Our thunder/rain storm is past leaving us with muggy warmth once more. The best solution for cooling off is sitting in front of a fan with a icy glass of lemonade. These days, you don't have to wait on your lemon tree to produce as you can buy frozen lemonade mix at the store. No, it isn't quite as nice as fresh but for serving a group, it is very convenient. And, if you keep extra cans of the frozen lemonade mix in your freezer, there are a couple of other uses for the tart/sweet stuff.
Lemonade Chicken
4-6 chicken breast halves (you can go boneless or with bone and skin still on)
6 ounces of defrosted lemonade mix
1/3 cup of soy sauce
Dash of chili flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
If you are going with boneless, place your chicken breasts in a vegetable oil sprayed baking dish. If you are using bone-in chicken with the skin, brown each piece in a bit of oil in a frying pan and then proceed as with the boneless. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and then pour over the chicken. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and spoon the juices over the chicken, uncover, and bake another 10 minutes or so.
It has a sweet/tart Asian flavor and goes very well with hot rice. I like Jasmine rice for this dish. You can also use other chicken pieces or even a cut up, whole chicken.
Tart Lemon Cookies
1 cup softened (not melted!) butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Approximately 3 cups all-purpose flour (depends on what you need to get a thickish batter)
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces of defrosted frozen lemonade
Cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling over baked cake (1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon to taste)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and beat in well. Along with 1/2 cup lemonade, stir in the flour and baking soda. Drop by tablespoons full onto a greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Brush hot cookies with the remaining lemonade mix. Immediately sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Remove to a cooling rack.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
National Liberation Museum in the Netherlands
This was a sculpture display outside the National Liberation Museum in the Netherlands. The inside of the museum was impressive, detailed, and very informative. This simple display, however, brought home the ravages of war with the hope of every soldier eventually joining their friends when eternity ends our earthly death. It is not a huge display. In fact, I walked right past it on the way into the museum building. While waiting for the rest of our group, after the tour, I found myself in front of it and the impact was startling. I almost forgot to take pictures as I was so engrossed in seeing every detail of it.
A treat for a History Major!
What better treat than to actually get to stand in one of the troop transports used to bring soliders ashore during the D-Day invasions. It is one thing to read about history and quite another to see, touch, and climb around the equipment, tanks, etc. used during World War II. If inanimate objects could recount their history . . .!
What a sad observation!
The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
Rain in Sunny California?
What a surprise to us and, probably, the weatherman, to hear the patter of large raindrops come falling down this morning. Yes, we saw some clouds on our drive, yesterday, but clouds in California are known to taunt and tease and then leave without sharing a drop of water. Kind of refreshing to half a touch of coolness in the air although the heat still keeps things a bit steamy.
Meanwhile, things are still hot and heavy in Washington DC as our elected officials continue to do things their way rather than think about the people who gave them the power to represent them. Seems to me that these people need a basic lesson in bookkeeping. When the money is gone, you don't spend any more. If we max out our credit cards and can't make payments, it is unlikely that the bank will continually up our credit ceiling. Eventually, everyone wants to be paid back and increasing our spending just doesn't do that. I guess our senators and congressmen are using 'new math'.
I always 'love' it when they think the solution is overtaxing the wealthy. You are supposed to be taxed on income not on what you are worth. Besides, why should people who are really go-getters pay more because they ARE ambitious? Who is more likely to start a business or help fund a new business . . . which would hire people who need jobs. I heard someone talking about the flat tax where it is an across the board percentage no matter your income group. Naturally, the less wealthy do not want a dime for every dollar taken from their income and would prefer twice a much come from a rich person. That's only fair? So much entitlement mentality these days.
I used to overly fret about all that I couldn't immediately change. Had to learn that prayer and constructive use of my vote at election time is my best bet . . . and then leave it to God. Uh, sure hope God doesn't mind some of the suggestions I might send His way!
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