Snow Day!

I love working from home. By working I mean doing laundry, watching TV, blogging, hanging out with Lola and (most importantly) packing for Mexico. I can't wait to hit the beach and leave all this winter behind for a week. 

On a somewhat related topic; when we bought this place we really liked the nature preserve that borders the property. I had a feeling it might be an awesome sight in the snow. Turns out I was right. 

Damn you humans!

Dan's parents bought Lola a sweater. We've never put clothes on her before so we weren't sure what to expect. I will be sleeping with one eye open from now on. Have you ever seen a death glare quite like this one? Didn't think so...

Recipe Swap 2008

I love Shelby's idea for a recipe swap. I didn't grow up eating green bean casserole but a family friend asked me to make one last year. I found Paula Deen's green beans (you have to say it with a Southern accent) and made a few adjustments, mainly for my picky husband who can spot a bit of mushroom from across the room (and complain like a little girl). Here it is, enjoy.

Paula Deen's Green Beans

Ingredients:

2 cups sliced green beans

1/3 stick butter (obv)

1/2 cup diced onions (I use shallots as well)

1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (optional for wives with picky husbands)

3 cups chicken broth

1 10 ounce can cream of mushroom (substitute cream of chicken to avoid childish whining)

1 can french fried onions (necessary)

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup grated cheddar (delicious)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Saute the onions (shallots) and mushrooms in the butter. Boil the green beans in chicken broth for 10 minutes and drain. Add the green beans, mushroom (chicken) soup and salt/pepper to the onion mixture. Stir well. Pour into a greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes, then top the casserole with the cheddar and bake for 10 minutes longer, or until the casserole is hot and cheese is melted. Top with french friend onions. 

Paula says to stir the french fried onions into the mixture before you bake it but I don't like soggy onions so I just put them on top at the very end.

This recipe also calls for her house seasoning but I've found that salt and pepper work just as well, the soup is really salty so you don't need much. 

I usually double the recipe and bake in a big Pyrex. 

Bah Humblog

I've mentioned before that I'm not very fond of Christmas. I don't really hate it, but I certainly don't look forward to it either. I find it all really stressful and fake. I don't want to go on and on about rampant consumerism, greed, my horrible gift wrapping skills, shitty holiday work parties, getting hosed at the annual white elephant exchange or someone who will remain unnamed bitching every year about putting up the tree and then bitching about taking it down. No, I won't go into it. Suffice to say I don't like Christmas because of the crappy music. I blame Mariah Carey...and Starbucks.

So this year we're spending Christmas in Mazatlan and we've enforced a very strict no gift policy. It might be the perfect Christmas. I'll let you know.