Spring Fever – Just a Nice Way to Say Lazy?
OK – I usually get a lot done around the house – particularly over the weekend. Not this one. Spring fever or lazy – whatever you call it, I didn’t get much of anything done this weekend. Did manage to wash the film of yellow pollen off the porches . . . including the all the furniture, trunks and everything else that was coated. It was a real mess. But when all was finished – everything looked fresh. BTW – the really nice cedar swing on the front porch was built by my neighbor John Boykin – he does beautiful cedar work.
Should have worked in the garden – planted flower seeds – planted bulbs (hope I haven’t waited too long) – but nope – nothing. Sat and watched a really bad movie on the Sy-Fic channel. It had just about everything in it – rockets, dinosaures, time travel, and really bad acting… it was so bad you couldn’t help but laugh at it. Guess that’s why I watched it – it was more like a comedy than anything else. The 1 dinosauer looked like he had been molded out of spam – had a kind of tanish-red- spotty texture – and chunky to boot.
About the only thing I did was cook – which I pretty much always do. I did take the easy route and use some ‘store bought’ items along with some of those frozen casseroles I put up. I have found you can take a store bought food and with just a little bit of seasoning make it taste almost home-made. Some of my favorite tricks are below:
- When making pancakes or waffles add 1/3 cup melted butter and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to the batter; then after mixing let it rest for about 5 minutes before using
- Sausage – sprinkle a little Sage over the sausage before cooking it, it’ll give it a nice hand-mixed flavor
- Potatoes – add about 1/2 teaspoon chicken soup base (or bouillon) to the cooking water (and then save the stock for gravy or soup)
- Frozen chicken bits – before baking these in the oven spritz them with a ‘no-fat’ butter spray and then lightly sprinkle them with salt, pepper, onion powder, sage, and garlic (optional). This gives them a boost in the flavor department – less processed tasting.
- Canned soup – use a can of chicken broth instead of water – makes for a richer taste
- Instant pudding – before mixing into the milk add 1/4 teaspoon of a flavoring that will compliment the pudding
- Keep a shaker of buttery-popcorn salt in the kitchen and use it to flavor and give a little color to foods like potatoes, gravy, rice, sauces, etc.
- When frying fish, shrimp or anything else where you don’t want the crust to be puffy – only use the egg white for dipping before coating with the crumbs, flour, etc.
Like we used to say when I was working – I’m in need of an attitude adjustment – guess I better get working on it …. and fast. 
