Hodge Podge

I don't have an actual subject for this post. Just some odds and ends of what's what in my world these days.

The kiddos have reached a few milestones lately and although they aren't MY kiddos, I'm still excited for them.

I know I mentioned last week that Alyssa started 5-K this year. Well, Goofus emailed me a photo of her first day of school.

All the schools in our area wear uniforms. For Lyssa's district, the colors are black, khaki, grey and gold/yellow.  I'm not sure how Lyssa feels about uniforms but ain't she cute in her little black jumper and white blouse? Her backpack is pink Hello Kitty. Though you'll hafta take my word on the Hello Kitty part. ;-)

Also note the little hand she's holding. That's Efan-man who is, apparently, having some minor separation anxiety issues since his sister has started school. Sis2 said he cries when Lyssa gets out of the car and he can't go with her. Poor baby. But Lyssa, she says, seems to enjoy school so far. Hope she continues to enjoy it.

Then there's Emmy. Emmy done got braces!

You can't tell it all that well from this pic, but apparently she got teal brackets. Teal. Oh! To be young. lol She just got them yesterday so I haven't seen them in person. I'm sure she'll show them off this weekend while they're here for Lyssa's birthday party.

Sis1 says Emmy's scared to eat much right now. She's afraid she'll pop a bracket off or something.  I doubt that'd stop ME from chowing down.

Speaking of chowing down, I tried a new recipe last night that was delish. Our church's 125th anniversary celebration is this Sunday and we're having a pot luck after services. Well, back in the day (like, the 80's) every pot luck involved a chicken casserole or two topped with potato chips. With that nostalgia in mind, I went searching the Interwebs until I found one that didn't contain cream of anything soup. I hate cream of anything soup. Probably because 90% of the food I ate in the 80's and 90's contained it in some form or fashion.

I had some sweet success in finding a recipe that sounded as good as I remembered and uses sour cream and mayonnaise instead of creamed soup. But I've learned the hard way not to make a new recipe the day I'm taking it somewhere. So I bought the ingredients for it Saturday and made a test batch last night.

It only makes an 8in casserole dish full so I'll hafta double or triple it for Sunday but it was soo good that it's all gone. I ate half the dish last night, a quarter of it for breakfast this morning (don't judge) and the rest of it for lunch.

Best part? It's super easy. Or it will be the next time around. Not having made it before, I wasn't sure how much chicken was two cups full so I just roasted a whole bird. Roasting a chicken isn't hard, it just takes time. I roasted it Saturday night. And FYI--two cups of chicken is exactly two decent sized chicken breasts. So this time around I'll just buy a package of four to six breasts and cook those instead of roasting a whole chicken. Probably costs about the same but maybe doesn't take quite as long to cook. Also, I used sour cream and onion potato chips instead of plain. They added an extra bit of YUM, I do believe. Other additions to the tasty kitchen recipe is I added a sprinkle of garlic powder, a dash of lemon pepper, a dusting of season salt and a zip of creole seasoning. I was afraid simple salt and pepper would be too bland. I don't know if it that would have been the case but I DO know that my "hot dish" had flavor out the wazoo with just a hint of a bite to it--thanks to the creole seasoning, more than likely.

Anyway. If you're not afraid of sour cream and mayonnaise and the thought of potato chips topping a casserole sounds good to you, TRY THIS. Try it even if you ARE afraid of sour cream and mayonnaise and potato chip topping sounds weird to you. Just do it.  And don't be afraid to use the celery. I was a little nervous about it because I don't normally like celery cooked in things. But I did it anyway and I don't regret it. Onions, too, Trix. They cook enough that they basically melt into the dish. Seriously.

Okay. I'm done waxing poetic about this casserole, I promise. ;-)

Now onto the next topic--SCHOOL. The university begins classes next week. How filled am I with dread? To infinity. Like, for serious. I've been so spoiled to easy access Starbucks, low traffic flow and quiet over the summer. Next week, Starbucks will have a line out the door at any given time, traffic will slow to a crawl and quiet? What's that? *sob*

I can't complain too hard, though, since the "kids" ARE my bread and butter. And, the return of students also hales the return of shirtless running hotties. I'm only 33 and unmarried. I can still drool after hard bodied young guys in running shorts and it not be creepy, right?

ANYHOO, (don't tell me if it IS creepy), last night haled the end of a television era--The Closer. Sad about this. I love that show and Kyra Sedgwick. *sniffle* OH! And NBC started airing new episodes of Grimm last night. I quit watching it halfway through last season but I think there are others of you out there who enjoy it, amiright? Weird that it's beginning the new season so soon. Or am I just not aware that all the shows are new now? WHAT AM I MISSING??

And now, I've got a range of books calling my name so Imma hafta go cuss it out for a while.

HAPPY TUESDAY!

P.S. I can't spell mayonnaise to save my soul. And why is khaki so hard to spell, too?