Thursday, July 25, 2013

Chicken Cutlets and Pizza Chicken



I grew up eating chicken cutlets and when we had leftovers we would make make sandwiches.  Now I usually make the chicken cutlets one night a two nights later I make chicken parmesan.  This is a great for making two meals out of one night of cooking.


First the ingredients.
One package of boneless chicken breasts
2 eggs
a splash of milk
seasoned bread crumbs...I like the whole wheat bread crumbs
oil for frying
salt





I start off by rinsing the chicken breast.  I cut off the fatty parts and then I slice them to make them thin. You can also pound them if you would like.




Once the chicken breasts are sliced thin you are ready to go.  Beat the eggs and a little milk in a bowl.  Add the bread crumbs to a separate dish:



Add some oil to a pan and heat on medium.  Dip each chicken cutlet into the eggs and milk and then coat with the breadcrumbs.  Add to the frying pan and fry until golden on both sides:



Once they are cooked let the grease soak out on some paper towels.  Once the oil is drained serve with some marina sauce:






Now for the second meal which is super easy.  All you need is the leftover breaded chicken cutlets, mozzarella cheese, and pasta sauce:




Heat the sauce in a small pot on the stove, quickly heat the cutlets in the microwave just so they are not cold.  Next put a little of the sauce on the bottom of a pan, add the cutlets in a single layer, put a little sauce on top and add the cheese:




Put it under the broiler until the cheese is melted:



Serve with a little pasta and sauce:




This is a quick and delicious two meals.  My grandson calls this Pizza Chicken.  Manja Manja!!!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Chapter 163...Hanging The Drywall And Painting The Inside Of The Store



Finally we are ready to get the inside of the store finished.  Our new drywall man shows up with his uncle and his young son.  It's a family business.  They start out by hanging the first row of 12 foot boards on the ceiling:



Next they work on the bathroom ceiling:



They almost done hanging the boards on the ceiling.  That is the hard part:



The drywall is almost all up:



Tom, our drywall man, used a router with a drywall bit to cut out the drywall around the outlets.  This is so cool.  Tom said if you don't fight the tool and let it do it's job it takes no time at all.  It sure beats measuring and using a razor blade to cut out the squares for the outlets:




Cool...I love gadgets and tools that make the job easier:



They are finished hanging the drywall.  The next day Tom will be back to start spackling:




Mike and I load up the trailer with all of the drywall debris to take it to the dump. Tom needs everything cleared out so he can spackle:



The inside is ready for Tom:




While Tom is inside Mike and I work on the metal trim:



Mike is nailing the last piece of trim:



Mike working on the back:




We go inside to check on Tom.  He is a spackling fool:):




After Tom finishes the job, Mike and I give it a couple of days to dry.  It's time to paint:




We start with the ceiling.  I use my angled brush to cut in the corners and edges and Mile rolls the ceiling:



And on to the walls:



I'm cutting in before Mike rolls:



Almost done:




We needed to paint two coats to cover the raw drywall but we are done.  Next it's time for the floor.


Here I am scraping any of the big chunks of dried sheertrock mud off the floor:



I did the edges and Mike rolls:



Almost done:




The painting inside is done:





I'm glad that is over.  Now we can get to the fun stuff adding the shelves and loading them up:)


I hope you all enjoyed this story and I will write again soon.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Buffalo Chicken Dip...Really Good


This dip has the flavors of hot buffalo wings and blue cheese dressing.  I have never tried it before and once I did it has become a favorite dip.  Thank you "crazy" for sharing this recipe with me:)



Buffalo Dip
3-4 boneless breasts of chicken cooked and shredded (canned chicken can be used)
1 bar of low fat cream cheese
8 oz. blue cheese dressing (light or full fat)
8 oz. bag of shredded cheddar cheese
4-6 oz. hot sauce


The ingredients...I used my homemade canned chicken:



Shred your cooked chicken in a bowl...drain it if you used canned chicken:


Add the hot sauce to your taste:



Mix the softened cream cheese, blue cheese dressing and cheddar cheese together:




Add that to the chicken and mix:



Once it is all mixed together add it to a sprayed baking dish...I used two baking dishes as I wanted to take one to a party and keep one at home:


Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  It should be hot and bubbly:



Serve with tortilla chips...yum.


This is a very easy recipe that can be adapted to your tastes.  BTW, it is much better with fresh chicken breasts.  I have made it both ways.


Enjoy:)



Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Chapter 162...Crazy Storm Damage


We had crazy weather last friday.  First the winds came, then the downpours and then hail.  It wouldn't have been so bad if all that rain came in a 24 hour period but we got it all in about 2 hours.  Almost everyone locally had some kind of water damage.


The night of the storm.

The rain was pouring down the valley across from our house and it looks like a muddy river:



Hail that turned into ice chunks.  We had ice chunks on the lawn on Saturday morning...in July:



This storm was fast and furious.  Mike and I turned on the cameras to watch behind the house.  Our curbs turned out to be the best thing we ever could have done for a massive downpour.  Instead of the water going into and over the sides of our house the curbs diverted it around the house and down the side driveway:)

Saturday morning Mike and I drive down the driveway to assess the damage.


Our rocks saved the ditch but a lot of them got swept away and into the culverts:



Our ditch line.  Lots of rocks got moved:


We will have to re stack them in the ditch and up the side of the bank:



Mike standing on the back side of our pond.  Here is one instance where it paid not to mow.  The water flooded, flattened the tall grass and went over our pond wall:



The force of the water was so strong that it moved a few of our boulders on the back of the pond wall:




And the uglies.  The last part of our driveway is still gravel.  From the barn down to the first culvert the road got washed out:



That isn't as bad as this next shot.  It looks like a crater...where did all the dirt and gravel go?:




It even cleared out beneath the road to our underground electric pipe:



Mike figuring out how to attack this problem:


We will have to fill in the hole to stabilize it and then add more gravel on top.  On a good note, if you can call it that, lol, we have a lot of rock that got washed down into an open field.



This field was clear of almost all rock before this storm:


That's a lot of rock:



Mike and I take the tractor into the field and start filling up the bucket with rock:



Mike drives it down to our "crater" and dumps it in:



After about 6 loads it seems like we haven't made a dent so Mike decides to sacrifice one of his favorite boulders:



It's in the ground and protecting the culvert:




We are starting to get it all filled:




Another load going in:



After ten loads of rock dumped into the hole, Mike packs it down with the tractor:




Mike got it all cleaned up and more gravel spread on top of the hole.  We will eventually need more gravel but for now we can drive over it:



On to our next problem.  The water flowed so hard and fast out of the mountains that it went under our driveway and broke a couple of sections:







Time to fix it.  We planned on prying up the pavement and fill it up underneath.  Unfortunately it looks like a job that is too big for Mike and I.



Instead of that we start digging a small ditch along side the driveway where the water overflowed.


Mike starts to dig and adds the extra dirt along our curbs:



Digging some more.  The first section has a spring that we caught and that water is going into a culvert and under our driveway and out to the pond:




The first 25 feet is done.  We will do a little each morning because it is brutally hot outside:




The next morning I work on the next 25 feet:



Looking better:





We have just a little more left:




Today we went down and finished it up.  Mike used the 4-wheeler to pack down the edges.  We may have some finishing work to do but we finished about a 70 foot ditch to catch excess water.  It now runs along the side of the driveway and into a culvert that takes the water to the pond:





You can never know what damage will happen from a storm.  Even when you try to prepare you can just never know what the outcome will be.  Mother Nature should always be taken seriously.


I hope you enjoyed this story and I will write again soon.  We will be working here in the mornings and at the store later in the day when it cools down.

Have a great week.