Fancy That!

John saw this recipe in a magazine he was reading while Buffy the Hair Slayer wacked all his hair off the other day. (Hate it when she does that!) So I attempted this recipe once, and the second time I got it right because I put it in the oven and got the noodles a little crunchy on top as it baked. For John, that was the best part! I used my favorite - Cream of Celery soup and added 2 cups of peas and carrots. My dad would say, "You ARE your mother's daughter." It's just because she likes to substitute ingredients sometimes. Hehehehe! At least this was a hit with Jared, and a good way to get him to eat his veggies.

CHICKEN NOODLE CASSEROLE


From: Campbell's Kitchen
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:


1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups cubed cooked chicken OR turkey
3 cups cooked medium egg noodles (about 3 cups dry)
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Directions:

In large saucepan mix soup, milk, pepper, cheese, chicken and noodles. Over medium heat, heat through, stirring occasionally. Garnish with parsley.

TIP: For 2 cups cubed cooked chicken, in medium saucepan over medium heat, in 4 cups boiling water, cook 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cubed, 5 min. or until chicken is no longer pink.

I wanted to post the lyrics to this song, they are really great:


Have you ever heard a love song that
Set your spirit free
Have you ever watched a sunrise and
Felt you could not breathe
What if it's Him?
What if it's God speaking. . .

Have you ever cried a tear that
You could not explain?
Have you ever met a stranger
Who already knew your name?
What if it's Him?
What if it's God speaking?

Who knows how He'll get a hold of us
Get our attention to prove He is enough
He'll do and He'll use
Whatever He wants to
To tell us "I love you"

Have you ever lost a loved one
Who you thought should still be here
Do you know what it feels like
To be tangled up in fear
What if He's somehow involved
What if He's speaking through it all

His ways are higher
His ways are better
Though sometimes strange
What could be stranger
Than God in a manger

Who knows how He'll get a hold of us
Get our attention to prove He is enough
Who knows how He'll get a hold of you
Get your attention to prove He is enough
He'll do and He'll use
Whatever He wants to
To tell us "I love you"

God is speaking
"I love you"

My addition:
Have you ever had a dream that
You wondered what it means?

I was so excited to see this movie on PPV! Historical fiction has always been a favorite of mine. With their layers upon layers of elegant silky dresses and hair up in curls embellished with tiaras and flowers, the women of the 1800's are mesmerizing. Jane is a true artist playing the piano in the early morning when she's happy after composing a few pages of witty paragraphs. Artists without jobs have no concept of time, and dawn is a perfect quiet time for writing. When she meets Tom, their chemistry is apparent as they joust and fight with such grammatically descriptive vocabulary. I almost needed to pause the screen and get out my dictionary. Jane can not seem to settle on the idea of living in the most spacious mansion of a property with a husband (Mr. Wisley)of privilege whose personality of a cardboard box. He barely even talks, and is a chicken when it comes to playing ball with the guys. Jane is the one who knocks the ball out of the park in every sense of the word. This is the era where women with a brain aren't looked upon too fairly. I guess they are supposed to be submissive and sit around sewing lace all day. Jane's family is on the bottom of the social ladder, and their only hope is for one of the girls to marry into a rich estate. Otherwise, Jane's mother can expect to be doing laundry for the rest of her life. Jane falls for Tom, and is cautiously happy in going with him to London to meet his family. Tom's uncle despises Jane's wit and irony so much he forbids the marriage. Jane realizes later that Tom relies entirely on his uncle's allowance to send money back to his brothers and sisters. She knows the two would give up everything to be together and eventually resent the other.

Watching this movie was as satisfying as a juicy steak - while probably not as fattening. I would watch it with a group and not be embarrassed by the language or nudity or sex scenes (there isn't any). It is a prequel to Sense and Sensibility written by Jane Austen. If you like historical fiction from this period, some other movies I like are:

Little Women - with Wenona Ryder
Ever After - Drew Barrymore
The Count of Monte Cristo - James Caviezel
First Knight - Richard Gere/ Julia Ormond
Vanity Fair - Reese Witherspoon
Pirates of the Caribbean - Johnny Depp

Ferk - fork
Nolt - milk
Nino - window
sish - fish
da dad ee - grandaddy
lawght - light
biaper - diaper
yah! - halelujah
jeesa - Jesus
see ite - slide
demejjj- damaged
muner- mower
breakfst ba- breakfast bar

Will add more as the list grows!! All the other things he says are pretty easy to understand, except for the pentecostal type stuff.

I thought I would try this recipe I saw on the Gormet Next Door / Food Network (my favorite). I first saw Amy Finley in the competition reality show "The Next Food Network Star". I fell in love with her 'cause she's little and short like me, but she sort of reminded me of Lena. Smiles! I went through my spice rack, and had to buy tumeric.

Here's the recipe:


7 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon, zest grated and juiced (about 2 to 3 tablespoons juice) plus 2 lemons, quartered, for garnish
1 teaspoon harissa
4 skinless chicken thighs, (about 2 pounds)
1/2 cup chicken broth
Pinch saffron strands
1 large onion, chopped
3 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch half moons or chunks
3 yellow squash, cut into 1/2-inch half moons or chunks
3 medium plum tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup dried pitted prunes (about 10)
1/4 cup black olives, pitted
Coarse salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1/4 cup almonds
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Special Equipment: coffee grinder, Dutch oven
Serving Suggestion: flatbread
In a medium glass bowl, combine the spice mixture, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the lemon zest, lemon juice, and harissa. Add the chicken thighs and stir to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours. Warm the chicken broth and add the saffron strands, then allow to steep at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the chicken thighs from the marinade. In a Dutch oven over high heat, brown the chicken thighs on both sides in 2 tablespoons olive oil, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Set chicken aside on a plate. Reduce the heat to medium, add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan, and saute the onion until golden, about 5 minutes. Place the chicken thighs on top of the onions and add any accumulated juices from the plate. Arrange the zucchini and yellow squash and tomato quarters on top of the chicken and tuck in the prunes and olives. Season well with salt and pepper. Pour over the chicken broth and saffron. Cover and place on the bottom rack of the oven. Let cook undisturbed 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is falling off the bone. Remove from the oven and transfer the contents of the Dutch oven to a large serving dish.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small saucepan over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the almonds and fry until the skins begin to crackle, about 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the almonds and hot oil over the vegetables and chicken on the serving dish. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve, spooning over the sauce in the dish and garnishing each plate with the lemon quarters.

Spice Mixture:
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Combine the spices in a coffee grinder and grind to a medium-fine powder. Add the kosher salt and pepper. Store in an air-tight container, if not using immediately.
Yield: 2 to 3 tablespoons

I omitted the harissa and used dried plums and dried apricots instead of prunes. Wrong move. Without the harissa this recipe tasted like dirt. "Laughing now". So, my advice is to take the extra time to make your own harissa or buy it. From my research, it's a chili paste - and THAT would've been the punch this recipe thrives on.