Crockpot Spinach Casserole

I've come to the realization that ever since I joined Facebook, I just don't post here in my blog all that much anymore, and I don't know if that makes me sad, glad, or indifferent.

However it makes me feel, I'll still come here as often as I can to post a new recipe, or whenever whatever I have to say is just too much for a Facebook post.

Such is the case today.

I came across this recipe recently while thumbing through an old 'Taste of Home' magazine my grandmother once had and thought I would give it a try. Since so much of my time these days is taken up with work, the gym, or the theatre, I found it to be a real time saver, and quite tasty as well. I hope you enjoy it at much as I did, and please, feel free to add your own 'ala (insert your name here)' touches and let me know how it came out.

CROCKPOT SPINACH CASSEROLE

• 2 boxes frozen spinache, thawed and drained


• 2 1/2 cups cottage cheese


• 1/3 cup margarine


• 3 eggs, beaten


• 1/4 cup flour


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/4 tsp pepper

1. Lightly grease your crockpot slowcooker (I used an olive oil non-stick spray from Western Family)


2. Mix together all ingredients and spoon into your crockpot


3. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours

It's just that simple, and as always, eat and enjoy.

Norwegian Stuffed Cabbage Stew

I knew I hadn't posted a 'Recipe of the Month' for a long time, but didn't really realize how long till I was getting ready to post this one. I hope all of my readers can forgive me.

This dish was inspired by my involvment in the Stockton Civic Theatre production of 'I Remember Mama', when the Hansen family of early 20th century San Francisco had to eat a LOT of it to save money. I therefore tried to make it not only economical, but as tasty and nutritious as I could.

You will need a 5 quart crockpot for this dish.

Norwegian Stuffed Cabbage Stew

1 head of cabbage. Quarter your cabbage to remove the tough spine, then roughly chop.

1 large white onion

1 - 2 yellow bell peppers

1 lb lean ground beef

2 cloves minced garlic

1 cup uncooked, intant rice

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp peper

1/4 tsp ground thyme

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 can (6 0z) tomato paste

32 oz low sodium chicken stock

Finely chop the onion and bell pepper and place them in your crockpot.

Brown your ground beef with the two cloves of garlic, then strain through a collander and discard the greasy hamburger fat.

Add the browned ground beef to the onions and bell peppers.

Sprinkle over the mixture in the crockpot the salt, pepper, ground thyme, nutmet and cinnamon.

Add your one cup of uncooked instant rice

Add your roughly chopped cabbage

Combine the tomato paste and chicken stock. Whisk till throroughly blended then pour over the cabbage.

Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours.

You'll find it filling and tasty, and it won't break the bank, not even 'The Little Bank'.

As always, eat and enjoy.

Crock Pot Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I haven't posted a recipe on my blog in long time. Not in fact since I posted my recipe for Polenta Style Corn Casserole back on April 26th, 2011, and for that I'm sorry. Not for the recipe, but for not posting any new ones for such a long time.

Anyway, my good friend Mike Moon was talking about how he made blueberry muffins on his BBQ because he didn't want to heat up his kitchen (In this weather I can sooooo understand that), and that got me to thinking of another baking recipe in my collection that won't heat up your kitchen.

CROCK POT PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

• 1 package of your favorite poundcake mix


• 1/4 cup butter


• 1/2 cup brown sugar (tightly packed)


• 15 oz canned pineapple chunks (reserve the juices)


• 8 maraschino cherries, halved

1. Mix the cake according to the mix directions, using some of the juice as part of the liquid


2. Melt the butter or margarine in a lightly greased (ie Pam) baking tin that is small enough to fit into your crockpot


3. Stir in the brown sugar and spread evenly over the bottom of the baking tin


4. Add the pineapple chunks and cherry halves (and if you want to get creative, try making a happy little face with them)


5. Poor in the cake batter and place the tin in your crockpot. Cover and set on high for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours


6. Before removing, insert a knife in the center of the cake. If the knife comes out clean, the cake is done (that is assuming of course you used a clean knife to begin with)


7. When the cake is done, remove the tin from the crockpot and emediately invert onto a plate


8. "TAH-DAH". You've just made a pineapple upside down cake in something most people think can only make soups and stews.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did. I just wish Nutrisystem had this as a menu option.

Bye-bye for now, and remember as always, 'Eat and Enjoy'.

My Minor Little Coup

I haven't talked about my investments in a long time, and there is a very good reason. Like most of the people who had money in "The Market", the last few years were a disaster, but I think I've rounded that corner, beginning my long, slow climb back up.

A few months ago, when it became clear to me that the politicians were starting to play a serious game of "I've Got Bigger Balls Than You" (aka "Chicken") with the United States' AAA credit rating, I slowly started selling off the bulk of my investments and got into a 100% cash position. Then I began to slowly take small bites out of the investment pie for lack of a better term. In a phrase, I did my research.

I wanted more diversification than I could get at the moment by buying my own stocks, I wanted to keep the expenses down, and I wanted the ability to get into and out of a position quickly if I had to. That meant ETFs, or Exchange Traded Funds.

Keeping my eyes and ears open (Thank you CNBC TV and 740 AM radio), I started taking $100 bites out of 4 different stock ETFs and one bond ETF that concentrates on TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities).

Since I had built up my cash position to 100% of my portfolio, every time the market took a dive, I would set a limit order to buy a small number of shares in the 5 ETFs I chose, and then, after I bought, I set new limit orders to buy into each fund again when the price fell 1% or more below the previous price. This is called "Dollar Cost Averaging". That and keeping calm has served me well so far.

My total gains for the year, 16.4%.

I wonder if anyone would be interested in starting an investment club.

When I Cannot Let it Rest

In my work for the State of California as an accounting technician, every last working day of the month I am required to 'balance the checkbook' for three different divisions in my section. I really enjoy my work, but the last working day of the month can be a very stressful time.

For years now, as a little treat for myself, whenever that day fell on a Friday, I made it a habit to go out to dinner. I used to go to one of two different buffets, but that got to be to fattening (lol), so now it's either a trip to the Olive Garden or Appleby's.

This month, I ended up at Appleby's.

Now, my great-grandmother and many others have often told me that God puts us where we most need to be. Whenever we save a life, help a friend change a tire, help a child who has fallen down, or a winter coat at a 70% off sale, it's because God put us there, and I like to think God had me decide on Appleby's last night to witness the stupidity of man.

Since I was eating alone, I saw no point in waiting for a table or booth, so went right up to sit at the bar. I hadn't been there very long (just long enough to order a glass of water with lemon and the chips and salsa appetizer) when this one guy took a seat not to far from me. What made me notice him was the fact that he was wearing a tank-top.

Please know that I have nothing against tank-tops, I just don't think you should wear anything that exposes your armpits to a restaurant.

Something else that drew my attention to 'Tank-Top Man' was a tattoo I noticed on his upper left arm. The tattoo? It was of a bible passage, not the whole thing of course, just
'Leviticus 18:22'.

Now, I am not a Bible scholar, but I do have a passing familiarity with the Bible, and believe me when I say, it really made me mad that he would display such a tattoo in public. I mean, why not one of the following tattoos instead;

• God hates shrimp - Leviticus 11:9-12


• God hates poly-cotton blends - Leviticus 19:19


• God approves of slavery - Exodus 21:20-21 & Ephesians 6:5-6


• God wants you to pay your taxes without griping about it - Matthew 22:17-21


• God approves of the killing of women and children - Deuteronomy 2:33-34

Oh, and lest I forget;

• God hates tattoos - Leviticus 19:28

I'm sorry, but I'm really getting kind of sick and tired of so called 'Christians' picking and choosing what parts of the Bible they are going to follow.

I also came very close to calling the police on that guy. Why? Well;

1. He had shrimp with his dinner.


2. That tank-top was probably a polly-cotton blend.


3. In a conversation he had with the bartender, he started to complain about 'Those fat cats in DC wanna raise our taxes again'.


4. He had that ugly tattoo.

That's four biblical violations right there.

A Miserable Savings Account

Being single visits a kind of constant, low-intensity misery on a person - at least on a person who doesn't want to be single.

Coming home to an empty house, not having anyone to confide it, facing illnesses on your own - being alone hurts, but people can get use to it.

But being in a long-term relationship doesn't spare you from all that day to day pain. It just banks it. Every day you're not alone, a little misery gets put into a miserable savings account, where interest is compounded hourly.

The day you and your loved one separate, or even worse your loved one dies, all the pain that was avoided when you were coupled gets paid out at once with all the accumulated interest. You will suffer a windfall of misery.

I still wish I could open that miserable savings account though.

A Thing I've Never Done

I honestly don't know how it all got started, but somehow, my e-mail address book was hacked into, and someone or some group with nothing better to do, started bombarding my friends, family (including a 13 year old niece), and co-workers with spam adds for porn and Viagra.

I have said, and will continue to say (and please excuse the yelling) "I HAVE NOT SENT, NOR WOULD EVER SEND ANYONE (well, maybe Ann Coulter, Michele Bachmann, and Maggie Gallagher to annoy them because they annoy me) ANY INAPPROPRIATE E-MAIL TO ANYONE!"

I've said this till I'm blue in the face and my eyes have crossed, and for the most part, I like to think that my friends know me well enough in the first place that those e-mails were never from me, and in the second place would accept my word to be as good, if not better than platinum (gold can be so garish).

One 'friend' however has chosen not to believe me, and that makes me very sad and angry because they know and think so little of me, that they would assume my instant guilt for a thing I've never done.