Lessons in life I have learned from people who have passed away

My Mom: Eating too much ice cream will make you morbidly obese.

Dwayne Dawson: Driving too fast in a downpour will get you killed.

Mike Weekly: Be careful about falling while in the bathroom.

Grandfather: Wait to be helped when old & on the toilet.

Creamy 1 pan Chicken and Potatoes the cheaper way

Last night out of anger basically I whipped up a recipe I found somewhere last week or so only because it seemed interesting. Creamy 1 pan Chicken & Potatoes is the name. I made some changes.

Instead of cayenne pepper I used Chili Powder. I didn't have 6 boneless chicken thighs so I used a frozen 1 pound pack of boneless Chicken Tenders which has been in my freezer since April. I had wanted to wait until I visited Walmart in person because that's really the only way you should buy fresh pack meat but I was under considerable stress to get something made.

Instead of an expensive Shallot (and at Walmart you can't buy just 1) I substituted with a cheap pack of Scallions. Which meant the part of the recipe where you put the shallot in the pan to cook & soften wasn't going to take 3 minutes. Scallions aren't as robust.

Instead of Mini Gold Potatoes, I bought a 5 pound of regular gold potatoes and used my box chopper to slice the smallest 1.5 pounds of them, which turned out just fine.

Instead of Heavy Cream, I chose a pint of Half & Half, and instead of shallot & chive flavor Gournay cheese, I used regular cream cheese. I guess I used up the thing of chives I had in a spice bottle... And if I was to do this again, I would have gotten some Onion or Chives flavor regular Philadelphia cream cheese. I think that stuff comes whipped in a bowl container? As long as I have 6 ounces.

The recipe calls for using the dry spices to coat the chicken, then coating that with flour for cooking in oil. Keep ahold of that flour when using Half & Half, because later when cooking the potatoes and after you added the cream cheese and the vegetable oil is still in the pan, you'll have some loose ambient oil floating on top. I sprinkled flour from earlier around the pan and it absorbed it up as well as made the creamy stuff thicker. Just watch for it trying to stick on the bottom & stir.

This is yet another dish which tastes best when it has cooled down. In general, this was low sodium when omitting the salt - only the chicken broth has any real amount so I saw no need to add more. Just be aware the potatoes can end up being done earlier than the recipe says they will.

I risked personal injury for this...

Today for paying bills started off early as I had planned because I checked the weather forecast and it indicated around 9 a.m. the temperatures would still be okay - what was NOT conveyed was the humidity. We went all of summer and NOW we get hotter than ass outside??? But before I could consider anything else, a brief storm went through as I got breakfast and as promised, it was gone by 9.

I gathered up all my loose trash, garbage, freezer filth, and cat crap and got downstairs... oh. Pain in my legs means this is going to be a rough day. Small goals for this huge Do. Check my mail - ah, I got a sweet bonus! Nice. AND MY RECENT EBAY BOX IS HERE!! eBay isn't broken!! This one started out in Vermont, then Massachusetts, then 3 days later was suddenly in MIAMI FLORIDA?? Over to Ybor City, then back up to Indianapolis, Akron, Canton, and finally to moi.

Get outside, there's some guy on the bench. I deposit my 3 smaller bags of refuse in the curbside receptacle, sit down, he asks do I mind if he smokes? I said, no, but you can't do that directly out front of the building and there are places at the sides where you can. So he thoughtfully just finishes rolling his little cancer stick and moves off to one side. He eventually leaves and I take up the other end of the bench to collect motivation.

Get in my vehicle, put the big garbage bag in the other seat, load up, move the chair back back, do my loop around and deposit the bag (lid is closed again), and off to the credit union. I'm annoyed the credit union got rid of the armless chair and it's difficult for me to stand for too long while I transact there. And the teller takes forever to process things. Withdrawals, easy. ugh....

Get to Disney Drug Mart. It's getting muggier by now. Get in the door, my red chariot awaits. Some guy has a tiny table for donations he's taking. Again.

Get inside, deposit my refills request. Figure out what I need to pay Marshall County. Get money orders AND FILLED THEM OUT CORRECTLY. Gosh! So many envelopes to mail out this month.

I have a beeg list of things to shop for and I'm definitely not getting it all here. So I get what I can. PUMPKIN SPICE SEASON! HALLOWEEN CANDY BAGS!! STAY BACK, FOUL MERCHANDISE! I NEED NOT TEMPTATIONS TO RUIN MY DIET!! But I took pictures! The Vlasic Pickle Balls was most amusing.

They didn't have any Tidy Cat Free & Clear Unscented cat sand... I hope I didn't make a mistake buying another brand cat sand. Even the Tidy Cat which doesn't say it's unscented is scented and the Lightweight stuff just doesn't work as well as the heavy stuff. Oddly enough, plenty of Friskies canned food but no Turkey Paté.

Bought 6 Fuji apples for $1 (produce markdown). Bought apple cider instead of pop because while they had a special going on Coke products, you had to buy 4 and I don't need 4 of anything except bread hanging around. I mean except for that one time Myers & Myers did at Giant Iggle... I need some Zero Sugar Canada Dry though I'm up for some Vernor's.

 

Tried my best to knock out as much of my list as possible. Golden Potatoes had for a recipe. Hope they keep well. Didn't get any cereal as they got rid of Malt o meal bagged cereal. I mean, there was quite a lot I did NOT get.

Get out of the store after paying and oh my god that front area was fricken NASTY HOT. AND THEN IT WAS HOT OUTSIDE BY NOW, TOO. I couldn't get into my vehicle fast enough and get it started and blow that air conditioner. I will likely use the monies from the royalty check to get a checkup & oil change for the vehicle. It could use one!

Get back and Tina isn't in the office, so no officialness for my money order receipt. Drop off 4 envelopes to mail out and while I'm getting ready to go back up, some lady comes in and spreads out some stuff on the donation table. Wait for her to leave and I see it's a bunch of dry milk pouches, 6 cookies, and 3 wrapped individual bread slices. Da frick? Who passes up dry milk? I grab everything, of course.

By now my pain relief has faded and I'm running on fumes. I'm lucky I'm still awake to put things in the fridge and then physically able to get in my bedroom. But I manage to get in bed, take more acetaminophen before I nap, and drink the last dregs of water in my bottles. Wake up later (cat insisted on his laser dot chasing so my nap was delayed) and finally have supper & type this out.