The Recipe Box: Green Chicken Chili

Green Chicken Chili

From the recipe box of MrsB

While Esther and I talked recipes, I told her about a soup I had when I lunched at Luby's the other day. It was called Green Chicken Chili . I Googled Luby's for the recipe and discovered they have several variations of the recipe. The kind I had was White Green Chicken Chili with a creamy milk base.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
3/4cup all purpose flour
2 cups milk
3cups chicken broth
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1//2 cup chopped green chilis
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of garlic powder

Preparation

1. Over medium heat, melt butter and stir in flour. Add milk and chicken broth, stirring to avoid lumps.
2. Reduce heat, add chicken and chilies. Bring to simmer and serve.
3. The more chilis added, the spicier the soup.
4. Optional: Heavy whipping cream and a can of green enchilada sauce.

Green Chicken Chile

And they say dogs are dumb by KimB

Spring doesn't last long in the central valley of California. The summer is already announcing it's arrival with temperatures reaching the 90s.

We've made some adjustments to the house in hopes of avoiding the worst of the 115F heat to come. We added some fans, some new honeycomb window coverings on 3 windows that face west and get the full blast of the afternoon sun.

There's no other way to say it.... It's Just Hot!

As transplants from the cooler ocean side of California it always amazes us at how people here handle the heat, or rather don't. Both Allen and I lived in Arizona and we retain the old custom of "walk in any shade you can find."

It used to be a standard joke that you could tell people from Arizona because they would walk from one tiny bit of shade to another, even if it meant walking an extra 50 feet. When we get out of the car at a mall, we walk from one lollipop tree to next lollipop tree just for an extra 3 steps of shade.

For some reason, people here seem oblivious. They by pass any shade even if it's 1 foot away. They go out in the hottest part of the day. They run and jog and do parkour even when the trees are wilting.

The worst part is they take their dogs with them or rather tow the dogs with them. It's so hot the dogs are leaning towards any shade they see. When the owners stop at a crossing to wait for the light, the dogs are picking up their paws because the sidewalk is so hot. An owner stops for 100 pushups and the dog lies down, tongue hanging out, at the farthest end of the leash, to get to some shade. The owner just keeps doing pushups in the full blast of the heat of the day. You can almost hear the dog say to their owner, "Yeah, just keep on doing those pushups, I'm cool over here, you get all hot if you like."

The owners come dressed for heat. The standard attire here all year round consists of shorts and a tee, sandals/light weight sneakers. Hats are optional. Even most businesses recognize shorts as standard business attire. The dogs are not always so fortunate. Heavy coated Huskies and St. Bernard's get towed thru the worst of the heat. The local pet groomers do a landslide business in shaving long haired dogs for the summer.

There seems to be an inverse correlation between heat and sense. The dogs know to get out of the heat, the people don't. And they say dogs are dumb....

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB.]



Spring in the Central Valley

Between a rock and... a potato? by KimB

I'm a city kid. My family came from farming backgrounds and I like to pretend I'm a “country girl” but really I'm just a city kid from the suburbs of Los Angeles.

Like the story Game of Thrones, I “know nothing John Snow”, about gardening. Everything I've learned has been from books or by trial and error. I have had some pretty good luck with all that book learning for growing things, except for one: I cannot grow potatoes (hangs head in embarrassment).

The long epic story of potato growing attempts came from years back, when I watched a TV gardening program, that showed “how easy” it was to grow them in a container.

“OK,” I thought. “That's the ticket. I'm growin' some spuds!”

Well, years later and my spud growing attempts have never been all that good. Yet, I keep trying. I go for the challenge now. Hope is a marvelous thing.

I've tried a number of techniques over the years, based on tips from other gardeners who claim they get huge spuds. I think these stories of “giant spuds” must be akin to the “giant fish that got away” stories that fishermen tell. Yet, I duly note down new ideas or things to do to help with the taters. Nothing much has mattered so far.

I recently, asked a friend from Belarus, how do they grow potatoes there.  Everyone knows they grow loads of potatoes in that part of the world and her family has a small farm where potato growing is a necessity for food.

We went down the list of things I was doing. Dirt – yes. Potatoes for planting – yes. Fertilizer (organic) – yes. Water – yes. It didn't seem there was much I was missing, except the output part: actually getting more potatoes than I started with.

So, we moved along from the growing part to the harvesting part. For the biggest ones, harvest when the plants die back - check. Small ones you can get when the potatoes bloom - check.

After that she was stumped. “That's all there is to it.” she told me.

I said, “There must be something else? Something that I'm not getting right? I plant them, fert them, care for them and water them. There's something not right. If I were living in Belarus, I would have starved by now!”

Then after a pause, she said, “Well, you don't have to water them too much.” LIGHT BULB!

After a quick review of my watering routines, she determined that I was giving them too much water. Of course, I was pretty sure this really wasn't the problem but I agreed to cut off the water to see what happened.

Soon the plants died. Great! Or maybe not... Just dried old sticks in a pot. How attractive.

On a whim, I stuck my hand into the dried out compost left in the pot, just to test. The first thing I felt was this large rock. I wiggled my fingers around this rock, it was pretty good size rock. I couldn't figure out how a “rock” got into one of my planting containers. Did someone throw a rock in when I wasn't looking? How could a rock get in here? I wiggled my fingers around the rock to remove it from my pot. I was pretty annoyed that someone, some how, had put a huge rock in my pot.

After a good yank, I got the rock out.... I nearly fell over in shock with what I had in my hand: A potato! A REAL potato! And there was not just one, but a lot of potatoes! And more and more potatoes kept coming out of the container!

Addendum:
It tasted WONDERFUL. Just nuked with a bit of butter. And, I have another container of potatoes that I'm looking forward to rock hunting in.

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB.]



Potato Harvest May 2013

Sewing Machine Woes Update

My trials and tribulations with my sewing machine continues.

I anticipated sewing with my new $80 machine with the re-designed spool spindle sans frustration, but it wasn't long before I was spending more time 'fixing' the machine to sew than I actually sewed.

The project of sewing diamonds together to form 8 pointed stars should have gone smoothly, but I had to re- thread the machine as each diamond was joined.

At first, I thought adjusting the various dials according to the manual was the solution, but, alas, that was not the answer. Perhaps a burr on an internal casting either cut or broke the thread every time I re-positioned a diamond to sew on another.

What to do Percy? What to do?

I liked the machine and thought an exchange at the store might be in order. What were the odds of an identical machine having the same problem? While pondering this question, a friend, who restores and sells Singer Featherlight machines, offered to sell me a Singer 301A for a reasonable price.

No need to ask What to do, Percy? What to do? Before he could change his mind, I accepted his offer.

This machine is the best sewing machine ever made and I”m lucky to have one. It only sews a straight seam, no zig zag stitches and it lacks an automatic needle threader, but for my quilting purposes I couldn't ask for a better machine.

I'll find out if my sewing woes are over when I get the machine and start sewing.



Singer 301a Sewing Machine

So How Does YOUR Garden Grow?

Kim

A picture is worth a thousand words... I wish there were a thousand bites to share.



Mini Zucchini

Sewing Machine Woes

My sewing machine broke, but I didn't realize it was broken. I thought a thread jam was the reason it wouldn't sew, but after cleaning the bobbin race, it was obvious something was wrong, possibly broken.

I hoped what ever the cause, it could be repaired, but the clerk at the repair shop said that labor and the replacement part would cost more than a new sewing machine and suggested I just buy another machine.

A new machine similar to my broken one was $74 at Walmart and the bill at the repair shop would have been $100. The decision to buy new was a no brainer.

After diligently comparing the stats of the various machines, I chose a later model of the same brand as my old one, and was a happy camper as I looked forward to working on my latest sewing project.

New features in design promised ease of sewing, but the 'updated' changes in the design of the bobbin race were too radical for me. It was frustrating and I longed for the old style. After researching sewing machines online, I found one, but it too had 'updated' the spindle for holding a spool of thread.

I finally resigned myself to acceptance of the world wide penchant for changing what works to what 'modern' technology calls progress. I returned the $74 sewing machine and purchased the $80 model I had seen on the net.

I'm back sewing on my project, and so far, so good. The sewing is going smoothly and the machine is enough like my favorite old fashioned style that I can cope with the spool holder as needed. I don't see the reason for having changed it, but I suppose beginner seamstresses will think it the best style, never having known the best, original design that never failed until some bright person thought a change was necessary.



Sewing Machine Bobbins