Category: MEMES & LINK PARTIES

ITALIAN PAN-FRIED CHICKEN ~ BLOG 365.101B

Simple, delicious and can be dressed up for a company meal or down for a casual weeknight meal.

ITALIAN PAN-FRIED CHICKEN
1 tablespoon softened butter
2 tablespoons avocado oil
6 LARGE bone-in chicken thighs
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons FRESH minced rosemary
1/2 teaspoon FRESH minced oregano
1 teaspoon FRESH minced basil
3-4 LARGE garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup QUALITY merlot
1/4 cup QUALITY chardonnay
1/4 cup QUALITY balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon COLD butter, diced

  • In a large skillet, melt butter and avocado oil over medium-high heat.
  • Season chicken generously with FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper.
  • Brown chicken 4-5 minutes on each side.
  • Add garlic and simmer 1 minute more.
  • Add vinegars and wines.
  • Reduce heat to medium; cook 10-12 minutes, covered until a thermometer reads 165°-170°.
  • Bring to a SLOW boil, stirring to loosen browned bits from pan; cook 5-7 minutes or until reduced by half.
  • Remove chicken to a serving plate and keep warm.
  • Stir in cream, butter and herbs.
  • Return to a SLOW boil, cooking 3-5 minutes more or until slightly thickened.
  • Serve over chicken and potatoes.

MARMALADE LIME GLAZED PORK CHOPS ~ BLOG 365.100

The original recipe called for JUST enough glaze to coat one side of the chops. We LOVE the glaze so I doubled the amount because we like to coat both sides of the chops as well as drizzle it over the stuffing!

MARMALADE LIME GLAZED PORK CHOPS
3/4 cup orange marmalade
1 jalapeno pepper, seed and FINELY chopped
Juice of 1 LARGE lime
1 LARGE lime cut into wedges
1 teaspoon FRESH grated ginger root
4 bone-in pork chops or 2 pork sirloin steaks
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper
Prepared stuffing – homemade or Stove Top

  • In a small saucepan whisk together the marmalade, jalapeno, lime juice and ginger, cooking 5-7 minutes over medium heat until marmalade is melted.
  • Season pork chops with FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper.
  • Heat grill to medium-high.
  • Reduce grill heat to medium and lightly oil grates.
  • Grill chops 4-8 minutes depending on chop thickness until cooked through to 145.
  • Brush with glaze during last few minutes.
  • Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

OLD FASHIONED WACKY CAKE aka DEPRESSION CAKE or WAR CAKE ~ BLOG 365.98

I’ve been obsessed with WWII lately. I’ve also been researching recipes that were popular during times of rationing and this one caught my attention, so much so that I JUST had to try it! I’m so glad I did – it is completely scrumptiously rich and moist and uses NO eggs, milk or butter! I’ve updated the original ingredients and instructions a bit.

OLD FASHIONED WACKY CAKE aka DEPRESSION CAKE or WAR CAKE

1½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 3 tablespoons QUALITY cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons NEUTRAL oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 1 teaspoons PURE vanilla
1 cup water

  • Preheat oven to 350°.

  • Spray 8×8 inch cake pan with Baker’s Joy.
  • Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in an 8×8 inch pan large bowl.
  • Make 3 wells in the flour mixture.
  • Pour the oil into one well, the vinegar into another well, and the vanilla into another well.
  • Pour the water over everything.
  • Whisk the mixture until cake batter forms. You may need to use a spatula on the corners of the pan to make sure all of the dry ingredients get mixed in. Spread into prepared cake pan.
  • Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  • Let cool, slice, and serve.
  • Top the cake with powdered sugar, whipped cream, or frosting (chocolate or cream cheese are best). 


HAPPY HOMEMAKER MONDAY, RECIPES & MENU week 14 of 2025 ~ BLOG 365.97

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

LAST WEEK RECAPPED

It was a busy week! I was dog sitting, spring cleaning and baking for a bake sale yesterday. During the spring cleaning I was also de-cluttering and trying hard to downsize. 🙂

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

We had an absolutely beautiful Saturday last week. Compared to the poor people in the south I will not complain. Our cold and rain are both back and spring is once again on hold. My tomato starters are up on the porch as the garden will have to wait a couple more weeks. I did plant a few flowers on Saturday, but they are in raised planters under the eave so I think they’ll be okay this week.

We’re supposed to be in the low 50’s during the day and 30’s at night with lots of rain. It’s only the beginning of April, but our rain fall totals are equal to the yearly average already this year.

TO DO LIST, APPOINTMENTS & PROJECTS

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS
  • LAUNDRY & CLEANING More cleaning and downsizing to work on some more spring cleaning.
  • GROCERIES & ERRANDS I’m headed to town in a bit to get the errands and groceries taken care of. I also need to pick up my watch from the watchmaker. I have a blood draw for an upcoming endocrinologist appointment and a hair appointment Thursday and am thinking of doing something drastic with my hair. It’s not that I don’t like my hair color, but I’ve been a beach blonde (naturally) all my life, wear it long and straight, but, I’m not a teenager anymore so am looking for a change. I’ll keep you posted.:)
  • PROJECTS & TRAVELS I need to get the letters out to all the family later today for the upcoming family reunion.
  • RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I’m working on some spring salads and lighter recipes for this month.

DVR/TV TIME

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV
  • STREAMING We watched THE TOMORROW WAR over the weekend which was pretty good. We’re also getting caught up GILMORE GIRLS at night as we go to sleep and on YELLOWSTONE of an evening and then we’ll start LAND MAN with Billy Bob Thorton.
  • CABLE DVR is cleaned out and up to date except for last night’s TOURNAMENT of CHAMPIONS and TRACKER.

READING TIME

I’m trying to stick with book club, but a few of us are not liking the direction of book choices and may break off on our own. The club chose 2 books this month so that those that read faster have a back up to get through the month. 

I read to escape reality most of the time so one of these titles is NOT speaking to me and my girlfriend said the same, so we may not finish that one. 🙁

This month’s choices are The Drowning Woman by Robyn Hardingand First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

FUNNIES

MENU PLANS

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀
4/7 MONDAY
4/8 TUESDAY
4/9 WEDNESDAY
4/10 THURSDAY
4/11 FRIDAY
4/12 SATURDAY
4/13 SUNDAY
DINNER
WILTED GREENS with HOT BACON DRESSING
 PORK CHOPS with APPLE STUFFING and HERB GLAZED CARROTS
 CORN/YOYO clean out refrigerator or you’re on your own
 out to a favorite indulgent restaurant TRUE KITCHEN – going to see LITTLE WOMEN with a friend
 MEATBALL SANDWICHES & BROCCOLI SALAD
 SAUCY BAKED CHICKEN and FRIED CORN
 PARMESAN CHICKEN and BROCCOLI
DESSERT
 
 
 

FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM THE CAMERA

Friday and Saturday were sunny! Daisy loved laying in the grass for a bit.

INSPIRATIONS

LIFE TIP

HOMEMAKING / COOKING TIP

RECIPES COMING UP THIS WEEK

  • WACKY CAKE aka DEPRESSION CAKE
  • MARMALADE LIME GLAZED PORK CHOPS

WEEKLY FEATURED PARTY LINKS

SLOW COOKER BBQ BRISKET with SWEET KICKIN’ BBQ SAUCE ~ BLOG 365.93

SLOW COOKER BBQ BRISKET

The secret to this juicy, flavor exploding, melt-in-your-mouth BBQ Beef Brisket is not only slow cooking it to perfection, but oven searing it the day before! Use it for a company dinner or backyard get together and will be a success either way!

SPICE RUB
2 tablespoons paprika
4 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 teaspoon FRESH ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

  • Bring brisket to room temperature for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 425°.
  • Line a large baking dish or jelly roll pan with parchment paper or foil for easy clean up. Set aside.
  • Trim brisket of excess fat and rinse and pat dry.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the above ingredients. Remove 1 tablespoon Spice Rub and add to a medium bowl to use in your barbecue sauce.
  • Rub all remaining spice rub evenly all over the meat then place brisket on prepared baking sheet.
  • Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 425 to sear meat.
  • Wrap in heavy duty foil and refrigerate overnight.

SLOW COOKING BRISKET
Oven seared 3-4 pound beef brisket
1 cup water
1 tablespoon Better than Bouillon beef base
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Bragg’s liquid aminos
1/2 cup favorite homemade barbecue sauce

  • Add brisket to slow cooker, fat side up.
  • Whisk together 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, water, Worcestershire sauce, Bragg’s liquid aminos and 1 tablespoon beef bouillon.
  • Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10+ hours until brisket is VERY tender, flipping over half way through cooking.
  • Remove brisket to a foil lined baking sheet.
  • Brush with more BBQ sauce and broil 5-10 minutes, until slightly caramelized.
  • Simmer remaining BBQ sauce until warmed through.
  • Brush brisket again with BBQ sauce and slice across the grain or chop as desired.
  • Serve with remaining barbecue sauce plain or they make delicious sandwiches.

SWEET KICKIN’ BBQ SAUCE
2 cups ketchup
4 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon reserved Spice Rub from above
1 tablespoon Frank’s Hot Honey hot sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon Ancho chili powder
FRESH ground sea salt and black pepper

  • In a medium sauce pan whisk together all of the ingredients plus the 1 tablespoon reserved spice rub, whisking to combine.
  • Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently 10 minutes until sugars are dissolved and sauce is smooth.

1st QUARTERLY UPDATE 2025 ~ BLOG 365.91

I’m back for 2025! And I’m doing great so far!! Deciding to find purpose and intention in EVERYTHING has made all the difference in conquering my lists.

After I wrote my first post Jean pointed out that breaking the tasks into categories made it easier for her. I LOVE that idea and decided to try it myself. I wasn’t exactly able to break it down into 5 things into the 5 categories, but I tried 😀

A “Word of the Year” sets your intention or theme for how you want your life and year to flow.

In my case I decided a single word just wouldn’t work. There are still too many things I want to accomplish so I chose a few, well actually 10. I even tried to make an acronym out of them, which didn’t work 😀 My words are:

  • BALANCE all my responsibilities with more fun and adventure
  • BREATHE before making a decision to get involved in ANY project
  • EVOLVE from the rut I’ve been in to a new lease on life with a Passion Project
  • SIMPLIFY by continuing to downsize all the stuff in our life and de-clutter most of it
  • HEAL or AKA continue to stay healthy and work on dietary issues
  • INSPIRE my own creative outlet and as many others as possible
  • PERSEVERE through all of my health issues and life itself
  • THRIVE despite the medical and dietary issues
  • PASSION for getting back to more of my favorite pass times – reading, quilting, painting
  • GRATITUDE for everything and EVERYONE in my life

In the end, I realized I’d be extremely happy if any one of these words would happen for me on any given day 😀

My list for 2025 is (some are holdovers, okay MOST are):

HEALTH & WELLNESS

  • Follow a nightly skincare regime DONE
  • Learn YOGA or Pilates or both! I’ve been trying some chair yoga just because I can do it at night.
  • Take at least a 3 mile walk daily. I’ve been getting in close to 5 miles a day.
  • Avoid gluten and fats to help keep my body happier. DONE most days, BUT it’s really hard to give it ALL up!! The cravings are killers.
  • Eat at least 1 piece of fruit daily and more nuts for protein. DONE

ADVENTURE & FUN

  • Complete 4 quilts – at least 1 for each quarter. I’m not done, but I have some pillow fronts started.
  • Finish as many already “started” projects as possible. I finished two Christmas jewelry trees that I started back in 2023. And I’m working on a jewelry “forest” with an old frame.
  • Read at least 48 books or 4 a month. Hopefully it will be more, but I think this is a realistic goal. I did join a local book club and that is helping me read new authors I might not have chose otherwise. Books read to date are:
    • Society of Lies Lauren Ling Brown – BOOK CLUB CHOICE
    • The LAST ONE at the Wedding Jason Rekulak – BOOK CLUB CHOICE
    • The Rose Code Kate Quinn – BOOK CLUB CHOICE
    • Lilac Ink, The Knocknashee Story by Jean Grainger
    • A Certain Kind of Starlight Heather Webber
    • The Book Charmer – Dove Pond #1 Karen Hawkins
    • Cup of Silver Linings – Dove Pond #2
    • The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove Pond #3
    • The Bookshop of Hidden Dreams Dove Pond #4
    • Blue Waters – Caribbean Adventure #1 Eric Chance Stone 
    • PICTURES OF YOU by Emma Grey – BOOK CLUB CHOICE
    • NONE OF THIS IS TRUE by Lisa Jewell – BOOK CLUB CHOICE
    • The Boyfriend by Frieda McFadden – BOOK CLUB CHOICE
    • That’s NOT my name by Megan Lally – BOOK CLUB CHOICE

FAMILY & FAITH

  • Do 1-2 devotionals every day – I really need to get better at this, spare time has just been so scattered. I did start The Bible Recap
  • Make a better effort to reach out and connect with friends and family more regularly. I’ve been doing well on this one. Sometimes too well! I’m not getting all my chores done for the play time.
  • Do a date weekend once a month – exploring a new place we’ve never been before. We’ve always done pretty well on this topic, but we’re running out of ideas in this small town. We did find a great new little restaurant, The Atom, when we went to the river in January to see Colliding Rivers with all of our flooding. We’ve been back every other week or so because their menu is amazing!!

DAILY PROGRESS ~ NO PROCRASTINATION! I’m developing a notebook that works in conjunction with my calendar for lists and tasks that make my life operate in a smoother daily operation.

  • Do a Happy Homemaker Monday post each and every week. This keeps me more on track and organized about my home life. Doing Happy Homemaker Monday so extensively helps keep me on track as it summarizes the past week and lays out a fairly concise plan for this week. I haven’t missed a day in years!
  • Finish indexing the recipes on my food blog, Savory Kitchen Table. LOL I’m working on it.
  • Finish indexing the recipes on Chasing MY Life blog. When I merged my old blogspot blogs into this single blog it duplicated many things and added an “ALL” category that I am having to eliminate one by one so it’s taking a LONG time. LOL still working on this too – spare time… is fleeting…
  • Continue to downsize and declutter EVERYTHING. I think this will be an ongoing effort for the rest of my life.
  • Clean out photo files that date back almost 15 years! This too will be an ongoing effort for the rest of my life.
  • Create shutterfly photo albums for 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016 and then delete the photos from ALL my devices. Working on it.
  • Go through scrap recipe tote and eliminate all the recipes I will never try – they’re just not worth saving. Partially done.
  • Do more drawing and painting – at least one per month. I did this fun Paint-N-Sip in February with friends at the Eagles as a fundraiser for the local Cancer center.
  • Focus on rewriting more recipes to work for only 2 with no leftovers. The NEVER ending chore. I’m trying to only work on recipes that stand out in our memory as superb.
  • Clean out old files and recycle or destroy old papers. I spent MOST of February re-working these files and LOVE the progress I made.
  • Clean out craft cabinets and donate craft parts no longer needed. DONE

RANDOM ACTS

  • Do at least 1 random act of kindness every time I leave the house whether it’s just a wave hello to an elderly neighbor, a meal for a sick friend, holding a door open, putting my cart in the designated spot… 😀 DONE
  • Volunteer at least once a month for a community project. DEFINITELY DONE!!

    • I proofread the newsletter and I manage the kitchen (keep it staffed, do the shopping for the kitchen and bar each week as well as keep it organized and well stocked with whatever is necessary) for the Eagles, do random maintenance as well as donate at least one auxiliary fundraiser meal each month and bake for the bake sale. I’ll be taking over as editor for the newsletter on June 1st.
    • I also do the Costco shopping for the bar and grill a friend manages.
    • This quarter I prepped, manned, cooked and donated meals for January 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th. In February I donated a cooking/baking raffle basket full of so many fun things, helped organize the Paint-sip on the 8th, Superbowl party on the 9th, Valentine’s dinner on the 14th and Valentine’s dance on the 15th and then filled in for the lady who cancelled on February 28th. In March I began organizing and managing the Friday night dinners as a whole and I cooked on the 21st as well as worked the cribbage tournament for 3 days. I also reconfigured the storeroom and hung shelves for storage and tool racks for brooms and mops this past month in preparation for the new refrigerator that the senior center gifted us.

What do you think? Do you want to join in with us also?