Category: BLOG 365

BRAISED BALSAMIC CHICKEN & MASHED CARROTS ~ BLOG 365.79

BRAISED BALSAMIC CHICKEN
4-6 8 ounce skinless, boneless chicken breasts
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 carrot, FINELY diced
1 LARGE onion, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, FINELY minced
14.5 ounces can fire roasted tomatoes with juices
1/2 cup QUALITY balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons QUALITY Italian seasoning
1-2 cups FRESH baby spinach
Parmesan cheese, for garnish

  • Generously season chicken breasts with FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper.
  • Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.
  • Add carrots, onions and garlic, sauteing 2-3 minutes until soft. Transfer to a bowl.
  • Add chicken to skillet, sauteing 4 minutes per side until browned.
  • Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
  • Return onion mixture to the skillet.
  • Top with the tomatoes, their juices and the balsamic vinegar. Simmer 5 minutes.
  • Stir in spinach leaves, sauteing until wilted.
  • Top with Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

MASHED CARROTS

2 pounds carrots, peeled and rustic cut
4 tablespoons butter, cubed
2 tablespoons QUALITY honey or HOT honey for more spice
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper

  • Place carrots in a steamer basket over 2 inches of water.
  • Cover and steam 20 minutes over medium high heat until tender.
  • Drain the carrots and transfer to a food processor. Process until chunks are smooth, but not totally pureed.
  • Add the butter, honey, salt and pepper. Pulse until well mixed and keep warm.

FLOOD UPDATE ~ BLOG 365.78B

Flood waters have receded thankfully, but it’s still raining and EVERYTHING is water logged, slimey and drenched, as well as saturated from the SUPER wet winter.We went from a normal rain event to flooding and snow within a VERY short time!!!

I was able to get a few pictures during a short break between storms and there are still many storms piling up to drop more rain and snow, but for now clean up has begun and things are returning to “normal”, whatever that is!

Normally a lazy creek, NOT a river.

Normally a green grassy area. The road behind it collapsed and was replaced yesterday.
It happened so fast that many businesses didn’t sand bag soon enough. And sump pumps couldn’t keep up. Even if they had, there was no where to pump to 🙁
Thankfully the river crested several hours before this. While it was a record high it was NOT THE record high from many years ago.
We don’t normally have a river behind the house. Storm drain are under there somewhere, but at capacity.

SPICY CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS ~ BLOG 365.77

SPICY CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS serves 4

FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper
4 tablespoons butter
3 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon BETTER THAN BOUILLON chili base
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 onion, chopped
2 LARGE carrots, halved and sliced
3 stalks celery, halved and sliced
2 tablespoons WONDRA flour or cornstarch
2 cups rotisserie chicken pieces
1 cup frozen peas

  • Melt butter in large stock pot.
  • Add onions, carrots and celery pieces.
  • Season to taste with FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper.
  • Sauté 5-10 minutes until softened and beginning to caramelize.
  • Whisk chili base and champagne vinegar into broth.
  • Add broth and peas to veggies.
  • Simmer 20-30 minutes.
  • Remove 1/2 cup of the broth and whisk flour or cornstarch into it until smooth. Add mixture back into stock pot stirring until well blended.
  • Fold in chicken pieces and simmer 5-10 minutes more.

DUMPLINGS
2/3 cup biscuit baking mix
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk

  • Whisk together the baking mix and cornmeal.
  • Fold in grated cheese until well blended.
  • Add milk, stirring to form a shaggy dough.
  • Drop by spoonfuls into chicken mixture.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat and simmer 10-12 minutes.
  • Ladle chicken and veggies into bowl and top with dumplings.
  • Spoon a ladle full of broth over dumplings.

HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY, MENU & RECIPES week 11 of 2025 ~ BLOG 365.76

Be sure to join Happy Homemaker Monday with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

LAST WEEK RECAPPED

Last week was better than the week before, but was still super busy putting out fires and trying to stay one step ahead of everything that was thrown my way. We were hit with back to back winter storms that made everything more difficult, but it is March in the Pacific Northwest 🙁 Sump pumps are working harder than ever, but unfortunately there is more water than drainage ability. A Lot of sandbagging going on coupled with prayers!

I started preparing and getting ready to serve the St. Patrick’s Day meal yesterday at the Eagles. The weather took a turn for the worse shortly after I put it in the oven and our town as well as many around us were closed down due to floods and eventually snow, so I had to go back, put a closed sign on the door and finish cooking at home. There’s nothing scarier than when your phone goes off with that emergency signal! And I HATE those words to “stay put and shelter in place”! I’ll use the leftovers for a Tuesday special and to make a soup for the cribbage tournament next weekend.

On Friday we were able to get a few things accomplished (the stars must have been aligned perfectly) to speed up hubby’s torn rotator cuff surgery. The medical system with all the referrals and extra people in the “middle” is so frustrating!!! When you add in the lack of enough medical professionals here in our area, it makes it difficult to get quality care, let alone any care sometimes.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

It’s cold and it has snowed, sleeted and poured down rain for days! It’s too late to build an ark, but we really need one. We’re on river flood watch after a couple of horrendous storms. The puddles have puddles and the ducks are wearing galoshes. LOTS and lots of layers are on the agenda this week. Highs in 50’s and lows in 30’s with lots more rain. As of today we’ve had almost 9 inches for JUST the month of March.

ON MY MIND

The first Cribbage event of the season is next weekend and the friend I work with for the tournament is currently in Arizona and not sure she’ll be able to get back in time because of these storms. Right now the menu, shopping and food prep is all on me 🙂 but I have faith she’ll get here in time for us to fall into sync 🙂

TO DO LIST, APPOINTMENTS & PROJECTS

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS
  • LAUNDRY & CLEANING I’m pretty up to date, but do have some pantry sorting to finish. I’m also deep cleaning the baseboards and window sills.
  • GROCERIES & ERRANDS I have the normal Eagles shopping to do and ALSO the shopping for the Cribbage Tournament. Our meals will be simpler this week using things on hand because I’ll be so busy!

DVR/TV TIME

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV
  • STREAMING I’m still watching Gilmore Girls, Crossing Jordan and Steel Magnolias
  • CABLE I’ve finally all but emptied out the DVR from the build up during this really wet weekend so just Tournament of Champions, Spring Baking Championship, Ghosts, Matlock, Elsbeth and Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage
  • THEATRE there’s a new Jason Statham movie coming out that hubby wants to see – A WORKING MAN

READING TIME

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀
3/17 MONDAY
3/18 TUESDAY
3/19 WEDNESDAY
3/20 THURSDAY
3/21 FRIDAY
3/22 SATURDAY
3/23 SUNDAY
DINNER
 CORNED BEEF & CABBAGE (BIG SURPRISE 😀 )
 CHICKEN SALTIMBOCCA
 CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN, MASHED POTATOES & GRAVY
CORN/YOYO 
clean out refrigerator night or you’re on your own
 BEEF ENCHILADAS, CHILE CORNBREAD SALAD
 OUT
 OUT
DESSERT
 
 
TRES LECHES CAKE

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

We’ve had a ton of rain this year and several slides. On this particular route we encountered a previous slide clean up on a rare sunny day. Look closely at the guy in orange. You couldn’t pay me to be where he is. It looks like the boulder he’s working on could go at any time! This was a few weeks ago. I can only imagine what it looks like after this past weekend. There were SEVERAL more slides, road washouts and flooding. I’m sure there are many more I haven’t even heard of yet!

The water is usually about 20 feet below this bridge, except yesterday. This was about 3PM long before the high water peak later last night.

On another note, beautiful spring blossoms and snow are NOT something you see very often around here! We went from lots and lots of rain and flooding to snow in just hours!

INSPIRATIONS

LIFE TIP

HOMEMAKING / COOKING TIP

RECIPES COMING UP THIS WEEK

  • SPICY CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS
  • BRAISED BALSAMIC CHICKEN & MASHED CARROTS

RECIPE LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

WEEKLY FEATURED PARTY LINKS

BEEF & SWEET ONIONS ~ BLOG 365.73

BEEF & SWEET ONIONS yields 6 servings

2 pounds beef sirloin, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
2 large Vidalia onions, quartered and sliced
2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons WONDRA flour
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon FRESH chopped thyme
2 cups homemade beef stock
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon QUALITY tomato paste
Mashed potatoes

  • In a large skillet, melt the oil and butter over medium heat.
  • Add sliced onions, sautéing and stirring constantly until tender and slightly browned.
  • Add beef to onions in skillet and increase heat, sautéing until beef is browned on all sides.
  • Reduce heat to medium.
  • Sprinkle flour and seasonings over meat, stirring to incorporate well. If necessary add a bit more butter to moisten and incorporate the flour into the mixture.
  • Add the beef stock, vinegar and tomato paste, blending well.
  • Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 45 minutes or so until meat is tender and flavors are well blended.
  • Serve over mashed potatoes or rice.

BUFFALO CRUSTED BAKED FISH & CHIPS ~ BLOG 365.72

BUFFALO CRUSTED BAKED FISH & CHIPS

1 1/2 pounds FRESH cod fillets, cut into 4 fillets
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper

  • Arrange oven shelf to 2nd from top.
  • Preheat oven to 400°.
  • Spray casserole with non-stick spray.
  • Pat fish fillets dry with toweling.
  • Season fish fillets with FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper.
  • Add fish fillets to prepared baking dish 1 to 2 inches apart.

SPREAD
2 tablespoons Duke’s mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Frank’s original hot sauce

  • In a small bowl whisk mayonnaise and hot sauce together until smooth.
    Coat the top and sides of the fish fillets with the mayonnaise mixture.

CRUST
2 cups frozen shredded hash browns
3/4-1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Panko crumbs
4 tablespoons butter, melted

  • In a large bowl toss together the hash browns, cheese and Panko crumbs until well distributed.
  • Pour melted butter over top and blend again.
  • Press the crust mixture onto and around fillets covering the top and sides 1/2 inch thick.
  • Bake 20-25 minutes until fish is cooked through.
  • For crispier crust, broil the last 1-3 minutes – WATCH CAREFULLY!
  • Let rest 3-5 minutes before serving.

NOTE: Change out the Frank’s original for the HOT HONEY or the CHILI LIME flavor for a nice change.