Crazy Creations/Cooking adventures

So it's been a pretty crazy month, but then most of my days have some level of craziness involved.  What can I say, I'm pretty NUTS on my best days.  Thus, I thought I'd touch base and share some of my recent excapades...

I've been seeing an ad on TV for a new "Buffalo Chicken Sandwich" which I thought looked interesting, so when Jason commented on the same ad, I set out to create that spicy morsel for our dinner that night.  Simply by eyeballing the ad, I decided how I would prepare my version.  I began by searching for a buffalo sauce recipe, as I couldn't find the one a now deceased friend had shared with me.  I finally decided on a simple version while a chicken breast thawed out.  When the chicken was adequately thawed, I pounded the crap out if, forming a thin slab, which I then cut into two serving pieces, and marinated it in the sauce I had made, refrigerated of course!  Shredded some lettuce, and set aside the bottle of ranch dressing. 

After baking the chicken pieces drenched in the sauce, I prepared the sandwiches...  Lettuce, buffalo chicken, topped with ranch dressing, and the bun top.  Salad on the side, and we had a very flavorful meal.

My next crazycook endeavor was to convert some plain leftover rice into a side dish.  I had some cleaned broccoli that needed to be cooked, and originally was thinking a pasta salad, but then remembered the rice.  Pulled out the rice, par steamed the broccoli and chopped it, added some sweet yellow and orange peppers - ya know, those little ones about the size of a jalapeno.  I also had a partial can of cheddar soup, so I tossed it all with a little milk, and created what I guess might be called a "cheesy confetti rice."  (???)  Whatever, we had some tonight with some leftover ham, and it was very tasty!

Many years ago, when my friend Denise still lived in Los Angeles, I used to call her for cooking advice...  At that time, I could not cook anything without following a recipe.  Words of wisdom she shared, were to "think outside the box."  I have done that over time, as my skills and confidence have grown.  The result is being that I can now pull a bunch of leftovers out of the frige, and create some kind of a new meal, or side dish from the bits and pieces, or to even take a leftover entrée and create and entirely new meal out of it!

I'm sure I have much more to share from the past few weeks, but right now the old grey cells are tiring, and frankly I just can't think of any other adventures.  So, for now I'm going to call it a night, and bid you all adieu. 

Be well!

Readin' and Writin'

Over the past years I've become a shop-a-holic (via the net) and of course, an extremely avid cook!  End result being that I search many a recipe, and read reviews and comments on many sites.  I'm beginning to think that most of the population is illiterate!  The comments and reviews can be down right stupid, for crying out loud! 

When rating a product recently purchased, do these people READ the directions?  Then they rate it as a piece of crap, as they didn't follow directions...  What kind of BS is that I wonder?  I bought one unit that uses a plastic pitcher.  Reviewer claimed the first use, the pitcher cracked and began leaking.  I've used mine for perhaps 5 years, run the pitcher on the lower rack of the dishwasher more times than I can count.  Still, no sign of any damage from use, or cleaning...

Just this evening I printed a recipe for banana bread and then read some of the comments...  Someone asked the blog writer if there was flour in the recipe, as there was no mention...  I looked at my "copy" to see "2 cups flour (grandma used... {brand name.})

No wonder I rarely write a review, and try to double check any comment before posting - for spelling and wordage...  I guess the folk sometimes write before THINKING!  Or even READING, I can only suppose. 

Seems like a sad state if you ask me, though I was an English major in college and perhaps too critical...  Not that you'd know it by the way I speak at times, and the slang I often use.  Still, stupidity can irritate me at times...

Be well!