Basically in the food department our meals over the last two years have been less than stellar. Sunday's are usually pretty good but that's about it. Today we are having "chicken in cream sauce". Personally I love the Whisk Bliss-Universal sauce from Shirley J, but in a pinch you can make your own cream sauce and it's still pretty good. Basically I pound the chicken with my awesome meat tenderizer from Pampered Chef (using the smooth side). Then coat the chicken in good old fashion Shake N Bake. Bake for about 30 min. uncovered at 350. I use my 9 x 13 stoneware baker from PChef. Meanwhile, make the cream sauce. If you don't have the Shirley J stuff, make your own with the following:
1 pint half n half (or quart and double if making two pans of chicken like I usually have to for Sunday meals).
1/4 cup butter (1/2 cup of each if using a quart-kind of like you would do for clam chowder only you want it a little thinner-clam chowder adds all the liquid from the veggies cooking to thin it down)
1/4 cup flour
Melt butter, add flour and cook until bubbles..reduce heat and cook a few more minutes stirring constantly.. Add half and half and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until thickens.
Add
1/2 teas. salt
1/4 teas. sugar
1/4 teas. garlic salt
Mix well and Pour over chicken that has cooked 30 min. Cover and cook another 20 min or until chicken temp reaches 160. Serve the white sauce gravy over mashed potatoes. Today we are having green bean casserole and corn on the cob with it...since corn is awesome right now.
In other news on our home front, we have added a few additions to the family since my last update..Grandson Connor now has a baby sister-Addison - who is almost one. Jeff and Chelsey have a darling baby boy named Stefan (3 1/2 months old) and I finally broke down and we got a new dog. Ozzy-a boxer (yes named after the famous rocker) who just turned a year and weighs over 50 lbs. He eats a lot of things that I think would kill another dog and I'm pretty sure his life expectancy has dropped a couple of years due to the mass amounts of Advil, potassium, chocolate and anti nausea medication he ate before we decided he had to stay in the kennel while we are at work.
Nic and I have traveled the country going to rock festivals and concerts, which could be a blog all on its's own but I'll probably just include it here...I have seven states left to hit before I turn 50 to complete my "50 States by the time I'm 50", so I know I have to take three more mini vacations. The first one will be to fly to Memphis and go to Graceland because my life will not be complete until that happens..Then we'll drive a little south to hit Mississippi, then trek west to pick up Arkansas and Oklahoma. According to the map if we head north a couple of hours I can hit the southern most corner of Indiana, then a few more hours back to Memphis and then home. Somehow in all my travels to the east coast I don't remember hitting Rhode Island so I have to go back to Boston for a red sox game and a quick trip to RI. My final trip in my quest for 50 will take place right before my 50th birthday. North and South Dakota and the black hills..Can't wait for that one.
Last November, Glen and I took Jeff and Chelsey to Pomona to hit the drag races...There really is nothing quite like the power of those nitro fueled cars heading down the track at over 300 mph. Then two weeks later we totally blew off family tradition and went to Disneyland and Magic Mtn for the Thanksgiving weekend. We went on the tallest drop in the country...Over 400 feet of freefall off the side of the superman ride at Magic Mountain...Holy scary. Disney was so much fun. We haven't been there for such a long time.. It was spectacular...So fun in fact that when I had to choose a city to travel to for spring launch for PC, we totally chose Anaheim and went again (Nic and I).
After going to the Epicenter festival in 2011 (see earlier entry blog for details) and some local concerts, Nic and I decided to hit "rock on the range" in Columbus Oh in May of 2012. Forty bands - 3 days = awesome! Metallica put on a festival in Atlantic City in June so we hit that too. Holy cow can they still put on a show. Plus Avenged Sevenfold was there too, so it was awesome. Atlantic City was probably one of the scariest cities I've ever visited..We had to walk to Bader field (where Amelia Earhart took off to fly across the Atlantic) and it's pretty bad when the police had to line the route to make sure everyone got home safe. That's probably why they relocated for 2013 to Detroit, but we chose to skip that one this year. In fall of 2012 we attended Epicenter in Irvine Ca, again, as well as Uproar festival at Usana. Needless to say when they announced the Rock on the Range line up for 2013, we had to go again. We had driven to Phoenix for a quick one day festival to see Chevelle, Skillet, Adelita's Way and a few others in early May, so it was a good warm up for Rock on the Range... Even though we have pinky sworn that in 2014 we are reigning it in (I'll probably have two weddings that year), we have decided that that will be the one festival we attend..We overdid it this year, as I am also trying to get all my states...I needed Wisconsin so in July we attended Rock Fest in Cadott WI (hey, I needed Wisconsin.. how was I supposed to pass that up). At first it was a little weird out there in the middle of no-where but it soon turned into one of our favorite events ever. I crossed several bands off my rock n roll bucket list. The Offspring, KISS, Motley Crew, Whitesnake plus a ton of current bands. It really was epic...4 days of concerts, VIP all meals included and all you can drink water, soft drinks and beer-afterall it is Wisconsin..The official "Home" of beer LOL. Even though we don't drink, it was pretty entertaining watching those that did.
On a sad note, this last week one of Ryan's baseball coaches passed away. Edo coached baseball in our hometown for over 50 years. Many great college players and even some major league players called him coach at one time. Plus the everyday lessons he taught all the players will never be forgotten. It's gonna be a lot quieter down at the ball field without him...If I close my eyes I can hear him yelling at the boys "don't swing at the high ones".
