You Gotta Keep Em Separated

"Hey, man you talkin back to me?
Take him out,
You gotta keep em separated...."

Okay, okay, flashing back to 1994 when The Offspring first released that song (with the ever-catchy surfer instrumental) isn't actually the point of this post.  Not even close, to be honest.  But, the main theme that was repeated throughout that song was, "You Gotta Keep Em Separated," and that theme ties perfectly in with the ever-important topic that I will cover with you today.

I once referenced HERE that Comanche had made a certain sandwich "just the way I like it."  That sandwich was none other than the all-American classic - peanut butter and jelly!

Enter music montage. Go on, watch it.


Source

Okay, enough with the nonsense - back to the matter at hand.  In my book, there is only one correct way to make a PB&J and I wanted to impart my wisdom on the masses.  It is imperative that you all know what is the right way and what is the wrong way.  Here goes nothing...

Step One.  Always start with the jelly.

Grape is my jelly of choice.

Step One, complete.

Step Two.  Rinse off your knife.

Seriously. Don't miss Step Two.

Step Three.  Peanut butter application.

Don't worry, PB!  You get your turn!

Clean rim = clean soul.

Step Four.  Thank your audience for watching you do the correct PB&J-making method.  (Please note that they are the primary reason why you start with the jelly and then move to the good stuff).

Yeah, it was a full house that day - my kids had friends over.

The peanut butter party has started.

Step Five.  Press each side together in a "folded over" fashion.  I call them "peanut butter and jelly folded overs."

See?  Folded overs!

Step Six.  Locate PB&J Party Fouls.

Uh uh.  Not cool.  My skin is literally crawling.  Ew.

Step Seven.  Show your obvious disdain for the situation.

Step Eight.  The final step.  Hunt the offenders and make them pay.

In the wise words of Liam Neeson, "I will find you and I will kill you."

There you have it, folks.  This has been a valuable life lesson from me to you.  You are welcome.

Until next time,

Family Matters Pt. 3

Remember this guy?!?!  Yeah, you do!

Missed one of this awesome series?  Catch up here:
Family Matters Pt. 1 - The Preparation
Family Matters Pt. 2 - The Food

Warning, picture-heavy post ahead!  But, this post is dedicated to the point of the family reunion - THE FAMILY (and the fun and fellowship that comes with family)!  It was awesome getting to spend time with some of the ones I love the most in the world.  They are my connection to my dad, and because of them, the memories of him will stay with me forever.  Plus, this was the first time Comanche met most of the family, including my paternal grandparents! It was an exciting day!

Is he Hollywood or what?!?!

Cousin MB is going for it!

Perfect cannonball form!

Big splash for a little girl!

And she emerges after her long trip to the bottom!

Cousin M helps a little friend around the pool!

My adorable paternal grandparents, Grandma M and PaPa G!

Momma Chicken Wing and her new husband Dubya - it was his first time meeting the family, as well!

Little Sister CW and her boyfriend, Seatbelt, with one of our Aunt J's in the background!  All of the Chicken Wing girls brought new men to the family reunion this year!

Cousin F and Aunt J, looking adorable!

Me and Great-aunt M!

My Uncle H and me!

Sibling Love!  I absolutely LOVE this picture!!!!

Our little branch of the family tree, missing Little Brother CW, Uncle R, Cousin C, Aunt N, Uncle B, and their kids/grandkids!  (Our branch really isn't that little, as it turns out).

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." -Anthony Brandt

Until next time,

Family Matters Pt. 2

There are certain necessary components when planning a family reunion.  The given is family - if you don't have family, you don't have anything!  The rest can be easily depicted in the fancy pie chart I've made for the sole purpose of teaching y'all about family reunions in an easy-to-understand format.

I'd like to affectionately call this the food post in the Family Matters series, as it centers primarily around some finger-lickin' good eats!  If you need a more scientific reference, we're going to be checking out the red section above.  Warning:  You may, in fact, drool all over yourselves.  Second Warning:  In the event that heavy drooling floods your computer keyboard and renders it useless, you have my most sincere apologies.  Third Warning:  Photo-heavy post ahead!

You know you're in for a good time when this is the appetizer table!

Desserts anyone?  Yes, please! {Check out those scrumptious brownies that may or may not have been made by Comanche and yours truly.}

Oh, Southern deliciousness.....come to Mama!

There are few foods I love more than country ham!

Strawberry confections were in abundance, and I'd have to say I like it that way!

This parfait thing absolutely rocks my socks off.  If I could jump off a diving board and into this dessert, I would absolutely do it.


And you may be wondering where all of these goodies were being kept?  Why, at our normal family reunion meeting place - Aunt B and Uncle D's house!  They have an awesome space to host our wonderful family and they so graciously offer their home to all of us - there aren't enough words to explain how wonderful they are and how much appreciation I have for them.

The party house!



So, we've covered all the warnings, and we've also covered the food portion of the family reunion pie chart.  Up next?  The fellowship and fun, of course!  Stay tuned, folks!

Until next time,

Goals Are Important

Every now and again, it's good to take some time to focus on your goals.  Having something to achieve is so important in life - the moment you stop trying for something is the moment boredom sets in and we all know what they say about idle hands being the devil's playground.  I've actually seen such boredom in action recently and it's amazing to me how unhappy people can become when they stop reaching for something greater.

I want to increase my chances of reaching my goals, so I thought that it would be best to keep myself accountable, and what better way to do that than to share a few goals with all of you so you can hold me to them! :)  Welcome to your homework, Peeps!  Here goes nothing.

Source

1.  I would like to become more of a domestic goddess.

By domestic goddess, I mean that I would like to be better at all things home related.  I know that in order to accomplish this, I will have to practice better time management, as I have so little free time as it is.  Yes, that means that sometimes, I will have to give up my precious television or catching-up-on-the-magazine-subscription-I'm-four-months-behind-on in order to become the goddess I was intended to be. 

Help needed in the following areas: 
a.  Cooking - yeah, I have three dishes I can successfully make (and that's if I check the recipes a bazillion times).
b.  Cleaning/Organization - Okay, I'm sure we can all be better at this, but I know if I could accomplish a better system for myself, it would keep the anxiety and breathing into brown paper bags at a minimum.  Just kidding - there have been no actual documented panic attacks associated with having to clean or organize things.

Excuse the cell pic (that's me on the end back there) and the members of our Coupon Club at work!

2.  I want to become an awesome coupon queen!

You see, I have discovered that couponing is power, and I want to be better at it!  I have done pretty well so far, but there is vast room for improvement.  (Have you seen Extreme Couponing? Crazy Town, right?!?!)  While I don't have room for that kind of stockpiling, and mine is done on a much more pared-down level, I would love to know that I'm saving money on EVERYTHING I buy.  It's possible - inconvenient sometimes, and a lifestyle change - but possible! I really want to be able to save money!

I, along with some girls at work, even started a Coupon Club at our company, and basically we meet once a week to clip or organize our coupons, and share the ones we know we won't use.  For example, I don't have any children yet, so I have no use for Pull-Ups.  My coworker, though, has a little girl and she's in the midst of potty training.  I give her Pull-Ups coupons and she gives me M&M coupons.  I think it's a fair trade!

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3.  Simply doing simple things.

I want to make more time to do simple things.  Day-tripping to the lake, taking a hike, having a picnic, laying by someone's pool, taking a drive somewhere, taking more pictures!  I want to enjoy the simple things in life!

I'm hoping these are some attainable goals - in my experience, having goals is great but overloading yourself with goals is a good way to set yourself up for failure.  While I have way more than three goals currently in my life, I have chosen these three to start with.  Once I accomplish these, I can focus on different ones, and hopefully by pacing myself, I can achieve them!

What about you?  What goals do you hope to soon achieve?

Until next time,

Reverb 10 - Prompt #18

December 18 – Try. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did  / didn’t go for it? (Author: Kaileen Elise)

Gracious, goodness!  There are so many things I want to try, so narrowing the list down for this prompt needed some heavy thinking.

I think the thing that I really want to try most in 2011 is to go and create some experiences.  I want to save money so that if I get the notion to go somewhere, I can up and do just that.  (To be honest, I want to save money in general, but this would be a great thing to save money for).  I want to do some traveling in 2011, and it will be interesting to give this a try outside the normal family adventures.  It will be a brand new world as it will be the first time I'll be exploring on my own.

If I get the time, I would also like to try to begin learning Italian next year.  I've already got the dictionary, and I'm hoping I can figure out a way to cost effectively learn the language for the trip I want so badly to take!  I want to go to Italy at some point, darn-it!

Dreamy, isn't it?  Source

One thing I know I'm going to try in 2011 is cooking more - and I don't just mean cooking more, but more recipes outside of my comfort zone.  I feel like there is a domesticated Chicken Wing inside me dying to be free, but I haven't figured out how to tackle my lack of confidence in the kitchen.  This is one I wanted to do more of in 2010, but as you can see, I didn't do it and therefore, my confidence hasn't ripened at all.  That is something that I am going to conquer next year!  Mark my words!  I want to be able to share some successful recipes with you (and be proud of myself in the process).   

What do you want to try in 2011?

Until next time,

Not Domestic? Not A Problem!

Hey guys & dolls!  I have a little secret to divulge.  I know it's hard to guess, but I am actually far from domesticated as far as cooking goes!  I know, put on your WOW faces because that is a shocker.

But, I love to share little tips and tricks with those who, like myself, struggle in the battlefield of life that I believe someone once told me was called a kitten chin.  I mean, a keet chen.  Wait, maybe it was called a "kitchen."  I can't be sure, but it sounds like any of those.  :)

One struggle I have in the typical hub of the house is that I have to follow a recipe to a tee.  I have to look back at the recipe at least 24 times, and I have to measure and remeasure.  Basically, what I'm admitting to all of you in the interwebs is that I severely lack confidence in my abilities.  Top Chef, I am not.  But, I try hard, so you've got to love me.

Another struggle I have is that when I'm actually in the mood to make something stupendous, I rarely have all the ingredients I need to make the meal happen.  I know that one could say, "Get off your lazy arse and go to the grocery store," but that would make too much sense.  So, I happen to be most proud of myself when I am a) in the mood to make something and b) I can make something great with things I already have.  Not only did I not have to go to the grocery store to make it happen, but I'm also eating things that are already on-hand, which means I'm not wasting said things.

So, here it is, Peeps - the bread and butter of this post (pun only halfway intended. Because we're talking about food.  Get it?).

Here is one of the EASIEST meals that you can possibly make, according to moi.  It has always been a crowd pleaser (and by crowd pleaser, I mean that Little Sister Chicken Wing doesn't complain when I whip it up), and it takes literally three (3) ingredients. 

I call it Miss Chicken Wing's "What-You-Already-Got Casserole."

Ingredient List:

1.  Whatever pasta you have in the pantry.  For this batch, I had elbow macaroni.

2.  Whatever pasta sauce you already have.  For this batch, I chose Ragu Garlic & Onion.

3.  Whatever cheese you already have, but I hope you have mozzerella and parmesan.

What's Next:

1.  Boil said pasta, then drain.  Return to pot.
2.  While letting pasta boil, set oven to 350 degrees.

3.  Stir in pasta sauce, making sure all pasta is coated.
4.  Transfer mixture of pasta and sauce to a 13x9" casserole dish.
5.  Add in cheese.  I like to layer, so I add a bottom layer of pasta/sauce and then layer of cheese.  Top layer of pasta/sauce and then layer of cheese on very top.  I like cheese.  A lot.  Really, who doesn't?
6.  Place in oven for 15 minutes, then remove from oven, turn oven off, and serve.

See, six easy steps!  You are welcome!

Oh, whoops, I forgot an important one.  ADD ADDITIONAL PARMESAN CHEESE!!!!

SHAKY CHEESE!!!!!!!!!  Oh, how I adore thee!

This has been Miss Chicken Wing's edition of "Not Domestic?  Not A Problem."

Until next time,