or unintentionally.

I just sent in my May order for Dream Dinners. This is the first month that Tiff won't be joining me with my order, but I'm still ordering 72 servings. My freezer will be packed, but that's not a problem, I hope... My order, and Weight Watchers points: Buffalo Chicken Cavatappi Pasta—12 points Chicken Enchiladas—8 points Chicken Paella—12 points Chicken with Honey, Garlic & Orange—5 points (We've had this before) Chipotle Chicken over Saucy Egg Noodles—11 points Creamy Tortellini with Bacon—12 points (We've had this before) French Tarragon Chicken with Redskin Potato Wedges—7 points Glazed Turkey Medallions with Garlic Asparagus Spears—9 points Parmesan Herb Crusted Chicken—5 points Southwest Pork Carnita Wraps with Chipotle Maple Corn—14 points Williamsburg Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes—10 points We're ordering two 6-servings of the Southwest Pork Carnita Wraps, as I anticipate Mac enjoying that quite a bit.

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On Saturday, my Eastern Star chapter hosted a Spring Has Sprung luncheon and fundraiser. We had several different soups, including my veggie chili and my beef chili, along with sandwiches, and many desserts. I had one empty seat at my table, but no worries. We had several vendors set up upstairs, and then at 2 PM had a live auction. The vendors ranged from Pampered Chef to Perfectly Posh to Scentsy to Tastefully Simple. Rather than charge the vendors a fee, we asked that each one donate an item for the auction. The auction was a ton of fun, with many items going for silly prices, both higher and lower than one would expect. Mac bought a new CD player for the basement for $7, while I purchased a few things for $1 or $2. Other items went for far more than I'd have spent, but then again, I was trying to be frugal. Amber ended up with a few things simply because she wasn't going to let them be unsold. Tiff booked a Perfectly Posh party for May, so I'm excited about that. ...

I prepared the Dream Dinners Orange Asian Chicken recently, and was very pleased with it. I paired it with chicken-flavored rice and Asian medley veggies. Both were good choices, but I probably needed to cook 2 bags of rice, as there was just enough for both of us, not enough for leftovers. The meal was easy to prepare--I breaded the chicken, and then cooked it on each side, then added the sauce. Dinner was on the table in less than 30 minutes, like most of the Dream Dinners meals! The chicken had a nice orange taste and smell, but the flavor was more complex than just orange. The sauce was a nice, thick sauce that mixed well with the rice. When I was at Dream Dinners for the second time this month, I picked up another serving of this, as I thought we might enjoy it. I'm glad I did, as it's a nice meal, with my minor change of needing to cook extra rice! In other news, my Veet Easy Wax House Party was scheduled for Sunday, at Tiff's, but since I have a luncheon on Sat...

I'm slipping, as not only have I been slacking off in taking photos of meals, but I've not been blogging about them either! We prepared the Dream Dinners Golden Pork Chops the other week. It was easy to prepare. I rubbed the herb mixture on the pork chops, then cooked them in the skillet, and added the sauce, allowing it to cook. There wasn't a lot of flavor to the sauce or pork chops, but it wasn't bad. I'd have liked extra mushrooms, but there were enough for most people. The herb mixture didn't seem to cover all of the pork chops adequately, so perhaps that was part of the issue of the pork chops not having a ton of flavor. I might consider marinating the pork chops in the herb mixture for a day, prior to cooking them next time. Dinner was on the table in less than half an hour, which is always a nice thing!

I headed to work this morning, and realized that I'd forgotten to stick the check for our oil delivery outside. So, I headed back home, and when I walked inside, found Geno sprawled out on the couch, ready to nap. Yet, even though I'd disrupted his routine, he greeted me like I'd been gone for days. When he sees me after I've been gone, his eyes radiate love. I'm convinced that he sees me as someone who deserves respect, love, admiration, and someone who always takes care of his needs--someone who never does anything wrong, someone who is always there, and someone who gives freely of herself. If only I could be what he sees in me, all of the time. Recently, I realized that I was expending a lot of time and energy into a volunteer position, not because I believed in their mission, but because I believed it could lead to better things for me. I believe in their mission, I honestly do. However, I let my ambitions cloud my reasons for volunteering, and that's wron...

Mac and I bought a new car a bit over a week ago. Well, new to us. We'd decided to wait, but then they asked us about price, and we gave them a number with which we could live, and they made a deal with us. We discovered a problem shortly thereafter. It was very difficult to shift into gear. Mac took it to the dealership on Friday, for a few outstanding issues, and mentioned it. They said they fixed it, but by Friday night, we were back in the same situation. On Saturday, we took it back to the dealership, and they are working on it. While they fix it correctly, I am currently driving around in a 2013 Subaru Outback! It's an automatic, so I'm not a fan of that aspect, but otherwise, it's an interesting vehicle. There's a gauge that's useless, really. It shows fuel-efficiency, and really, should be called "The Reverse Gas Pedal Gauge." Depress the gas pedal, the gauge drops. Release the gas pedal, the gauge skyrockets. We had a rough weekend. We dea...