More Gnome Cards

Fawn Lawn card

Archivers is going out of business at the Great Northern Mall.  Everything is 30% so I got some stamps and cards today. I colored everything with my Crayola colored pencils. I am pleased with the colors!

Cilantro Lime Rice

1 1/2 cups water
1 cup long-grain white rice

1 teaspoon lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp. salt

First, you need to wash off the excess starch on the rice. This will prevent it from making a sticky mess. Put the rice in a your 2 qt. pan, run cold tap water over it. Once the pan is full of water, use your fingers to swish the rice around. The water will start getting murky. Gently pour this water out. Repeat this process till the water is mostly clear. This will take at least 4-5 washes. Now put in the water. Normally, a long-grain rice recipe calls for twice the amount of water as rice. Why then are we using only 1.5 cups of water? Because our rice has already been sitting in some water for a while, and has absorbed a bit of it. Moreoever, there is still some leftover water after you drained it, because no one can drain it absolutely dry. Put the pan on medium high heat. Wait till the water boils and starts bubbling. Now turn the heat down as low as you can, cover with the tight lid, and let it just sit there for about 15-20 minutes. Resist the urge to lift the lid and peek at the rice. After the 15-20 minutes is up, turn off the heat and let it rest another 5 minutes.

Dump cooked rice into large bowl.  Gently fold in remaining ingredients. I like to use the rice paddle that came with my rice steamer.

Pad Thai

1 lb package boneless skinless chicken
6 oz baby mushrooms
1 small head bock choy
1 ancient pepper, julienned
package Pad Thai sauce
Penzey's BBQ seasoning

2 C. cooked rice
1 regular carrot, diced
3 eggs
2 Tb. oil
low sodium soy sauce

Cook chicken, until not pink.  Season with BBQ seasoning.  Add mushroom, bock choy, and pepper. Saute until bock choy is wilted, mushrooms are soft, and chicken is 165*.  Add Pad Thai sauce. Turn off heat and set aside.  In a second pan, scramble eggs with carrots and oil.While egg is still moist, add cooked rice.  Chop up mixture to separate grains of rice.  Add soy sauce.  Serve stir fry over rice.

Beautiful October

Time lapsed photos of the sky above my workplace.

Magic Mouthwash

Magic mouthwash is used to treat mouth sores, sore throat, cankersores, etc.  I recently recommended it to a coworker because her thoat hurt due to allergy season.  I had to explain it to her because she never heard of it before, and then I had to scour the internet to find the recipe.  Maybe it isn't as popular as I thought?

4 oz children's Benedryl
6 oz Maalox
.5 oz benzocain


Mix equal parts milk of magnesia and allergy liquid together in a medicine bottle. Add benzocain and enough water to make the mixture easy to shake.  I found a 16 ounce bottle worked wonderfully.  In large doses Maalox acts as a laxative, so do not drink more than 2 Tbs; just gargle and spit to coat your mouth with numbing goodness.

Apple Sauce

4 large apples (I used Empire this time)
1/2 C. sugar
1 Tb. cinnamon

Use a vegetable peeler to peel the apples. Cut apples into quarters, then  use a paring knife to remove core bits.  Slice apples into small wedges.  Add wedges to microwave safe bowl, add sugar and cinnamon. Microwave until apples are soft (about 12 minutes).