A message anyone under 40 should hear.

Written By: admin - Nov• 16•16

Where is Jack Webb. Share this with your younger friends, a very timeless message.

In this episode of Dragnet which aired March 7, 1968 titled “The Big Departure”, a few teenagers want to start their own country on an island off the coast of California. When they are caught stealing from local stores to fund their efforts, Jack Webb has THIS to say to them.

The South and the Cold.. Not a pleasant thing.

Written By: admin - Mar• 02•15

Who says it doesn’t get cold in the south.  Recently the whole US, including the South (I mean the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, really anything North of Florida and not the Northeast can be considered the South, but I digress), has been inundated with cold weather and even snow in many areas.  The video describes these perilous times for the families in these areas..  ENJOY!

 

Trisha Vs Miss Kay Chicken & Dumplin’s

Written By: admin - Sep• 27•14

I am a big fan of Chicken and Dumplins’, I have tried several recipes and about 2 years ago I started using Trish Yearwood’s recipe, I figured if it was good enough for Garth, then who am I to say otherwise…I loved her recipe and have been using it since, but just recently I tried a new recipe from Ms Kay’s Duck Commander Cookbook ( a Christmas gift from my daughter) I have just started to use some of her recipes and each one I have made so far has been a hit in my household…so I am going to give you the 2 dumplin recipes so you can try them yourselves hope you enjoy them as much as I have…By the way both are great, but my favorite is Miss Kays…..love the everything about the dumplin,

 

Trisha Yearwoods Recipe

Lizzies Chicken & Dumplin’s

Ingredients
Chicken:
One 5-pound hen or chicken (makes about 4-pounds cooked, after bones and skin removed)
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Dumplings:
2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Salt and pepper

Directions
For the chicken: Put the hen, breast side down, in an 8-quart stockpot and add water to within 2-inches of the top of the pot; this will vary according to the size of your pot, but the hen should float clear of the bottom of the pot and be covered completely. Add the salt and pepper. Bring the water to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 2 hours, or until the chicken is tender and the drumstick joint twists easily. Allow the chicken and broth to cool slightly, and then remove the hen to a colander.

Strain the broth into a very large bowl. Cover the broth and place in in the refrigerator. When the fat solidifies on the top of the  broth, remove and discard it. Remove the chicken from the bones and cut or shred the meat by hand into small pieces. Set aside 2 cups of the broth and refrigerate or freeze the rest for another use. (Leftover broth may also be frozen in individual containers to be used another time.)

For the dumplings: Heat 2 quarts of the defatted chicken broth in a 3-quart saucepan. While it heats, put the flour in a medium bowl. Dissolve 1 teaspoon salt in 3/4 cup water and stir the mixture into the flour to make a stiff dough. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface and knead until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Heavily flour a rolling pin and roll out the dough very thin (you can also divide the dough into 4 portions and roll each portion separately, which will give you thinner dumplings). With a very sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 2 by 4-inch strips.

When the broth reaches a rolling boil, add some of the strips of dough. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pot and bring back to a boil. Continue  to add the dough strips in batches, always raising the heat to bring the broth back to a rolling boil before dropping in more dough strips and reducing the heat to simmer before covering the pot again. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper to taste. Add the 2 cups of cooked chicken, heat and serve.

 

Miss Kay’s Recipe for the dumplins’

In the book I have the actual recipe is boiled Squirrel and Dumplins but in the note it states you can use chicken, so when I made this recipe I admit I used how Trisha cooked the chicken which would be how it starts in Miss Kay’s book for the squirrel, but after cooking the meat they add 1 can evaporated milk and 4 tablespoons of butt and leave to simmer as you make the dumplins (I did not do this but I will probably try this next time, I thin it would only add to its awesomeness…)

In a large mixing  bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and baking soda. With a pastry blender ot two knives scissor fashion, cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the buttermilk a little at a time, stirring until a soft dough forms, about like the consistency of biscuit dough. Divide the dough into 4 balls.

Sprinkle the counter with flour. Roll each ball of dough to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour as needed to prevent it from sticking. Cut into the large squares.

Return the broth to a boil. Make sure there is enough in the pot to fill at least half the pot. IF not add more water or chicken broth.

Drop the dumplings into the boiling broth a hand-ful at a time. When they are all in, turn the heat to lover cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes.

Turn off heat. Out the meat back in the pot and let it sit until hot again.

 

Happy Dumplin….I have both of these cookbooks, love them, love them and love them……Happy Dumplin’…..

 

 

 

Iron Skillet Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffee Recipe:

Written By: admin - Sep• 26•14

I love trying new recipes, and my husband and I were watching Duck Commander before the dynasty and we watched Phil cook this Etouffee, it looked amazing and because my daughter bought me Ms Kays Cookbook, I went there to see if the recipe was in there and it was however it was different from how they did it in the show so we decided to try and recreate what they did in the show…Not sure if we were spot on but we wete close and this recipe was amazing, I listed what we used a bit different but totally worked…Hope you enjoy as well..

 

Iron Skillet Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffee Recipe:

  • 1 Stick Butter
  • ½ cup flour (approx)
  • ½ half cup water
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 onion
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 can of stewed tomatoes
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 6-12 oz of crawfish
  • 1 lb shrimp
  • 1 tablespoon of Everglades Spicey seasoning (or your favorite cajun/cayenne)
  • 1 tablespoon parsley

Chop the vegetables up and combine with garlic in a bowl, chop, but keep the tomatoes separate. Make a rue in your cast iron skillet (I used a stick of butter and about half cup of flour or so). Once the rue is at a nice pudding texture, add the bowl of vegetables and water, then let them cook down until partially soft. Add the stewed tomatoes and let it heat back up. Add the shrimp and crawfish, stir.  Add the seasoning and parsley, reduce the heat and cover.  Let simmer for about 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly.

Serve over white rice and enjoy.

 

Recipe inspired by Miss Kay from Duck Commander..  Phil’s Crawfish Etouffee

 

Happy New Year, Welcome to 2014

Written By: admin - Jan• 01•14

It happened overnight, we said goodbye to 2013 and hello to 2014.

So what’s your plan do you have resolutions? In years past many have made lists of what they are going to accomplish the new year, starting with lose weight, work out, get organized, settle down, not party as much. Do any of these sound familiar to you? How many have actually keep their resolution 1 week after making it, maybe you made a month, or maybe you made the whole year keeping your resolution.

I on the other hand will fess up, I never made it long when I made a resolution, so I quit a few years back..The same again this year.While the year has been crazy here in my home, we have made it thru a bankruptcy, a tornado that missed our home by 50 feet, the planning and executing a 50th wedding anniversary for our parents.  I started treatment for Multiple Sclerosis and have been blessed to be able to participate in a study which pays for all my meds. We have grown closer as a family, and adjusting our life as it has changed this year, as we march forward into 2014. I am hoping to just work towards a year with less stress, (Yeah I know like you can plan that..lol), also would like to spend more time with family. I love my grandkids just wished they loved closer. Oh, and if I can just have a year with less drama, less pressure, what am I saying I have a 16 year old girl in my home ….well here’s to 2014 may it bring me peace….yeah I know again…lets see maybe just maybe a year of memories, love, family and faith…..yep nailed it…

 

Here’s wishing you a very Happy New Year, best wished to you and your family and the year of 2014!!sparkling_2014_lights

 

Tornado, Really..

Written By: admin - Jun• 19•13
Tornado Pictures of the Acreage,

Tornado in the Acreage

 

Thursday morning, June 6th, 2013 6;30 am the last day of school for kids, I was lying in bed listening to the storm outside, it had been raining alot this morning, and the water hitting the metal roof outside my window was particularly loud..but nothing compared to the sound I was about to hear.. My husband and I both felt and noticed the change. The sound, the wind, the ears popping, and yes like the sound of a train, not the  horn, but the chugging in want of a better word..I ran to get my daughter out of bed heading to the only room I could remember in my foggy brain the bathroom. By the time I got her up and into the bathroom(which was upstairs, I could of never made it to the downstairs bathroom in time), my husband did not even get there to join us and it was over..that quickly it left as fast as it came..Still pouring I looked outside my windows and doors, and was rewarded with a mess around the house and in my yard down trees, porch thrown to one side, hanging plants gone…as I grumbled about all the clean up I had to do, I ventured outside and came full force to what was really important.

The tornado went thru a path on the other side of my neighbors house, you can see the path of destruction left in its wake..holes in roofs, walls falling in, trees snapped like twigs..I quit complaining about my mess when I saw their homes…the next few hours and days, this street like a few more in my neighborhood, became the place to be, at one time we had 3 news crews on the street. the red cross was here the same day offering water and sandwiches and help.. The weather channel, Fema, and of course we saw trucks and trucks of handy men driving down the street hoping to get some work, also lots of people wanting to be your adjuster where they get 10-15% of your insurance money to fix all your issues each one assuring you that they are the good guys they are only here to help(who do you believe)..it was most annoying…as we are trying to just get picked up and cleaned up and back to some sort of normal..

My neighbors (next door and across the street) will be out of their home for 6 months or so, how blessed am I that I only have some minor repairs, mostly cosmetic, so roof repair as well…Feeling blessed for being spared…Oh by the way I live in South Florida, not Oklahoma, and mostly I just worry about Hurricanes…you know the storms that you have days sometimes weeks to plan for..I am told this was just a cat 1 storm that went thru, and as I look around I just can not fathom what it feels like to be in Oklahoma in the cat 5 storm that they have gone thru several…

I posted pic’s of homes just on my street…

Thankful for my blessings…

 

Wearing A Kilt Could Make Your Sperm Stronger

Written By: admin - Apr• 17•13

Wondering if the Kilt will make a comeback (by comeback, I mean will it become popular) in the united states.

I typed in new technology in my Google search and this is the article that come to the top.. The article is found  in Popular Science.. Of course the study was  published in the Scottish Medical Journal,

this is what it boils down to:  “The author hypothesizes that, based on past findings about temperature and sperm production, a kilt, specifically one worn in the undergarment-free “regimental” style, would be an ideal environment for sperm production. Kompanje searched through related research, focusing on statistics in Scotland and noting along the way that 70 percent of kilt-wearers choose to go regimental. Kilts (at least in Scotland or other countries where they’re more commonly worn) might also be psychologically valuable, increasing feelings of masculinity when worn. Kompanje goes so far as to write that a downturn in Scottish fertility is correlated with the frequency of kilts being worn, although he admits it’s still somewhat speculative until a randomized trial happens.”

 

And of course the at the ending of the article it is requested ” Gentlemen, put on your kilts for science.”

 

Not sure how I would feel watching my husband go to work in a kilt and going ” commando style”.  Well I might enjoy and have  some fun with it, with my husband.

Rental Cost How many hours do you need to work?

Written By: admin - Nov• 12•12

I remember growing up I lived on a street that was named after my great grandfather and the street my house sat on was named after my grandfather so to say we have been there for a long time is probably safe to say.  Stay with me as I ramble,  I want to get to where there story is going, I had family all around, we left our doors unlocked, we trusted that our kids could walk down the street with out fear that they would never be seen again. My mom volunteered for the some part of her life and then worked after my dad hurt himself and ended up on disability.  Today as I continue with the tradition of a stay at home mom, and I know the struggle my family endures so that I can stay home but as I look at these numbers and while I know its true,  I live in Florida and know what the cost of living is in Palm Beach County and how it differs, I just dream of stepping back where things don’t cost what they cost now, where you can fill your gas tank on your car and never go past $ 40.00 . Take a look at the what the National Low Income Housing Coalition has posted as information to cost of housing thru out the US.

Election Countdown

Written By: admin - Nov• 06•12

Election Countdown

What’s at stake?
What kind of a president do you think the United States needs?

Did you Vote, was your voice heard? Did you vote your morals or did you vote your pocketbook? Did you read the platform for your candidates? I do know that when I decided my senior year of high school that I agreed with the platform of the Democrats but I know that today I stand more with Republican Platform and I am ashamed that the Democratic platform can take God out of their beliefs. Especially when this country was built on that very principle.  I can say that I did the research, and I voted the best I could with moral’s coming 1st in my mind.

I am located in the great state of Florida where every time we vote there seems to be a huge error, I am praying that this year we had our act together and that we don’t have to suffer the insult of our intelligence  when it comes to voting.

The bottom line is tomorrow when the results are in are we going to be over joyed, probably not, unless of course you are referring to no more TV ads then yes we will all be relieved. However I think we have a long way to go if we are ever going to reclaim our pride, our integrity.  America will have made its decision about which direction the nation will travel in the next four years and God has know all alone and he will travel that road with us.

 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30

 

Baby in the Well

Written By: admin - Nov• 04•12

Do you remember the story of Jessica McClure now know as Jessica McClure Morales (born March 26, 1986) if you don’t remember her is a reminder: Jessica became famous at the age of 18 months after falling into a well in the backyard of 3309 Tanner Dr. Midland, Texas, on October 14, 1987. Between that days of October 14th  and October 16th, rescuers worked for 58 hours to free “Baby Jessica” from the eight-inch-wide well casing 22 feet  below the ground. The story gained worldwide attention, and later became the subject of a 1989 ABC TV Movie. As presented in the movie, a vital part of the rescue was the use of the then relatively new technology of waterjet cutting.

It was 25 years ago this month. Seems like it was not that long ago that people waited for news as rescuers worked to free her. Now married with kids of her own.