And Yet Another SOUP Recipe!

More SOUP!  Sorry, not sorry!

I'm definitely a big fan of broccoli, but I'm NOT a fan of broccoli smothered in "cheese" sauce or anything approximating that miserable excuse of a bribe to get kids to eat those wonderful mini "trees."  So, broccoli cheddar soup has not been high on the list of favorite foods.  

However...!

Again, gazing into the depths of the refrigerator, I saw that (now three-quarters) gallon of homemade chicken broth, several packages of shredded cheese, and a quart container of leftover broccoli (NAKED broccoli, that is).

I wanted something cheesy, but not TOO cheesy.  Because I'm kind of turned off by the orange color of restaurant versions of this soup, I used a cheddar/jack cheese blend.  So here's what I came up with this time!  If you like it cheesier than this, just experiment and add some more.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

1/4 c butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 c matchstick-cut carrots
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c flour
1 t salt
1/2 t white pepper
2 c chicken broth, hot (I heat it in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring cup)
2 c milk
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 lb broccoli florets, cooked and chopped (see NOTE, below)

In a 4-qt pan, melt the butter and saute the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic until fragrant.  Add flour, salt, and pepper, and cook 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, then add the hot broth slowly, still stirring constantly, until the flour is incorporated and there are no lumps.  

Stir in the milk.  Heat to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the mixture thickens.  Add the remaining ingredients, bring back to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the cheese is completely melted and the broccoli is heated through.  Adjust the salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

[NOTE:  I buy a one-pound steam-in-bag package of frozen broccoli florets, microwave them per the package directions, then chop them very coarsely.]

Soup! Soup! SOUP! Yes, ANOTHER Soup Recipe!

If you've been following this blog for a while, you've surely noticed that a LOT of the recipes I post are for SOUP.  I don't know why, but I'm just not much of a sandwich-for-lunch-type person.  I'd rather have good ol' SOUP - especially in the winter!

Well, DUH.

Here's what I made the other day.  I went through all my SOUP recipes and nothing called my name, so off to the fridge to see what was in there.  I found lots of leftover roast chicken, a gallon of homemade chicken broth, the remains of a bunch of celery, some matchstick-cut carrots, and a container of leftover corn.  There were a few potatoes and a couple of onions left in the bags I bought a few weeks ago.

So here's what I came up with!


Chicken and Corn Chowder

1/2 c butter
1/2 c matchstick carrots
2 stalks celery, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c flour
4 c chicken broth, divided (heat 2 c to almost a boil)
2 1/2 c half-and-half
4 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 lb frozen whole kernel sweet corn
1 1/2 pounds cooked chicken (boned and skinned), cubed
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t salt
1/2 t white pepper

In a 4-qt pan, melt the butter and saute the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic until fragrant.  Add flour and cook 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, then add the hot broth slowly, still stirring constantly, until the flour is incorporated and there are no lumps.  

Stir in the reserved broth and half-and-half.  Heat to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture thickens.  Add the remaining ingredients, bring back to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through.  Adjust the salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

The Snowblower and Me

The view from our back door.

We've had SNOW this week - Monday and Tuesday.  And not just the little stinkin' snows we usually get - you know, one or two inches (if we're lucky!) and then it warms up and melts in the afternoon and freezes overnight.  Most of the time there's not a lot of point in shoveling; it just disappears either because the sun comes out or it changes to rain and gets washed away.

Last winter, we lucked out - we didn't really get much snow, and what we did get went away pretty quickly.  A good thing, too, because That Knee wasn't up to standing and walking for any extended time, so shoveling and running the snowblower were OUT.

Well.

Monday we got dumped on.  It snowed most of the day, falling thicker and faster as the day progressed.  We were one of the areas where there was "locally heavier accumulation," plus we have some places on our property where the snow drifts badly.

I fixed an early dinner, and afterward, when it was getting dark, That Person with That Knee said maybe he should get out the snowblower and...  I squelched THAT right away.  I'm not going to allow That Knee to have ANY excuse to kick up a fuss and let the nasty little infection bacteria get a toehold again.  Not THIS winter, anyway.

So I put on my arctic Carhartts and went out to the detached garage - That Man's private domain.  He tagged along, walking gingerly in the path I broke through the snow.  I'd never used our snowblower before, delicate flower that I am (HA!), so I needed instruction in its usage.

He gassed it up, showed me all the levers, buttons, switches, and toggles, got it started, and away I went!  

I spent a little less than an hour going up and down the driveway and front walk, while the snow fell fast and furious and the wind blew like crazy.  Although it was dark, it wasn't DARK.  The snow reflected enough of what little ambient light there was that I didn't need to turn on any of the outside lights to see what I was doing.

It was kind of nice out there, just me and the snowblower.  I saw two snowmobilers early on, and a couple of cars, but everybody was huddled in their homes and the snowplows hadn't started their evening runs on our street.  They had plowed several times throughout the day, but while I was out there, the street was dead.  I finished, returned the snowblower to the garage and went back into the house.

By the time it stopped Tuesday morning, there was just about the same amount of snow that I had already removed the previous evening covering the areas I'd cleared.  So, after lunch, I put on my Carhartts, went out to the detached garage, and started up the snowblower again - alone, this time.

I spent more time on the job that second time - clearing a path to the mailbox, and clearing more of the road in front of the mailbox so the mail carrier wouldn't have trouble reaching it from his little red, white, and blue Jeep.  Also some of the bad drifts in the driveway - the places that required three or four (or more!) passes to get down to the pavement, mainly between the cars we don't drive often, but also where the garage and race car trailer form a right angle - we get some really nice drifts there!  And at the end of the driveway and in front of the mailbox, where the snowplows throw the snow from the road.  Again, it was nice out there - still quiet, no wind to speak of (YAY!), and bright sun.  I got warm enough I couldn't wear a hat or my hood, so my scalp got sunburned where the hair parts!  I can still feel it!

I was kind of tired after manhandling the snowblower two days in a row!

Today I worked on the snow packed under the attached garage's door (it wouldn't quite close all the way, and we don't need the cold air blowing in under it), chipped the snow and ice off our mailbox (we want to get our mail), and cleared the whole front porch and the steps up to it (we want to get our Amazon packages - HA!).  It must have worked because we got mail and packages about an hour later.  We didn't get ANY yesterday, and Monday was Presidents Day, so no mail delivery, even if there hadn't been all that snow.

So I'm feeling like I've accomplished a LOT this week, even though I haven't done much of my normal work around the house (to be honest, I haven't done ANY - the house is a wreck).  But that's not the end of it.  We're supposed to get another couple of inches of snow tonight.  They say about 2 inches, but who knows?!?!?

We will see what we see when we see it!

Oh FUN!

Valentine's Day Dinner - What We Ate (What I Cooked!)

We stayed home for Valentine's Day - That Knee isn't comfortable when it's not elevated for an extended time, so riding in the car and sitting at a table just aren't comfortable for it/him.  So we had a WILD evening at home.

Right.

Anyway, this week's Aldi's ad had filet mignon listed as their weekly fresh meat special, and the price per pound, although way higher than I'm generally willing to pay for meat, was, for filet, a STEAL!  The prices in the ad go into effect on Wednesday, but I didn't get there until Friday, so I figured I'd missed out.

However...

I guess lots of people don't like to pay exorbitant prices for meat either, even filet, so there were PLENTY of packages in the meat case!  SCORE!

I took them home and stuck them in the fridge next to the ribeye steaks I'd found earlier in the week at Kroger at a truly unbeatable price - more than two-thirds off!!! (It was in the "Manager's Special" meat case - my favorite place to browse.)

So I had a refrigerator full of expensive steaks.  What to do, what to do.

Dumb question, right?  It was pretty much a no-brainer - throw the ribeyes into the freezer and cook the filets for Valentine's Day.

Now, I haven't cooked a filet mignon in years (DECADES, actually), so I did some research to see how long those bad boys needed to lie under the broiler.  Other than that, I was good.  Filet mignon is super simple.

Every store seemed to have fresh asparagus on sale this week, too, so I planned to have that, plus some long grain and wild rice to round out the plate.  Easy stuff.  I didn't want to get elaborate - I wanted to ENJOY the meal myself, and not spend all night cleaning up afterward.

I should have expected what happened as each side of the filets was about done - the butter started to smoke and the smoke alarms began to scream!  Ah, me.  Annoying.  So the cats tried to find a safe space away from the terrible noises (there was none - more than one alarm was wailing), so That Man opened a couple of windows.  It was COLD out there, but it made the alarms settle down.  The windows didn't need to be open more than a few minutes - a good thing.

Anyway, the filets were amazing!  A good meal all around.


Filet Mignon

Here's an idea of how done these filets were
after a full 7 minutes on each side.

For each 8-oz filet:

1/4 t garlic powder (or to taste), divided
salt and pepper
1 or 2 slices bacon (uncooked)
2 T butter, divided
1 T minced scallion or shallot

Place the top oven rack so that the top of the meat will be about 3 inches from the broiler.  Set oven to Broil.

Sprinkle half of the garlic powder, salt, and pepper over both sides of the filet(s).  Wrap each filet with a slice of bacon (or two, if the circumference is too big!), and secure it with one or two wooden toothpicks.  Spread half of the butter over the top side of the filet(s).

Spray a broiler pan (or a rack placed inside a sheet pan with a 1-inch high rim) with non-stick spray for easy cleanup.  Place the filet(s) on the broiler pan and place the pan in the oven on the top rack in the oven.  (Disable the nearest smoke alarms, if needed!)

Let the meat cook for 5-7 minutes.  Remove from the oven, turn the filet(s) over, spread the rest of the butter on the top of the filet, and sprinkle the minced scallion or shallot over the top of the filet(s).

Return the pan to the top oven rack and continue broiling for another 5-7 minutes.  

Remove from the oven, tent with foil, and let rest while you plate the other food.

Don't forget to remove the toothpicks before eating and to re-enable the smoke detectors after - HA!


[NOTES:  I set the sealed packages of filets out on the counter for 4 hours to allow them to come to room temperature before cooking (horrors! - unsafe food handling practices!), and I still needed to cook them on the high broil setting for 7 minutes on each side.

I used Land-O-Lakes Garlic and Herb flavored butter (it comes in a small tub) for the butter.  It was easy to spread and gave the filets an extra depth of flavor.  I still used the garlic powder, too.  More Garlic = More Better!]

I Entered an Art Show!

I've been having a good time with my watercolors the past few months.  I've been watching videos on YouTube and taking some short online classes, too, and boy howdy, is there a LOT to learn!!!

The autumn leaves I find in the yard are fascinating to me - all the different shapes and colors!  I've drawn and painted a few varieties of maple leaves and some pin oak leaves.  One particular study got under my skin and I kept going back to look at it.  (Here's a link to a post that includes my first leaf study.)

Just about that time, our county parks department's newsletter showed up in the mailbox, and in it was information about an upcoming art show.  What timing!  I went to the parks department website, filled out the application, and sent it in with a JPEG file of the watercolor leaf study.  I got the acceptance email last week!  Woo hoo!!!

So, I'm a little excited.  I haven't had anything entered in an art show since the 1973 500 Festival of the Arts, a show of high school art projects from the previous year.  The show was part of the festivities leading up to the Indianapolis 500.  I'd taken ONE art class in summer school, and my teacher (Mr. Crawford, Manual High School - go Redskins!) entered one of my pictures.  It was a study in pointillism, and I didn't think it was particularly noteworthy at the time, but I did get an Honorable Mention, so that's something, since not everyone got an award.

Anyway, the upcoming show isn't juried, so to get in all you have to do is make sure your entry follows the show's theme, which is "Nature's Inspirations," a broad category that could include a world of subjects!  According to the application, "Subject matter is limited to nature, wildlife, or 'nature-scapes' in which natural objects are the primary subjects of the piece. People and/or domestic animals are not considered part of this theme."  I thought my leaf might make the cut, and it did!

The show runs Saturday, February 20, through Sunday, March 8, at the Cool Creek Nature Center,  2000 East 151st Street, Carmel, Indiana.  The hours are Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  The show's free, so if you're tired of being stuck at home, come on out and get inspired by nature!  (And vote for my picture for the People's Choice award before March 4 - HA!)

I Got Sick and Tired of My Pillows!

So I decided to buy a pair of MyPillows!  

I must be unusually rough on my pillows.  I buy them, they're great for about a month, then they start to lose both their resilience and their shapes!  No amount of fluffing and pounding, washing and drying, helps.  They just get flatter and flatter, and lumpier and lumpier, and more and more misshapen as time passes. 

I finally got fed up a couple of weeks ago and decided to take the MyPillow plunge.  I bought the original classic firm pillows.  A little pricey, but they're guaranteed for 10 years and are machine washable and dryable.  At the price I've usually paid for pillows (CHEAP!), and how often I get tired of messing with bad pillows and then go out and buy new ones, I'd spend the price of the MyPillows after only three years or less, so why not give them a try?

They came really fast, and when the package arrived, I went out on the porch to retrieve it and wondered, "What the heck is in this little box???"  Then I saw the return address - "No way!"  I had ordered two king-size pillows, and I would have had trouble getting one cheapo standard pillow jammed into this box!  Opened it up, and there they were, compressed into cylinders like big sausages in their casings.  

When I removed the outside wrappings, the pillows were pitiful looking and lumpy and flatter than flat!

(Yes, this IS the dryer featured in the previous post!)

The included paper instructed me to run them through the dryer at high heat for 15 minutes, and here's the result:

Sleeping on them is a dream (ha! pun intended!) and I have a terrible time in the morning getting out of bed because I'm SO comfortable!  ("Oh, well, maybe just another ten minutes!")  If they get out of shape, all I've had to do is punch them a few times and they're all plump and beautiful again!  

So far, so good!  I'm happy with my purchase.  I wish I hadn't waited so long, but I'm glad I didn't wait any longer!!!  

In fact, I may even buy more of them...!

Laundry Festivities - Part 2

Well, last spring (and about `6 months before that) we had washer and dryer difficulties (see here and here) and ended up replacing them, one at a time.  When the washer went, the delivery guy hooked it up, as usually expected.  But when the dryer went bad just a very few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, and I had a hard time getting one DELIVERED, let alone INSTALLED.  Because of That Knee That Hasn't Cooperated YET, I got the super-festive job of installing the new pigtail (the plate that came with it to keep the pigtail from being rubbed and frayed didn't fit correctly - FUN hammering it into an appropriate shape), while That Boy (I guess I should change that to "That Young Man") took care of the vent duct assembly.

ANYWAY...  After all that hoo-haw getting the dryer and setting it up, one day in late December, after That Young Man used it, he complained that it wasn't drying his clothes.  Long story short, not only was it not drying the clothes, it wouldn't even TRY.  Oh it would turn on and the lights would flash, and you could choose a cycle and all the settings, but when you pushed START, there would be a click, and then nothing more.  It would just sit there and flash its lights at you.  No error code.  No nothing.

So we had an eight-month-old dryer that wouldn't dry with a BIG load of wet clothes sitting in it.  Oh, me.

I called the manufacturer (it was under warranty, thank you) JUST after customer service hours ended.  All righty, then.  So I hauled everything out of the dryer and headed to the laundromat.  There's only one in our city, and, if I understand it, only two in the whole COUNTY!  Good grief.  There used to be another one in our city, but it's been closed for a few years.

Well.

I hadn't used a laundromat in DECADES.  Luckily, I had a roll of quarters I'd been meaning to deposit at the bank, so I grabbed it, the laundry basket of wet clothes, and my knitting bag and headed into the cold, cold world outside.

I was pleasantly surprised.  The last time I'd used a laundromat, it was a pretty seedy place - dirty floors, several machines with yellowed "Out of Order" signs on them, and a lot of questionable characters hanging around.  This was different!  Although not one of the new "hip" laundromats with a coffee bar, mobile charging stations, and counters with stools so you can work on your laptop, it was clean and comfortable, had plenty of machines, the clientele wasn't scary, and I only spent $1.75 on the dryer.  Not bad!  I made some progress on the sock I was knitting, too!  A fun Friday evening at the laundromat.

Anyway, I called the manufacturer the next day, and the guy walked me through a couple of troubleshooting exercises (while his dog barked in the background - working from home).  We got a couple of error codes.  He was going to transfer me to a tech team but it was Saturday, and they don't work on the weekends.  UGH.  

Monday I called yet AGAIN, went through all the rigamarole of being on hold for a half hour, explaining my problem, and telling them I'd already talked to somebody there and I needed to talk to a technician, then being transferred over there.  All this person did was set an appointment with a technician - when did I want it?  Well, ASAP, obviously!  Did I prefer morning or afternoon?  YES!  Whenever!  Just send someone, please!  How about 2 1/2 weeks from now?  What?!?!?!?!?!?  Is that the soonest available date?  Yes.  Well, then fine!

All I can say is that it was a good thing that that load I took to the laundromat was the very last load of dirty clothes - all the hampers were EMPTY.  But try to organize your underwear for 2 1/2 weeks with no laundry service.  OH MY!

We made it through, the technician came to look at it, and fixed it without needing any parts.  SOMEONE (ahem - That Young Man! - cough!) had overloaded the dryer with either too many clothes, or with clothes that were too went and heavy, and the belt had slipped off the drum.  The idler arm pulley was also misaligned with the drive pulley, which made it easier for the belt to come off.  So he realigned the pulley, tightened its screws all the way, put the belt back where it belonged, put the drum back into the cabinet, closed up the panels, tightened all those screws, and voila!  The dryer worked!

...And has been for a couple of weeks, now.  It took a while to get caught back up with the mountains of laundry waiting for me, but as of right now, there's about a half load of whites in the hamper, and that's all.  YAY!

I should have taken a picture of the dryer's innards when the technician had the drum removed from the cabinet.  Now that so much of the control functions are run by electronics, the cabinet was pretty empty.  There just aren't many parts any more, but oh, if that electronic control panel goes bad...OUCH!  It's expensive!  You'd probably be better off just replacing the whole thing.

Hopefully, that's the last of the appliance woes for a while.

Unless the refrigerator...!!!