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Football Friday Week 5-CONFERENCE PLAY!!!

9/30/2011

Football

Friday

Discussion

Week 5

Conference Play!!!!!!

Finally.

Is all I can say!

But what I think is not important.
The important part is to see what these guys have to say to say about this week's exciting games....

Big 10

IOWA:
Silver Fox:

Black And Gold Girl:The win last week gave Iowa another level of confidence that should go far the rest of the season, and with a bye week they'll have time to marinade in it. The first conference game will give us a true picture of where we're at, but its obvious that we have an embarrassment of riches in wide receivers. The game to watch this weekend is Wisconsin and Nebraska!

Hawkinator:

Turnkey Tim:As the weeks roll on, we will see some shakeups in the rankings. Nebraska at Wisconsin is this week's big game. Iowa played good last week. Love the two minute offense. I have been real busy this week so my comments are short. Go Hawks!
Power Rankings:
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Illinois
Michigan
Ohio State
Iowa
Michigan State
Penn State
Northwestern
Purdue
Indiana
Minnesota

MINNESOTA:
Ace: Well I was hoping the Gophers would be off this week like they were last week, no wait, they got beat by perenial midwest power North Dakota State. And this week they travel to Michigan where they win every 6 presidents or so. They could be without their best offensive and defensive players due to injury and hopefully after a trip to Mayo, Coach Kill won't suffer any more seizures. Although this could get ugly and he might wish he was back at the world renowned clinic. There are some things in Minnesota that are the best in the world. Too bad college football isn't one of them. I'd switch to being a pro football fan in Minny but there hasn't been a professional team there for awhile. Geez is this what being a Cubs fan feels like? At least the Twinkies avoided losing a hundred games. I need a brewskie!! or two, or three or--------------------------------------->>

OHIO STATE:
Buck-I:

MICHIGAN:
A'maize'n Blue:

NEBRASKA:
BO BIG RED: Nebraska goes on the road to play wisconsin in a prime time game saturday night,it will be close,#8 Nebraska against # 7 Wisconsin,and Big Red is the under dog this week. Both undefeated teams square off on CBS saturday night ,but Wisconsin,has'nt played anybody this year,... YET. BIG RED will be wearing BLACK SHIRT jersey's this week which will pump them up especially Crick on defense who took over for SUH who is in the NFL on another undefeated team in Detroit.Crick will have to be at his best,and Martinez Needs to get his feet back and run 100 yards plus and accurate passing game,will help,if Nebraska can show up on offense and defense this week,they will be unbeatable.This will be close but Nebraska will move up this week after beating wisconsin by a touchdown.this will go down to the last possesion,and NEBRASKA is a second half team ,they play all 4 quarters,and well conditioned.4th quarter will be the difference,and NEBRASKA will be standing at the end!!!!! BLACK SHIRTS will prevail and on National Television,to show the BIG TEN whose Boss!!!!!!

PENN STATE:
Wakow: Penn State has it's quarterback. Matt McGloin won Big 10 honors this week being named the co-offensive player of the week. After a rusty start with Bolden at the helm it looked as though Penn State was going to have another rough go, but it didn't take long for McGloin to get things rolling once Bolden was replaced. McGloin threw 3 TD passes and started the day 8 for 8 and ending it 14 of 17 with 220 yards. Look for another big showing from McGoin in week 5 as the Lions take on
Indiana in their Big 10 opener. The final score should resemble the 34-6 shellacking of EMU.

WISCONSIN:
Wisconsin Steve: First time two top 10 teams playing at Wisconsin since 1962. I have a feeling that the Badgers will prevail but the Corn Huskers are looking pretty good. Me, I'm headed to Laubeau Field for the Packer Game but Kim & I will be watching the game from our hotel over looking Lake Michigan.... Ahh football fans....life couldn't get better with the cavet that the Brewers are in the playoffs..... Wisconsin Steve is a happy man tonight~!! .AOLWebSuite .AOLPicturesFullSizeLink { height: 1px; width: 1px; overflow: hidden; }.AOLWebSuite a { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer; }.AOLWebSuite a.hsSig { cursor: default; }

Bill's Big 10 Corner:
Conference play is upon us and we have five games to look at this weekend:
Minnesota at Michigan : should be a win for Michigan as they move to 5-0
Northwestern at Illinois : Dan Persa returns for NW, however Illinois is at home and also moves to 5-0
Penn St at Indiana : Penn St won by 17 last year and is favored by 17 this year
Michigan St and Ohio St : Two 3-1 teams meet in an interesting match up, I'll take OSU only because they are at the horseshoe
Nebraska at Wisconsin : Saving the best for last. What a way to welcome Nebraska to the Big 10! Russell Wilson and the Badger fans make the difference and Wisky wins.

Big 12

Texas
Bevo jr:As the Longhorns found out last season, there are no ‘gimmee’ or ‘bunny’ games; and this week’s opponent Iowa State proved that to us last year – in Austin. Confidence (or over confidence) must be supported by “substance”, both of which are more prominent and balanced for UT this year. At 3-0 these Cyclones are for real and must be respected; we can’t let this be the trap game that starts the downward spiral again. We have to get after, contain, and “dump” that slippery QB Steel Jantz as often as possible to keep the ‘Clones’ off-balance, a real challenge in Ames. We had a bye-week to get ready.

Look for the Horns to pound it right at ‘em on the ground. POUND- POUND-POUND!!! Our 1-2 quarterback system provides a variety of options, and will be expanded this game with more new looks for David Ash. Case McCoy will ‘air it out’, Malcolm Brown can chew up yards, and if DJ (the jet) Monroe gets loose in space he could break the sound barrier. It’s also about time for our “D” to have a break out game - like QB sacks maybe!

The line for the game is +9-1/2 for Texas; ergo my prediction Horns win 35-1/2 to 26. (It could happen). Darius is a name you could hear often this game.

HOOK ‘EM!

Oklahoma State
Boone's Boy:The Pokes have a Bye this week giving them a little extra preparation for their next test, the Kansas Jayhawks. My attention will be focused on the game of the week, Nebraska vs. Wisconsin. Need a big win from the Husker’s this week even though they left us for the Big 10. Score 35- 28 Husker’s.

Alabama has another big test in Florida, but the Tide should be able to pull out the victory against another top 25 team (Alab. 28 Gators 24). And last of all, Texas A&M will get their first SEC test against Arkansas. Should be a tough one especially after coming off a big loss to OKLAHOMA STATE. Aggies 21 Ark 35.

Texas A&M
Hullabaloo:I sure do hope coach Mike Sherman has figured out what happened in the 2nd half of the OSU debacle because I still don’t know. Talk about spiraling out of control and it happened so fast! No time to feel sorry for ourselves because we’re off to Dallas to play future SEC rival Arkansas in Jerryworld. It’s important for the Aggies not to carry the hangover of that lost into this game. Can’t get beat twice as they say. Arkansas is trying to bounce back from their own tough loss to Alabama last week so both teams will be hungry. If the Aggies are going to win this game the defense particularly the secondary has to play a whole lot better/(faster) than it did against OSU. Razorback QB Tyler Wilson has played well so far this season and has three solid targets in Joe Adams, Jarius Wright and Cobi Hamilton. Aggie QB Ryan Tannehill has to outplay Wilson this week and not make the same mistakes as last week (three interceptions!). A strong pass rush lead by LB Sean Porter will help. And Mike Sherman, you have two good running backs and a huge offensive line so please run the dang ball. Christine Michael looks hungry so feed him! Aggies – 31; Razorbacks – 27 in a nail-biter. GIG EM’!

Pac-12

Colorado
Buffalo Up:

Utah
Red 5 Standing By:The Utah Utes host their first Pac-12 home game this week, facing the Washington Huskies on Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City. This should be a match of strength-on-strength: so far this year, Washington’s offense has been nearly unstoppable, while Utah’s ball-hawking defense has stuffed opponents and caused turnovers in all three of its games. As always, turnovers will be critical to this game, since it’s now clear that the best (and possibly only) way of keeping Washington out of the end zone is to keep their offense on the sidelines. With all the hubbub surrounding Utah’s first home game in its new conference, it should be a raucous environment in Rice-Eccles Stadium. Plus, Utah’s record after a bye week in the past 10 years is almost perfect. Look for the Utes to prevail 35-24.

Would Love To Have Volunteer Fan Commentators From:

Big 10
Illinois
Michigan state
Purdue
Northwestern
Indiana

Big 12
Have Texas and Oklahoma State, Texas A&M...how about Oklahoma, Iowa State etc

Pac-12
Any fans out there? I have Colorado and Utah covered, how about other team fans?
Independent team fans?
Open to suggestions, Notre Dame? etc :)

Email me (Angie) at salesturnkeyauto@aol.com
or comment on this here post with your email.
Thanks!

Has Anyone Seen My Creative Mojo?

9/25/2011

Hey!

Has anyone seen my

CREATIVE MOJO?!?!

I thought I left it on the counter by my car keys.

Come to think of it, has anyone seen my car keys?

Uh yeah.

So I can DECORATE SEASONALLY

with the best of them.
My decor skills aren't too bad really. In fact, I was pretty okay.
Or at least I USED to be.

You just had to have the ideas and the stuff
to decorate with.

Oh, let me tell ya, I have the stuff.

Stuff

Um, by the way, this picture and the next are of just my Christmas stuff; mostly vintage.

Lots

Of

Stuff.

Lots!!

I AM A SICK SICK PERSON! I KNOW THAT! ENOUGH ALREADY!

Fall, Spring, Easter, Christmas, Winter, St. Patrick's Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Halloween, New Years, Summer, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Graduations.
I got tons of stuff. That's not the problem.

I even have stuff left in my antique barn I can use for decorating any season or holiday of the year.
The stuff may not look real pretty in these pictures but everything cleans up nice with a little
soap and water. And disinfectant.

I have little creativity left in me; that's the problem.

And the small amount of decor talent I have left is rather, uh, open for interpretation.

It wasn't always like this.

Last Fall I had no problem putting together seasonal vignettes in the house.

In fact, last year this fall vignette was kind of cute on top of the radiator cover,
wasn't it?

My mom took away my favorite spot to bask in the warmth of the fall sun.

And it became even more cuter when Vinny made himself part of the display on a daily basis.

One problem though.

For days, I kept having to pick that orange box on the left up off the floor.

I could not figure out why that box kept falling off five times a day.

And then one day
I caught Vinny red-handed.

I saw Vinny take his paw and swipe that box right off that register cover.

And then look down at the fallen object like,

"I hope you're REALLY dead
THIS time
Box."

*sigh*

Well, wanna know what that same display on the register cover looks like THIS YEAR?
Look below but don't be jealous.

Seriously, most two year olds would do a way better job than this!

Holy crap,

it looks like a two year old put this together!

My decorating mojo is off;

I just can't get it together.

LAST FALL, I prettied up the top of my kitchen cupboards...

Nothing that's gonna blow your socks off, but still, pretty, fallish and festive.

Now let me introduce you to this year's vignette on top of the kitchen cupboards

Me look pretty again one day when Angie gets her mojo back.

And then we have the dining room table LAST YEAR
with the step-back cupboard display.

Clean, simple, bold colors of a pretty
Fall season in Iowa.

Simple is good. Except when it's boring. But this was pretty.

Now we come to THIS YEAR'S
dining room table....
ta-daaaa.....drum roll please...

Wow.

Stunning, isn't it?

Told ya I lost my mojo.

Gobble gobble

But I do love love love this super sweet turkey salt and pepper shaker set my
mother-in-law found at the Rug Cottage And Barntiques. Love them.

Now brace yourself for THIS YEAR'S fall gorgeousness of the step-back cupboard (which was repainted and moved since last year.....)

Simply breathtaking.

This turquoise and white scheme just SCREAMS Fall this year, doesn't it??!!!

I'm especially diggin' the work shirt and belt hanging out of the candy bowl in this picture.

Good Golly Miss Molly, I NEED HELP!

There is some hope for me though.

See, I'm usually always one season ahead of the calender.
This predilection must go back to the antique shop I ran out of my barn and my need to set up seasonal displays well before the season approached.

So, really, I've bypassed Fall this year. :(

Wanna know the reason for my lack of mojo with Fall decorating this year?

I'll give ya one guesshohoho
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Yup!

That's right........

Oh Christmas tree,

I've

missed

you!

Christmas!

YAY!

Gosh, it seems like for-ever!

I'm looking forward to your snowy snow-capped......ways
and
your warm snuggly-ness snuggle .....things
and stained glass windows
and people in prayer at church celebrating the birth of The Son
and candy canes
and hot chocolate
and decorating a tree or two
and big dinners that make you want to never eat again or until the next morning comes
and jigsaw puzzles
and having the heat go off on Christmas Eve two years ago but having it come back on again two hours later
and shiny sparkly things
and nice smelling Christmas candles
and vintage Christmas albums playing on a 1940's turntable and it feels like you're really listening back in 1950 because the sound is so scratchy and frankly quite tin-ny
and don't play Elvis Presley's "I'll Be Home For Christmas" because your mother-in-law will get weepy
and soft, warm quilts made by your mother
and asking your sister to make up a variety plate of Christmas treats because you're too lazy and she'll do it because you guilt her into it by reminding her you saved her life six years ago with a bone marrow donation. Sheeez, I have to do EVERYTHING around here!

Merry Christmas!!!

Ooops, I mean have a happy fall Sunday!
Only 90 days till Christmas :)

Football Friday Discussion Week 4 - Power Rankings Included

9/23/2011

Football

Friday

Discussion

Week 4

I am late getting the comments on...sorry!

Some of this week's comments are hilarious!!!!!
Looking forward to next week where most teams are ready to rrruuuuuuummmmbbbllleee into conference play!

Let's see what these fans had to say about this week...

Big 10

IOWA:
Silver Fox: Here comes week 4 already! Whew! What a game last Saturday against Pitt. Pitt was better than I thought. And the Hawks finally came out of their sleepwalk in the fourth quarter. Yes, Vanderburg was dynamite in the comeback. But, the thing I liked even better was how fired up the defense got-finally! You could see it in the body language. Hope it's a constant. And does anybody know of there's a better group of wide receivers in college football than McNutt, K. Davis, and Martin-Manley? Now, it's up to Vandenburg and the offense to take advantage of that group- at least until we can get Coker to stop being so tentative and run like he did last year. And I don't think we should take Louisiana-Monroe lightly, because they played well against TCU last week. Plus, I think they played their first game against Auburn (LSU, I'm not sure). Like always, GO HAWKS!!!

Black And Gold Girl: In true Iowa fashion, the last two weeks took us down to the 4th quarter and then some. I don't look for the same experience in the upcoming game against ULM, but the Hawks have proven that you just never know. If we can play every quarter like we did the 4th quarter last week, we'll be back on our feet in no time.

Hawkinator: Well...coming off of last weeks "eeker" we are cautiously optimistic for the upcoming game against "Loser"anna-Monroe. :) Hopefully VanDenburg and the offense can play more than one quarter this week!! And, of course, we are pessimistically optimistic (hmmm) that our young safety's and lineman can keep improving their tackling and blitzing skills. In the end there will be too much of that "Iowa" thing going on for "Loser"anna to survive and we will dominate! Our prediction is IOWA 38 to LM 10. GO HAWKS!!

Turnkey Tim: My comments are going to be short this week because I’m hammer down getting cars ready to sell. Last week was certainly a thriller. It was great to see the Hawks come back in record setting style and get the victory over Pitt. The cat’s out of the bag with what Vandenberg and company can do on offense. When James Vandenberg came to Iowa, he was the most prolific passer in history in the state of Iowa; I think I now know why. Vandy is going to go on to be a great qb and I feel we have the best set of receivers not only in the Big 10 but possible in the country. Again, Soup Campbell’s cone a fantastic job with the receiver; he’s one of the best and it finally showed up on the field. Special teams were a lot better this past week. The defense rallied around the offense, got riled up and did an amazing job in the 4th quarter. This weeks game against UL-Monroe should be another tune-up game but don’t forget they pushed TCU pretty good for a while last week. They run a 3-3-5 defense which we don’t see all that often. It should be interesting to prepare for. Word is Coker is dinged up at running back and to me hasn’t looked at last season’s form yet this year. We need to develop some depth at running back. I’m looking to see how they handle that this week. All in all Turnkey Tim sells 2 cars this weekend and the Hawks win 32-17.

MINNESOTA:
Ace:

OHIO STATE:
Buck-I: Well.... I guess I was a little off on last weeks outcome. Jordan Hall coming back was really the only bright spot. As I was hoping, this week we will see true freshman Braxton Miller starting at qb. Miller did make mistakes last week but being pulled right after one is not a good idea in my mind. Colorado coming up this week will be a good time to start Miller to give him some experience and confidence before the conference games coming up. Following are my big ten power ratings. GO BUCKS!!!
1) Wisconsin
2) Nebraska
3) Illinois
4) Michigan
5) Ohio St
6) Iowa
7) Michigan St
8) Penn St
9) Northwestern
10) Purdue
11) Indiana
12) Minnesota

MICHIGAN:
A'maize'n Blue:

NEBRASKA:
Bo Big Red: Nebraska is on the road this week to wyoming another undeafeted team,but the last time the cowboys went 3 and 0 was 16 years ago and it won't be 4 and 0 this week at least not by the cowboy's.Nebraska moved up 2 in the rankings from #11 team in the Nation to #9 Wyoming has had success, and only game plan is have their freshman quarterback to hand off to their only good player the full back ,who is good,but let's be honest, to beat NEBRASKA you will not run over them,so when the freshman starts to pass,he will be picked off or sacked !!!! the BLACKSHIRTS are back !!!!!!! NEBRASKA BY 21 AT THE HALF.2nd HALF THE GET EVEN BETTER BO BIG RED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WISCONSIN:
Wisconsin Steve: Wisconsin Steve signing in albiet late! Been a long week here in the State of Wisconsin. Through the first three games Badgers 128 the unlucky foes 24. The prediction is they might hit tripple digits this week. Badger Russell Wilson is now on the short list for the Hiesman Award.........and only six in the Nation? Bring on Nebraska. PS: They moved the game time back......National TV? Ahhhhhh, life in the State of Wisconsin right now.......it couldn't get much better. Hey Tim........... good luck....let's hope your Hawks come out gunning this week! Wisconsin Steve signing out until next week...........

PENN STATE:
Wakow:

Bill's Big 10 Corner:
Bill: Not many competitive games this weekend so let's look at my Big 10 power ratings.
1) Wisconsin
2) Nebraska
3) Illinois
4) Michigan
5) Penn St
6) Ohio St
7) Iowa
8) Michigan St
9) Northwestern
10) Purdue
11) Minnesota
12) Indiana

Big 12

Texas
Bevo jr: ‘Bye’ week this Saturday after a great win against UCLA, 49-20. UT is now 3-0, (same as last year B4 the house of cards started crumbling).

The frosh & sophs are coming along very well on a very young Texas team. No major injuries so we will use the extra time to keep learning (new) coach Brian Harsin’s new playbook. Longhorns are havin’ a ball with the variety of plays and new looks. Hard bumps in the road ahead, for sure, but football in Austin is more fun than it’s been in 5 years. It’s a new day, it’s a new feeling.

Former starting QB Garrett Gilbert had shoulder surgery on Tuesday, and is out for the rest of the season.

Big 12 games to watch:

-Okla vs Missouri in Norman (Show me something MO);

- “points machine” Okla State vs lame-duck A&M (will their minds be in the game or thinking about moving their campus to Gooberville Mississippi?)

-Kansas State vs Miami in Thugsville USA (on 2nd thought, muggings are not all that fun to watch)

Power Ratings is a good idea; here’s how I see the Big 12:

1)      Oklahoma

2)      Oklahoma State

3)      Everybody else*

*lame ducks not included in Power Ratings (See SEC)

OU is still #1 until somebody finds their g-spot. Stoops is one of the best coaches in the game. It hurts to say that, but it’s true.

NEWSFLASH - The Big 12 is not flatlined yet; CPR is being attempted as we speak. HOOK ‘EM!

Oklahoma State
Boone's boy:

Texas A&M
Hullabaloo: Like they say in those beer commercials: Here we go! Preseason is finally over and we finally get to see how good this team really is. ESPN won’t admit it but this is the college football game of the week as the Aggies (#9) host the Oklahoma State Cowboys. This will be a battle of the two best offenses in the Big 12 so the winner will be the team that plays a little defense. So the Aggie defense has to play well up front and keep Brandon Weeden uncomfortable. Weeden has been a bit loose with the football this year but it hasn’t hurt him against inferior competition. The Aggies have to force turnovers and make OSU pay for them.   Cliché but the team with the fewest turnovers will win. Two pretty evenly matched teams but the Kyle Field advantage will be the difference. A&M 44 – OSU 34. Look for Ryan Tannehill and Cyrus Gray to have a huge games. Farmers Fight!

Pac-12

Colorado
Buffalo Up:

Utah
Red 5 Standing By:

Would Love To Have Volunteer Fan Commentators From:

Big 10
Illinois
Michigan state
Purdue
Northwestern
Indiana

Big 12
Have Texas and Oklahoma State, Texas A&M...how about Oklahoma, Iowa State etc

Pac-12
Any fans out there? I have Colorado and Utah covered, how about other team fans?
Independent team fans?
Open to suggestions, Notre Dame? etc :)

Email me (Angie) at salesturnkeyauto@aol.com
or comment on this here post with your email.
Thanks!

Oven Fried Chicken & Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars & Angie Dickinson

9/21/2011

Quick Note From Angie...If you cannot see the embedded recipes I talk about in this blog because of something saying "Current Adobe flash player needed" or something like that, please let me know in the comments. I may not use this new feature if folks can't see it. (You don't have to type your email; just comment)

Oh my goodness, don't even get me started!!

I figured out this new feature where I can "embed" documents
in this here blog.

Embedding is good for printing out recipes.

How many more times would you like me to keep saying "embed"?

I feel like Matlock.
Or Angie Dickinson when she was Police Woman.
Or Cagney.
OR Lacey.

Or Columbo.
YES, I am like Columbo, embedding documents in my posts.
Also, all my clothes are ALWAYS wrinkly just like Columbo's.

But if you must label me with a name, just call me Bond. James Bond.
Thank you.

Bond, James Bond is going to embed a document right now:

Okay, ENOUGH playing!
I really need to get to the Chicken part of
Chicken and Cheesecake.

Oven Fried Chicken
A Healthy Substitute For Fried Chicken Addicts (Angie).

This chicken is super moist and the coating is immensely flavorful. Keep your napkins handy because you will need them for this finger-lickin' recipe.

Here is the recipe......embedded below....in the box that I embedded...just like Angie Dickinson would have if given the chance to work Investigations...and if there were personal computers in the 1970's.

Food Network Oven Fried Chicken Link...CLICK HERE!

You want some, don't you? Well maybe not if you're vegetarian. Still.

Who just

got hungry

looking at

this picture

of Oven

Fried

Chicken?

Relatively few ingredients and truly easy to make.

The coating mixture can get the counter a little messy though.

And we begin the process that results in scrumptiousness:

Finely grind the cereal and toasts together in a food processor.

By the way, I used a food processor this time but what works just as well is a gallon size baggie and a rolling pin.

Transfer crumbs to a large gallon size bag.

Add the oil, salt, cayenne, paprika and ground pepper and toss to mix thoroughly.

Whisk the light mayonnaise and Dijon mustard together in a medium shallow bowl.

Add the chicken to the mayonnaise and turn to coat all the pieces evenly.

Drop the chicken into the bag, seal and shake until each piece is evenly coated.
Angie's note: The "shaking the chicken in the baggie" keeps the counter clean but does not evenly coat the chicken pieces so I set up a work station and use dishes.

So I set up the work station on the counter

Apparently the work station did not include adequate light because this picture is so dark!

The work station includes the chicken,
the bowl of mayonnaise mixture,
the crumb coating
and the cookie sheet with a cooking rack on top.

The cooking rack is very important but even more important...SPRAY THE RACK WITH COOKING SPRAY BEFORE YOU PUT THE COATED CHICKEN ON IT.
I know this from experience. It is no fun cleaning dried, baked-on chicken off a cooking rack. At all. In fact, it will put you in a very bad mood, so spray the rack generously!

Place coated pieces on the prepared rack. Spray the chicken pieces evenly with cooking spray.
DO NOT FORGET TO SPRAY THE CHICKEN AFTER IT IS ON THE RACK, this is key to browning and crispness!

Bake until the coating crisps and browns and the thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the pieces registers 160 degrees. 35 to 40 minutes.

Transfer to a platter and serve hot or
at room temperature.

Plate up with your favorite chicken sides and enjoy a healthy alternative to fried chicken.

Hellooooooo Gorgeousness!

And now onto the

Butterscotch Cheesecake

Bars

This picture kind of looks like the chicken, doesn't it? I swear it's not the chicken.

Mmmmm

Creaminess folded between layers of butterscotchness.

What?

Butterscotchness is a real word.

Isn't it?

Not many

ingredients

needed to

make this

Recipe of Delight

And I am going to be sly like Kojack,
and embed this recipe below.
Anybody have a lollipop?

Anybody want to suggest I stop with all this 1970's sleuth-language tomfoolery?

CLICK ON DOWNLOAD FILE TO GET THIS AWESOME BUTTERSCOTCH CHEESECAKE RECIPE!!

scan0003.pdf
File Size:	317 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Can you smell it yet, butter and butterscotch? Melted? In a gooey state?

In a medium saucepan, melt morsels and margarine.

Seriously?

GLADLY!

Stir in graham cracker crumbs and nuts.
Press half the mixture firmly onto bottom of greased 9x13 pan.

In large mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy, then add sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and egg. Mix well. Keep your fingers out of the bowl and leave some mixture for the actual cheesecake bars.
Really, I mean it. I dare you not to sneak a lick.
Pour into pan. Top with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool. Chill before cutting into bars. Keep refrigerated.

Keep going back to said refrigerator for more.

Convince yourself that you're just fulfilling your daily dairy intake with the cream cheese, butter and sweetened condensed milk.

Finally, hide the last two pieces in the back of the fridge, by the one year old pickles.

Hope everyone's having a good Wednesday!

2003 Buick Rendezvous CXL ~ FWD ~ Silver ~ Leather ~ 136K ~ FANTASTIC CONDITION ~ $5985

9/19/2011

Super Nice

2003 Buick Rendezvous CXL

136k Miles

$5985

Automatic, air conditioning, all power options,
leather interior, 3400 V6 engine.
Give us a call at 319-683-2850 or stop on out to test drive this super riding/driving Rendezvous!
Click on "Inventory" to view additional photos.

Some Big Games And Some Big Opinions Coming Up For Football Friday Discussion Week 3

9/16/2011

Week 3

Of The College

Football Season!

Well if last weekend's college football-watching wasn't exciting enough
with several near losses, near wins and a football coach down on the field (well-wishes to Minnesota's Coach Kill),
we'll see what this week brings!
Am still looking for more Guest Commentators...are you a fan or know a fan of a team not represented? Check at the end of this post for information on how to guest commentate.

A hearty blue and white shout-out to
new commentator Wakow, a big Penn State fan.
Welcome aboard and we look forward to reading your perspectives on JoPa and his Nittany Lions!

Grab your Hot Chocolate
if you're in the 50 degree Midwest

or your Iced Tea
if you're in 100 degree Texas

and
let's see what fans are predicting this week...

Big 10

IOWA:
Silver Fox: Here's my thoughts for week 3. But, going back to the previous week 2---of course I was disappointed. The inexperience and the number of underclassmen playing for the Hawkeyes were very evident. And Iowa State played well after the first quarter. Plus, they were at home. Iowa's defense was close to making tackles in the Iowa State's backfield, but just didn't quite finish most of the time. I can't fault them for lack of effort. And during the 13 seasons of Coach Ferentz's tenure (with Norm Parker as defensive coordinator), I don't recall an Iowa defense blitzing and rushing into the opponent's backfield as much as this year's team so far. So don't stop this strategy now. Eventually the defense will begin to make the necessary stops. Especially after reading where Mike Daniels felt like he let the team down, and as a senior he vowed to do better as should be a leader on defense. With better focus will come better effort. This defense has the athletes. As for the offense, it helped that Marcus Coker played better. It would help if the running plays didn't take so long to develop, allowing the other team's defense (i.e. their linebackers) to focus on getting to our ball carrier. Vanderburg was inconsistent passing. I have to admit, though, I didn't know he was able to run with the ball so well.
As concerns, this week's game against Pitt; I expect the Hawks to do better and win, and maybe win in a big way. Pitt has played 2 games against weaker competion so far.

Black And Gold Girl: I expect Iowa to do well coming off of last week's disappointment. The game against Pittsburgh will help them regain their footing and hopefully get some confidence back. What we learned last week is that having an all-star receiver like McNutt can't save games for us, especially if the passes aren't accurate. We'll need to step it up to the next level on both offense and defense, I think a lot of times last year the defense would be extraordinary when the offense was less than and vice versa. Look for them to improve - Go Hawks!

Hawk Guy:

Hawkinator:

Turnkey Tim: To say last week's game was a disappointment would be an understatement. We've been down this road before. My biggest concern is coaching. We are the easiest team to game plan for. Not going for it on 4th and 1 and not going for the field goal with 1 min 17 left in the 4th quarter and two time outs left, playing for overtime. Reminds me of Ohio State 2009. Yes, we lost that one too. Iowa State punted two times all day. Two times! If we could not stop them from scoring, then not gonna happen in overtime when everyone on defense is worn down. When we kicked the field goal in overtime, game over. There were some positives. Our field goal kicker was 4 for 4 with one from 50 yards. Keenan Davis had a good game at wide receiver. The thing we have seen Ferentz's teams do in the past is bounce back from tough losses. This week's game is huge for the Hawks to have a successful season. I won't throw in the towel yet. If the offense improves and has a good game, Hawks win. Bottom line, look for a more determined Hawkeye team this week. If we make necessary adjustments on defense, improve kicking team coverage and crank up the Metallica coming out of the tunnel along with the rabid home crown chanting "Lets go Hawks", Iowa wins 24-14.

MINNESOTA:
Ace: Well this will be a bit short as I am trying to get ready to leave for Austin Texas for the 10th annual ACL festival, sorry i missed last week but I was fishin. Speakin of fishin the Gophers will be fishin for their first win of the season against Miami of Ohio. More importantly Coach Kill is expected to be on the sidelines after suffering a seizure during the end of last weeks loss to New Mexico State. Really New Mexico State? Look for the Gophers to pull out a win after admitting that they overlooked the Aggies after almost beating perrenial power USC. Time will tell if the Gophers are going to develop into a better team but first they need to resolve their Quarterback issue. Well talk to ya'll next week. Stay Cool Currently 56 degress in Iowa City and 100 degrees in Austin. Hope the beer is cold.

OHIO STATE:
Buck-I: This week we'll probably see another close game but not so sure which will come out on top. On the defensive side, Nathan Williams is out for a month with an injury which will mean a redshirt freshman will be starting in his place. On the offensive side, Jordan Hall is back from being suspended and could be starting at tailback. He has more experience running & catching the ball which could help quite a bit. The Huricanes have players coming off of suspensions as well. Will they be rusty? We will have to wait and see. Miami runs a more NFL style offense which could be better for the OSU defense. After last weeks game with Toledo, the offense and defense looked a little more shaky than they did against Akron. I would expect, if Bauserman struggles early it could be Braxton Miller time. This game could go either way but I don't expect a blowout. GO BUCKS!!!

MICHIGAN:
A'maize'n Blue:

NEBRASKA:
Bo Big Red: Playing against the HUSKIES this weekend,and yes they beat us in the Holiday Bowl, last year ,but just like FRESNO STATE ,the claim anyone and anywher at anytime ,except at MEMORIAL STADIUM in LINCOLN NEBRASKA ,evedently !!! I'm not saying we played well ,and yes we have a lot of youngen's on are team,can you imagine in 2 more years.We will be unstoppable!!! The Huskers have an axe to grind with losing the holiday bowl,and no one comes in our house and wins !!!! NEBRASKA by 2 touch downs and the BLACK SHIRTS will play both halves this game. BO BIG RED.

WISCONSIN:
Wisconsin Steve: Wisconsin Steve signing in.
Predictions are as follows: Badger quarterback passing 1 1/2 gaines 24 of 27. 355 yards, 5 TDS - 0 INT. Now let's expand on the new Soldier Field. It looks like an alien in my opinion. Worst job EVER. Back to the Badgers.....I predict that they are not only going to smoke but ignite fire! As to my brother in law......I predict that the Hawks are going to come on blazin this weekend. They were impressive last week even with the three overtimes they endured. I know our Badgers are born from the loins of the Hawks............but brother......let the games begin! Signing out......... Wisconsin Steve

PENN STATE:
Wakow: Penn State looks to rebound from a tough loss to Alabama last week with big game against the well improved Temple Owls. The Owls, an in state rival, have a legitimate running game, but Penn State's defense should handle it with ease. With Bolden shoring up his place as Penn State's 2011 QB showing leadership and significant improvement as he
moved the ball down field against a stingy Alabama defense (Penn State's only scoring drives of the game) the Owls will be left on their heels for most of the game. Look for a Big win for the Lions. Prediction: Penn State 35. Owls 6

Bill's Big 10 Corner:
Bill: The Big 10 was 7-5 this past weekend with Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Penn St and Purdue suffering the loses. My "game ball" goes to the QB's from Iowa St and Michigan for big come back wins.
Challenging Big 10 games this week:
Pittsburgh at Iowa - Can Iowa recover from the ISU loss? Although as we can see Iowa has a young team, I think the home crowd will be the difference and the Hawks win.
Miami, Oh at Minnesota - Have to go with Miami in this one until Minnesota shows me a win.
Arz St at Illinois - Illinois could be a surprise team this year. I'll take em.
Mich St at Notre Dame - Notre Dame to start 0-3, why not.
Ohio State at Miami, Fla - Ohio St struggled with Toledo, I am going to take the Hurricanes in this one. Look ahead to next week: Colorado at Ohio St (everyone else taking it easy prior to the start of conference play).

Big 12

TEXAS:
Bevo Jr. Texas (2-0)may have turned a corner last week against Brigham Young – finally substituting at QB instead of allowing the ‘experienced’starter to repeatedly throw interceptions until everyone in the stadium is smacking themselves in the forehead, “like WTF?” Case McCoy (yes he’s Colts lil bro) and David Ash almost immediately changed the complexion of the game and started moving the chains. It was openly apparent that the whole team lit up and started playing like Longhorns, including the Defense. The freshmen (Ash, McCoy, Malcom Brown,& Jaxson Shipley) brought us from behind to a 17 – 16 win. Not overpowering, but good things start to happen when you can fight back from behind. Garrett Gilbert has a great arm but he ‘laser stares’ who he’s throwing the ball to, hence multiple picks. Hopefully the UT coaches can break him of that deadly habit. If they can, watch out! He could be a real gunslinger.

This week UT goes to Rose Bowl Stadium to play UCLA, who lays down for everybody else they play but saves their best for whenever they play Texas, like the last 3 times we’ve played (where’s the respect?). It’s time to solve this riddle! With LA’s seeming obsession for appearance, status, and credit card debt, Texas should be able to out-football them just once while they’re sucking on their orange slices and checking out the Malibu tide schedules.

We’ll have to score lotsa points because the Bruins have shown some prolific offense. The good news for Texas is that defense is not UCLA’s strength; maybe the naïve youth of the ‘Horns won’t have paid attention to the history of thrashings we’ve suffered at the hands of these LA surfer dudes. Time to Rodeo Up all you steer wrestlers, bronc riders and ‘mutton busters’! It’s our turn.

Look for heavy doses of Malcom Brown, Mike Davis, Marquis Goodwin, and of course Cody Johnson in the Red Zone.

HORNS-34, Bruins-28. HOOK “EM.

OKLAHOMA STATE:
Boone's Boy: Well, the upcoming opponent this week is Tulsa which the Cowboys punished 65-28 last year. Weeden (QB) and Blackmon (WR) are the top duo in the country and have helped the Cowboys rack up 1,260 yards from scrimmage this season (#1 in FBS). This will be the Pokes final chance to iron out the wrinkles before their showdown with Texas A&M next week. Prediction 56 – 21. Weeden 400 yards passing, Blackmon 150 yards receiving, and Randle 130 yards rushing. Tulsa does have a pretty explosive offense and they will have the ability to score at least 3 TD’s so the Pokes will need to continue to light up the scoreboard in order to stay unbeaten.

TEXAS A&M:
Hullabaloo: The Fighting Texas Aggies are back in action after a looong two-week layoff. It's the last preseason game as the Ags welcome the mighty Idaho Vandals.

Things I'll be looking for in this game: 1) The Aggies to cover the 5 touchdown point-spread. 2) Sr DE Tony Jerod-Eddie to build on his dominating 3 sack performance against SMU. 3) Somebody to step up at inside linebacker - The Mustangs got us pretty good on the ground in the 1st half of that game. 4) The secondary to make plays like they did against SMU but to avoid the mental mistakes that led to the 14 points given up. 5) The offense to keep executing and develop into the juggernaut that it can be.

My Prediction: 51 - 7. Farmers Fight!

Pac-12

COLORADO:
Buffalo Up:

UTAH:
Red 5 Standing By:

A Very BIG

Thank You

To The Guest

Commentators!!!

Check back throughout today as
commentary comes in!

Would Love To Have Volunteer Fan Commentators From:
Big 10
Illinois
Michigan state
Purdue
Northwestern
Indiana
Penn State - Wakow on the line for this one
Big 12
Have Texas and Oklahoma State, Texas A&M...how about Oklahoma, Iowa State etc
Pac-12
Any fans out there? I have Colorado and Utah covered, how about other team fans?
Independent team fans?
Open to suggestions, Notre Dame? etc :)

Email me (Angie) at salesturnkeyauto@aol.com
or comment on this here post with your email. Thanks!

A Little Of This, A Little Of That, But No Cheesecake Yet

9/15/2011

I'm craaaaaving a piece of cheesecake right now.
I have all the fixin's for Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars and just may make those tonight and share the recipe tomorrow.
We'll just scooch those Football Friday Commentators over a little bit tomorrow to make room for an addictive Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars recipe, maybe ;)

In the meantime,
today is a Hodge Podge post,
about not much of anything.
(Which in all fairness, could probably be said about all my posts!)

So, to get started....

HP#1 (Hodge Podge #1): See that stained glass window picture up above? That window is in the victorian house in Providence, RI where our daughter lives, although that window is not in her apartment. Gorgeous!

HP#2: A couple weeks ago, first thing in the morning, I was reading an article on some newspaper website and the author of this article was an organizational expert. This expert stated that the best way to keep a space decluttered and organized is to keep all horizontal surfaces cleared ie coffee tables, dining tables, floors, counters etc.

So, I grabbed my camera, took a couple pictures and realized I am a failure. Crap.

First I took a picture of the stepback cupboard in my dining room.
That horizontal surface sure wasn't clear.

Coffee cup, CD's, placemats, stationery, paperwork, oh my!

Then I snapped a shot of the dining room table, which by the way is also my workspace. Not an excuse, just a reason why the table looks like this.

OKAY OKAY! It is an EXCUSE!

Disregard those too short of curtains. I've been meaning to let that freaking 4" hem out for, um, a while.

So I snapped a shot of my cool vintage orange kitchen chair that is extra seating in the dining room.
And the chair is covered with papers and a vintage matchbox car case.

Give me some time and I think I can come up with a reasonable explanation.

Man, I really suck at this horizontal surface stuff!

My other work space: Oh my gosh! That looks like crap! Those dang kids have been messing up my space, again!!!!

What?

Kids have been out of the house a few years?

WELL, they forget to clean up their mess before they left!!!

Is an oven rack a horizontal surface?

Well then, I am screwed!!!!!

*Sigh*
Clearly I need to get a bigger house with more horizontal surface space.

HP#3: Have you noticed farmers are out in the fields already?

HP#4: No matter how old I am, I still get a kick out of the crop dusting planes when they fly over the fields
by the barn.

Speaking of the barn, did you know I used to run a seasonal antique and junque shoppe out of there?

It was a blast!

HP#5: We have super nice customers! The family that drops off these dairy products occasionally when they have their car serviced is the best of the best!

These tasty cheese and milk products are from Farmers All Natural Creamery out of Kalona. Creamy, tasty, organic awesomeness is what they are!

Oh my gosh, I'm getting hungry now for CHEESECAKE!

HP#6: I have signs in my house that aren't completely truthful:

This sign is in my kitchen and it partially lies:
1. There's never soft drinks in the house.

2. Only sometimes are there sandwiches.

3. Popcorn occasionally sure, and definitely at Christmas... strung on the tree.

4. Gifts? Well...only if someone brings them to me! hehe

More signs...

Saturday is Steak Night? At MY house?
That's what the sign says in my dining room.
Really?

Yup, but only if that steak is at a quaint little restaurant or our local pub.

Now, this huge "M" is in the kitchen.

It can stand for many things...Madsen...Mmmmm for food.

I tell people it stands for money but I think it should probably be green then instead of red if that's the case.

There are signs

in chalk in my

house...

And more chalk signs on the refrigerator.

I just love these mosaic magnetic chalkboards.
Love them, Love them!

These are made by Kelly Aaron Mosaics out of Kansas City.

Look at that textured "7"
in the right hand corner of the chalkboard...cute!!!

I have a small collection of Kelly Aaron's art and I absolutely love it so much. Textures everywhere.

Small collection on my dining room wall. Want to touch them? That's okay, they're fun and texturey.

This is a child's mirror that goes in a bedroom. But it's in my dining room.

But by golly, it just jumped in my hands and would not leave at Sister's Garden. Maybe because my hands were clenched around it.

Look at that elephant! And the cobalt blue jar, and that cute little toy car and the aqua dish piece in the left corner.

The 3-D visual and feel of her pieces are so cool.

I love touching things with texture!

If you come into my house this winter with a
popcorn-patterned knitted sweater, I will want to roll in it, just so you know.

Makes ya want to come to my house, doesn't it?

Some thoughts are probably best not shared, huh?

Well, I started this post with beautiful, colorful stained glass and ended it with beautiful, colorful, quirky art.
Nice bookends I would say!
Hey, hope everyone has a Happy Thursday!!

Flaming Filet Mignon and Gruyere Potatoes For Date Night

9/14/2011

Flaming Filet Mignon with Worcestershire-Chive Butter
AND
Gruyere Potatoes
sounds so fancy.

It's a great stay-at-home Date Night meal!

This is a sizzzzlin' fun meal to make together with your sweetie...
or intended sweetie :)

It includes fire so be careful...

These filets are a sizzzzzlin'!

And it's so easy!
Although it is a little expensive at $14.99/lb for the beef tenderloin.
I've seen it as much as $19.99/lb.
Three filets last night cost me $29 at $15.99/lb.
$29 for two people isn't so bad for cheat night :) or date night :) For your honey :)

Let's start with the Worcestershire-Chive Butter
that goes on top of the Filet Mignon.
By the way, I forgot to bring out the prepared butter that tops the filets until 3/4 of the way through our dinner last night. Crap!

This is all you need for the butter...very simple!

Keep in mind, this is a steak butter recipe. This butter is much too intense to use on chicken, fish, bread or anything else because of the worcestershire sauce but it is absolutely fantastic on any cut of steak.

Worcestershire-Chive Butter
Bobby Flay/Food Network.com
Angie's Note: This recipe as is, makes a ton of herbed steak butter, I cut this recipe in half and froze what I didn't use.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots (out of shallots? Use a mild onion).
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons dry mustard
3 tablespoons chopped chives
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix all ingredients together with a spoon.

Scrape mixture into the center of a piece of waxed paper and roll into a log. Refrigerate until firm.

Now onto the Gruyere Potatoes below...

Not many ingredients with these potatoes but they will knock your socks off. Tasty, rich, and super creamy with a big Gruyere bite.

These potatoes are made with Gruyere cheese which can be expensive as well.

That's why this meal is saved for Date Night!

Potato Gratin "Boome-Style"
Adapted generously from Danny Boome
Foodnetwork.com

1 1/2 pounds baby new red potatoes (original recipe uses 1 pound)
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese (original uses 2 cups which I have in the past, this was way too strong for my taste)
1 cup milk (original recipe uses heavy cream, this was very rich but I would use it again if I had it in the fridge)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place the baby new potatoes with skins on into a large saucepan of cold, salted water, place the saucepan onto a medium heat and bring the potatoes to boil. Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes, until a knife can be inserted, but potatoes are not falling apart.

Drain potatoes and place back in pan. using a fork, mash up leaving nice big potato chunks. Mix in the grated cheese, heavy cream (milk), butter and black pepper. Take a foil lined baking sheet and place 4 rings (2-inches wide) on top, fill each ring....blah blah blah...guess what, Angie no have-y these strange weird 2 inch wide rings, what????....so I use a large muffin pan, have done this each time and it works great! So, spray a large muffin tin. Fill each tin with the potato mixture and place in oven for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

So easy here...
boil the potatoes.

Mash potatoes with fork...NOT...a fork was too difficult so I used my masher and just kept the potatoes chunky and then mixed afterwards with the fork.
Caution: This mixture is so good you will need bucket-loads of self contol to keep from eating out of the pan.

This is the part where I disregarded the 2 inch wide metal thinga- ma-bobby-what-in-the-heck-are-those rings and just went for the muffin pan.

Fill each tin with potato mixture and place in oven for 20 minutes until the top is nice and golden brown.

So I placed the potatoes in the oven and then looked outside the kitchen window. I saw this beautiful harvest moon out there last night around 7:30pm. Did you see it too?

In this picture the moon looks white, but it was truly a beautiful shade of orange.

So as any mature adult would do, I ran outside barefoot and called for our blind doggie Mindy Peaches. I wanted her to go out into the open field with me to gaze at the moon.

Mindy had other ideas.
She wanted to go inside.

No doggie, you are going out with me and we're going to frolic in the field under the pretty harvest moon.

No Mindy, I don't have any treats for you right now.
No, no chew toys either. We're going out into the field barefoot, cuz that's how I roll, and we're going to get some exercise while the potatoes are cooking.

Now, c'mon silly dog, let's go before the moon hides!

See that orange moon over there?

See the beagle who finally resigned herself that we were going moon-gazing?

We were quickly joined in the field by
Holyfield and Vinny....

We ran and played and Mindy rolled over and over in the grass. We gazed some more at the moon (well I did, because Mindy can't see so I suppose she wasn't gazing, she was too busy trying to find racoon smells or something). We were only outside 20 minutes because I knew I needed to get those darn potatoes out of the oven while they were still golden brown.

Also Tim was getting anxious to play with fire!

I checked the oven...

Ahhhhhh,
perfectly golden Gruyere Potatoes!

Now it's time to get started on the
Flaming Filet Mignon.
The process I use for the Flaming Filet Mignonis from Danny Boome from foodnetwork.com as well.

Season the filets with salt and pepper.
Heat a skillet over medium-high until the pan is hot and then drizzle with olive oil.
Place the filets into the pan and cook to medium-rare, about 5-7 minutes per side.

Once the filets are cooked to your liking,
pour 2 ounces brandy into the skillet.

Carefully tilt the skillet towards the flame to flambe.

The flames get HIGH and last for about 20 seconds
so be
verrrry careful!!!!

When the flames burn off, remove the filets from the pan.

Run a knife or spatula around the potatoes and plate with the Filet Mignon.

Remove butter from the refigerator and cut a thin slice and top filet with butter. (I wish I would have remembered to do this!)

Partner with a side of asparagus &
Enjoy!

Again, this is kind of an expensive meal to make at home,
but it's fun to make together or make as a surprise!
And the Worcestershire-Chive butter (not pictured) on top of the steak is absolutely fantastic.
The potatoes are finger lickin' good too, their creaminess and bite make for a nice compliment to the big steak flavors.
If you ever try this menu, email me and let me know, I'd love to hear how it turned out!

I'll Take A Side Of Texas Beef Skillet And Some Football With My Corn Chips Please

9/11/2011

Corn chips.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Must eat whole bag.

MUST learn to be less impulsive.

No, no, no! Must get crafty and find healthy food to eat with corn chips.

Ka-Ching!!!! Recipe found!

Angie continues her tradition of leaving out an ingredient in the picture...the kidney beans.

Texas Beef Skillet

Super tasty, super filling & super affordable one skillet fall football-watching meal. With corn chips!

People love this dish!

I've been making this dish for over ten years now. I often make Texas Beef Skillet with ground turkey breast, no salt-added kidney beans and homemade roasted tomatoes diced up which makes this recipe mostly "clean".
Mostly, except for those pesky corn chips, which MUST.BE.DEVOURED with this meal. (Ground beef definitely makes this meal taste heartier though).

Texas Beef Skillet
From the 1981 Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey is good too for a healthier version)
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 16 oz can tomatoes, cut up
1 15 1/2 oz. can red kidney beans
1/2 cup quick-cooking rice ( I ALWAYS use brown rice)
3 tablespoons chopped green pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic salt
3/4 cup shredded American cheese
Corn chips, crushed (I never crush the corn chips)

Directions
In a skillet, cook ground beef and onion till meat is browned and onion is tender. drain off fat. stir in the undrained tomatoes, undrained beans, uncooked rice, green pepper, chili powder, garlic salt, 1/2 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Top with cheese. Cover and heat about 3 minutes or until cheese melts. Sprinkle with corn chips around the edge. Serves 6.

Very easy recipe to follow and put together!

Brown the onions and beef and drain...

Stir in the tomatoes, beans, rice, water,

green pepper and spices....

Bring to boiling, reduce heat, simmer, covered for 20 minutes.

Put pretty fall potholder on top of covered pan so you can talk about it.

So I was at Fareway in Iowa City off Mormon Trek Blvd yesterday and I see this nice lady who is pretty handicapped sitting in a wheelchair at a card table selling her homemade potholders, washcloths and potholder sets.

Last time I saw this lady was last year, same spot; I had purchased a blue potholder set from her at that time and I use those potholders and pan rest ALL THE TIME. They wash up great too.

I saw this orange, gold, green and brown set on her table and just had to have it. It's so pretty and fallish.

$15 for all three pieces. And the pan rest is 10-11 inches round!

They're real nice quality and are made exceptionally well.

I shared with the lady, her name is Jen, how much I loved and used the pieces I had bought from her last year. I had even bought a potholder set for my daughter, I liked them so much.

I'm not sure what Jen said in return as her speech is not real recognizable, she is severely challenged both with speech and physical issues. I also shared she should make more of these orange sets as I thought she could sell them pretty fast this time of year, that's how gorgeous the colors are.

At about that time, some customer comes up, looks at a set and asks how much. Jen responds $15 for the 3-piece set, $10 for the 2-piece set, $3.99 for washcloths. The customer just walks away without saying a thing. No "thank you", no "they're pretty", no "okay", no nothing. Just simply walks away, which is fine, a little rude, but fine. Jen thinks about that for a moment and asks me if I think her prices are too high? I say definitely not.

I asked Jen if she was going to sell her potholders and pot rests and washcloths every Saturday for awhile here like she did last year.

Jen said yes but she's been slow getting new items made this fall because she's had a lot of doctor's appointments the last few months because her cancer came back and is spreading.

Now this took me a long time to figure out what she was saying as her speech is difficult to understand. When I figured out what she was saying, I shared that I was sorry to hear that. We chatted a bit more the best we could, and I wished her luck and said I would keep her in my prayers. She asked me to take her business card and I did.

What a cute business card!

I asked Jen if those crosses were Christmas ornaments because I am a Christmas NUT!

Jen said the crosses were washcloths, so I bought one of those too as I was leaving. So cuuute!

Soft and pretty!

So anyway, I just wanted to share Jen's colorful, pretty potholders wit' you guys :) She's such a lovely lady.

Back to the recipe now....

Top with cheese.

Cover and heat about 3 minutes or until cheese melts.

Sprinkle with corn chips around the edge.

I usually wait until the meal is on the plate before I add the corn chips, that way, they stay extra crunchy!

Plate up your meal...

Want some? So do I.

Run to the living room,

jump in the chair,

throw your feet up on the footstool,

and enjoy your Texas Beef Skillet

with some...

Iowa Hawkeye Football!

Hope everyone's having a nice weekend!!

Football Friday Discussion Week 2 Opinions and Predictions!

9/9/2011

Week 2

Of The Collegiate

Football Season!

This Week's Question:

What Conference Will Your Team Be In
Next Year?

Just kidding!!
(unless you're Texas A&M or part of the Big 12)
:):):)

Am still looking for more Guest Commentators...are you a fan or know a fan of a team not represented? Check at the end of this post for information on how to guest commentate.

Okay, For Reals,

Let's See What Folks Think

Of This Week's

Upcoming Games...

Grab your coffee or coke...Let's Go!

Big 10

IOWA
Silver Fox: #1 Iowa fan...hellohello-o-o-o

Black and Gold Girl: I predict an Iowa win by a spread of at least 14. They looked strong against Tennessee Tech, which wasn't difficult, but I think it gave our new quarterback some confidence and he came out firing. He held off on making the rookie mistake of three interceptions in one game, fumbling the hike, etc. McNutt is emerging as a team leader and, though it seems like we can't keep any single runningback healthy, I think we'll be able to continue to run the ball to set up our passing game. I like Iowa State's new coach, but I just don't think they have what it would take to beat the Hawks this year. Go Hawks!

Hawk Guy: Hawk Guy commentary always appreciated...

Turnkey Tim: Iowa, Iowa State week. Hawks have won six of the last eight. This week's game will be payed at 11am on Saturday at Jack trice Stadium in Ames. Should we be concerned? Yes. The cyclones usually always bring their best for us, and usually always play as if this could be their only bowl game of the year. The stadium will be loud unless we take them out of the game early. This is the 3rd year for Iowa State's head coach and he states that this is his best team yet.They are more athletic but not a deep team. They only beat UNI last week by one point, but the same can be said for us in 2009. It took the Hawks two last-second field goal blocks to win the game. Iowa State won with their QB-he fought hard to win. They will try to do the same against us this week. Will it work? Hell no! Both sides of the ball has room to improve, but I like the way we played last week.

I said it before, I'll say it again, this is an athletic fast defense. As a unit, they need more time to gel, but they will get there. We missed many QB sacks last week by the defensive line, being overaggressive. That is a good problem to have. We had a couple of picks and and a few stunts that we normally don't see this early in the year. Because of our speed and depth at defensive back, expect more nickel packages, linebacker and corner blitzes. We will face many spread teams this year and I like what I see in Norm's willingness to get more creative. We will still use the 4-3 as our base defense and enough stunts and blitzes to shake things up and keep teams guessing.

Offensively, I though James Vandenberg played great. His passes are on target and he commands the offense with great effectiveness. he looks like a team leader and has done it before. McNutt looks as if he could be poised for a great year. Keenan Davis had a great catch on the goal line as well. Line blocking was good, not great, but they will get there. My only real disappointment was that running back McCall got hurt. He was better than advertised. He could have really helped us out this year. Coker will be back in form this week and I look for him to rush over 100 yards. We also had a few dropped balls but given the weather conditions this does not surprise me that much. Our tight ends could also be very effective in the passing game. I'm looking for CJ Fiedorwicz to have a huge catch in the game this weekend. Bottom line Iowa wins. Final score: Iowa 27 Iowa State 17.

Hawkinator: thinking of your family...

Wisconsin
Wisconsin Steve: Wisconsin Steve must still be celebrating the Packer win last night.
Wow, Angie is correct.....I got so excited about the Packers I forgot all about our Badgers! Of course I would predict that not only would they win but win big! Their new players and exciting management makes for a good mix. They are shaking and bakin and Wisconsin Steve feels poorly that he didn't put his beloved Badgers on the front of the burner! Have a great weekend everybody........

Minnesota:
Ace: Ace must be preparing for his trek down to the Austin City Limits Festival next week...

Michigan
A'maize'n Blue: Big game this weekend for the Wolverines! College Gameday is coming to the Big House for its first ever night game, and who better to play but those fighting/flopping Irish. The two schools with the most wins in NCAA history (my Wolverines are number 1) will be squaring off in their annual rivalry game. Michigan got off to a slow start last week in the mud bowl (like so many other teams across the midwest faced) but played good up until the 4th quarter...which they never got to play. Denard didn't do much last week, but in his defense it was a combination of not having to and not getting the chance to. Both RB's Shaw and Touissant came up just shy of 100 yards rushing and the amazing play of LB Brandon Herron (returning a 96yard interception and 29yard fumble for TD's...which earned him a coveted Gameday Helmet sticker) pretty much kept the ball out of Denard's hands. With the Irish coming to town Robinson may have to make more plays himself this time, or at least air the ball out, and it will be interesting to see how many points they can put up playing a full 4qtrs of football. Notre Dame is going through extreme QB woes right now, their starter Crist was benched in last week's game and backup Rees came in and while he threw for 200yds and 2 TD's he also threw 2Ints, one of them a costly drive killer at the 4 yard line. Michigan has too solid of a defense for the Irish to stand a chance I believe. Look for their offense to put up an all around good performance again, Shaw should eclipse 100yds on the ground and I expect 200yds passing out of Denard this time, the Wolverines will really want to exercise the offense and put on a great show under their new lights....and the national spotlight as well. Whoever the QB is for the Irish is going to have a very unpleasant night and a very, very dirty jersey by the end of the game. The Wolverines are going to send Notre Dame packing and move to 2-0 on the season, and while it is a big rivalry game in the books and between the teams this game feels like a warm up for Michigan's big games coming up in the next few weeks. Final score: Michigan 42 Notre Dame 17
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Ohio State
Buck-I: thinking of your family...

Nebraska
Bo Big Red: Nebraska's young players had the jitters for the first game of the season.Offense was not as fast as was announced,they were going to play fast,no huddle,just snap and go,after going 3 and out the first series,they took some time,and played well I thought,and expected a better beating than 40-7 win ,I was looking for 56-7 oh well a win is a win.Fresno lost there 1st game last week,and their 2nd will be this saturday at 6:00pm saturday. Nebraska is #1 rated in the Big Ten and # 10 in the nation.The BLACK SHIRTS showed up last week ,and should of got rid of the butterflies for this weeks game against Fresno State a W.A.C. team wich Nebraska is 21and 0 in last 21 games against W.A.C. teams,and Fresno State has won 9 games per season,the last 4 yrs,and went to 11 bowl games in the last 14 seasons.This will be closer than last week .but look for NEBRASKA win by 2 Touchdowns.game will end 35-14 NEBRASKA WINS AT HOME!!!!!!!!

Bill's Big 10 Corner: The Big 10 was 10-2 this past weekend with Minnesota and Indiana suffering the loses. My "game ball" goes to Northwestern for traveling to Boston College as an underdog and winning 24-17 with their back up QB.

Challenging games this week:
Alabama at Penn St - Alabama is #2 in the country and should be able to win in Happy Valley.
Purdue at Rice - Purdue travels to Houston and should be in for another tight game.
Virginia at Indiana - Indiana will need to step up the level of their game to avoid an 0-2 start.
Notre Dame at Michigan - Michigan has won 4 of the last 5 and is at home. I'll take the Wolverines.

Look ahead to next week: Pitt at Iowa, Mich St at ND, Washington at Nebraska, Arizona St at ILL .

Big 12

Texas
Bevo jr: Well, it was a win against Rice, but the ‘Horns were rough in spots. We can do better, and I believe Texas’ execution will be much improved in Week 2

When we play BYU on Saturday nite. But will it be enough? BYU is good both running & passing, and we’re not yet solid against the run – c’mon “D” line tighten up!

Expect even more new looks on offense than last week; this learning process, new looks, new schemes & sets, etc, (and the mistakes that go with it) from all the new coaching staff changes will be ongoing probably until mid-season. Need to compress that learning curve because Oklahoma is game #5 – gotta get prepared for the Sooners; they are looking B-A-D!

This week, look for UT to continue to play two QB’s, Garrett Gilbert and David Ash, with different looks and their own special play sets. Names to watch – true freshman RB Malcolm Brown will get more PT and more yards (he’s a beast); and speaking of frosh, WR Jaxson Shipley played BIG last week – we like him!

UT – 24, BYU – 21; but could go either way. Too early to be too confident - yet. (Still having flashbacks from 2010)

HOOK ‘EM HORNS!

Oklahoma State
Boones Boy:

Texas A&M
Hullabaloo: No game for the Aggies this week. The team gets an extra week to break down the film from the SMU game (a 46-14 beatdown btw) as they prepare for the mighty Idaho Vandals. Unfortunately no football for the week means even more focus on the A&M to SEC drama which has been ramped up thanks to stinking Baylor and their stinking lawsuit threat. Everybody join in with me: “Free A&M! Free A&M! Free A&M!”

**Blog writer Angie's side note; I laughed so hard at Hullabaloo's comments, I spit my coffee out!**

Pac-12

Colorado
Buffalo Up: The Buffs are coming off a disappointing matchup in Hawaii where the Warriors dominated with their defensive line, it appeared that the Buffs didn’t recover from jet lag until the second half. Despite a spirited rally they were doomed by 4th quarter miscues and dropped the contest 34-17. This week’s matchup is the conclusion of a Home and Home series with Cal. Despite the fact that they are now in the same conference, the game in Boulder will not count towards conference standings as the game was scheduled prior to realignment and adequate replacements could not be found.

Cal destroyed the Buffs last year in Berkley and this year doesn’t seem to be any more hopeful. The Bears have found their QB1 in Zach Maynard and the Buffs would have to make major strides on the offensive line to hold up against any defense. Tyler Hansen looked passable at Quarterback and the Defense played surprisingly well except for the line which was thought to be a strength entering the season. If the Buffs can figure out what went wrong last week they should be able to put up a decent fight at home against the Bears, if not it’s going to get ugly quick.

Utah
Red 5 Standing By: Utah begins a new chapter on Saturday when it faces USC at the Coliseum in its inaugural Pac-12 game. While the venue will, as always, be steeped in tradition, the reality is that neither team looked particularly strong in its opener last week. USC struggled to beat Minnesota 19-17, and Utah’s offense struggled mightily in the second half against FCS division Montana State (Utah prevailed 27-10 after being up 24-0 in the first half). I expect a close but low-scoring affair, with USC on top by a score of 20-13.

A Very BIG Thank You To The Guest Commentators!!!

Check back throughout the weekend as
commentary comes in!

Would Love To Have Volunteer Fan Commentators From:
Big 10
Illinois
Michigan state
Purdue
Northwestern
Indiana
Penn state
Big 12
Have Texas and Oklahoma State, Texas A&M...how about Oklahoma, Iowa State etc
Pac-12
Any fans out there? I have Colorado and Utah covered, how about other team fans?
Independent team fans?
Open to suggestions, Notre Dame? etc :)

Email me (Angie) at salesturnkeyauto@aol.com
or comment on this here post with your email. Thanks!

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