I didn't get my orgy of baking I was so looking forward to. Finances got screwed up thanks to a "security deposit" Clearwire broadband (we dumped Verizon on Friday and switched) took out of our checking account without telling us about it. Hubby contacted the local distributor to complain since that hadn't been mentioned anywhere in the deal he set up, so hopefully that will get put back soon as that was my grocery money for the next two weeks GRRRRRRR. We had just enough money to pick up a few items to make nachos grande yesterday, along with a 5 lb chub of burger. Recipe in a bit.
I did have enough to make a batch of snickerdoodles and I was doing a happy dance the entire time, I don't think I've ever been that happy baking anything.
The KA mixer made it so much more fun. I was watching America's Test Kitchen on PBS Saturday and they were using the exact same model as mine making bundt and angel food cakes :D I so can't wait to get more ingredients, I really, really want to do more baking hehehehehehe
I just had the idea I can put the burger I bought into the mixing bowl, attach the bread hook and mix the spices and such I use for burgers into the meat with less mess (and frozen fingers hehehehehehehe). I'll have to give that a try tonight while making dinner, which will be the chicken I was thawing for yesterday's dinner before hubby got his nachos craving.
Managed to get out yesterday for a little geocaching. I've got some neat pics of things I saw while out (a couple cool nests, 1 birds nest and 1 wasp nest). I still have to process them thru photoshop, so will post later. Found two caches, but since we'd gotten a late start and it was cold out, decided to call it a successful shakedown of the set up we are using (laptop, GPS and the new modem, which is wireless to the ISP. It was fun logging our caches right from the caches hehehehehehe)
FINALLY managed a group photo of the kitties, sort of:
I was so happy KiKi stayed put, usually when either of the boys are that close she stomps off in a huff.
Nachos Grande:
You can pretty much use what ever you want. At minimum I use chips, cheese, refried beans and sour cream. I usually like to fry up a pound of hamburger and season it with a bit of taco seasoning from a packet. This time around I decided for something a little different, using chicken breasts I sliced into slivers and seasoned with a packet of fajita seasoning.
1-1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or thighs)
1 packet of fajita seasoning
1 large bag of tortilla chips
2 cans refried beans
2 cups of cheese (this is where I like the packages of pre-shredded)
Sour cream
Slice chicken into bite sized slivers. Heat up skillet and add a bit of oil when hot. Add chicken and cook on medium heat until no longer pink in the middle. Cover with lid while cooking to encourage juices from chicken. Remove lid occasional to stir around chicken. When done, remove lid, add fajita seasoning and allow to absord any liquids from the chicken (the packet usually calls for 1/4 cup water, for nachos I omited this) and coat the chicken. Pull from heat and set aside.
Take a baking pan, cookie sheep or large shallow baking dish and using cooking spray or oil, coat the surface to keep the food from sticking too much.
Preheat oven to 350F and have the rack set to the middle position.
Put down layer of chips, open refrieds and dot the first layer of chips with refrieds. Sprinkle half the chicken over the top and then half the cheese. Add another layer of chips, repeat with 2nd can of refrieds, the rest of the chicken and cheese. Slide into the oven an bake for 25-35 minutes, or until it is heated thru and the cheese in the middle has melted.
I usually will use some jarred salsa and black olives on the layers, but we went fairly simple. You can add jalapenos if you want and diced tomatos. The add ons are endless.
Watched the Budweiser Shootout while eating nachos. We'd recorded it while we were out geocaching. Pretty good race, it was a bummer Jeff ended up not finishing, but it was way cool to see the rookie win it. I think the officials for NASCAR need to be hit upside the head over penalizing Carl Edwards for NOT getting into a wreck when he dodged around Jimmy Johnson and others when the slowed down in front of him as they were heading for pit row. Even the commentators thought that was an unfair call. I don't blame him one bit for not wanting to take the pass thru. So NASCAR would have prefered there be a serious accident right at the entrance of pit row, instead of some great skilled driving on Carl's part?
Watched the qualifying runs for the 500, decided we can skip watching those. Not as interesting as watching everyone race together. I do have the DVR set up to get the Daytona 500 on Sunday and also the dual races on Thursday that will determine the rest of the 500 lineup for the start.
We've been looking into upgrading the dish receiver/DVR. Hubby called Dish on Friday, there is a few options, one is a new system coming out in April that sounds pretty good. There is one unit we can buy for about $80 that has everything we want, tho it sounds like they are phasing out that unit in favor of the new one (whihc has 200 hours of digital regord time, instead of 100), so we'll think about it and keep our fingers crossed our reciever/DVR doesn't crap out. It is having more and more problems. We'd gotten back from geocaching to find it had locked up, luckily well after the Shootout hehehehehehe. One thing we do want to get is the "search for name of show and record everything" option. Kinda like Tivo's season pass, only without Tivo. WOuld make being able to find the shows we like to watch when they keep moving them all over the place. It is really annoying to have it set up for Wild West Tech to find 2 weeks later they've moved it to another time, haven't told us and it is recording some show we don't want. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I did have enough to make a batch of snickerdoodles and I was doing a happy dance the entire time, I don't think I've ever been that happy baking anything.
The KA mixer made it so much more fun. I was watching America's Test Kitchen on PBS Saturday and they were using the exact same model as mine making bundt and angel food cakes :D I so can't wait to get more ingredients, I really, really want to do more baking hehehehehehe
I just had the idea I can put the burger I bought into the mixing bowl, attach the bread hook and mix the spices and such I use for burgers into the meat with less mess (and frozen fingers hehehehehehehe). I'll have to give that a try tonight while making dinner, which will be the chicken I was thawing for yesterday's dinner before hubby got his nachos craving.
Managed to get out yesterday for a little geocaching. I've got some neat pics of things I saw while out (a couple cool nests, 1 birds nest and 1 wasp nest). I still have to process them thru photoshop, so will post later. Found two caches, but since we'd gotten a late start and it was cold out, decided to call it a successful shakedown of the set up we are using (laptop, GPS and the new modem, which is wireless to the ISP. It was fun logging our caches right from the caches hehehehehehe)
FINALLY managed a group photo of the kitties, sort of:
I was so happy KiKi stayed put, usually when either of the boys are that close she stomps off in a huff.
Nachos Grande:
You can pretty much use what ever you want. At minimum I use chips, cheese, refried beans and sour cream. I usually like to fry up a pound of hamburger and season it with a bit of taco seasoning from a packet. This time around I decided for something a little different, using chicken breasts I sliced into slivers and seasoned with a packet of fajita seasoning.
1-1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or thighs)
1 packet of fajita seasoning
1 large bag of tortilla chips
2 cans refried beans
2 cups of cheese (this is where I like the packages of pre-shredded)
Sour cream
Slice chicken into bite sized slivers. Heat up skillet and add a bit of oil when hot. Add chicken and cook on medium heat until no longer pink in the middle. Cover with lid while cooking to encourage juices from chicken. Remove lid occasional to stir around chicken. When done, remove lid, add fajita seasoning and allow to absord any liquids from the chicken (the packet usually calls for 1/4 cup water, for nachos I omited this) and coat the chicken. Pull from heat and set aside.
Take a baking pan, cookie sheep or large shallow baking dish and using cooking spray or oil, coat the surface to keep the food from sticking too much.
Preheat oven to 350F and have the rack set to the middle position.
Put down layer of chips, open refrieds and dot the first layer of chips with refrieds. Sprinkle half the chicken over the top and then half the cheese. Add another layer of chips, repeat with 2nd can of refrieds, the rest of the chicken and cheese. Slide into the oven an bake for 25-35 minutes, or until it is heated thru and the cheese in the middle has melted.
I usually will use some jarred salsa and black olives on the layers, but we went fairly simple. You can add jalapenos if you want and diced tomatos. The add ons are endless.
Watched the Budweiser Shootout while eating nachos. We'd recorded it while we were out geocaching. Pretty good race, it was a bummer Jeff ended up not finishing, but it was way cool to see the rookie win it. I think the officials for NASCAR need to be hit upside the head over penalizing Carl Edwards for NOT getting into a wreck when he dodged around Jimmy Johnson and others when the slowed down in front of him as they were heading for pit row. Even the commentators thought that was an unfair call. I don't blame him one bit for not wanting to take the pass thru. So NASCAR would have prefered there be a serious accident right at the entrance of pit row, instead of some great skilled driving on Carl's part?
Watched the qualifying runs for the 500, decided we can skip watching those. Not as interesting as watching everyone race together. I do have the DVR set up to get the Daytona 500 on Sunday and also the dual races on Thursday that will determine the rest of the 500 lineup for the start.
We've been looking into upgrading the dish receiver/DVR. Hubby called Dish on Friday, there is a few options, one is a new system coming out in April that sounds pretty good. There is one unit we can buy for about $80 that has everything we want, tho it sounds like they are phasing out that unit in favor of the new one (whihc has 200 hours of digital regord time, instead of 100), so we'll think about it and keep our fingers crossed our reciever/DVR doesn't crap out. It is having more and more problems. We'd gotten back from geocaching to find it had locked up, luckily well after the Shootout hehehehehehe. One thing we do want to get is the "search for name of show and record everything" option. Kinda like Tivo's season pass, only without Tivo. WOuld make being able to find the shows we like to watch when they keep moving them all over the place. It is really annoying to have it set up for Wild West Tech to find 2 weeks later they've moved it to another time, haven't told us and it is recording some show we don't want. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Comments
Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of Feb. 15, 2006.
The move is being made to save the President's $400,000 yearly salary, and also a record $521 billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead the office has incurred during the last five years.
"We believe this is a wise move financially. The cost savings should be significant," stated Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-WA). Reynolds, with the aid of the Government Accounting Office, has extensively studied outsourcing of American jobs. "We cannot expect to remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of cash outlay," he said.
Mr. Bush was informed by e-mail this morning of his termination. Preparations for the job move have been under way for some time. Gurvinder Singh of Indus Teleservices, Mumbai, India, will assume the office of President as of Feb. 15, 2006.
Mr. Singh was born in the United States while his Indian parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320 (USD) a month but with no health coverage or other benefits.
It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between the U.S. and India, he will work primarily at night when few offices of the U.S. Government will be open. "Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the American Express call center," Mr. Singh said in an exclusive interview. "I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be President someday."
A Congressional spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of President, this should not be a problem because Bush was not familiar with the issues either. Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issues at all.
"We know these scripting tools work," the spokesperson said. "President Bush has used them successfully for years." Mr. Singh may have problems with the Texas drawl, but lately Bush has abandoned the "down home" persona in his effort to appear intelligent and on top of the Katrina situation.
Bush will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until his final day of employment. Following a two-week waiting period, he will be eligible for $240 a week unemployment for 13 weeks. Unfortunately, he will not be eligible for Medicaid, as his unemployment benefits will exceed the allowed limit.
Mr. Bush has been provided the out-placement services of Manpower, Inc., to help him write a resume and prepare for his upcoming job transition.
According to Manpower, Mr. Bush may have difficulties in securing a new position due to limited practical work experience. A greeter position at Wal-Mart was suggested due to Bush's extensive experience shaking hands and phony smile.
Another possibility is Bush's re-enlistment in the Texas Air National Guard. His prior records are conspicuously vague, but should he choose this option, he would likely be stationed in Waco, TX for a month, before being sent to Iraq, a country he has visited. "I've been there, I know all about Iraq," said Mr. Bush, who gained invaluable knowledge of the country in a visit to the Baghdad Airport's terminal and gift shop.
Sources in Baghdad and Falluja say Mr. Bush would receive a warm reception from local Iraqis. They have asked to be provided with details of his arrival so that they might arrange an appropriate welcome.