A writer's Random ramblings
What’s the best way to cook a simple supper in summer? What if you don’t want to heat the house by using the oven? How few ingredients can really make it? The slow cooker and a side of rice or pasta do the job in these conditions.
For the simplest ever, we used only 2 ingredients for a not too hungry day. Set the slow cooker to Low. Add 6 thin chicken tenderloin pieces and about 6 ounces of lemon marmalade for simple lemon chicken. This can be added over rice or pasta to fill up a hungrier stomach, or served alongside veggies. Add in some pepper or lemon pepper seasoning while cooking to amp up the flavor. For a change of pace, try orange marmalade and some Asian themed frozen vegetables, a splash of soy sauce, and pinch of ginger for an alternative to stir-fry when served with rice. If you prefer an Italian flair, use the chicken tenderloins and thick cut zucchini coins as the base. Add in either a Marsala or Parmesan based sauce. These can be homemade or from the pouches of sauce found in the grocery store. Even the sauces labeled for skillet or oven use can go into the slow cooker. Tomato based sauce could also substitute in this idea in a pinch or for more vegetable flavor. If you choose to go the tomato route, crank up the flavor after cooking with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Set it for about 4 hours on Low, and let it go back to Keep Warm when it is done. Ladle this over your favorite pasta shape, and serve. When using the slow cooker, the home cook can even begin with frozen proteins and vegetables. Just be sure to set the machine to Low and add enough time to allow for thawing in addition to cooking. This prevents undercooking or burning of ingredients by eating time. I always use boneless, skinless chicken pieces, thighs if I’m using a hearty sauce, and add about an hour to the cooking time for frozen items. I check for doneness by shredding the chicken into the sauce once the timer sets my slow cooker to Keep Warm. For these reasons, although I need to cook up rice or pasta, the house still does not overheat. This keeps us more comfortable on hot days. A look through the pantry and freezer usually provides the inspiration to try new things as listed above. Every home cook needs to invest in a good slow cooker for the sake of cooking in summer and on busy days.
0 Comments
Oh, no! Out of coffee again! How can one prevent that from happening for perhaps only a bit more money than the average price of beans? Not wanting to surf the Internet all day? Amora Coffee gives the best experience to abate these technical coffee difficulties. Every month, they ship 4 bags containing 8 ounces each of the customer’s choice. When averaged out, the price of this coffee rivals that of the best grocery store and coffee shop brands. Allowing for the fact that nobody in the house has to remember to restock it or drive out to retrieve more coffee eventually makes Amora the better deal. The 4 bags per box last at least a month at a time when the user opens one for use, kept in the refrigerator, and freezes the other 3. The coffee arrives from the roaster in very convenient, two-day United States Parcel Service shipping. Amora offers 4 basic flavors. Intenso Roast, the darkest they make, gives the best espresso or rich coffee experience. We use this finely ground bean in our espresso maker. All we need is one heaping coffee scoop in the machine to yield a large mug of powerful coffee to start the day. This provides a good start to a day of hot weather or rushed schedules. Amora’s website, http://www.amoracoffee.com, also lists the 3 lighter roasts. In descending order of intensity, one can order the “bold” Vigorosi blend, “smooth” Elegante blend, or “gentle” Delicata blend. In addition, Amora provides a secondary shipment including a special seasonal flavor 4 times a year. Amora’s staff sends out reminder e-mails roughly 2 days before a shipment hits the mail. If you choose not to partake, phone them to say it’s time to delay a shipment. This gives better results of making sure there is an answer than e-mailing. They can take other information besides the customer number, which many folks do not keep handy, if one calls or fills out the Contact Form on the website. The form works better for general questions than particulars of changing a shipment date. For these reasons, Amora coffee receives my highest recommendation for those looking for easy ways to deal with coffee. Since joining, my household has not run out of coffee and made the last-minute dash to the store. We no longer have the aforementioned coffee difficulties and focus better on other things at the grocery store. 2 boxes of pasta or pasta salad mix in your favorite variety
(if using regular pasta) ranch seasoning and bacon bits or your favorite spice combination Approximately 2 cups mayonnaise 1 15 oz. can pinto beans 1 15 oz. can black beans 1 15 oz. can kidney beans 1 15 oz. can cannellini beans 1 15 oz. can sweet corn (not creamed) Optional: substitute a 15 oz. can of peas or green beans for any of the above Drain the veggies in a colander. Boil the pasta until tender, then run under cold water until cool, drain. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Can be served right away, but tastes better after an hour in the fridge to allow the flavors to marry. Why is it that advanced students in either math and science or vocational programs take core courses by the semester, while the rest often do so by the year? Why couldn’t someone not planning on doing such things also do this and exempt by exam some requirements? A student more interested in social studies and the arts, for example, should be allowed this option. Even those wishing to do some career exploration benefit from non-traditional schedule options.
In the case of English, some students needing internships in other disciplines take one semester each of sophomore-level and junior-level courses, then an exam to skip the senior year class. This should be presented as a viable option also for those seeking more creative or journalism based courses. Otherwise, why not allow creative writing and journalism to count toward the necessary English to keep pupils interested? A basic journalism class would benefit more than the people headed into the field by teaching useful communication methods. Creative writing could integrate ways of the imagination with teaching others what one has learned. Principles from either of these classes could play into business writing and public speaking in areas where more college-bound youngsters gravitate to these fields. All students need to learn to communicate in more varied and effective ways in our ever-changing world, and allowing more ways to take required classes would allow that. If a student takes science or social studies courses integrating math, teach those all year. Apply half of the course toward the math credit for graduation, assuming each semester gives one credit. The other half of the course then gives that person the science credit for that year. This could work with classes such as Chemistry, Physics, or Integrated Chemistry and Physics. Stoichiometry units in either part of Chemistry and wave theory, motion theory, and thermodynamics in Physics prove math heavy. Economics and geography courses in the social studies area could follow the same model. Both use statistics to examine human interactions with others and the environment. This benefits math and science oriented students by allowing them creative ways around social studies requirements and more time for math and science as well as letting humanities people around the math and science they often dread. It also makes the required number of credits per subject easier to attain, lessening some stress on pupils. Allowing for these exemptions and substitutions, sometimes integrating principles of one course into another, leaves room for students to investigate more areas of interest. This helps them have a better idea what professions fit their personalities after graduation. Some might even study in more than one career program, making them more marketable citizens later. Having knowledge in multiple worlds of work will give them more ways to live and thrive as they grow. Being allowed to explore through school coursework also keeps them more interested and involved in education. They will then see the process as more than a tangle of things the school board or government “makes” them take. This will lead to more lifelong learners who appreciate knowledge at any age. They will keep learning, whether in traditional ways or on their own, and society will become better educated and related. More people may even learn to open their minds to others and create understanding and peace, the ultimate goal of society. |
AuthorStuff about me: Archives
June 2020
Categories |