Canned Chicken

Around a year ago I purchased 5 cans of canned chicken from Costco thinking it would be a great way to put protein into meals when I'm in a rush. It took me 4 months to use the first can because I was told of taste bud horrors that come with using such an item. When I first used it in a chicken tortilla soup, I was pleasantly surprised that my taste buds didn't stand up and vote me into darkness. Since then, I've been experimenting with canned chicken and found it to be my next cooking toy. Last night I made chicken enchiladas. I took the recipe from the canned instructions, but modified it. It is as follows:
1 can chicken, drained
1/2 cup salsa
1 4oz can green chilies
Mix in bowl and place preferred amount in tortillas. Load in preferred cheese (I used Colby Jack), and fold tortillas.
Take one can of enchiladas sauce and cover bottom of cooking pan (I used an 8x8). Place all folded tortillas in pan and completely cover top with remaining enchiladas sauce. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, sprinkle with cheese.


The last several weeks I've been making chicken salad sandwiches. These are rather addicting, so if you're on a diet, beware! I got this recipe from a lady at church, and once again I've adjusted it to my taste.
1 can chicken, drained
3-4 spoonful of mayo
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 cup cashews
Mix together and place on favorite bread. For a real treat, use crescents.


Tonight I will take 1 can chicken and blend it with cream cheese and a few seasonings. I will cook it inside filo dough. If it turns out great, I'll share the full recipe.

Happy cooking!

Mel's Taco Soup

Last night I purchased our first dutch oven. It's a Camp Chef 6 qt. pan. It came preseasoned and ready to use. Those words are like music to my ears. Last night I made my dutch oven meal Taco Soup. It was easy and clean-up was simple.

Anyone interested in the recipe, here it is.
1 pound ground beef
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic
(Combine and brown beef)

1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1 can corn
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans (optional)
1 sm. can tomato sauce + 1 can water
1 taco seasoning packet
(add cans with their juices to th beef)

Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
Serve with sour cream, cheddar cheese and corn chips
Serves 4 famished people or 6-8 moderately hungry people.

Dutch Oven

Last week my dad and I decided to take a dutch oven class offered by our local community. It's 2 nights total with a full dutch oven prepared meal to eat at the end of each class. Although we have cooked dutch oven meals while camping, we both realized that the pros will have a few tips that will help us create even better meals. One of the most valuable tips we've received so far is this: Don't put a hot coal in the bottom center. Although this tip seems obvious, it's not always the easiest to remember when your stomach is wanting food and you're still an hour away from a ready meal.

We're receiving some excellent recipes through this class, including a potato onion and cheese cornbread. It sounds weird, but is unforgettably delicious. I'll post a version of that recipe within the next few days.

I found this web site that offers some very valuable tips and great recipes.

Question for the world out there. I have found 3 different instructions for care of a rancid dutch oven. One says to heat it up, and that's all. One says to spray it with water and vinegar and wipe it out. The third says to heat it up really hot for a while then after cooling a little, scrub like crazy with hot water until it looks like new, then season it from scratch.

The third one seems to be the most thorough, although it's a lot of work if your pans go rancid from time to time. Do the first two methods mentioned actually work?

Games in the Miata

Last Saturday Levi and I spent the morning with the Utah Miata Club tech day event. We've been to many of the Miata club events, but this was certainly one to remember. Everyone was able to put their cars on lifts and help each other work on the cars. I spent most of my time by the food table, eating a delicious breakfast and chatting with the ladies. We played a speed, pick-up game in the Miatas, a 50 yard dash in the cars and took a Miata knowledge quiz. We won prizes for all three events. This picture was taken during the first event, and was posted on the Miata Club front page yesterday. Here is another picture of the game.

This is a super cool club!

Riddles and The DaVinci Code

For anyone who loves riddles, check this out. You get to help Robert Langdon (Character in The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown) solve mysteries.

Sunday Drives

When I was growing up, we would often load the car with picnic items and go for a Sunday drive. The destination wasn't always known, we would just drive and explore. As kids, our favorite locations would to be a lake or a good spooky Ghost Town. There are quite a few ghost towns in Utah, and this guy tells of the ones he has visited and gives a little history. There are even some pics posted of what you might see. His favorite town is Frisco.
On our Sunday drives, we visited a few towns but I don't remember their names. What made them fun for us is that our imaginations could lead us to believe we would bump into a phony spook and unmask a money hungry villain. I imagine the Scooby-doo show had influenced our beliefs that every ghost town had such a mystery.

In celebration of the blue sky and warm weather we're enjoying here, Levi and I enjoyed a Sunday drive yesterday afternoon. We explored the west side of Utah Lake and dreamed of more warm days. We drove through some areas that have the good old town feel, but only a short distance away the charm ends with new developments. Needless to say, there is no hope that those charming old towns will form into a ghost town anytime soon.

Antique Chairs

With all the redecorating we've been doing, one of the tasks I've been really excited over is finding the perfect living room parlor style chairs, preferably American or French 1800 Victorian style. We found this chair at a local furniture store, but we didn't care for the price. But as you can see, overstock.com offers it for a killer deal. Although I really like this chair, I've always wanted something that is a true antique that is just candy for the eyes. I found the perfect chairs to fit that description at antiquariantraders.com, it's under chairs, row 5, 4 over. But as you can see by the price tag, this is not something I could possibly afford. The 4,000 dollars would be better spent on Levi and I bicycling through Europe. Not all hope is lost though. I did find some beautiful antique chairs at ebay 1 & 2. I still view the 4,000 chairs as the most beautiful, but at that price they'll have to find a different home.


**I just found another chair that is a little more fancy than the overstock.com chairs and has a classy style at bombaycompany.com.

Home Improvements

Last December Levi announced that it was high time to remove the ghetto wall mirror and get rid of the "Golden Girls" decor. This is something we've been trying to do for months, but it was constantly put off due to the pleasure of enjoying good ol' fashion lazy time.

The project has started. The mirror is gone, the walls are painted, and now we have started on the flooring. For the last week we have been installing our new cherry wood style laminate in our living room, dining room and hall. The first disgusting task was to remove the stained carpet and smelly padding. To our dismay and delight, the entire condo has a cement floor. It's good in case of leaks and noises, and bad because the cement isn't exactly flat. We have worked through these hiccups and by the end of the week we hope to be joining Atticus in some sliding across the new floor adventures.

Star Wars III

For all that want to see some pictures from the new movie (as well as a few flash clips), check this out.

Patrick McManus

One of my favorite humorists is Patrick McManus. You can find his work in"Ourdoor Life" and in older editions of "Field & Stream". He also has around 13 books published. I'm paticularly fond of his book "Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs".

If you interested in fishing, hunting, and funny stories associated with such, you must read his work. I found this online story to tickle your funnybone.