My Life Half Way 2

"Band of Brothers" Major Dick Winters

2011-01-10T09:55:00.002-06:00

If you have not heard Major Dick Winters passed away on Jan 2, 2011. A true American Hero, as were most of the men and women who fought in World War II. May the history of what they did never fade in our memory.

Click Here for more on the story.

Blackeyed Peas

2011-01-03T08:30:00.003-06:00

Well this was the first year I was able to follow up with the "Old Family Tradition" by having blackeyed peas on new years day. I hope that means that 2011 is better than 2010.

I pull a recipe off of a Blog Called "A Year of Slow Cooking" Click on it to view the site.

Below is a copy of the recipe I used. Wife and daughter said it was good, and they are not fans of blackeyed peas. I really liked it, might try to work it into the middle of the year also. Oh, I did forget to make the cornbread with it, which would have been nice.

Hoppin' Johns

1 pound dry black eyed peas, soaked overnight
4 cups chicken broth
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
1/2 cup instant rice (or use 1 cup already cooked rice, and stir it in at the very end)
1 (10.5-ounce) can Rotel
1 bunch of collard greens or kale, chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Soak your beans overnight in a bunch of water and drain well in the morning and rinse in cool water. Put the beans directly into your slow cooker. If you don't have time to soak the beans overnight, that's okay! Instead, put them in a pot with a bunch of water and boil rapidly on the stove for 10 minutes. Then turn the heat off, and cover the pot. Let it sit for one hour, then drain and rinse and plop into the pot.

Once the beans are in the crock, add broth and sliced sausage. Stir in the rice and rotel. Add greens, and sprinkle on the salt and pepper. Cover ( you may need to shove in greens to get the lid on nicely) and cook on low for 8 to 12 hours, or until the beans are soft. Stir well before serving.

Chimi

2010-11-09T07:20:00.002-06:00

OK, I got this recipe from a cooking show called "Just Cook This". Tried it last night and is better than "Yukatan" at ChiChi. Very easy to make, took only about 15min. I wonder how a shrimp one would be? The title of the show is right "Just Cook This"!

Ingredients
2 cups cooked (rotisserie) chicken, shredded
1 4 oz can diced green chilies
3/4 cup red salsa
1/2 cup enchilada sauce
Four 8 inch flour tortillas
Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Light Sour Cream
Cilantro

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a non-stick pan, combine chicken, salsa sauce and green chiles, mix until just heated through. Heat tortillas in microwave about 30 secoonds to make them pliable.
Spoon 1/4 of the chicken mixture on each tortilla and roll up—sides in first then over the top to keep everything in. Place on a greased baking sheet and very lightly rub top of burrito with vegetable oil.
Bake until just starting to get golden brown,15-20 minutes. While they cook, warm the enchilada sauce.
Spoon warm enchilada sauce on a plate, place baked chimichito on top, add a spoonful of sour cream and sprinkle with cheese and cilantro.

Spicy Tortellini Soup

2010-10-11T15:50:00.003-05:00

Here is a quick and easy soup for those cold winter nights, or anytime you need a quick soup.

4 cans of Chicken Broth
1 can of Rotel Tomatos
2 cloves of Garlic
1 good size Onion
1 bunch of Spinach
1 package of Tortellini
1 can of Dark Red Kidney Beans
1 can of Corn
1 Favorite Grated Cheese for topping
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive Oil

In Soup pot, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent. Next add chicken broth, rotel tomatos, kidney beans, and corn, bring up to a boil. Turn down heat and add spinach, after spinach has broken down taste for salt and pepper, add if needed. Finally, add tortellini and cook until tender.

Serve in bowls and top with grated cheese.

Enjoy.

Twins Win the AL Central

2010-09-22T10:50:00.003-05:00

Well the Twins move on with what? 10 day left of the season. I am looking forward to October baseball outside. I wonder how cold it will be before they are done?

Good Luck Twins....I am warming up the Homer Hankie. Will the Hankie work outside?

Minnesota Vikings

2010-08-23T14:34:00.002-05:00

Well, how many Vikings' Fans give the purple any chance of "Going all The Way"? We now have the second coming of Bret Farve, does that help or hurt us?

Gemini

2010-05-21T08:57:00.002-05:00

So, does my family question why I am like I am? The attached may explain it all. It is in the stars.

Click Here

Brett Favre needs ankle surgery or he can't play in 2010 - NFL News - FOX Sports on MSN

2010-04-30T13:45:00.001-05:00

Brett Favre needs ankle surgery or he can't play in 2010 - NFL News - FOX Sports on MSN

So what does everyone think? Will he or won't he be back next season?

Lindsay Lohan

2010-03-09T17:31:00.003-06:00

Has everyone heard that Lindsay Lohan thinks that the E-Trade should pay her because they used the name "Lindsay" in their commercial. Click Here to read the article.

Give me a break! I doubt that "Milkaholic" would ever discribe Lohan. I can think of some other titles that might fit, but not "Milkaholic".

As far as I am concerned, just another "has been" that has ruined her life, trying to get back her 10 minutes of fame.

Mom Finds Snake Head in Frozen Green Beans - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

2010-02-23T09:10:00.002-06:00

Ok, I have to ask...........Would you continue to eat green beans if you found the head of a critter in them? I guess I will make sure that I check my frozen veggies a lot closer.

Also, What's with "A letter sent by the company’s insurance provider to Jamison claims Pictsweet "is not responsible for this accident," and they are "denying liability"." So who is responsible then? Oh, I know....it was the snake or frog.

You know, maybe it was critter's way to protest "Global Warming". Where's Al Gore?

Mom Finds Snake Head in Frozen Green Beans - Local News News Articles National News US News - FOXNews.com

Posted using ShareThis

FOXNews.com - World May Not Be Warming, Say Scientists

2010-02-15T16:09:00.003-06:00

Ok, does this surprise anyone? I wonder how Al Gore is going to make money now? Was he in it just to make money?

FOXNews.com - World May Not Be Warming, Say Scientists

Posted using ShareThis

FOXNews.com - Palin 'Would Be Willing' to Take On Obama in 2012

2010-02-08T07:50:00.003-06:00

FOXNews.com - Palin 'Would Be Willing' to Take On Obama in 2012

Posted using ShareThis

So, Can Sarah Palin win?

Minnesota Vikings

2010-01-25T07:51:00.005-06:00

Well the Vikings' season did not end quite like the fans wanted, but this was a great season to watch.

Thank you Vikes for a entertaining football season. I am ready for next year.

So, what do you think, will Brett Farve be back?

FOXNews.com - The Two Promises Obama's Managed to Keep

2010-01-22T08:55:00.003-06:00

FOXNews.com - The Two Promises Obama's Managed to Keep

Posted using ShareThis

Man, I feel sorry for the dog.

Dilbert

2010-01-22T08:03:00.003-06:00

Dilbert is one of my favorite comic strips. For anyone that has ever had a job, a lot of the strips really demonstrate how political correctness can be taken too far.

Good By Air America

2010-01-22T07:49:00.002-06:00

The liberal Air America radio station is ceasing operation and will soon file to be liquidated under chapter 7 bankruptcy. Click here for the article.

Tell me...Does anyone else find it ironic that a "Liberal" radio station would go bankrupt, just like a "Liberal" Government would drive a country in the same direction?

Men vs Women

2010-01-19T12:23:00.002-06:00

Well, it appears science has finally determine that Men are smarter than Women.

To read the article click here.

The article starts....

Men are smarter than women, according to a controversial new study that adds another cinder to the fiery debate over whether gender impacts general intelligence.

"For 100 years there's been a consensus among psychologists that there is no sex difference in intelligence," said J. Philippe Rushton, a psychologist at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

Recent studies, however, have raised questions about the validity of this claim, he said. One such study showed that men have larger brains than women, a 100 gram difference after correcting for body size. Rushton found similar results in a study of gender and brain size.

To determine if there was a link between gender and intelligence, and perhaps between brain size and intelligence, Rushton and a colleague analyzed the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores from 100,000 17- and 18-year-olds.

G-factor

When Rushton and colleagues weighted each SAT question by an established general intelligence factor called the g-factor, they discovered that males surpassed females by an average of 3.6 IQ points.......

So, what should we believe? Science could be wrong...like Global Warming, or Women are just a couple of points above a chimp?

So my girls, what do you think I believe? Be careful daughter, I can hear the short bus down the street.

My Wife's Birthday

2010-01-18T10:42:00.005-06:00

Well, I am again in that time span where I can say that my wife is older than I am. I guess I could always say that I am 5 months younger, but it seem more convincing when the numbers actually prove it out.

Honey, I hope you had a great birthday. I wish I could have been there.

By the way, I think of you as a fine wine....You only get better with age. I not talking the wine from a box, you are a bottle with a cork.

PHR

Message to Harry Reid From Senator Coburn and others

2010-01-13T14:10:00.004-06:00

Having a Senator Coburn in Oklahoma makes me sad to be moving to the land of Liberals.

23 GOP Senators Send Letter to Sen. Harry Reid on health bills' compliance with Honest Leadership & Open Government Act of 2007

Dr. Coburn and 22 other GOP Senators sent a letter this morning to Sen. Harry Reid requesting that he comply with the spirit and letter of The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007.

Senator Tom Coburn website click here.

Click Here to see full letter

Click Here to read quotes from Senator Reid regarding the need for a transparent government.

Cell Phone and Alzheimer's disease

2010-01-07T09:56:00.002-06:00

So this article suggest that cell phones may stop Alzheimer's disease. Would that not be wild. The same phones that we are warned about getting cancer from could stop Alzheimer's?

Ok, Linda don't start strapping cells phones to yourself just yet. By the way do you remember the "password"?

Click here to read the article.

PHR

Crock Pot Beef Stew/Soup

2010-01-06T08:51:00.003-06:00

Ok, here it is my Crock Pot Beef Stew Recipe. Nice thing about it you can do all of the prep the day before and refrigerate, and start before you leave for work. When you get home 8 to 10 hours later you will be ready to eat.

1 LB Stew Meat.
Large box of beef broth.
1 package of baby carrots
1 package frozen green beans
1 package frozen corn
Several Red Potatoes
2 Onions
2 Bay Leaves
Kosher Salt to taste
Tony’s Creole Seasoning
Wine for deglazing pan
Vegetable Oil

Begin by heating a skillet. Before putting stew meat in the skillet, I coat the meat with Tony’s Creole Seasoning. This add great flavor and helps the meat to brown. I brown the meat on all sides in the skillet. Do not cover, you do not want the meat to steam you want it to brown. When meat is brown put into the crock pot, and return skillet to the heat. At this point you will deglaze the skillet with wine. I pour about ½ a cup of wine into the heated skillet, and then scrape off the brown bits. Warning…I have not had the wine ignite doing this yet, but it can happen so be careful. Once the bits are loose pour the wine and bits into the crock pot.

Next, add to the pot the green beans, corn, carrots, diced onions, and pealed and diced potatoes. I then pour in enough beef broth to cover the vegetables, and add the 2 bay leaves. Do not over fill your crock pot. I try to stay about 1/2 “ below the lid, making sure all of the vegetables are covered with broth.

Now you have a choice….At this point I add a little salt and some more Creole seasoning. Remember you can always add more later, which I do.

Finally, give the whole pot a stir.

At this point you can start cooking on low for 8 to 10 hours or refrigerate to cook later.

If you try this stew/soup let me know what you think.

Airport Security

2010-01-05T17:01:00.003-06:00

MSP Airport Checkpoints, Terminal Reopened

I have a feeling it is only going to get worse. Click here for the full story.

A New Year

2010-01-05T08:07:00.002-06:00

So, another year has come and gone. Does anyone else feel that 2009 was a year of setbacks?

From job loss, to living away from my girls, 2009 is a year I do not want to repeat. I am praying that 2010 is better.

What are your thoughts on 2009?

Christmas

2009-12-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

I be home for Christmas...You can count on me...Please don't have snow, but have Mistletoe and presents under the tree.

Christmas Eve will find me...Where the lovelight gleams...I'll be home for Christmas...Even if I have to walk.

PHR

Brave Companions

2009-12-21T08:02:00.003-06:00

Well if anyone is interested, Brave Companions by David McCullough is a great book. It is a collection of short storys of people from history. These are not all well known famous people, but people that made a difference in history none the less.

Very good read. I would recommend it.