Baked Potato Topping

BAKED POTATO TOPPING
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp chopped green onion
3 slices crispy bacon, crumbled

Mix butter and sour cream together. Fold in cheese, onion and bacon. Serve at room temperature on baked potatoes. 4-6 servings

Toaster - update

After seeing the $300 toaster at Williams-Sonoma, we just had to purchase this baby. Seemed like such a steal!! It is a traditional toaster AND a toaster oven. It was on the clearance rack for $29. John had been wanting a toaster oven, but I had not wanted to give up the counter space to have another appliance. This solved our problem as it replaced our current toaster and fits nicely in the appliance garage. Yeah!

The Toaster

Audrey and I wanted to go to the Women's Show to check out the booths, but since it was a beautiful evening we wanted John to come along too. He said his eyes would bleed if we made him go into the Women's Show, but he would walk over to the bookstore and wait for us to finish up. So after Audrey and I were done with the Women's Show we met up with John and headed toward River Park Square. We got to my favorite store, Williams Sonoma, and saw all sorts of items we certainly did not need. Audrey excitedly asked me if I had seen the toaster up front? "You have to come see it!" Isn't it awesome? You can SEE your toast while it is cooking. As Audrey put it "So you can save it before it is too late!!!" PS - That really cracked up the sales associate when she heard Audrey say that... Any guesses on the price? Well, you'd have to make an awful lot of toast to get your $299 worth, so you won't find it next time you are over to our house. I did get a really cool cake pan though!!

We headed over to Sonic for burgers & shakes. What a great way to finish off an evening that is seeming quite like summer!! (high 70's)

Wicked !!!!!!

A quick funny story first: I had gotten home from a Tupperware party and it was after 9pm, so a time I normally do not make phone calls. John said "Jessie called and wanted to invite you to a wicken event". I stopped. "John, I don't think she meant wicken?" and decided I needed to call Jessie right then so I could get the real story!! She proceeded to tell me about a "Wicked" (the musical) kick off event that she was invited to as she is a member of a tourism organization. It was being presented by Best of Broadway to coincide with the announcement that Wicked is coming to Spokane May 2011. I jumped at the opportunity!

We met and headed down to the INB Performing Arts center where they had a buffet of food in the lobby for the attendees. A "Yellow Brick Road of Cheese" platter, some "Chicken on a Broomstick" skewers, Melon Martinis (for the drinking crowd) and bright green punch (in a cauldron with dry ice) for the rest of us. Then at the top of the stairs they had the "Munchkin" desserts including Lime Bars and Orange Coconut cookies, and lots of chocolate. The center of the table had an ice sculpture with the Wicked Musical logo. Wow! Then we headed into the opera house and heard from the producer of Wicked (he had flown in from New York) as well as musical numbers from the two leading ladies. They also had a video presentation showing the history of how it all came about, with interviews from the director and song writer. And finally, they had a question and answer session with the audience. What a wonderful time! Thanks Jessie for letting me tag along. As we left the building we each got a goodie bag with pen, magnet and download card for a few of the songs.
After I got home and relaxed, I realized I had left my camera in Jessie's car as we were not allowed to bring into the event. So when Dale stopped it by, he had to take a picture when we opened the door:

Chipotle Chicken Tacos

These were pretty tasty. A nice chicken mixture to add with warm tortillas, lettuce, cheese, tomato and sour cream. Though I saw them on one site, they were actually adapted from another site - My Kitchen Cafe.

CHIPOTLE CHICKEN TACOS
1 & 1/2 TBS butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 & 12/ tsp pureed chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (could not find!!)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced
1 tsp. yellow mustard
6 flour tortillas

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and chipotle and cook, about 30 seconds. Stir in the orange juice, Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 cup chopped cilantro and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the chicken and simmer, covered, over medium heat for 12-13 minutes, stirring a couple of times. When the chicken is cooked completely, use a slotted spoon to transfer chicken to a cutting board, leaving remaining liquid in skillet. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook the mixture left in the skillet until the liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the yellow mustard. While liquid is reducing, shred the chicken, then return to the skillet. Add the remaining cilantro to the skillet and toss until well combined. Serve warm with tortillas topped with lettuce, cheese, tomato, sour cream and avocado.

**Note, because I could not find chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (supposedly in the Mexican foods section), I used 2 & 1/2 teaspoons Chipotle salsa. So mine were probably a little milder than if the correct ingredient was used. Also, I had bought a rotisserie chicken the day prior (and made homemade chicken noodle soup), so my chicken was pre-cooked. That meant there was no liquid to "reduce" so I actually had to add more orange juice before cooking it down. Still pretty tasty!

The Jar

This jar was at my grandmother's house for as long as I can remember, and probably 30 years before that. It always held grandma's brown sugar. Isn't it neat?

Easter

We got together for our annual Saturday lunch at candy-exchange at Grandma's house. Notice Audrey's new overalls? They are the same type and style that Grandpa used to wear. She loves them!