WE DON'T FEED OUR CHICKENS STEROIDS OR HORMONES.....NO SIREEE......

I was getting things going for dinner for chicken enchiladas. I opened a pack of boneless chicken breasts. The size of this thing was amazing. I find it impossible to believe that the normal growth of a chicken could produce a breast this size. And this is only one half of the chicken breast!!!!

The Dolly Parton of the chicken world.

Way back when I was learning how to cut up a whole chicken......I don't remember that chicken breasts were this big. I realize that selective breeding has increased the size of chicken breasts, but holy cow!

What do they selectively breed roosters for?

Inquiring minds want to know.

ORANGE YOU GLAD YOU RECYCLE?

What do you do with orange peel scraps?

They make a good addition to potpourri or you can simply put the peel in a dish, break them up to release the citrus oils and place them in a inconspicuous place to release their fragrance. You can tie them in the mesh bag that they came in and put them in a closet or pantry. I have done all of those things but my favorite is to dry them and make orange zest.

I try to use stuff I have sitting around to make the process more economical (CHEAP!!).

Two lovely naval oranges

After I eat the orange, or better yet, put it in fruit salad, I remove as much of the white inside part of the peeling as I can and cut the orange part into small strips to make the drying faster. Here is my super cheap drying rack.

It is a recycled piece of styrofoam sitting on top of my paper plate holders (that we no longer use and need to go to the thrift but I am putting that off just in case we need them for something). They are inside a cabinet that we don't use every day. It takes 1 to 2 weeks to dry them depending on how thick they are and the humidity and if you forget them or not.

The other thing you need is a mini grinder. This is one that I used for coffee beans at one time.

I also use a recycled spice bottle to store the pulverized peel in.
Pack the grinder full and pulverize away. A very fine powder works the best. You can put the small chunks back in for one more whirl.

I have seen lots of these in thrift stores for cheap. $2-3 or yard sales.

Two naval oranges yield about one spice container full. It took four loads in the small grinder to finish all of the dried peel from the two oranges.

I only use oranges for the zest if they are sweet and juicy. I figure that if the orange insides taste good then the peel can't be half bad. This amount will probably last me at least a year. It only takes about 1/8 of a teaspoon in most recipes.I haven't had any lemons lately, but I do the same thing for them.

A..B..C...ah..... here we go into the spice cabinet.

What YOU don't alphabetize?

A NIGHT ON THE TOWN......SORTA

This has been a week from hell.

I have probably a bucket of crap that has dripped out of my nose or been coughed up from my chest. And yet it still continues to drip.

To celebrate my crappy week, after work today (yes, Saturday) my SweetiePie took me out to dinner and....the grocery store.

Romance isn't dead...sorta....

Now, don't misunderstand me. I love my SweetiePie and he was trying to be thoughtful and I didn't have to cook but he did have a motive behind the madness.

We went to McDonalds and then to Food Lion.  I have been trying very hard to keep us out of fast food places. After his surgery the doctor suggested VERY STRONGLY that SweetiePie limit his intake of fat and sodium and we are all trying very hard to be good in the food department. Since McDonalds is the king of fat and sodium, I questioned his choice. "Gas is so expensive we don't need to drive too far" OK it makes sense.......sorta.  Oh and Food Lion had that lowfat staple, Breyers Ice Cream, on SALE.

So that was my night on the town.....sorta.

Now for the Mythbusters marathon to make the evening complete...sorta

I know, I know you are all jealous...sorta

FULL OF IT...UP TO THE TOP

What does everyone think of when you hear "you're full of it"?

Yeah, me too. Crap, ca-ca, poop or whatever your word for "it" is.

Well, my family has told me for years that I am full of it and I didn't believe them.

Now I know it is true. I have been blowing my nose and hacking up all kinds of gross stuff for the past 6 days. Probably enough to fill a large garbage bag and in colors not found in nature. I should seriously think of investing in the tissue market or at least the anti-histamine market.

Wait, I can't take antihistamines because they ALL make me sleepy. So scratch that investment. I just have to suffer and keep blowing unless I want to fall asleep in the middle of giving a patient an injection. Don't think that's such a good idea.

I thought colds and sinus infections only lasted a week or 7 days, whichever came first. That's what my Mom used to tell me when I wanted to stay home from school."Tough it out, it is only going to last a week".

Time is almost up and I can't wait to breathe again and sleep and stop coughing. Now the only thing left to figure out is when my time is up, at 12am or 11:59pm? 

You know I have been sick when I haven't even been to a yard sale or thrift store in a couple of weeks.
GASP!!!!!!!Where are those smelling salts?

DOWN IN THE DUMPS

It truly is a sad week end when one doesn't feel like going yard sale-ing. I don't know what I have but I am sure that no one else wants it. Cough, sneeze, runny nose and just generally feeling like crap.

We stopped at the elementary school in our small town and there were about 25 vendors. Lots of children's clothes but in smaller sizes than I needed for my little Princesses. Since we stopped at 11:00  a lot of the vendors were packing it in. One lady said take anything you want for free. I didn't see anything I could use, it was all baby and toddler stuff....grrr.. My only purchases were an Operation game (with all the pieces), a giant floor size Chinese Checkers (10cents), a Calphalon 8in. saute pan that had been in the dishwasher (that's a no no) and one vintage Fire King soup bowl.I think I spent about $2.35. Honestly, that's all I could find.

My daughter bought a giant tub of My Little Ponies for $5.00 and there were 40 in there. She is going to make Custom My Little Ponies.  
Well maybe not that exotic...

And I felt so rotten that I didn't even take pictures.

It has to get better....on no....wait....I have to work today....and Monday is a very busy day at the doctor's office...

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU BANANAS.........MAKE LEMONADE?

Shopping is always fun when you find bargains. Or maybe you thought they were bargains. It's not a bargain if you don't do something with it and save it from the trash.

For example:

What do you do with four pounds of ripe bananas before they go bad? Now, you must realize that I don't do bananas. I can not eat a banana...period. Can't stand the texture....it just will not go from mouth to stomach without lots of ... well,.you know.  I do like banana muffins and banana bread. The texture is different and I don't have a problem eating bread and muffins. Of course some good ol' butter helps too.

I popped the ripe bananas into the bowl of my mixer and smushed (that is so a word) them up, added a teaspoon of lemon juice to keep them from going black and I now had 7 cups of banana to deal with.

Not to fear....I whipped out my trusty recycled plastic ware and packaged two containers of bananas and popped them in the freezer for another day. 5 cups down and 2 to go.

Banana Bundt Bread!!!

YUMMY!
Now to find something to do with this round thing.The empty tape roll. And I have already thought of a wheel for a toy something.
Any suggestions...

...besides my SweetiePie's suggestion of the trash can?  GASP....how dare he!!!!

PRODUCT REVIEW--GUMMY STUFF

When you are in the DollarStore do you just look at the junky stuff amazing variety of items available?

I saw this item when I was cruising the candy aisle.Proudly brought to you by YUPI brands,and squirting ketchup and mustard bottles.

What the......?
I just had to waste a dollar to find out what it was all about.

One gummy hot dog, with ketchup, mustard and I'm guessing the green is relish.
Two gummy hamburgers with ketchup, cheese and the green stuff again. Don't know where the "hamburger" is unless it is yellow or green.
Three gummy colas shaped like a bottle.
A gummy pizza, "cut" into 5 pieces topped with red, purple, yellow and of course green globs of toppings.
A pack of sour gummy fries, that are yellow and sprinkled with something that looks like salt.
250 calories of "YUM".
In order to be fair in my product review I decided to sample the gummies, "bursting with natural fruit juice!".
I think bursting is too strong a word for the gummies. Escaping, or oozing would be a more accurate choice. The hamburger bun tasted like a dried marshmallow, the ketchup, cheese and relish tasted like flavorless chewing gum and while the cola tasted sorta like a cola beverage it had the texture of pleather, you know, plastic leather.

The cutest thing was the packaging on the inside, the outside was kinda weird. The hamburger on the front has drawn on google eyes and the lettuce and cheese and hamburger look like plastic

Oh well I have wasted a dollar on much worse things.

And according to the package, the YUPI brand is a proud sponsor of the Rain Forest Rescue.

My recommendation, Save Your Dollar +tax
.
On this trip to the DollarStore it was easy to sort out the trash from the treasure.