Sitting in the sun watching the wind move the leaves

Sitting here in the little office doing bookwork is wonderful.  I can look out over about a third of my property spotting the horses, goats, wildlife, and the grass grow this time of year.  Doves or whippoorwills eat seeds and bugs in the pen close to this window, spring sun shines in over where I sit making it very warm and cozy in this small room.  Come summer I will see changes occur most noticeable will be the change in when I can sit in this room as it heats up so the shades come down and the window will get a cover to keep the sun from hitting it in the main part of the day. 

I am thinking of making an apple sausage, red pepper, onion, tomato, & pasta dish for dinner.  I have not gotten to cook much this last tax season as 50-60 hour days wore me out most of the time.  But simple foods are being craved by me right now.  Soft scrambled eggs and ham with a simple sour dough bread toast and early salad greens.  Stews served over rustic mashed potatoes with sliced apples for a sweet ending.  Dan is wanting white bean and ham soup with cornbread and a salad. Chili served over baked potatoes with a veggie gelation side and a cookie.  Tuna dinner salads with an avocado dressing and sliced bananas with a hit of cinnamon and sugar for desert.  Quartered hard boiled eggs, radish, celery, and other finger veggies with a dip and slices of chocolate cake with chocolate icing and about a tablespoon of cream poured over the cake.   

Some will shutter, but I know it is better to eat then to relapse into drinking again.  I have been having dreams of relapse.  Dreams I was hiding and drinking.  Not good to wake up from then having to go check to make sure it was not real.  Some of the locations cool- European and South American locals- were lovely, but the things I did drinking the hiding, was not good.  Getting out from under the day in day out work of doing taxes- fear of mistakes, losing my job, causing someone pain due to an error, and other related fears do cause pain for me at times.  I can still feel the stress of not being able to get everything done I said I would last time in a timely manner.  Even my own return.  Better be getting that mudra going, what was it again oh yea- Shit happens, so let it roll off your back.  

Starting over to the every so often blog entries, returning to doing things I love cooking, homemaking, gardening, and just hearing the quite for a change.  With Ol' Army Man going to school I will not have to spend all my time with him this spring and summer.  I am looking forward to the change and to the quite reflecting time I will be able to have.  Turn down the go-go-go he often has me in so I keep up with his stuff but not my own.  He did it to me today.  I had plans so did he so his plans took the auto give me a lift to do his stuff but not mine.  Now I am in a worry about my word being mud.  Dang I had putting myself into this position as his memory loss, forgetfulness, and single minded driving force at times shows more than others.  I just was not up to fighting him today so I let it slide.  I need to recall he has been alone as well these past 4 months as we each went our own way for hours and hours each week.   

I will work on forgiving tonight hopefully then things will be less stressful by Friday when I go see my crew at the Farewell to Tax Year 2012 Luncheon on Friday in Eugene Oregon at the Red Lobster.  None of us have ever been to Red Lobster for lunch and most have never been at all so wanted to give it a try.  I am trying to plan things so I do not feel stuck at home with Ol' Army Man or the dogs 24/7 this year.  We will see if these plans can last but at least it is a plan of action this year rather then the wait and see plan we went with after last tax season.  

Take care, 

Ol' Mossback Me.  

Mama's Chinese Chicken

Love this so much we have gone to making a whole chicken cut up into smaller easier to handle pieces for this or we butcher out several chickens saving the backs and necks for stock, the breast will either be cut up into two or three pieces depending on if I took the wish bone cut on the the back of the chicken or not.  The are times we have hit a huge sale and saved the breasts for later.  I love the thighs cooks this way so they almost always go into this dish. 



This is one those recipes that came from someone years ago in college can we say back when shoulder pads were in style.  Chicken wings were cheap food back in the day can you say 29 cents a pound so it feed a group for on the cheap.  She had gotten it from someones mom that had gotten it out of a magazine or was it a back of a box of some sort what ever it was it is a keeper when you want to wow someone with a cold food addition.  She showed me how to after the chicken was all fried up to then make what she called fried Chinese pancakes.  Well, no matter what you call them, they may be the best part of being the one getting to cook the chicken. 



I made this for my first husband when we went to the coast on one of our first dates.  I won that man with my cooking on that day.  I used this recipe leftover sauce and soaked beef, pork, turkey, wild game in.  The pork is a close second to heaven done this way right after the chicken.  The game birds were really nice well one can say nothing was turned away but the beef and ham were the last pieces to be eaten.  Always a clean plate unless you cook an unreal amount.  The recipe calls for only 2-3 pounds of wings well I used this to make 4-6 pounds of chicken with many a time doubling or more the recipe to meet the need groups of teenage boys rumbling tummies.  My second husband had this one night after work when I was making it for a group meeting the next day when he came by to visit after a swing shift.  I can only say he liked it so well the next time he came to my home he had the wedding rings in his pocket.  (Not saying it will happen this way with you but heavens to Betsy I swear I am telling the truth to the best I can recall.)  This recipe does take planing ahead as well as time, can be made ahead, is colorful, smells great, worse thing about it (after the fact it is fried) is garlic breath so make sure you have your love one eat a piece or two along with you.  Over time I have made this my own so you know you can change things here and there to please your taste buds, but first make it this way before you start to change to much. 



Recall I am new to this once I figure out how to make print this for recipes I will use it until them please be nice. 

Chinese Fried Chicken 

Severs 4 or more depending one on how many teenagers you have eating

Oven temp 350 degrees F

Sauce:
2 T Sesame Seeds*
4 T Flour
8 T Cornstarch
4 T Sugar*
1/2t Accent      I now omit due to MSG allergies
1 & 1/2 t Salt*
5 T Soy Sauce
1 egg
1 clove garlic or equivalent in dry form minced if fresh*
2 green onions (scallions) things sliced*

Mix everything together pour over

2-4 lbs of chicken

marinate.  It will look gummy at first this is okay.  Put in the frig from anywhere from 2 hours to several days depending on when I get a chance to fry up the chicken.  Stir this every so often to get a good even coating on the meat.

Oil enough to go half way up  the side of a cast iron fry pan or several inches deep in a wok.  (Lard or shortening works the best for a crispy coating)

I like to use the wok as I have more control with the heat on my stove.  Or I can do it outside on my side burner of the BBQ.  Keeping the chicken warm under the cover until the baking rack is full.  I have found if I use a cookie cooling rack in the sheet pan the oil drains off better and the chicken taste is not effected.   The cookie rack I have is able to go into the over without a problem.  Check ours to make sure yours can also if you use a rack.  Parchment paper in the bottom of the sheet pan helps in clean up also. 

Fry the chicken until it reaching a light golden brown, remove from fryer, drain, place on sheet pan, place in warming over if using.   Once chicken pieces are all cooked bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 50 min making sure chicken's largest pieces are cooked though.  Place in the frig until you are ready to sever it them,.  Now when you serve these stand back just to watch because it this gone in like 60 seconds.  Or so it seems for all the time and work you put into it. 

Now you say what are those * on some of the sauce ingredients?  Things I did not have some times that I have left out or in the case of sugar used honey, rice syrup, or brown sugar. 

Remember that sauce you soaked the meat in, Well now is the time to address it.  You have finally have all the chicken fried cooking in the oven.  The grease is still hot now is time to use that hot grease (oil) to fry up pancakes in small dollar cake sizes and enjoy.  Much bigger size than a silver dollar and they take take too long to cook and get way too greasy.  Flip to cook each side of the "pancake" in the oil.  Other times I will have the second group of meat going to start the in the batter and using only a few hours cook this up also to serve later.  Sometime using or serving like chicken fried steak for breakfast or bunch with a quick reheat in the morning. 

T= Tablespoon
t= teaspoon

Well off to go make my batch so I can take pictures for you along the way.  Recall many of the things I have cooked are old, from friends, family hand me downs, to wow I want to learn to be cutting edge like my favorite cooking stars I never get to see because we now use Roku for all our TV viewing enjoyment. 

Source: Mossback hand written recipe book. 

Come back soon you here in the mean time Take Care, Mossback