What's For Dinner?

Hi, folks!

Hope everyone had a tolerable Monday :) Just wanted to drop in and let you know that I'm hanging out over at My 3 Little Birds today and guest-posting for her What's For Dinner? linkup. Be sure to drop by, check it out, and say hi to Mary Lauren. Oh, and if you have a recipe post, you'd like to share link up with her as well! If you don't already follow M3LB, it's highly recommend for great posts on family and food and some beautiful writing!



 

Captchouli Round Four

Welcome to Round Four of Captchouli, the newest and fastest-growing internet sensation on the planet! Ha...we wish. Seriously though, you guys have helped make this a huge success so far, and we're so grateful that you're participating and enjoying this. We look forward to your entries each week, and you guys really just seem to be getting more and more clever.

This week's entries were harder to choose between than ever. What can we say? You guys are geniuses! Hilarious and wonderful geniuses. Bask in the brilliant glow from your huge brains, as you chew on this week's entries. Oh, and be sure to visit each of the blogs below and show them lots of love!


1) Dweej at House Unseen, Life Unscripted


Outici pronounced [ow-TEE-chee']

Definition: super, duper totally ouchie. The ouchiest ouch EVER.

Sentence: Remember how it was ouchie stub your toe on the wall? Well if you smash it with that hammer, it's gonna be outici. Trust me!

2) Jenny at Jenny's Blessed Nest

Outici {Owt-ise-ee} ; A product beloved by women of the North, Outici promotes the out-flowage of ice from area lakes during the frigid Winter months. Outici proves useful when husbands choose, weekend after weekend, to escape to the ice house trying, in subzero temps, to catch a fish through a hole in the iced-over lake. Outici raises the water's temperature enough to cause the ice to thin and disperse, which in turn prompts said husbands to venture home and spend time helping to entertain families suffering from winter-weather induced "cabin fever". Feeling like a single mom during deer season is bad enough... Outici makes the worry of being bored and alone during ice fishing season a thing of the past!
*Use with caution: All kinds of horrible things could happen when using this product, including men and fish houses floating away. Never use Outici in a lake already occupied by fishermen. If you prefer for your husband to be away ice fishing, do not use Outici.
Example Conversation:
Wife #1: I'm so sick of Butch spending every free minute fishing through that hole in the ice!
Wife #2: I had the same problem with Sven, until I found Outici...

And this week's winner? An entry that made us laugh out loud and believe that maybe Outici really is a word and that maybe Kelli really knows its meaning.

3) Kelli of Narragansett No. 7

OUTICI interjection /au/

An interjection expressing sudden pain, usually used by small 5th generation Italian-American children who have been inappropriately led to believe by their grandma from the Bronx, Angela Evangelina Sophia Isabella Martino, that this is actually an old Italian word. Much like the improper use of the word "gravy" by NYers of Italian descent when referring to spaghetti or "meat sauce", the "Family" will argue that the word arrived with great-great grandma Nonna who "was off the boat" from Italy, so if you don't know it, you must be an Irish idiot.

In a sentence: "Ma! Outici! The plastic on the sofa is too hot! What's da mattah wich you, huh?" or, "I really smooshed that broad from da club last night. Outici."

First known use: 1965 in the kitchen of someone's grandma from "The City".

(p.s. - can you tell that I grew up in NY?)

Yes, Kelli, we can tell, and we love it! Congratulations!!

***********

And now for ROUND FOUR!

Here's the plan, Stan:

1. We give you an honest-to-Blog CAPTCHA "word" that we were forced to submit in order to leave a blog comment.

2. You define the word AND use it in a sentence, and EMAIL it, along with the name/link of your blog and HTML code for your button, to Katie at: katieross83@gmail.com

* Definitions left in the comments of either blog will be discarded*

3. We'll decide on a winning definition and post the winning response on both blogs next Saturday, along with next week's contest. In case multiple entries have the same definition, all who submit the definition will be awarded winners.

4. The winner will have his or her button posted on the sidebars of both Chicken Noodle Gravy and My 3 Little Birds for the following week. And this is big, because we both have, like, tens of followers.

5. The contest is open until 12:00 pm EST next Friday. Entries received after that time will be discarded.

We'll love you forever and ever, and ever and ever, amen if you'll grab a Captchouli button from down below!

So without further ado, your Captchouli Word of the Week is:

Horkieish

<a href="http://www.chickennoodlegravy.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IBCR84t2-BxCgylWix8255sIPYQrV_uv2BTlpeYFx7zicrJ1X6MdqxEAVaqy-HKK3ER_WIxsP6C7NB3QWVqCaf4puzAQFO3fFlrd8sq5aluYpmTuTJHNwjR1-X6JqTWJ8wv8d4ZlUI0/s1600/captchabutton2.jpg"/></a>

And now to take care of a little blog business. First of all, if you haven't already and you'd like to, please consider joining the new writing community The Lightning and the Lightning-Bug. It's a collaboration with two of the the best writers I know, Mary Lauren of My3LittleBirds and Kelli of Narragansett No. 7. Stop by and pay us a visit; we'd love to have you.

Also, I have been nominated for June's Blog of the Month over at For The Love of Blogs, alongside some of the bestest bloggers out there Dweej at House Unseen, Life Unscripted, Nina at The Adventures of Artsy Nina, and Mollie at OK in UK. Go vote and support the cause, man!

Captchouli Winner PLUS Round Two

The momentous occasion is finally upon us. Hold your breath in anticipation*, because if you entered our first  ever Captchouli contest last week, you could be the big winner! Before Mary Lauren over at My 3 Little Birds and I announce the winner, we'd like to review the awesomely amazing entries we received, and of course, we thank you all for your participation. For the first round of Captchouli, we received an amazing response, and you guys made choosing a winner really hard! I encourage you to visit the blogs of each of our participants; they're all fabulous!

Remember, our word for this week was "etailer," and the object was to create a definition for this Captcha word, then to use the defined word in a sentence.

We present to you the entries:

1. Rachael of Non-Domestic Mama:

Definition: A person who consistently arrives earlier than their original estimated time of arrival (ETA).

Sentence: She claims her ETA is 7 but we all know she will get here at 6.  She is such an etalier!

2. Jane of Flight Platform Living:

Definition: The satisfied roar of any large and honest mammel that has managed to stiffle an untruth.

Sentence: The lioness broke the evening silence with a long etalier, happy she had told her cubs that 3 hours was enough rough play for one day.

3. Dweej of House Unseen, Life Unscripted

Definition: [uh-TEL-ier] contraction of "I tell you"

Sentence(s): "Etalier what, that Sandra Bullock sure is nice to look at"

"Didn't etalier to lock up them dogs?  Now what're we gonna have for dinner, Bobbi Sue?"

4. Melody-Mae of Melody-Mae

Definition/Sentence: it is a truth telling device. A lie detector. An etalier is a machine used to to check and see if you are a 'lier/ liar' :)

5. Jenny of Jenny's Blessed Nest 

Definition: (e-tal-ier) pn.  1.) A person who creates, sells, or tells e-tales (online stories/storybooks).  2.) A blogger. 

Sentence:  Jennifer's love of creative writing and the internet has inspired her to become an Etalier.

6. Bernie at One Mixed Bag

Definition/Sentence: I wanted to look more like a hooker in the game Second Life. So I went to the Etailor to have them shorten my dress to make me look more like a hooker.

And the winning entry from this first round of Captchouli is:

7. Shannon at Milk and Cuddles

Definition: æt.elˈi.eɪr/ [C] literaryProunounced- A-tale-liaar - A tale told by a liar. Bound to be a lie. Even if it's about something that doesn't matter. It will be a complete falshood. Inexplicable - because who cares? But still a total lie. Deception for no reason. At all.

(Definition of etalier noun from the Cambridge Captcha Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

Sentence: I was at the grocery store and that "etalier" neighbor of mine told me the Dreft was on sale. Of course. It wasn't. Weirdo.

We loved how Shannon formatted her definition as if it was a real word from a real dictionary, the Cambridge Captcha Advanced Learner's Dictionary to be exact. Shannon, you did an awesome job, and as promised, your button will be featured on My 3 Little Birds and Chicken Noodle Gravy for a full week!

Congratulations, Shannon!

 ***********
And now for ROUND TWO!

This is how we do it (it's Friday night and I feel alright, the party's here on the West Side, so I reach for my 40 and I turn it up, designated driver takes the keys to my...uh, sorry):

1. We give you an honest-to-Blog CAPTCHA "word" that we were forced to submit in order to leave a blog comment.

2. You define the word AND use it in a sentence, and EMAIL it, along with the name/link of your blog and HTML code for your button, to Katie at: katieross83@gmail.com

* Definitions left in the comments of either blog will be discarded*

3. We'll decide on a winning definition and post the winning response on both blogs next Saturday, along with next week's contest. In case multiple entries have the same definition, all who submit the definition will be awarded winners.

4. The winner will have his or her button posted on the sidebars of both Chicken Noodle Gravy and My 3 Little Birds for the following week. And this is big, because we both have, like, tens of followers.

5. The contest is open until 12:00 pm EST next Friday. Entries received after that time will be discarded.

We'll love you even more than we love bad songs from the 90s that remind one of us of fraternity parties if you'll grab a Captchouli button from down below!

So without further ado, your Captchouli Word of the Week is:

Scolla

Better holla!

<a href="http://www.chickennoodlegravy.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IBCR84t2-BxCgylWix8255sIPYQrV_uv2BTlpeYFx7zicrJ1X6MdqxEAVaqy-HKK3ER_WIxsP6C7NB3QWVqCaf4puzAQFO3fFlrd8sq5aluYpmTuTJHNwjR1-X6JqTWJ8wv8d4ZlUI0/s1600/captchabutton2.jpg"/></a>

*Blogger(s) are not liable for any fainting as a result of breath-holding.

  

Captchouli: Round One

Who here hates Captcha and all of its evil word verification cousins? I mean, like burning hatred here. The kind of hatred that makes you boo and hiss anytime you see it. I'm imagining if you're anything like me you boo-and-hiss hate this evil invention as much as me and my good friend Mary Lauren of My Three Little Birds do. I mean, sure, it's bound to be good for something, like keeping evil robots at bay who are trying to take over our blogs and are hell-bent on world domination, but it's still annoying, and this small service does not outweigh its extreme annoyance.

In an effort to give Captcha some kind of purpose and to decrease its evil evilness, Mary Lauren and I have decided to introduce a little something called Captchouli to you our faithful readers and, of course, to the world! If you would please hold your applause until the end of the post.Thank you.

Yes, you heard me right: Captchouli. Now, you may find yourself asking a legitimate question at this point. Mary Lauren and Katie, you may ask, what exactly is Captchouli? Well, my dear friends, Captchouli is the newest internet phenomenon that's sweeping the nation. And guess what? You get to be a part of this historic, not-soon-to-forgotten event. You can thank us later.

We know just how clever and amazing our readers are. After all, you've each made the clearly sound decision to follow me and Mary Lauren, so you're obviously geniuses. In light of your brilliance and sound judgment, we bring you the perfect outlet for your creativity:

Here's the gist of this game we call Captchouli: 

1. We give you an honest-to-Blog CAPTCHA "word" that we were forced to submit in order to leave a blog comment.

2. You define the word AND use it in a sentence, and EMAIL it to Katie at: katieross83@gmail.com.

* Definitions left in the comments of either blog will be discarded*

3. We'll decide on a winning definition and post the winning response on both blogs next Saturday, along with next week's contest. In case multiple entries have the same definition, all who submit the definition will be awarded winners.

4. The winner will have his or her button posted on the sidebars of both Chicken Noodle Gravy and My 3 Little Birds for the following week. And this is big, because we both have, like, tens of followers.

5. The contest is open until 12:00 pm next Friday. Entries received after that time will be discarded.

And without further ado, our first word is:

Etailer

All the cool kids are playing Captchouli, so we hope you'll be cool and join us. Remember awesome prizes prize is involved, and you may be the next big winner, so come on down! You're the next contestant on...

CAPTCHOULI!

PS - If you were to grab our button and help spread the word about Captchouili, we'd appreciate it, and you'd have our undying adoration. 

<br /> <a href="http://www.chickennoodlegravy.com/2011/05/captchouli-round-one.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGAwkRkQ_b9Hj-l6hqbynHzmSsePVY9d1CWd_sj6PwWiH0_0l2bZ0JoIdog9hRfkPZ2MhcbMl4XZXutQdo4iLDuRCFatX-L3Plv2ixwbKu0V33CMbEzOJckbtoLGWAFQP2H5BIKsD06K4/"/></a><br />
I

Katie's Easy Peasy Mac-N-Cheesy

Happy Monday, y'all. Well, maybe not happy Monday, but it's nearly over, and I just got done eating an awesome meal (if I do say so myself), so I'm feeling pretty happy about now. I'm taking a break this week from Melodrama Mondays. Since last week I was in the mountains on Monday, I've kind of gotten out of the Melodrama Monday habit. It may or may not be back. That's the beauty of having a blog...you can pretty much do what you want with it.

This week I'm linking up with my3littlebirds, who happens to also be last week's featured blog on The Dish. If you haven't already, be sure to check this lady out. She's amazing!





Hope you guys enjoy my What's For Dinner submission: Katie's Easy Peasy Mac-N-Cheesy.

It's no big secret that Southerners have a love affair with mac-n-cheese. Down here, it's considered a vegetable! Seriously, we love it, and usually, I find a way to work it into most of my meals. But I must admit that more often than not I just make it out of the box. No shame there...just the life of a busy wife.

Last week, we were down to our last groceries. I hadn't been shopping since a couple of weeks before our mountain trip, so you can probably imagine just how empty my cabinets were getting. So I decided had to throw supper together from the last few measly items left in my kitchen. I had macaroni, and I had cheese. Logical conclusion? Make mac-n-cheese, but alas, I had no milk, no eggs, no sour cream. None of the items that most mac-n-cheese recipes on the web called for. I was undeterred. I had mac-n-cheese on the brain and the tummy, and dangit, I was going to make mac-n-cheese happen. From this tenacity and overwhelming cheesy desire, Easy Peasy Mac-N-Cheesy was born.

Katie's Easy Peasy Mac-N-Cheesy

1 8-ounce box macaroni
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese with 1/4 cup reserved
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1 can cheddar cheese soup
3 tablespoon butter
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat over to 400 degrees. Prepare box of macaroni according to directions. I cooked mine al dente. The important thing is to not let it cook down too much, or you'll end up with mush. In large mixing bowl, combined cooked macaroni, cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Mexican blend cheese, and cheddar cheese soup. Add majority of your bread crumbs (reserving a few dashes for your crust) and two tablespoons of your butter to this mix. Add salt and pepper. Blend well. Put mixture in greased 9x9 casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese, a couple of dashes of bread crumbs, and remaining pats of butter to the top of casserole. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Served mine up with mixed greens and shredded pork roast on sliced bread. Call me fancy! HA! :)

It may not be the most fabulous baked mac-n-cheese you've ever had, but it's pretty dang tasty and pretty dang easy, which counts for a lot in my book! And the hubby even liked this baked mac-n-cheese, and he usually prefers boxed macaroni and cheese...which probably doesn't say a lot for my past attempts...

How do y'all like your mac-n-cheese? Homemade or out-of-the-box?

   

The Dish Featuring My3littlebirds

Welcome to another edition of The Dish! This week is not brought to you by my dead laptop and is co-sponsored by the letter M, as in Mary Lauren and her magnificently mighty blog My3littlebirds. As I've put together each edition of The Dish, I've noticed one glaring similarity between every blog I've featured so far, and this week's featured blog is no different. These women can write, man! They all do an incredible job of weaving together posts that capture their readers' attention and keep people coming back for more. Mary Lauren of my3littlebirds perfectly embodies this shared characteristic of The Dish bloggers and their blogs.

My3littlebirds doesn't fit into any neat categories. It's not a mommy blog or a recipe blog or a writing blog, because any of those labels wouldn't give it the credit or justice it is due. To describe it best, I would say that M3LB is an addictive blog full of creativity and charisma, and each visit I take there leaves me wanting more of Mary Lauren's wit, insight, and beautifully woven tales of family and the memories that make life so precious and unique.




Delicious Design

What could be cuter than a yellow polka-dotted background? Not much! But three little birds woven into the title art are one thing that give the yellow polka-dots a run for their money. One of the first things that captured my attention about this blog would have to be the title and title artwork. The title itself reminds me of my absolute favorite song EVER "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. Whenever I see M3LB pop up in the recently updated list on blogger, this song automatically starts playing in my head, and I love it. In actuality, and as I learned just tonight, the blog title is derived partially from the author's three adorable children, as well as from a beautiful and meaningful painting. While my3littlebirds certainly does not focus on the blogger's children solely, the stories she shares of her "three little birds" and her adventures as a mom are likely to keep you laughing your butt off each time you hear one...see The Bad Mom Chronicles. I'm still laughing over Part Two and the "Code Brown."

But back to the design of M3LB. Like so many of the blogs I love, my3littlebird's design is simple and minimalistic. No crazy sidebars full of worthless crap, just a nice, clean look with an adorable banner that allows the blogger's words to shine.

Oh, and I should mention her adorable design comes from Seven Thirty Three Custom Blog Designs, who obviously know what they're doing!

Appetizing Content

As I've already pointed out, my3littlebirds doesn't follow any kind of "typical" blog formula. Mary Lauren isn't bound by the limitations of a specific blog "genre" or topic. She writes about life, in a hilarious and usually thought-provoking way, and she shares her experiences and expertise on everything from stockbroking to Mom Hair. Regardless of the topic, every post she composes seems to either make me laugh or make me cry; I'm always affected in some way by her words...which is the mark of a true writer in my humble estimation.

My3littlebirds also hosts a linkup party each Monday called What's For Dinner, where she allows other blogger's to join the fun and linkup to their recent recipe posts. Through this linkup, I've already discovered some other great bloggers, which makes it a rousing success if you ask me! I urge any of you who regularly post recipes to join in on the fun every Monday at M3LB.





Probably my personal favorite of the posts that are shared on my3littlebirds would have to be the ones which showcase the blogger's incredible writing talent. She posts poems and has recently started participating in writing prompts, and I just love her writing style! I could go on all day, but checking her out for yourselves will sell her case better than I ever could.

Scrumptious Survey: Answered by blogger.

What’s your favorite dish/food?

If I'm eating at home, I love a simple roast chicken with vegetables. If I'm eating out, I often order seafood (scallops are a favorite of mine) since my family doesn't really eat it. And for date night at home, my husband and I love to share a bottle of wine and eat crusty bread with cheese (I love Danish Blue and he prefers very sharp cheddar).

What’s your favorite type of cuisine (Italian, French, etc.)?

Well, I love it all. But for me a perfect night out with friends would include a Spanish tapas-style meal with lots of yummy things to try. 

What is unique about the cuisine in your part of the world?

Our area is known for traditional southern style foods. Not the healthiest stuff in the world- that's for sure!

Sweet or salty?

Salty wins by a landslide.

What food are you craving right now?

I am looking for a great recipe for cinnamon raisin bread. My kids love it for breakfast and I can't seem to buy enough! Send me a message if you've got one, pretty please?

Do you like to cook? If so, do you ever share recipes on your blog?

I do like to cook. I do share recipes but they tend to be "this worked for my picky 3 year old" type meals, and not exactly gourmet. 

Where do you get the recipes you use? From cookbooks, blogs, online directories, etc?

Most of the recipes I use these days come from online directories and blogs. I love Simply Recipes, Our Best Bites, and of course The Pioneer Woman Cooks. But I also refer to my collection of cookbooks and food magazines.

What food-related word would you use to describe your blog? (i.e. salty, sweet, savory, delicious, yummy…) Get creative!

Sweet. For sure: )

As always, I hope you enjoyed this week's edition of The Dish, and I certainly hope that I was able to introduce you to a new blog to fall in love with. If you haven't already, be sure to visit my3littlebirds; it's sure to capture your heart instantly and make its way onto your must-read list.