WILDLIFE SAFARI ~ BLOG 366.26

Back during COVID on a whim we took a trip to Wildlife Safari where humans are captive in their cars and the animals roam free which was perfect for not being able to interact with people at the time. 

We recently found out that Wildlife Safari accepts food donations to help feed the animals. And by food donations I mean that the local county works takes roadkill there, but they also accept other donations like the freezer full of meat and berries (whole turkeys, fresh picked blackberries, recent meat from a deer and elk hunt…) I cleaned out from the new estate sale we’re working on.

Our local Wildlife Safari has a globally successful cheetah breeding program. That day we were fortunate enough to run into a docent that was FULL of wonderful information. My favorite piece of trivia was that like other jungle cats, female cheetahs are loners and do not bond well with others, whereas male cheetahs MUST bond with other males to survive.

They had several new cheetah cubs at the time that are now grown, but playful. The giraffes and elk were full of piss and vinegar that day! 😀

 

COOKING THURSDAY ~ CHICKEN CHILES RELLENOS STRATA BREAD PUDDING STYLE ~ BLOG 366.25

We LOVE a versatile bake/casserole that uses up leftovers and can be served as an entree for an easy weeknight family meal or a brunch item or even a potluck dish, but looks and tastes like you spent a lot of time on it.

CHICKEN CHILES RELLENOS STRATA ~ BREAD PUDDING STYLE

3-4 cups cubed French bread
1 can Rotel ORIGINAL tomatoes & chiles, drained WELL
1 small can chopped green chiles, drained WELL
1 1/2 cup shredded chicken rotisserie pieces
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 LARGE eggs
1 small shallot, minced
3/4 cup WHOLE milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
FRESH ground black pepper
Salsa for garnish
Sour cream for garnish
1 green onion, minced for garnish

  • Grease 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish.
  • In a large bowl combine bread cubes, chicken pieces, tomatoes, half the chiles, shallot pieces and half of both cheeses tossing well.
  • Whisk together the milk, eggs, baking powder, garlic salt and pepper.
  • Pour the egg mixture over the bread mixture and gently toss together.
  • Pour into the baking dish and top with remaining cheese and chiles.
  • Cover and refrigerate overnight or 6-8 hours before preparing.
  • Preheat oven to 350°.
  • Remove casserole from refrigerator and bring to room temperature while oven is heating.
  • Uncover and bake 35-40 minutes until edges are golden and cooked through in the center.
  • Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
  • Garnish with sour cream, salsa and green onions as desired.

FONDANT POTATOES aka MELTING POTATOES ~ BLOG 366.23

FONDANT POTATOES aka MELTING POTATOES

Think scallops of the potato world – perfectly seared tops and golden bottoms on the outside and melting tender flesh on the inside, infused with intense flavor from roasting in a buttery stock.

4- 8 russet potatoes
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons avocado or (neutral) oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
6 thyme sprigs
1 cup homemade chicken bone broth

  • Preheat oven to 400°.
  • Carve cut each potato into cylindrical rounds of even size so you have short scallop sized pieces.
  • Pat potatoes dry.
  • Place in a large bowl and toss with half the oil plus all the salt and pepper.
In an ovenproof heavy
  • based skillet, heat the remaining oil over medium high heat.
  • Add the potatoes and sear each side for 5-7 minutes until golden.
Add butter and thyme.
  • Once butter is melted, spoon the butter over the potato to baste.
  • Add stock, bring to a SLOW boil.
  • Transfer to the oven and bake for 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender, basting half way or as needed. Your stock will be absorbed by the potato making your potatoes tender and fluffy.

  • Baste one last time then serve immediately!

HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY & MENU PLANS with RECIPE LINKS week 4 of 2024 ~ BLOG 366.22

Be sure to join us for Happy Homemaker Monday and link up with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

What can I say, it’s wet here and cold! Then again it is January in the Pacific Northwest during an El Nino year. As usual I’m wearing multiple layers and warm UGGS. I’m working at the “estate” house today so am wearing an extra layer and already looking forward to tomorrow when I can stay home in my yoga pants where it’s warm.

I’ve been really tired lately, but think it’s just because I got too cold while working and then couldn’t seem to warm up. I’m a little out of sorts trying to stay focused, but think that also has to do with the horribly cold, wet winter we’re having. I usually LOVE winter, but this year NOT so much! I think I’m in a rut 🙂 This too shall pass.

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS
  • LAUNDRY & CLEANING I’ll be doing some deep cleaning tomorrow. I’ve been inspired by the current “estate” house which has turned into more of a “clean out/dump runs/garage sale”. When we first toured the estate sale there were many things that were going to make it worth our while, but the family ended up “keeping” those things and the things they left behind are in disrepair or damaged beyond their antique worth. Anyway, as we are cleaning up and sorting through everything it has inspired me to clean out my own spaces.
  • GROCERIES & ERRANDS I’m working at the estate house today, working here tomorrow and will do some groceries on Wednesday when I do the Costco shopping for the Eagles.
  • PAPERWORK, PHONE CALLS, PROJECTS & TRAVELS I’ve been cleaning out files and cubbies and getting caught up on paperwork.
  • RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I even cleaned up my recipe stash and planned at least this week.

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV
  • Still waiting on the “regular” shows to restart, but did watch playoff football (SORRY about the Packers loss Carrie, but CONGRATULATIONS Jean on the Chiefs win), some old Bob Newhart (#2) shows and a weird show on Peacock called The Woman in the Wall and as always the Kid’s Baking Championship

I’m hoping to finish Canary girls tonight, but haven’t figured out what to read next.

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀

MONDAY 1/22
TUESDAY 1/23
WEDNESDAY 1/24
THURSDAY 1/25
FRIDAY 1/26
SATURDAY 1/27
SUNDAY 1/28
DINNER
CIDER BRAISED CHICKEN & ROOT VEGETABLES
 HOT CHICKEN SALAD
 WHISKEY PINEAPPLE CHICKEN & BUTTERMILK MASHED POTATOES
 LEMON GLAZED MEATBALLS & CHEESY TOMATO BASIL ORZO
 BURRITO BOWLS
 SPAGHETTI & MEATBALL SOUP
TOMATILLO CHICKEN
DESSERT
 
 PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
 

My Christmas cacti are still blooming and loving their spot in the east facing window.

COOKING THURSDAY ~ SNICKERDOODLE CHEESECAKE BARS ~ BLOG 366.18

For years many trusted name brands featured recipes on the labels – Bisquick, Campbell’s Soup, Quaker Oats, Nestles, Philadelphia Cream Cheese… These days the recipes are fewer and farther between. I did decide to try a recent Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe and found it exceptionally flavorless. A few tweaks later and we love the recipe.

SNICKERDOODLE CHEESECAKE BARS
CRUST

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons QUALITY cinnamon
3/4 cup COLD butter

  • Preheat oven to 325°.
  • Line 8 inch baking pan with foil so that it overlaps to create handles.
  • Sift together the flour, sugar and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.
  • Use a cheese grate and grate cold butter into bowl. Use a pastry blender or your gloved hands to cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse sand. Reserve 1/3 of the mixture to use as topping.
  • Press remaining dough into baking pan.
  • Bake 20 minutes until lightly browned.

FILLING
1/2 cup sugar
16 ounces QUALITY cream cheese
1 tablespoon PURE vanilla
Seeds from one vanilla bean
1/2 teaspoon PURE almond paste
1/4 cup sour cream
2 LARGE eggs

  • While crust is baking prepare the filling.
  • Beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, vanilla seeds and almond paste together until well blended.
  • Add sour cream and eggs one at a time, mixing on low JUST until blended.
  • Set aside until crust is done baking.

TOPPING
2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon QUALITY cinnamon.

  • Mix sugar and cinnamon together.

ASSEMBLY

  • When crust is out of the oven pour the filling into crust.
  • Top with reserved crumb topping.
  • Top with cinnamon sugar mixture.
  • Bake 45-50 minutes until center of cheesecake is almost set.
  • Cool COMPLETELY.
  • Refrigerate for 4-5 hours before cutting and serving.

30th ANNIVERSARY of the NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE ~ BLOG 366.17

This is ALWAYS one of those dates that sticks with me! 30 years ago today, on a holiday Monday, my world turned upside down (along with thousands of others) when at 4:31 AM the Northridge earthquake struck and we lost it all. Even after growing up in southern California and knowing about, as well as living through other major quakes, the memories of this one in particular are VERY vivid. I honestly thought a jet plane had crashed into the neighborhood from the violent way it all happened (I was literally thrown out of bed across the room and had bruises on the bottoms of my feet for a month), but I lived on a street near a DWP plant and what I thought I saw was actually the transformers on the pole tops all blowing one after another…

I realize now that we were very fortunate.

The major shock lasted 10–20 seconds and its peak ground acceleration of 1.82 g was the highest ever instrumentally recorded in an urban area in North America and registered a magnitude of 6.7. It was caused by dip slip on a thrust fault—the overriding movement of one crustal block up and over a second crustal block.

This is what was left of the parking garage I would have been parked in later that day had it not been a federal holiday for Martin Luther King day.

When it was all over, my feet were bruised so badly on the bottom I could barely stand, a freight train had gone through my hallway while a volcano had gone off in my house – at least that’s how it felt.  I was thrown from bed into a doorway, thank God.  When I was able to look into that same room all I saw was chaos and my bed was covered in shattered glass as well as several hundred pounds of books from the nearby bookcase. The new semester had just started, but there’d b about no college for quite some time as CSUN had sustained just as much damage.

When it did begin classes were held under trees, in tents and just about anywhere available. But, we also had nowhere to park as you can see and had to walk quite a ways from parking on side streets and such. They quickly converted some previous fields to parking lots, but it was still near impossible to get parking unless you got there at the crack of dawn.

This is the first piece of Princess House crystal I ever purchased and the ONLY piece I have left. Only God knows how it survived that day since NOTHING else did. In it are the shells from the Galveston, Texas Gulf Coast that I have collected with my cousin Jenn throughout my life. She and I neither one live there now, but do still have friends and family in the vicinity.

I still can’t believe it’s been 30 years today. Life has carried on and we no longer live in earthquake land, but since then we’ve been through other natural disasters like blizzards, tornadoes, major floods, hurricanes, SNOWMAGEDDON… all of this making me realize it doesn’t matter where you are there is always going to be something…