Happy New Year!!!! Motivate, Recipes, a Tip

Good COLD and FRIGID evening y'all!!!!    I am already ready for spring!!!   What about y'all?   I bet you are too.   hahahaha   Oh well, we are just a few days into winter and it's already smacking us around a little.     So I send out warm wishes and prayers for all my family, friends and blog family.   Stay warm!!!   I got up this morning at 4:30 a.m. and came thru and looked out on the deck and it was 0*!!!!!  Yes, it was!!!     While on Facebook a little bit ago I seen where the TVA is asking for people to conserve electricity.  I know they mean well and a lot of us probably can cut back some on our usage.  I just don't like seeing that because as a result, I'm afraid we will see where some of our older people have frozen to death.   And we will never know whether they were trying to conserve or couldn't pay a bill.  At any rate, it is cold temps and challenging times.    The best we can do is try to check on neighbors and see if they need anything.    I just hope and pray that the cold snap doesn't last a long time.

***********

I remember back in the mid to late '70's that we had a cold spell starting just before school was to start back after the Christmas Vacay, but the weather changed, and we didn't get back to school till the mid to late February!!!   Yeah, that's right, we was out of school for many many days and it was so cold that the lake behind our house froze solid!!!!   Yes, it did!!!   My brothers went to the lake and built snowmen and I don't know what all they done!!   Oh my gosh, it just makes me almost have a heart attack just thinking about what all they done back then!   I was really mad though, because Mom wouldn't let get out with them!!   hahahaha    She is a wise woman for sure!!    They might have buried me in a snow lady,  hahahaha.    

It was really scary sounding when the ice began to thaw and the water began to run again in the lake.   It sounded like there may have been a Loch Ness monster in there or something.   If your heard it groaning and didn't know what it was, it would scare the slippery snot out of ya!!!   hahahaha

It was so cold during that time, that my Dad and brothers couldn't even go to work.  They were carpenters and it's really hard to drive nails in frozen lumber!!   My Grandmother lived on the hill above us and every evening before dark, someone would go up and draw water for her from the well and fill her coal buckets up for her so she didn't have to get out.   I had long hair at the time and my Mom had to crochet me a boggin to pull down on my head so I could tuck my hair up in it.   If not, when I reached up to my hair, it would break off in my hand like brittle straw.    That boggin saved my head of hair during that cold spell.   My parents had gotten me a brand new pair of gloves for Christmas that year.   The first time I went up to draw the water for her, the palms of both gloves stuck to the well chain and pulled the palms out of those stinkin' gloves!!!   hahahaha    I guess when the chain finally thawed out, my glove palms fell in the well.   I don't know.     And when I had to fill up her coal buckets, that was awful!!!   I had to take a pick axe and try to bust it up.   It wasn't any different from being in the coal mine with a pick axe!!!   Well, I'm sure it was, but hey, this is my story and I can be as dramatic as I wish!!   hahahaha   It was tough to do and even  my brothers struggled with it, so I guess I was in good company.

So, if you gotta be out in the tough weather, put your gloves and boggins on, you won't be sorry.

************

Speaking of Christmas I got an Air Fryer, so now the fun starts.   I am learning to use it.   Haven't had any flops yet.  But I know that what I cook, I can and will, get better with as time goes on.

I have to stop right here and tell y'all that there is a LOT of hateful and mean spirited people on FACEBOOK!!!    If they are that way in real life, I pity the people around them.    I finally asked a question on one the groups that I joined.  I asked "Do people ever fixed anything from scratch?   It seems to me that everyone is just opening boxes and bags and that my sole purpose for getting the machine was for cooking from scratch and making healthier versions of food and that I hadn't seen any recipes from scratch."   Oh my good gollie gosh, you would have thought that question was gonna start world war 3!!!   Bunch of idiots!!!!!   That is the best word I can bless those people with.  After I spoke as sweetly as a "sweet southern belle" can, I dropped a couple groups quicker than you would drop a hot tater!!!   For the life of me, I can't figure out why some are so STINKIN hateful!!!!   I am telling ya', times been, there woulda been a regular street brawl, but I just don't sweat over idiots anymore!!!!   You know, "don't sweat the small stuff".   Well, hateful people are the "small stuff" and I don't deal with them.   I'll let 'em cuss each other and I'll move on to  kinder, gentler territory.   So, if you happen to be in a group on FB or anywhere for that matter, and it's not conducive to friendliness and helpfulness, you don't have to put up with people like that.   Just sayin'!!!!

Recipe 1.   But I have been cooking a few things with it.  The first thing I made was salmon fillets with a mix of 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce and a tablespoon brown sugar and 2 tablespoon water mixed well till the brown sugar dissolved and brushed it on the salmon and air fryed it for the time on the fryer said to do and it was FABULOUS!!!!!    It was, without a doubt, the BESTEST (yes I said BESTEST, hehehe) salmon that I have ever eaten!!!!!    I had started to think that I was gonna have to scratch salmon off my list, but not this recipe!!!   It's da bomb!!!!  Yes it is!!!!  And my hubby gave it 2 thumbs up and tried to stick a toe up too.   hehehe

Recipe 2.   I then sliced up 2 taters into french fries and air fried those.    Oh my good gosh gollie (sorry, I used that phrase twice, but who knows, I may use it again before I get done with my food, hahaha) we scarfed those down like we hadn't eaten in a month of Sundays.    Just a small sprinkle of sea salt when they were done and we were happy!!!    Crispy on the outside and yummy on the inside!

Recipe 3.   Last night, I took a large boneless skinless chicken breast and cut 4 tenders out of it.   I used somewhat of the same marinade for the chicken that I used for the salmon.    I did make a larger batch because I also had 4 chicken legs to marinade too.    The chicken tenders were AWESOME!!!!   My husband loves them, so he will be getting them.   How's that?    They were really good.   I am so thrilled that I finally found something that I can use on my salmon and chicken.   So, I still had the legs in the fridge soaking in the marinade and I threw them in the fryer this afternoon and oh my good gollie gosh (3rd time hehe) they were SOOOOOO fantastic!!!  I cooked them at 360* for 25 minutes.   I checked them at 22 minutes and they were not done because they had a bone in them.  Crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside.   I can't wait to experiment more.

Recipe 4.   I had almost forgot about the veggies I cooked on Sunday night too.   I took yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers and mushrooms and sliced and diced and tossed it in the air fryer for a few minutes and stirred it and cooked it a few minutes more and they were so GOOOOOD!!!!   I had some ranch popcorn seasoning and I sprinkled a little of that on the veggies when they were done.   Yummo!!!!!

I am going to continue with my "Tip" of the post.    So, the tip this time is to remember to season your fryer basket each time to keep it stick free..    I just brush a little coconut oil on my basket and that gets it ready to be cooked in.    If I think something may stick anyway, I cut a circle of parchment paper the size of my basket and just scissor cut slits in it and the air will still circulate.    I also put a sheet of aluminum foil in the container that the fryer basket  sits in.   That really helps with clean up!!!

I am gonna check into some of the silicone baking cups and small pieces too.   I see people using those pieces in their fryers to bake in and also making egg dishes and casseroles and things like that.    People even bake their biscuits in it.    I have a toaster oven that takes a full sized 13 x 9 cake pan, so I will continue to use that, for the stuff that I have always used it for.   But I am looking forward to creating dishes that are wholesome and healthy and  NOT fatty, greasy, and lardy.   hehehehe

I hope that if you have one of these Air Fryers that you will let me know and share some of your favorite healthy dishes with me.   Keep a look out here, because as I have successes, I will share them here.

************

I had a word of the year in 2017 and that word was dream.    It was not my dream, but God's dream for me.  Well, I just have to tell you that God done a magnificent job dreaming for me last year!!!    Yes, He did.    He done things that I would never have imagined for my life and He just keeps on doing for me.   Praises to God for being the dreamer of dreams.    I wanted to keep the word for this year also, it was such a good word.   But I think God wanted me to take a different direction this year.   The word I have decided on this year, 2018, is "motivate, motivation or any other form of the word".   I don't know why this word in particular, but I am sure God will show me as we get into the days ahead.   I think I may have an inkling of where He wants to take me with this word.    So, I will wait with great anticipation to see where He takes me this year.

 ************

Well, I hate to cut it so short, but I have been sick since last Thursday and I'm still under the weather and ready for a rest and a good night's sleep.    This is a hard thing to shake for sure, but I think I am on the uphill swing now.   I sure hope so anyway.   I am excited to get over this and get back on the exercise schedule and get my hiney moving again!!!   hahaha

I pray that everyone has a cozy comfy night of sweet healing rest!!     Give the day to God before you go to sleep and thank Him for being a part of it.   Ask Him to give you some motivation, if you need it.   I sure am because I need it!!     I am looking forward to the direction He will take me this year.   I hope you found something useful here today.  I will have some pictures to share sometime of some of the food I am cooking with my Air Fryer, just didn't feel like it tonight.   I wish each of y'all a very Happy and Blessed New Year!!!!!   Keep God in it and it will be the best year ever!     Remember that God love's y'all and so do I!!!   See ya' in a few days with some fun stuff!!   Love and hugs, Patty