Glen can't say no...or I feel like a killjoy

Was it just on Wednesday that Glen commented to me that he misses being at home? Between school, "Hello, Dolly" (which opens on the 2nd), scouts and church stuff, he's been gone. A lot.

So he was lamenting that he's never home. Then on Thursday he calls to say that Valerie from the Arts Council has free tickets for us for the Gina Sicilia concert (which was tonight) and do we want to go. I knew he'd be at school all day working on the "Hello, Dolly" set and all we knew about Gina was that she did jazz music. As a general rule, I don't like jazz. As a general rule, Glen doesn't even listen to music (unless I'm the one who put it on). I don't even know if he owns a CD (though he does buy them for use at school).

So, I mention some of those things to Glen but also say that if he wants to go, I'd go with him because I try not to be too much of a killjoy, stick-in-the-mud, party pooper. But I really didn't want to go.

He said he wanted to go. It would be a date. I told him it doesn't count as a date when you bring your children along. But I guess he just couldn't he turn down free tickets? He ordered 4 of them.

Tonight Hannah threw a fit and begged not to be forced to go, and Glen finally relented, so she stayed home with Alex (who also didn't want to go...last concert we took him to, he fell asleep before it even started). So, I guess now it counted as a date.

No joke...they weren't 2 minutes into the first number when Glen looks at me and says he's ready to go home. Of course, we waited till intermission...an hour later. I actually kind of liked the music and tapped my toes to the first 2 songs. Turns out she's a blues singer. I'm not really into blues, either, but she has a terrific voice. However, each song had an electric guitar solo...I don't like electric guitars.

Also, each song was too much like the one preceeding it...and it was hard to understand the words because the instruments were too loud (Glen mistook "the red rooster was lazy" for "the red rooster lays eggs" and I mistook "kissing in the dark" for "kissing a dog" but a lot of the time I couldn't understand any words at all).

Which brings up stupid lyrics. She sang a song she wrote about a child whose only friend was a cherry tree and then someone chopped down the tree (and the only reason I know what the song was about was because she told us and not because I understood what she was singing). Give me a break.

But Gina really has an amazing voice. Here's a link to a youtube if you want to hear her voice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bIMMEMg_AA&feature=related

OK. I promise to be in a more positive mood in the morning.

recipe club-soups

Our Relief Society has a recipe club that meets every other month. We met on Tuesday and had 4 soups to share. They were all really delicious, so I thought I'd post the recipes here:


Spinach Potato Soup (Terra)

1/4 c margarine
onion to taste
2 celery stalks with leaves

Sautée until tender (5 minutes or so)

Add:
1/4 c flour 3 c water
2 c diced potatoes 2 t salt

Cover and cook until tender (about 15 minutes)

Add:
1 c chopped fresh spinach 1/2 c half and half

Heat through and serve with Parmesan cheese.

Just a note, she made it with 1% milk instead of half-and-half and it turned out great.



Sylvia's Chicken Soup

2-3 large chicken breasts, diced
2-3 t poultry seasoning
1/2-1 t or to taste of each of the following:
salt pepper
Lawry's salt onion powder
dried parsley
2-3 cans chicken broth
3 medium carrots, diced
5+ red or yellow potatoes, unpeeled and diced
1 small onion
3 celery ribs, chopped
2-3 bay leaves
1 can corn, drained
1 can green beans, drained
home-style noodles (optional)

Brown chicken with poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, onion powder in a large pot with a little oil. Add diced onion and chicken broth. Add remaining vegetables (except green beans and corn) and bay leaves. Simmer until carrots and potatoes are cooked. If adding noodles: when carrots and potatoes are still slightly hard, add noodles and cook until noodles are done. Add the corn and green beans and season additionally to taste. Remove bay leaves before serving.



No-Soak Black Bean Soup by Nancy

1 T olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into 1" pieces
7 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound dried black beans, rinsed and drained
5 cups water
3 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth
2 (4 oz) cans chopped green chilies, undrained
1 T ground cumin
1 t dried thyme leaves
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
2 dried bay leaves
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
1/4 c finely chopped cilantro

1. Add olive oil to a 5-quart slow cooker and turn it to the highest setting. Stir in yellow onion and cook 5 minutes. Add green bell pepper, garlic, beans, water, broth, chilies, cumin, thyme, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Cover and cook on high for at least 8 hours.

2. Remove bay leaves. Before serving, blend with a hand mixer or hand-held submersible blender until the mixture is thick, with beans, onion and pepper still visible.

3. Ladle into soup bowls and top each serving with 1 T sour cream and 1 t each red bell pepper and white onion. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serves 8.

Nutritional facts per serving: 270 calories, 5g fat, 13 g protein, 45 g carbohydrates, 16 g fiber, 460 mg sodium



Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup from AOL Food (me)

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (optional)
7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil
(I also add a can of drained black beans)

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

Nutritional information per serving: Calories 267cal Total fat 11g Cholesterol 44mg Sodium 924mg Carbohydrates 25g Fiber 4g

music from my childhood

I added a few songs to the end of my playlist. As I was cleaning today I decided to look up some songs from my childhood. My sister and I used to play our dad's records and some of the songs have really stuck with me.

Deni, do you remember playing "Zorba the Greek" when we lived in Franklin and we would start to slowly walk around the "loop" from the kitchen to the dining room to the living room and back to the kitchen again? As the music would pick up speed, so would we. By the end we were going pretty fast. For all I know we only ever did that once or twice, but it has really stuck with me and is a fun memory from my childhood. And I know you remember "while driving in my cadillac, much to my surprise..." beep beep Didn't we used to speed up for that song as well?

Have I forgotten any songs that should be there?

Speaking of music...I'm sorry to say that the Lorentzens did not win the CBS Singing Family Face Off contest. :(

craft project from Intervention

Last night was "Intervention"...7 wonderful hours of friends, food, conversation, and in my case, crafts. I took cheap clipboards from Wal-mart, painted them with several coats of white gesso, and then stamped and added colored to them. I thought they came out rather nicely. Here are the final products:

Lorentzens on The Early Show

Well, here's the link to my old roomie's children singing on national TV. Voting goes until Monday 3 pm EST.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/10/earlyshow/series/singingfamily_faceoff/main4790097.shtml

I thought they did a great job and I like them better than their opponents, the Peays.