It's Baaaaack!

That's right!  The Christmas countdown is back at the top of my blog!  You're welcome : )

Braiding 101

There was a lot some confusion over the "braiding" of the dough from my Chicken & Broccoli Braid recipe, so since I made Apple Danish Bread on Saturday, I figured I would explain that a bit better.  It sounds really quite complicated when you read it (I was confused the first time too), but once you see it, it all makes sense.

I forgot to mention in the other recipe as well, that you should leave the crescent roll dough in the fridge until you are going to open it.  It's much easier to work with when it's cold.

So, after you open the crescent roll package, roll it out horizontally so that it covers the top half of your baking sheet.  Don't worry if it hangs over the edges since you'll be pulling them into the middle later on.
Next either use a rolling pin or your fingers to mash all the perforations together.  We want one big piece of dough, not little crescents.

Repeat the above with the second package of dough.

Now take a knife (I usually use a paring knife 'cuz it's small) and cut slits along the edges of the dough.  Mine are usually about the length of the paring knife's blade and I just eyeball them so that I end up with about 8 strips of dough (I try to make them a little thicker so that they hold the filling in better.  This doesn't always happen though and sometimes they're skinnier.  It's all good in the hood.  Makes it more "rustic" when it's not perfect, I say).  Repeat on the other side of the dough and try to match up the slits as much as possible (you don't need to get a ruler out or anything, just eyeball it).

Add your filling in the middle.  Try to leave about a centimeter between your filling and the slits so that your filling doesn't seep out the sides.  Now comes the "braiding."  Pick up a pair of strips and cross them over the filling.  Voila, a braid.  Repeat with the reamaining strips.  Make sure to squish the dough at the top and bottom together so the filling doesn't seep out there either.

And since I'm on a recipe kick lately, here's the recipe for the Apple Danish Bread I made on Saturday:

1 pkg. cream cheese, softened

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled  cored and sliced

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. maple-flavored syrup

1 tbsp. sugar

1 egg

1/4 cups pecans, chopped

2 pkg, refrigerated crescent rolls

1/3 cup icing sugar

Combine cream cheese and icing sugar until well blended.  Add egg, mixing until smooth.  Chop pecans.  Unroll 1 pkg. of crescent dough; do not separate.  Place horizontally across top of a 12X15" cookie sheet or baking stone.  Repeat with 2nd pkg. of dough.  Roll dough (or squish together with fingers) to seal perforations.  On longest sides of the cookie sheet, cut strips with paring knife (as pictured above).  Spread half of cream cheese mixture evenly over middle of dough.  Peel, core and slice apples.  Cut slices crosswise in half; evenly arrange apple slices over cream cheese mixture.  Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples.  Scoop remaining cream cheese mixture over apples.  Sprinkle with chopped pecans.  To braid, lift strips of dough across mixture to meet in center, twisting each strip one turn.  Continue alternating strips to form a braid.  Tuck ends under to seal at end of braid.  Bake in preheated 375F oven for 25-28 minutes or until deep golden brown.  Remove from oven; brush with syrup using a pastry brush.

I don't do the maple syrup.  This is because I am lazy don't own a pastry brush.  And also because we don't normally have maple syrup in the house and since the Wal-Mart brand was $7, I didn't really think it was worth the cost for 1 tablespoon.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the finished product.  I was making it just before my B-Charmed party and forgot to take a picture when it was done baking 'cuz I was having too much fun with the jewellry!

Shepherd's Pie

Well, since last night's dinner was such a hit, I figured I'd post the recipe for tonight's dinner as well.  We made Shepherd's Pie which was taught to me by my friend Jackie.  It's so delicious and easy to make too!

1 lb ground beef
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
5 lb bag of potatoes
1 can tomato soup
1 pkg onion soup mix
1-2 cups shredded cheese.

First off, peel, boil and mash the potatoes.  Brown the ground beef and drain any excess fat.  Add tomato soup and onion soup mix.  Stir well.  Add beef mixture to the bottom of a casserole dish (or 2).  Pour frozen veggies on top of ground beef.  Scoop potatoes on top of the veggies and spread as evenly as possible (actually spread all the layers as evenly as possible).  Sprinkle cheese on top of potatoes.  Cook at 375F for about 1/2 hour.  Enjoy!!!

Chicken & Broccoli Braid

This is what we had for supper tonight:  (it tasted pretty much as good as it looks.  For anyone who has tried my Apple Danish Bread, this is the same thing just with different filling.)

And a bunch of people wanted the recipe after I posted the pictures on Facebook.  So, without further ado, here it is:

2 cups cooked cut-up chicken (about 3-4 chicken breasts)
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed (I use about 2 tsp of minced garlic)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup honey ham sliced into small pieces (I just bought honey ham sandwich meat at Sobeys and had them slice it a little thicker than normal)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (Miracle Whip is just fine)
2 packages refrigerated crescent rolls

1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 tbsp slivered almonds
(I don't do the last 2 ingredients in mine, but you could I suppose (this is mostly because I'm too lazy to brush the egg over the dough and because I don't ever use slivered almonds for anything else so I think it's sort of a waste of money since it tastes just fine without.  phew that was long-winded))

1 tsp dried dill weed
1/4 tsp salt
(I use about 2-3 tsp Clubhouse Lemon & Herb seasoning instead of dill & salt, once again because I'm sort of lazy and that's what I had in my cupboard.  I might mix it up and use the Greek seasoning I have next time.  I know, I'm wild and crazy in the kitchen.)

Preheat oven to 375F.  Cut up chicken, chop broccoli and add to a large mixing bowl.  Chop red pepper and add to bowl.  Press garlic over mixture in the bowl (or spoon it in if you're like me).  Shred cheese and add to bowl.  Cut up ham and add to bowl.  Mix gently.  Add mayonnaise, dill weed and salt (or Clubhouse seasoning); mix well.  Unroll 1 package of crescent dough; do NOT separate.  Arrange longest sides of dough accross the width of 12" X 15" rectangle Baking Stone (or cookie sheet).  Repeat with remaining package of dough.  Roll dough to seal perforations (I did not pull out my rolling pin for this.  I just "pinch" the dough with my fingers along the perforations.  I must say though that Pillsbury seems to have improved their perforations 'cuz this took a lot more effort than normal).  On longest sides of baking stong, cut dough into strips 1 1/2 inches apart and 3 inches deep.  Spread filling evenly over middle of dough.  To braid, lift strips of dough across mixture to meet in center, twisting each strip one turn to form a braid.  Tuck ends under to seal at ends of braid.  Brush egg white over dough using a pastry brush.  Sprinkle with almonds.  Bake 30 minutes or until deep golden brown (I usually cook mine about 10 minutes longer just to make sure the dough's 100% done.  I cannot stand undercooked dough so that's just my paranoid self coming through).  Cut and serve!!!

If that doesn't sound like enough calories sauce for you, try it with this deliciousness that I usually make with my Chicken Rolls:

Cheese Sauce

1 can Cream of Cheese & Broccoli soup
1/2 can Evaporated Milk
1-2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

Combine the soup and milk in a sauce pan and bring to a low boil.  Make sure you stir this A LOT because it will scorch to the bottom of your pan (not that I've had that happen before ...).  Add the cheese bit by bit while stirring until desired consistency/cheesiness (this is easier if you have a helper either adding or stirring while you perform the other task).  Enjoy!!!

And once again I'd like to say that if I can make this, anyone can : )

Another Step

I know I haven't blogged for a while (and I need to do some blogs to catch up on our summer) but I wanted to get this one down.

A bunch of my friends who have kids around Paxton's age have been potty training over the last few months.  I haven't even been contemplating it though since Paxton doesn't show any interest in letting me know when he needs to go or when he's gone, even if it's a poopy diaper.  Well, the times might just be a-changin'.

I was sitting at the computer this morning emailing Jenny and Pete in England (I've been really bad at emailing lately as well) when Paxton came over and started tugging on my pants.  So I got up and followed him to bathroom.  He was pointing at the toilet, so I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty.  And he nodded his head yes (he's getting really good at nodding and shaking his head at the correct times lately).  So off came the diaper and I sat him up there.  He didn't do anything and didn't want to stay up there for very long (like maybe 30 seconds) but Paxton was really quite proud of himself when I got him down.  Looks like we might be using the latest gift from Grandma Daryl sooner than I thought!

I can't believe potty training could be on the horizon!  Where has the time gone?  And who is this cheesy boy that's replaced my baby?

What the?

Is it just me, or do stores seem to be bringing their holiday merchandise out earlier every year?  My friend, Cristy, said on her Facebook last week that she saw Halloween stuff out at Costco.  Is it really necessary to be shopping for Halloween stuff in July?  Shouldn't the kiddies be back to school before we start thinking about trick-or-treating?

Well, I was at Costco today and I indeed saw Halloween stuff.  However, before I got to the Halloween stuff some packages of very cute gift tags caught my eye.  I slowed my "on a mission to get in and out of Costco as quickly as possible" pace so I could check these adorable tags out.  And then I realized what I was looking at ... the gift tags were in the shape of snow flakes and Snowmen and Santas and pine trees ... CHRISTMAS MERCHANDISE!!!

Now, depending on how long you've known me, you may or may not know that I absolutely L-O-V-E Christmas and everything about it.  However, even I think that selling Christmas merchandise starting in the first week of August is ridonculous.  I realize we are in Canada and some people think it is perpetually winter here, but it is like 27 degrees celcius (about 81 degrees Farhrenheit) outside today!  That does not really inspire thoughts Christmas for me.

If this trend continues they'll just stop calling it "seasonal" merchandise and have it available year-round!

It's All My Fault

Yesterday was mine & Jay's 3-year Wedding Anniversary and our 9 years of being a couple anniversary.  I know, I can hardly believe it's been that long myself!  After work we headed to The Keg to celebrate with dinner, which was delicious despite the fact that Jay's steak was cooked medium rare instead of medium like he'd ordered it.  He still ate almost the entire thing and just left a few really pink pieces on the plate.  The waitress offered us complementary dessert to make up for the mistake, but we declined.  Now I didn't decline because I was trying to be healthy.  No, no, I passed because we were in a hurry to leave.  You see, since Paxton's at Auntie Kelly's house this week, we decided to go see a movie after dinner and we had to rush across town to get there.

We were only about 5 minutes late for Harry Potter (yes I went for a second time because Jay wanted to see it).  We grabbed some seats near the front where the wheelchair seating is so we wouldn't have to crawl over anyone and interrupt their movie experience.  And that's when it all started.  You see, on the way to our seats I noticed that there was a stroller containing a child who was probably about a year and a half old parked in one of the wheelchair spaces.  Clearly I am not a child hater since I have a son about that age myself.  H-O-W-E-V-E-R, even if Paxton hadn't been at Kelly's house this week I can guarantee you that he would NOT, under any circumstances, have been at Harry Potter with us.  No, he would have been pawned off on one of our relatives while we enjoyed ourselves.

But I was being optimistic that this child was sleeping or something so as not to disturb other people and settled in to enjoy the show.  Alas, that cup of optimism ended up being half empty.  You see, the aforementioned child (who I will refer to as "The Offspring") happened to be wearing fancy sandals that lit up every time she banged her feet on the plastic foot rest of her stroller.  So not only was this noisy, but also distracting.  I'd liken it to someone who is constantly pulling their cell phone out in a dark movie theater.  Along with the noise/light show produced from the foot banging, The Offspring was keeping up a pretty steady stream of babbling that was interspersed with small bits of silence when her mom deigned to give her some popcorn.  And along with all of that, every time a loud noise/loud music occurred in the movie The Offspring woud yell.  There are A LOT of loud noises and loud music in Harry Potter.

After about 15 minutes of this I'd had way more than enough.  So I leaned across Jay and whiper-shouted in the general direction of the mother (who I will refer to as "The Woman") that some of us were trying to watch the movie and didn't want to listen to her kid (I was assuming that others in the theater shared my building rage over the disturbance).  Well The Woman did not take this revelation very well at all and replied to me that her child was "just an effing kid."  Ummmm ... I was actually quite aware of this fact.  So I threw back at her, "Ya.  That's the point.  It's called a babysitter."  And she made sure I knew she didn't appreciate this information by threatening, "I suggest you just sit back and mind your own business."  *insert alley cat fight noises here*  Since it was our anniversary and I didn't really want to fight her, I sat back ... for about 15 more minutes, at which point I needed to visit the washroom.

After answering Nature's call, I realized just how sick I am of people like The Woman who are rude and inconsiderate of other people's rights.  So, I went and found the manager (dun, dun, duuuuun) and informed her of my complaint.  She was most sympathetic and agreed that this situation was unacceptable.  So we headed back to the theater together.  The manager suggested that I go in first and she'd wait for a bit so that The Woman wouldn't know it was me that had tattled on her.  Despite my faith in The Woman's powers of observation, I was fairly certain that she would figure it out though since we were only sitting about 6 seats down from her.  But I returned to my seat anywy and the manager followed about 1 minute later.  I didn't hear their whole conversation but from the snippets I caught I deduced that the manager told The Woman that The Offspring was disrupting the movie for other patrons and she'd have to leave if it continued.  *insert knife-cutting tension here*

Problem solved?  Oh no.  Shortly after the manager left, a scary/loud scene occurred and The Offspring started crying!  So in true "parent of the year" fashion, The Woman covered The Offspring's mouth to quiet her (because muffled crying is so much less distracting than loud crying).  A lady sitting behind The Woman leaned forward and suggested "rather than smothering her, why don't you just take her outside?"  This would be a reasonable option to most sane people, but The Woman was not in a resonable (or possibly even a sane) mood.  She informed this helpful soul as well that The Offspring was "just an effing kid"  (I can only assume that The Woman wanted to clear up any possible misconceptions about the source of the disturbance) and that she should also "mind her own effing business."  However, in order to talk to the lady behind her, The Woman had to remove her hand from The Offspring's mouth and the loud crying was let loose again.  Well, this rallied the troops since a number of people started yelling at The Woman that they too wanted her to remove The Offspring from the theater.

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  The Woman packed up her things in a huff all the while spouting at me about how this was all my fault (and you konw, she was right.  I totally made her bring her young child to a movie that was inappropriate for a child that age.  I know it was only rated PG, but there was a warning of "Frightening Scenes.  Not recommended for young children."  I'd say that 1 1/2 qualifies as a young child).  She finally stormed out with The Offspring in the stroller after emphatically informing the occupants of the theater that she didn't give "an eff" about any of us.  I was personally crushed by this statement but quickly got over my distress and returned my attention to the screen.  Good riddance.

Oh, but the drama wasn't over yet.  Oh no.  About 30 second after The Woman, The Offspring and her significant other (who looked like he was afraid of her) left the theater The Woman returned to give me a piece of her mind.  I don't really think she had any to spare, but that's my opinion.  She stormed across the theater and proceeded to throw her 3D glasses and her cell phone at me.  All the while she was reminding me quite loudly that this was all my fault, confusing me with an "effing" female dog and informing me that she'd be waiting for me outside after the movie.  (I wasn't too concerned about the last bit since there was still at least an hour left to the end of the movie and figured she'd have left by then.)  Eventually The Woman realized that when she'd thrown her phone at me it had bounced off my arm and landed under Jay's seat.  So, like any rational person would, she pretty much jersey-ed Jay out of his chair so she could get to her phone!  Finally, after more threats and expletives and yells from the crowd for her to leave, The Woman exited the theater for good.  But then she had to send her significant other in 3 separate times to get their pop, their popcorn and then one of The Offspring's shoes!

Seriously Woman?  All my fault?  Well I'm sorry that you feel you're the most important person in the world, but I'm officially tired of people like you.  If you had taken your child to an age appropriate film like "Winnie the Pooh" or "Cars 2" (which were actually playing as well) I wouldn't have said anything! (Partly because I wouldn't have been at those shows myself, but that's not the point.)  Take some responsibility for your own actions and choices!  You can't expect a kid that young to sit quietly through any movie let alone something as un-child friendly as the last Harry Potter movie!  Ya, it sucks that you probably dropped about $30 on tickets and refreshments, but every other person in the theater paid to see it as well!  So what makes you think that you are any more important than them?  And after witnessing your behaviour it's no wonder you couldn't get a babysitter ... I don't blame anyone for not wanting to be your friend or help you out!

I'm sick and tired of being part of the silent polite majority.  It's high time that we stop accepting this crap and demand common courtesy from each other!  And judging from the response I got when I posted the abridged version of this as my status, I'm not alone with that feeling.

In case you're wondering, The Woman was not waiting for me after the movie was over.