Swine Flu

So I found out this morning I have it. Started off with the cough, then chills, and aches, so off to the ER I went (It was about 9pm last night). The symptoms really started kicking in Friday night, and early yesterday, so I got it in time to be able to get the tamaflu and hopefully not be out of work for more than a week. They did a chest xray to make sure that I wasnt developing pneumonia, and that came out fine. Working in the public like I do, I was concerned that I wasnt going to be able to avoid it, and the H1N1 shots havent been available out here except for children, young mothers under 23 or 24( I cant remember the exact demographic there), the elderly, and those in very high risk groups. None of those included me. So I have had my fingers crossed all this time. I guess I should have relied on my lucky rabbits foot instead :) Anyhow, thanks to modern medicine, I should only be out of work with this for about a week or so.

lolcats

Have you seen that website? Its hilarious. Some of the pictures are only mildly amusing, but some have me literally loling. Anyhow This is the link to their website. Here are a few images that I found hilarious today:


see more Lolcats and funny pictures


see more Lolcats and funny pictures


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Squash Time

I like squash. There are so many different ways to make it and make it taste good. Even steamed, its something that with some butter, salt and pepper that you cant ever do wrong. This time of year is kind of a transitional period between summer and winter squash, and both are pretty readily available for decent prices at the supermarket. So is cheese. And that is one way to make squash REALLY good! So Tillamook has a recipe on the back of one of their shredded cheese packs that Willa and I decided sounded good, and so in the kitchen she went with squash and cheese and Cheesy Zucchini Gratin came out of the oven. It made a really good side dish for some cherry glazed pork chops that she made along with it. This was yesterday. Today we are having stuffed acorn squash and mashed potatoes.

Tillamook Cheesy Zucchini Gratin
1 Tbsp oil
6 medium zucchini cut into 1/2 inch rounds
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cup Tillamook Shredded Colby Jack cheese, divided (Or what ever brand your supermarket carries
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (we use gluten free for Willa's allergys)
1 Tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large pan. Add zucchini, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and water. Cook over medium, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes just until zucchini is tender. Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes. Combine 3/4 cup cheese with vegetable mixture and pour into 9 inch pie pan. In a small bowl, moisten breadcrumbs with butter; mix in remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Sprinkle evenly over top of pie.
Bake for 30 Min until golden brown and bubbling.

Stuffed Acorn Squash
2 Acorn Squash
2 chub of sausage
1/4 onion diced
butter
a handful of shredded cheese

Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds and membranes. Poke holes in the meat of the squash, and butter. Combine the sausage and onion, and fill the cavity with the mixture. Bake in a shallow dish with a small amount of water in the bottom at 375 for about an hour to an hour and a half. Before removing the squash, sprinkle with cheese and continue to bake until the squash is tender and meat is done.

Half of one of these is meal enough for one grown adult. It really ends up being a lot of food, esp when you add a side dish like mashed potatoes, or even some dinner rolls.

Another way to have winter squash is to take some cooked squash (like hubbard, or even acorn, but not the previous recipe) and butter it and sprinkle some brown sugar on it. Its quite a filling treat that will cure a sweet tooth.

Sorry its been so long

I havent been feeling well, and the cure was worse than the cause for the cure unfortunately. Im better now (Thank God!) and we managed to get some fair time here at the Puyallup fall fair. Got some new pics at the photobucket account, with a few of Alexia (getting cuter as you can imagine) as well as a few of the Toby Mac/Third Day concert. That was something that I thought I wasn't going to be able to go, but we got last minute tickets at the fair. It was up in the bleachers, nose bleed section to be exact, but it was a really good time. Ill have a few more Alexia pictures going up in the photobucket account which you will be able to view in the side panel.

I have some videos that are too long to post to YouTube, and they seem to either take too long to upload directly here, or not at all, so if anyone has any ideas about this, Im open to suggestion.

Les Paul, Musician, Inventor, dead at 94

Link

If your into modern music of any kind, esp that which uses electric guitars for instrumentation, this man is the one who made it all possible. From guitars to recording equipment, he is the originator and the reason behind what it is today. I never got to see him live, and wish I would have had that opportunity.

Edit: Soon after posting this, I found this video thats about 2-3 years old. This guy is not only humble, but he is an absolute hoot!

Got a new camera

For my birthday, Mom got me a Best Buy gift card, and with it, I purchased a Kodak EasyShare M340 digital camera. This is a nice camera. There are quite a few features on it that have me oohhing and ahhhing. There are low light and night photo settings, a setting to photograph fireworks, action shots, even a noob setting that does everything for you but push the button. To illustrate the level of detail this thing captures, I got my lovebird, Honey, in mid flight Click Here.

There are more that I have uploaded of my grand daughter that I think you will agree are much better than the ones we have been taking with our camera phones. Im going to try to get some scenery around here. There hasnt been much success for that with the weather so hot and hazy lately. I havent even been able to see the mountain for several days. Drop me a line, and let me know what you think.

Bobby Flay, grill master

I found this video a while back, and wanted to share this with you guys and gals. Bobby Flay has some great grilling and bbq recipies, so does Mario Batali, but I think that Bobby is a more prolific purveyor of smokey vittles :)

For those of you who know me, I have a special love for good bbq. Pulled pork, brisket, ribs, chicken, even hot dogs and hamburgers taste better when tossed on a grill. So for those of you whose mouth hasnt watered in some time over bbq, here you go!

Crockpot Lovin'

I don't know about you, but there is something about cooking with a crockpot. Sure you can mess it up big in a crockpot, but its so easy to make something good. And a lot of it. If you're like me, you like large portions. A 6 quart crockpot pretty much covers that and then some. You can have dinner, then dinner for lunch, then dinner for breakfast, then dinner again. Its a virtual feast that can keep you eating.

Anyhow, my wife found a couple of recipes on the internet for crockpot chicken, but they weren't quite what she was looking for. So she made a compromise between the two, added some inspiration of her own, and voila! Crockpot lovin'!

Sweet and Sour (kind of) Chicken

1 Whole Chicken (We take the skin off, I'm not a fan of chicken skin)
1/4 cup Braggs Amino Acid* (or soy sauce)
2 tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 onion diced
1 bell pepper sliced into thin strips
4 cloves garlic
1 can water chestnuts(drained)
1 can crushed pineapple(reserve liquid)
1/4 cup corn starch
1 cup chicken broth

Put all ingredients into crockpot except pineapple liquid and corn starch. Set crockpot to low and cook for 6-8 hours.

Mix cornstarch and pineapple liquid, add to crockpot, and cook for another 20 minutes.

* We use Braggs amino acids to substitute for soy sauce. Its gluten free and vinegar free, and tastes like soy sauce. My wife and I both have food allergies, so this is perfect for both of us. You can find it at most health food stores, and some grocery stores are beginning to carry it in their health food section as well. http://www.bragg.com/

Shutterbug!

So, for those of you who know, I am a very proud grandparent! According to my Photobucket account (a free image storage website) I have 361 images of my almost 6 month old granddaughter. I just uploaded 82 pictures today. So far, we have been using a camera phone to take all the pictures, however, we are getting a digital camera soon. She is so adorable, I decided to give everyone who visits this site a view of my picture album. If you notice the sidebar, you'll see there is a slide show of all the pictures we have uploaded currently. Enjoy!

Not exactly a summer recipe...

My wife was looking for recipes for crockpot chicken, and stumbled on this little recipe, that I thought looked interesting, and decided to share it here. I know its a little early for the holidays, however, you cant ever be too prepared, right? Anyhow, it seemed to me that this recipe would probably create a mess in a perfectly good coffee maker, and I only drink my coffee black, so the added flavoring would not appeal to me at all. The idea struck me that if you wrapped the spices in a cheese cloth and tied it off, or, if you put it in a french press, you could brew something like this and it would probably come out quite well. Anyhow, without any further adieu, here it is:

Holiday Hot Perk

2 1/2 cups cranberry juice
2 1/2 cups pineapple juice
1 3/4 cups water

Pour liquids into coffee pot.

1 tsp. cloves
3 sticks cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 cup brown sugar

Put dry ingredients into brew basket, then perk.

So its summer time!

For most people around the country, thats kind of a big DUH!, but here in Washington State, its kind of like, Wha!! ETHEL!! WHATS THAT BIG BRIGHT YELLER BALL HANGIN IN THE SKY!! Or so the joke sometimes goes :) Summer here is quite mild, with patches of sunshine here and there. We actually are pretty blessed compared to some places that get incredibly hot, or incredibly cold (in the winter that is), I do feel fortunate to have air conditioning in my apartment for the days when it gets 'a little warmer than usual'.

Anyhow, I was beating my head against the wall the other day trying to remember how to make sun tea. I finally googled it, and found a recipe. Then lo, and behold, I found that I had actually posted one on my forum! I should really look there first for some of the things I try to remember.

Sun Tea

9 bags of Lipton tea(or whatever your favorite is)
A clear 4 qt container, preferably glass. They are usually available around this time of year at most supermarkets or variety stores.
Fill with cold water.
Leave it out in direct sunlight for 4-5 hours.

Pour over a tall glass full of ice, and enjoy!

Introduction

Hi! I'm Scot, and I would like to welcome you to my blog. I am branching into the realm of blogging from forums primarily because of ideas I have gotten from other people. Forums are great if there is ongoing discussion, but it becomes quite a bore if there is no one talking about the topics that are there. I have a forum primarily geared toward cooking at http://s4.zetaboards.com/Revords_Roadhouse/index/, but it hasn't seen as much traction as I would like. Some of it is my doing, not being as active as I maybe should on my own forum, however, talking to yourself only gets you so far :) . So after seeing a number of blogs by some really good cooks out there, while not considering myself a good cook by any means, I thought that this would perhaps be a great way to share some things that I come across cooking-wise with the world, but also share other things as well, such as my cuter than yours grand daughter! We have a lot of pictures of her in her short 5 months with us, and Im sure that once she gets to taste some really good cooking from her grandma and grandpa, we'll have some great photos of her enjoying her food, whether its on her face, in her hair, or on the floor!

Anyhow, as time goes on, Im going to be moving my recipies from the forums over to here, as well as adding others I hope that you will enjoy. Feel free to drop me a line any time, or add ideas of your own!

Scot