So, what is it?

A common question when I cook. Don makes the old familiar favorites. But when I cook, the fam comes out, looks at my concoction & asks, "So, what is it?" Tonight it is from cooks.com

WHITE CHILI

2 med. onions 1 small onion, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic (I didn't bother with the garlic, I was in a hurry & didn't want to peel it & I don't have the dry stuff)
1 tsp. oil (a dollop, enough to cover the bottom of the Dutch oven)
4 c. cooked chopped chicken (3 chicken breasts, already crockpotted from the last bag of chicken breasts I bought on sale)
6 c. chicken broth (only used 4 cups water, which was PLENTY!! & 4 chicken bouillon cubes which I had to send Don to the store for)
2 cans white great northern beans (Don picked up while he was at the store)
2 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chilies
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 tbsp. ground cumin (we have cumin seeds, I only used 1/4 tsp. I had the 1/4 tsp spoon out, why dirty another?)
1 1/2 tsp. oregano (4 scoops of 1/4 tsp spoon)
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp. salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic in oil. Add remaining ingredients (plus cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top, 1 cup salsa & 1 can cream of chicken soup) and simmer until heated through. Serve with sour cream and Monterey Jack cheese (shredded).


I work half a day on Tuesday. This morning, knowing it was DUP day, I got out a 1 lb. package of dry Northern beans, the crockpot & water. I dumped the beans in, turned the crockpot on high for 45 minutes, turned it off & hurried out into my day.

Tonight the beans were as hard as when I dumped them in this morning. It was going to take hours to cook them soft enough to eat, so I sent Don off to the store.

Nick gave it an OK, Don said it was good & I LOVED it! I kept helping myself to a little bit more.

The senior meals are going to do her in

Mother hasn't liked the senior meals for quite a while. I have complained to Rod (editor of newspaper) about them. One time (Uncle) Jim came in to the editor's office & asked how Mother was doing. I said ok, as I usually did. Rod spoke up & said, "Those senior meals are going to do her in."

Today was probably the worst one I've seen. This is what I posted on Facebook:

It's pretty sad when your mother has to pay for a home-delivered meal that ends up in the garbage, uneaten, & when you walk in 30-45 minutes later with food from a fast food restaurant, the garbage has to go out because it's stinking up the house.

I went over to Mother's about noon & Luana was standing by Mother at the table. Mother was trying to eat her home-delivered meal. She asked me what the main dish. I poked around at it & said it looked like stroganoff. Luana said that is what she thought it was too. Mother asked me to taste it & tell her what it needed. It was so pasty. It had been overcooked, I tried to swallow it without gagging. I told her it needed salt. I got in the fridge & grabbed ranch dressing. Luana laughed & said ranch dressing will help it. Luana told me to try the scone. She said when you took a bite of it & oil just oozed out of it. It smelled stale. I took one bite of it & spit it out.

Mother said the veggie was as old as she was. I told her it was pretty old (she's 84). I told her to put the honey butter on it, but it was cold & the butter wouldn't melt. The salad was good. It looked like it was dry jello salad. Luana had brought some apple crisp over yesterday or Monday & she took some of that & poured milk from the dinner over it. Mother said the milk was gross too. The milk comes in a cardboard carton & is warm. I remember how gross those cardboard cartons of milk were when I was in grade school. I took the chocolate cake, put the lid on it & set it in the fridge. But I threw everything else away. Luana chided me for throwing it away. She said Mother hadn't eaten anything. What was she going to eat? Then Luana decided to go home & make some soup.

I said I'd go buy some chicken. Mother said she didn't want chicken.

I came home because Nick was hurting. He thought Chesterfried Chicken sounded good. Why didn't we get some & go over to Nana's. I bought a chicken bowl. I LOVE chicken bowls, but they are so darned big!! A chicken bowl has mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cut up pieces of chicken tenders with grated cheese sprinkled over the top. Mother & I can share a chicken bowl & still have some left over.

I offered Nick the cake from Mother's lunch. Mother wouldn't eat it because it was dry & she doesn't like chocolate. It was crumbly & he had to eat it over the garbage. I told him to eat it over the sink. He said it was good, but not to tell him what I thought (zucchini) was in it, LOL.

In telling Don-Mike about Mother's dinner he said Shannon (Montandon) came through the drive up window today at Big J's because her home-delivered meal was not good.