Rice and Beans in the oven

• I wanted rice with beans today but didn't want to come home and make them at 5 after playing in the park finding letterboxes so I found this recipe and thought -  lets give it a try.  
• But as usual I have to maximize and twick it just a little
• 
  
• 1 cup uncooked brown rice
• 1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, divided

Directions

1. Cook rice according to package directions. Transfer to a bowl; add the beans. In a nonstick skillet, saute onion in oil for 4-5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, chili powder and salt. Bring to a boil; remove from the heat.
2. In a 2-qt. baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray, layer a third of the rice mixture, cheese and tomato mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining rice mixture and tomato mixture.
3. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until heated through. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Footnotes

• Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1 cup) equals 306 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 13 mg cholesterol, 470 mg sodium, 47 g carbohydrate, 9 g fiber, 15 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2-1/2 starch, 2 lean meat, 1 vegetable.
  
  
  Doubled the recipe and then divided it into thirds. 
  Added chopped peppers (red and green), chopped garlic and celery, 
  Used black beans instead of kidney
  Had no green chilies. 
  Didn't layer but mixed all together and toped with cheese. 
  I will bake all three and then freeze two for later. 
  
  

It is a absolutely gorgeous weekend with a slight warm breeze and warm temps and a blue sky.  But I'm staying in with either allergy or cold or something else equally nasty.  I have done the liquid echinacea which pushed the sore throat through in 24 hours,  herb tea  - what ever I could find ( we our out of gypsy cold care).  Benadryl, Zyrtec, Mycinnex DM and now I am down to itchy coughy lungs, dizzy and lightheaded, tired (I know probably all that benadryl) and thinking - tomorrow is monday and my voice is fading fast, ugh.  I came across this post and thought it quite intelligent in the treatment of what ever it is I have. 


It can be cured by conventional medicines like antihistamine, decongestant and in severe cases, with the help of corticosteroids. However, in many instances some simple home remedies can also help to clear up minor build up of phlegm in the throat. The most simple remedies is to drink lots of hot water. For better result and quick relief, you can add some honey to it. Drinking lots of water would help to get rid of the infectious agents and foreign particles. Ginger is another effective natural remedy for   condition. You can mix honey and cinnamon with ginger to make a fine paste and take it along with some more honey. Otherwise, you can have some tomato soup, prepared with spices like ginger, garlic and pepper.



So mom and her hot chicken soup with garlic or her tea with lemon and honey really are what's best. 

My friend Mr. Maple

We have this old maple tree that is one of many that line our drive.  When I say old we are talking century.  It is coming to the end of its life.  In fact we even had a tree cutter stop by and offer to remove the widow maker branches - for a price of course.  How can one part with such an dear friend that has been the home of so many of the birds that inhabit our farm.

 Just today as I was taking the groceries from the trunk I was greeting by our Baltimore Oriole, the first I have heard him this season.  He makes his nest in this tree and raises the babies we never see.  Robins, grackles, chickadees, phoebes, red-winged blackbirds, sparrows -- all make their home there or at least stop by for a rest and I can't imagine what it would be like to not hear their songs.  Right now, a phoebe is darting from branch to roof scarfing up the maple seeds that have fallen this week.

 I suppose I should mention the mammals we also need to contend with here who also, sigh, make their home in said tree - Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel.  Yes, they are pretty and their babies are cute but they are rodents after all.  We have other bothersome and pesky mammals who live here also - Mr. Deer who eats the water lilies and Mr. Woodchuck who eats everything else, Mr. Fisher who ate the neighbors fish and Mr. Fox who ate our chickens.

One song we have been blessed to hear lately is that of the woodcocks with their peenting.  When the development went in next door we didn't hear them for a few years but they have return and it is a nice sound to hear when I am outdoors at night. I like to think these are the snipes we all were sent looking for as young campers -- see, they do exist.

© Gerrit Vyn - Cornell 

 A shorebird that lives in forests, the American Woodcock is most frequently 

encountered at dusk when the male's chirping, peenting aerial displays attract 

attention. Otherwise the superbly camouflaged bird is difficult to discover on 

the forest floor where it probes for earthworms.

You have to admit -- they have a certain cuteness about them. 

Now if there was just some way to shut out the noise from the highway.

The Perfect Weekend - for me anyways

I so look forward to weekends, the time I can do what ever I desire.  So, after cleaning my room, a carry over from my growing up years, doing the laundry and cleaning the bathroom, I sit down with my yarn and computer and watch the world go by.  My current projects - two are waiting for buttons and one is in the process.  Next to hemming I dislike sewing on buttons but I "force" my self.  Can't sell cardigans without the buttons.  

Found some great Catherine Cookson movies on netflix that have kept me well stock for my knitting sessions.  I have come to enjoy British shows a lot this winter and spring.  Cookson wrote during the turn of the century and about the class divisions that existed there.  

Couldn't resist --- this is how THEY spend the weekends.  Fixing - cars, trucks, tractors, tillers,  

you name it.  "My son the engineer"or no. 1 son likes the challenge of putting our vehicles back in working order.  I think it is a good stress reliever after working on computer programs all day.  

Don't know what I would do with out his help. Don't know what "my son the fish doctor" or no. 2 son would do with out his help either.  This spring, when they weren't fixing things that use gas they have been cleaning the greenhouses getting ready for May sales.   It is really a nice thing to see as a mom, two of your children working together as adults. And what is even more heart warming is to see all of them together and not fighting.  "My son the bum" ( and I mean that with all love) or no. 3 son 

will join the fray every once in a while and lend a hand. 

I refer to no 3 son as "my son the bum" but not in the way most people would think.  Josh holds a job that he LOVES -- and has THE best customer service.  He engages his customers in a short conversation and shows interest in who they are and not just a paying customer.  The bum part is because he has the ability to live just about any place, any way, any style.  He prefers a bike to a car for transportation, he lives a minimalist lifestyle, and he willingly leans a hand when we need him.  

I often wonder what no 4 son would have been like but then, God blessed me with a daughter 

who in turn blessed me with a grandson. And so the boys start all over again. 

The Train is Coming

The Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus is on its way to Kentucky.  Louisville to be exact AND it will be going right by Tyler's house -- You can actually look out the living room window and watch the train's go by.  What is really really cool is that is also

 goes right down the main street of La Grange.  

It is on its way to its next performance. 

I am happy that Tyler will get to see this --- He LOVES trains as most little kids do. 

I am sad because I was supposed to be visiting there for the holidays 

but alas,  I am still here in NY and I will not be seeing it. 

 I know if Tyler's Unc had his way they would be right there watching

 the elephants unload and make their way into the "big top"

More elephants -- we can't get enough. 

Unc has a collection of about 100 - all sizes - of elephants. 

It's a hobby he acquire after his trip to India.

 I guess those giants made quite an impression on him . 

There's something about the circus that's nostalgic and child like, that makes me remember all the ones I went to as a kid growing up in Utica.  Listening to the "live" band (my clarinet teacher played tuba) at the Armory on Culver Ave.  I think it is something every child must experience at least once. 

Weekend Movie Pick - To End All Wars

Yes, it is Saturday and after all the chores are finished I like to tune into a 

great movie and do some knitting.

Todays choice - To End All Wars.  

At first I thought it was going to be one of those typical war movies but oh was I wrong.

What made me choose this movie today was the connection to Burma.

So often we don't think of Southeast Asia when we think of WW II.  

So much has been written on the German involvement and 

while every school student learns about Japan's impact on us during this conflict 

I don't think they realize just what was happening around that area. 

India-Burma Campaign

2 April 1942-28 January 1945

Inspired by real-life events, this drama explores the experiences of Capt. Ernest Gordon and other Japanese prisoners of war enlisted to build the Railroad of Death. 

As the men struggle to maintain their sanity and will, they begin to drift apart.

If you get a chance to view this movie, you won't be disappointed.  I warn you though - it is graphic in portraying the hell these men went through.  BUT, there is something more here and what changes the hearts of the men held captive. 

BABY IT'S SNOW OUTSIDE

Now, that we have had summer  and then winter and now finally spring, I thought I would post a photo taken by the owners of One Nineteen West Main  a superb eatery in 

La Grange.  This was taken the day after the big tornado explosion in Kentucky.  

Crazy wacky weather.