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/