quotable

Chickadee: I can do it! I'm strong! I'm strong like a bunny!

Go get 'em sweetheart.

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Irish Stew

I know I have posted this before, but just in case you missed it, I must post it again. It is thrifty and easy and a perfect recipe for a beginning cook. Chop. Heat. Eat.

Irish Stew

In a heavy deep pot, sauté together:
1/4 C vegetable oil
1-2 lbs stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces

When beef is browned on all sides, add:
6 good-sized cloves of garlic, minced

When garlic is golden and aromatic, add:
8 C liquid: beef broth or water
2 T tomato paste
1 T dried thyme
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T sugar
2 bay leaves

Simmer together for one hour.



In another pot, combine & sauté until golden:
2 T butter
6-8 C of ½ inch pieces of potatoes
1-2 chopped onions
2-3 C ½ inch pieces of carrots

Add veggies to meat. Simmer together for about 45 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Serve topped with a dab of sour cream and chopped fresh parsley.

This recipe is even yummier the second day and is ideal for crockpot reheating.

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Christmas cuteness

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quickie

• Jamie and Chickadee are building a kit doll-house, though I get to take a turn next weekend, I'm told.
• Chickadee made dinner for us tonight ala Mollie Katzen (the whole thing with ZIPPO mom help, though I did sit in the kitchen for 3.5 hours and supervise).
• I slogged through the towering pile of medical bills and E.O.B.s and am finally done with 2009, fiscally speaking.
• Dandy has lost his bedroom (again).
• My online class open on Thursday and it is all loaded up. As in, every assignment, task, discussion board, quiz, and essay assignment for the entire quarter is in place this very minute. I just have to answer questions and grade from here on in. This is -- in the life of an on-line educator -- indescribably delicious.
• We are buying daffodils and looking at seed catalogs and fostering a strong denial of how much winter we still have to endure. Can't we just fast-forward to April?

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