Friday, January 29, 2016

The Thought For Today

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life." - Rita Rudner

Internet Addiction Test

Internet Addiction Test


For Weird Friday we have The Center for Internet Addiction... Take their tests and find out if YOU'RE addicted.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

The Thought For Today

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie." - Jim Davis

Rec: Cabbage And Leeks In Cream Sauce

1/2 head cabbage, coarsely chopped
3 large leeks, sliced
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons sherry or dry white wine
2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 to 1 cup half and half or milk
1/4 teaspoon mace, or nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste



Put cabbage and leeks in crockpot. Add minced garlic,
sherry and water (or use 1/4 cup of chicken broth).
Dot with 1 tablespoon of butter; cover and cook on LOW
for 7 to 9 hours. Melt butter in saucepan; add flour and
stir until smooth and bubbling. Add cream or milk and
cook over LOW heat until thickened. Add the mace and
salt and pepper to taste. Mix into the cabbage and leek
mixture.


Serves 2 to 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Rec: Vegetarian Spaghetti for Crock Pot

2/3 (1 1/2 oz) envelope spaghetti sauce mix
2/3 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
2/3 cup water
2/3 small eggplant
1 small red onion, diced
2/3 cup chopped mushrooms
2/3 small bell pepper, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 medium tomato, cut into small wedges
1/3 teaspoon salt
dash crushed chili peppers
5 1/3 ozs uncooked spaghetti
2 2/3 ozs grated mozzarella cheese




In crock pot, mix dry sauce mix with tomato sauce
and water. Cut zucchini into 1/2-inch crosswise slices.
Peel eggplant, slice thinly and then cut each slice into
quarters. Add all the diced and sliced veggies to the
crock pot. Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours or until
vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti
according to package directions; drain. Serve sauce on
top of cooked spaghetti with mozzarella sprinkled on top.



Serves 2 to 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be carefully reheated in microwave

Rec: Ratatouille

1/2 cup olive oil
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 to 3 minced garlic cloves
1 small eggplant, peeled and diced
1 large can (1 lb. 12 oz.) California style tomatoes
4 zucchini
2 green peppers, cleaned and diced
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste



Heat oil in heavy saucepan. Add onions and garlic, brown
quickly over HIGH heat. Add eggplant and tomatoes and
mix, crushing mixture with back of wooden spoon. Add
zucchini and green peppers and mix well. Add seasonings
and cook 2 to 3 minutes over HIGH heat, stirring most
of the time. Cover and simmer about 1 hour, stirring once
or twice, until sauce is thick and creamy. This ratatouille
can be served hot or cold, as an hors d'oeuvre, salad or
as a hot vegetable. Easily doubled and will keep 10 to 15
days refrigerated.


Serves 4 to 6
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Rec: Million-Dollar Potatoes

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 lbs potatoes, cut into wedges


Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the melted butter in
a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, combine the
remaining ingredients except the potatoes; mix well.
Dip the potato wedges in the melted butter then in the
crumb mixture, turning to coat completely; place on
baking sheets in a single layer and pour any remaining
melted butter over the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes,
or until the potatoes are tender.


Serves 4 to 6
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Rec: Microwave Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup milk
2 large eggs


Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing
bowl. Stir in oil. Beat milk and eggs together, then mix with
dry ingredients. Pour into a six-cup plastic ring or gellatin
mold. Microwave on HIGH for four to five minutes. Let rest
five minutes before removing from mold.

Serves 4 to 6
Refrigerate remainder
Can be carefully reheated in microwave or enjoyed cold

Friday, January 22, 2016

Product List

Product List

For this Weird Friday I offer - a Goth Site. You too can own a video or two on embalming or performing autopsies. Check out the chocolates and have fun!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Rec: Microwave Donburi Chicken, Egg & Oyako Sauce

4 cups warm steamed rice
1 lb. chicken breast, skinless, boneless and cut into 2-inch strips
2 cups onion, sliced in 1/2 inch chunks
1 1/2 cups carrots, cut in half moon shapes
1 cup mushroom, sliced in half
2 cups watercress sprigs, cut 1 inch long
4 eggs, beaten

Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon white wine



Mix the ingredients in a 3-quart casserole, and stir
until the sugar dissolves. Add the onion, carrots, and
mushrooms and place the chicken slices on top. Spoon
the Oyako Sauce over the vegetables and chicken.
Cover with a vented microwave lid. Cook on HIGH
(1200W) for 9 to 10 minutes. When the chicken is
cooked, pour the beaten eggs over the top and cover.
Cook on HIGH (1200W) for another 2 to 3 minutes or
until the eggs are done. Take the casserole out and
add the watercress. In serving bowls, spoon in the rice
and spoon the Oyako mix on top.


Serves 4
Refrigerate remainder
Can be reheated in microwave

Monday, January 18, 2016

8 Feel-good Websites To Brighten Your Day

And my days need all the help that they can get.

Friday, January 15, 2016

The Thought For Today

“Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” – Plato

MindGuard Home Page

MindGuard Home Page

Yup, it's Weird Friday again and today we have THE source for anti-mind-control sofware. Unfortunately it's only for computers runing Amiga and Linux. The rest of us are DOOMED!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The Thought For Today

"There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn what it is I'll get married again." - Clint Eastwood

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Thought For Today

"Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?" - John Mendoza

Friday, January 08, 2016

Stop Alien Abductions

Stop Alien Abductions

Welcome to another Weird Friday. Very, very seldom am I at a loss for words. This is one of those times.

Thursday, January 07, 2016

The Thought For Today

"My wife and I went back to the hotel where we spent our wedding night. Only this time, I stayed in the bathroom and cried." - Henny Youngman

Magazine: Create a customized magazine from your digital photographs

Magazine: Create a customized magazine from your digital photographs

You can use this one to make your own fake magazine cover. "Frog Sexing Monthly" anyone?

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

The Thought For Today

Man: "I have no sympathy for a man who is intoxicated all the time.
"WC: "A man who's intoxicated all the time doesn't need sympathy." - W.C.Fields

Newspaper snippet generator

Newspaper snippet generator

Another fun time waster. You can generate newspaper clippings among other things. My favorite is the "Talking Squirrel".

Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Rec: Frankie's Potato Knish, The Easy Way

Buy one box of the packaged potato pancake mix (that’s LATKE
not KUGEL) in the international food section and the puff-pastry
sheets from the frozen dessert section – both are available
at Publix.

Follow the directions on the puff pastry box and the potato

pancake mix.

There are two sheets of the puff pastry. You can cut the two

sheets in half so that you now have four pieces. Let thaw
while you prepare the potato pancake mix.

Follow the directions on the box to prepare the potato pancake

mix. Then, after it’s mixed, pour it into a large glass baking
container and nuke it at HIGH for 10 minutes, or until the center
holds a toothpick upright. You don’t want to dry out the mix
or burn it, but you do want it done, so you might have to stop
the microwave and stir the mix again before resuming the
nuking to make sure it’s all cooked.

Now that you’re happy that it’s cooked through, it should still be

pliable and crumbly. Put it in four equal measures on the four
pieces of puff pastry sheet. Smoosh it into a rectangular form
on the sheet. I usually make sure it’s toward one side so I can
just fold the other half of the sheet over and have it fairly
evenly distributed but still covered by the pastry. Or you can
put the potato mix in the middle of the sheet and pull up the
four corners and make it look pretty. I prefer the simple
fold-over and pinch the edges together on the open three
sides of the little “bed” of pastry like I do. The theory is,
you don’t want to bite pastry without getting some potato
in it.

Put it in the conventional oven on a cookie sheet and bake at

400 degrees or until the shell is golden brown. Take it out
and let it cool.

Good eating.

Rec: Frankie's Veggie Sandwiches And Poor Man's Eggplant Parmesan

Just a couple of squash, zucchini, eggplant and a package
(or can) of mushrooms, some cheese and one onion, all of
which costs less than $5, and you can make the neatest
and tastiest veggie sandwiches.

Long slice the zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, onions
(I like red), eggplant or cabbage (be creative in your slicing)
and sauté the sliced veggies and mushrooms in olive oil, a
teaspoon of soy sauce, sprinkling of garlic powder, basil. When
everything is nice and limp, lay it out in layers on a toasted
hoagie roll or bun or whatever. Add shredded Parmesan or
the powdered kind (I like shredded, it melts so nice and oozily).
Devour at will. If you make more than can be put in one
sandwich, put the already cooked stuff in storage bag or bowl
and you can reheat for later sandwiches. Tomato, fried or plain,
also adds zest.

Eggplant is also great if sautéed in margarine until limp, cover
with shredded Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese and then pour
a can of Beefaroni (or the Wal-Mart generic Macaroni and Beef)
over it. Mmm-mmm. I call that the poor man’s Eggplant
Parmesan. And the Beefaroni is way low in fat. So try that too.

Rec: Annette's Heart-Stopping Artichoke Dip

INGREDIENTS
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon grated garlic (or 1 tablespoon powdered garlic – NOT garlic salt)


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Combine the artichoke hearts, mayonnaise, cheese and garlic. Mix well and pour into a 2 quart casserole dish.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
Serve w/ crackers or plain tortilla chips.
I’ve also seen this dip with 4 oz. of diced green chili instead of the garlic.

Rec: Frankie's Campers Corned Beef Hash

Field-expedient method: Take 3 or 4 medium-sized potatoes,
nuke on HIGH for five minutes. Poke them with a fork and
make sure they’re cooked through. If not, give them another
couple of minutes. Poke again and nuke again if necessary.
When done, remove from microwave and put in a plastic sealed
container. Transport in your cooler or just stick in the fridge
for later.

At your leisure, dice ¼ to ½ onion; open a can of corned beef;
take out as many potatoes as you like and dice. Add about 2
tablespoons of cooking oil in a skillet, put in the onions and
potatoes, spread around in the oil. Place thin slices of corned
beef straight from the can on top of the veggies as they cook.
Not the whole can – just enough to cover the potatoes in the
pan. Put the excess in the sealed container with your unused
potatoes for later.

Over MEDIUM heat, stir occasionally until potatoes are
browned. Remove from heat and serve. You shouldn't need
much salt, the canned corn beef has plenty. You can throw in
some garlic powder or other seasonings, but frankly the
onion and touch of salt and pepper are all that’s needed.
Occasionally, I toss in diced egg plant or cabbage and let
it simmer with the potato. Excellente!

Monday, January 04, 2016

The Thought For Today

"The use of profanity on broadcast television is up 69 percent in the last few years. That should level off once Oprah steps down." - Jimmy Kimmel

23 Cooking Uses for Your Microwave

"If you use this gizmo only to zap popcorn or heat up leftovers, prepare to be impressed. Here are more than 20 ways your microwave can save you time in the kitchen."

Friday, January 01, 2016

New Years Resolutions

I will always wear clean underwear, "just in case", ESPECIALLY when traveling by air.