Are you ready for some football.....

Football FOOD that is!

It's that time of year again. I know some of you could care less about the big game on Sunday, but football is taken very seriously in my house. The Super Bowl is fast approaching and my husbands team is playing.

I don't think I have to clue you in as to who he's rooting for huh? My husband and his whole family are Steeler fanatics. I've been planning the Super Bowl menu for a week now and I just found the perfect football food to accompany the game.

Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps

I can't begin to tell you how amazingly delicious these are, and they're easy to make too! Double bonus! Wait there's more...you only need 4 ingredients! I'm not kidding. Here is the last kicker (kicker, ya get it, football...meh, never mind, lol) This is a Paula Deen recipe and it contains no butter! Amazing isn't it? Well then again, there is bacon so that kinda makes up for the lack of butter. But anyway....YOU MUST MAKE THESE!

If you are making them for the game, or just for a party, I highly recommend doubling the batch. I doubled it this time and let me tell you, I could have easily tripled it and there wouldn't have been one left.

Thanks to my mother-in-law Carol who sent the recipe to me. Without her our bellies wouldn't have been full of this deliciousness. Thanks Mom!

Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps
recipe from Miss Paula Deen
1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pound sliced bacon
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder

Preheat the oven to 350. Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes. Cut the bacon into thirds. Wrap a slice around each cube and secure with a toothpick. Stir together the brown sugar and the chili powder. Dredge the wrapped chicken in the mixture.

Line a sheet pan with foil and place a rack over the pan. I used a cookie cooling rack. Don't skip the foil or you will have one sticky mess to clean up. Spray the rack with cooking spray. Place the chicken on the rack and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the bacon is crisp.

*Note - I used 2 1/4 pounds of chicken and 1 pound of bacon and had enough of the brown sugar and chili powder mixture to coat all my chicken. It made 58 pieces. I'm going to use at least 3 pounds of chicken for the big game.



Oh one last thing...

GO STEELERS!

Productive Saturday

Up and out early, hit 5 stores. Picked up the ingredients for some delicious recipes.

The Asian market is a madhouse on Saturday morning. Won't do that again.

Ripped the fridge apart. Emptied the whole thing out and started cleaning. Sometimes you just have too. Only found 3 moldy things and 2 were recognizable!

Organized page after page of recipes. Now I want to make everything.

Did some photo editing.

Wish I had so much more time to take pictures.

Snoring dog at my feet.

Snoring hubby napping on the couch.

Quiet from the boys room. Engrossed in a video games.

Had to share this fat (male) squirrels picture, cause it makes me smile.

Had Mom's birthday party last night. Take-out pizzas and a store bought cake. Everyone seemed to be fine with it. I felt relief for not having to go crazy cooking all the food like I always do and also a tinge of sadness or the same reason. Birthday cakes should be homemade. Maybe next year a snow storm won't stop me from getting my ingredients (or I'll just shop way ahead of time). I just have to let it go, but that's always so hard for me. I am the Queen of "I should have" and I need to just get over it.

My head is full of things I want to make for Superbowl Sunday. Deciding which ones to choose.

Time for tea and a magazine.

Hope you are enjoying your Saturday~

Banana Bread with Dates (and a secret technique)

January is slowly coming to a close. You all know I'm really looking forward to that. I'm gradually getting myself out of this slump. Picking up the pieces of this long month and looking forward to a happier February.

I do have to admit that one of the very bright spots in this otherwise tempestuous month for me is getting to watch one of my favorite rock stars judge on American Idol. I have adored Steven Tyler since I was a teenager. Aerosmith has always been a huge part of my life (hey I met my husband at an Aerosmith convention). Getting to watch him twice a week has been a real joy.

I also wanted to say thanks for all your words of encouragement and emails. They really meant a lot to me. I'm picking myself up and dusting myself off and moving on. I guess if I was using Steven's words....."I'm back in the saddle again".

I have a birthday party planned for Mom tonight. I always bake a cake for her birthday, and I had every intention of doing just that, when Ol' Man Winter decided to dump another foot of snow on us. I couldn't get to the store in time to get the ingredients that I needed to make the cake. I know that lots of people have store bought cakes at their party, and we have some really great bakeries very close by, but it still it bothers me that she won't have a cake that I made. I hope that is Januarys last little pinch.

Ok then....let's talk about something completely different....

Mushy black bananas.

If you're a banana buyer, I'm sure you've had them. I know when I buy them and first bring them home a few will go right away and then after a few more days they just seem to sit and go mucky.

I'll admit there are times when I just pitch the buggers into the compost pile, especially during the summer when the fruit flies seem to have a feast on them, but most of the time I just hate the thought of wasting them. So I don't. Instead I'll make banana bread.



My banana bread is different almost every time I make. I'll add in chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, even blueberries or chopped apples, but I've never added in dates...until now.

The reason? I bought a big container of them right before the holidays and only used a few of them. Every time I open up the fridge I see them and I feel guilty about just leaving them in there, so I decided to put some in my banana bread.

The result - deliciousness!! The dates are sweet and chewy, nothing like a raisin and for that I'm thankful cause I don't like raisins in my banana bread.



This is a recipe that is about a hundred years old. It really is, I'm not just saying that.

I found it in an old Yankee Magazine. It dates back to the turn of the century. The secret to this amazing banana bread...whipping the bananas. Yup, you take your mixer and whip them up until they are light and fluffy. It really produces a much less dense bread.

Banana Bread
3 large bananas
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped nuts or dates or whatever you fancy

Crush the bananas with a fork and then whip them with a mixer until very light and fluffy. Set aside.

Cream the butter and the sugar. Add in the eggs and mix. Add in the flour and baking soda and mix again. Add bananas in and mix just until incorporated. Don't over mix! Fold in the nuts or dates. Turn into a well greased loaf pan. Bake slowly at 325 for 1 hour or until toothpick tests clean.

Wordless Wednesday~

What did the Boomtown Rats say?

I don't like Mondays. Well I have another line to add.

I don't like JANUARY!

Do you have a month that always seems to drag you down? A month where everything seems to go wrong? A month where you are counting the days until it’s over?

In years past, that month was February for me. I say was because I am slowly beginning to dislike January.

I don’t dislike January for the reasons that most people dislike it…the snow, the cold the weather, the dark mornings, the bitter cold nights. I can deal with all of that. I love the snow, the cold doesn’t bother me so much and I can bare dark morning. There always seems to be a month that just kicks your ass and this year that is January for me.

I don’t like to complain….but here I go. This month has brought me medical flare-ups. I have a disease (that I haven’t talked about here, and probably never will) that can cause lots of pain, and when I am in the middle of a flare-up, its just sucks.

I lost my hot water for 2 days and then found out that I needed a plumber to fix the faucets in my bathroom sink and tub.

My son is struggling in English. This means a conference with guidance and his teachers. I’m worried for him. They want to move him to a collaborative class. He loves his teacher. He does not want to change classes.

One of my closest friends is losing his Dad. I listened to him sob in pain, the kind of pain that comes from deep inside you. It broke my heart into pieces.

John went to work this morning, tried parking in Providence, where on a sunny day that is a challenge, and his truck was towed. I can only imagine how much this is going to cost.

Then there was lots of other stupid stuff, trivial little things that normally I could just brush off and move on from. All those things are just adding up, contributing to this shitty month. I’m feeling it from every little corner.

Dare I say I’m burnt out? Me, the person who never stops, who is usually always in a pretty happy mood, who tries to see the good and hopefulness in every day, yes, even I get to my breaking point and then I feel like I’m letting everyone down cause people are so shocked when I’m not “me”, like I’m never allowed to feel a little down.

It’s in times like this that I find my solace in baking. Standing in my kitchen with my mixing bowls, surrounded by sugar, butter and flour. It’s my therapy. I’m lost for a little bit and big bad January can’t touch me for awhile. It’s my happy place.

So another recipe will be coming tomorrow and the end of January is near. My Mom’s birthday is coming up, so there is one reason in January that can still make me smile.

Sorry for the bummer of a post. It’s not always lollipops and gumballs here. Just thought you should know. Here’s hoping February is filled with everything good that January wasn’t, oh and chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate.

That can never hurt.

Wordless Wednesday~

Brrrr.....

Day 2 of no hot water.

Repairman coming back again this morning.

My unwashed hair is not a pretty sight.

Not at all.

My friend calls me "Fraggle Head", as in, your hair looks like one of the Fraggles from Fraggle Rock. Remember them?



Ice cold shower yesterday. No fun.

I felt like this little guy.



Told you to be prepared for lots of bird pictures.

Drove to my friends house at 6:00am to take a shower so I could go to work without scaring everyone in the office.

Trying not to whine about this little inconvenience in my life and be grateful for the heat in the house when it's single digits outside, but I really miss my hot shower......badly.