At the risk of sounding a little looney, I’ll make a confession. There is generally a song running through my mind and many times that song is from a Broadway musical. This is nothing new – I’ve been like this since I was a kid. In fact, as a kid, I’d see musicals and feel sure that adult life was full of spontaneous singing and dancing in the streets. I would be paired with Gene Kelly celebrating even a rainy day. My future did indeed seem very bright. Naturally, in high school I became a thespian and theater has always been a love in my life. And true to my little-kid ideas of adult life, there is much singing and dancing, but most of it takes place inside my head – I found it really embarrasses my friends otherwise. And the fact is, much of that music provides so much good advice. For instance, in a bad relationship? “Wash that man right out of your hair.” Late for a formal event? “Get me to the church on time.” Taking a hike? “The hills are alive with the sound of music.” Something out of your control bothering you? “Let it go.” Come on! Are you telling me great songs don’t run through your brain and give you guidance from time to time?
We are fortunate to have a lot of friends who share our love for theater, and especially Broadway musicals. There are several places we enjoy theater, but the best place is in Tempe. Tempe is home to ASU and their Gammage theater. Gammage always mixes up clever cocktails representing songs from the current musical and it’s so fun to enjoy an afternoon cocktail while watching a musical. We attend dinner theater and community theater and pops and rock concerts. Seeing School of Rock was a fun combination of theater and rock.
A couple of years ago, we went to New York to kick off the Christmas season (it turns out I don’t need snow, cold or huge crowds to get in the sprit) and saw Lion King and the Rockettes. We certainly welcome the Arts season.
What I’m Eating
The cooler weather has meant a return to soup making. I love soup and could eat it every single day. This week I made beef stew and it was a hearty meal for us for a couple of days. We entertained a few times this week and caprese skewers were delicious appetizers for one meal. They are so super-duper easy with marinated cheese balls from Costco. I just thread two cherry tomatoes, basil leaves and a mozzarella ball onto large toothpicks and drizzle a tiny bit of balsamic over them. Delish!
We did chicken tacos using what will probably be the last batch of fresh Hatch chilies this year. I coated two chicken breasts in taco seasoning and cooked in one can of diced tomatoes and a chopped and seeded Hatch chili for about one hour. I shredded the cooked chicken and served with our favorite toppings and homemade refried beans.
Our friend Evon came over Saturday (after she watched her production of Frozen at Musical Theatre of Anthem) and we made a salad bar. What was so fun about that meal (besides eating up the TONS of produce we have in our fridge) is that we used our Mueller Pro Vegetable Chopper. That thing is wicked sharp, so I am half scared of it, but it chops everything so well and is perfect for toppings like the salad bar and taco bar we did this week.
My sister Susie and her husband Mike shared these recipes this week. It looks like they were enjoying their mountain home in Cripple Creek, Colorado with perfect autumn weather. They work so hard, it’s nice to see them enjoying a weekend for a change. They shared the recipe for the potato casserole they had for breakfast with ham and Dijon.
Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 (30 ounce) package frozen hash brown potatoes
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
- 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
- 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 cup butter
- 3 cups crushed corn flakes
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- Pour the hash browns into a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking dish. In a large bowl, combine the cheese, sour cream and soup.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, combine the onion with 1/2 stick butter and saute for 5 minutes. Add this to the soup mixture and spread this over the potatoes in the dish.
- Next, arrange the crushed corn flakes over all in the dish. Melt the remaining 1/2 stick of butter and pour this evenly over the corn flakes.
- Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 1 hour.
As if this big breakfast wasn’t enough, they also made a cheese tortellini recipe from the Food Network for their dinner. Susie noted these modifications which turned out great: ” I used a bag of tortellini that was 19oz (just over what they called for) and the “standard” package of Prosciutto is 3oz (just under what they called for). I didn’t quite reduce the cream to 1/2 and didn’t add additional pasta water. I also added fresh ground black pepper. ” I see they poured themselves a nice Chardonnay for dinner and I certainly wish I was there to share it with them.
What I’m Reading
My sister Monique recommended The Paris Architect which was a quick read for me. I’m pretty tired of WWII novels, but this is too good to pass up. I enjoyed it, but admit to skipping through all the Nazi torture pages. On audio, I listened to The Living End by Stanley Elkin. It’s an old one, but it was pretty funny and very creative.
What I’ve Been Doing
With cooler, nicer weather, I’ve been walking a lot and added a little bicycle to my day. I’m also enjoying attending so many classes at our gym. My dear friend Cindy is such a pro and I love her aerobics classes, am loving barre, strength training and my Saturday morning water classes with my dear Marie.
Our friends Lisa and Tom gave us TONS of DVDs and we’ve been having fun watching those, plus some I had already checked out at the library.
So, with catching up with friends, books, movies and lots of exercise, last week went by in a flash.
As I post this, we are having severe weather here in the desert including a tornado warning in our area. What?!!? Crazy.
Peace and grace and blessings on your week.