Rediculously Simple Chicken Tenders

I get rave reviews on these every time that I make them, and I just scratch my head, because they are so easy, it is embarassing. I made them tonight, and I think it was the best MIL has eaten since the surgery. She ate two whole strips--may not seem like a lot, but in her case, it is a lot more than she has been eating.

Ready for the ingredients? Here goes!

Chicken Tenders

12 chicken tenderloins

1 package saltines, crushed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

In a 12 inch skillet, heat one inch of vegetable oil. Roll the tenderloins in the saltines/salt/pepper mixure. Fry the tenderloins until a deep golden brown on each side, about 8-10 minutes. Drain on paper towel.

That's it! Too, too simple. But for some reason, these always get high marks when I serve them. Sometimes, simple is the best.

An Act of Kindness

Today, there was a wasp walking around on the living room floor. Before someone stepped on it, I carefully scooped it up with a piece of paper and set it free outside. It felt good doing this simple act of kindness.

An hour later, as I sat here typing away, the bottom of my foot started to burn--REALLY burn. "What the f@#$!" I blurted out. I looked down I to see the wasp stinging the bottom of my foot. It evidently came back in when the social worker arrived.

I set him free, he comes back and stings me. How is that for irony? I wonder what would have befallen me if I had squashed the little bugger....

8 More Weeks

One eight-week semester left, and I am DONE. Three more classes between being a student and being a graduate. I cannot WAIT to be done. This semester looks like two B+ grades--damn. I am disappointed, but with everything we have been dealing with regarding MIL, I am not going to beat myself up.

I am making a turkey breast with all the trimmings for supper. MIL is looking forward to it--me too. I have problems and a final exam yet to take today, then I am going to rest for the remains of the day.

I am going to have a crafting blog up and running soon displaying all the items MIL and I have made that we are selling. I have been working on my ties--pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Check out the pics below:

Far left: pins

left: barrets and hair clips

Right and below: ties with matching

pins-sorry, the pics aren't the best!

Spoke too soon...

MIL is back in the hospital. The visiting nurse came yesterday afternoon to see how she was doing, and upon taking her vitals, noted her heart rate was pushing 140. She gave her a blood pressure pill and we waited another half hour, but it didn't go down, and the nurse called 911 to get an ambulance out for transport back to Borgess.

Needless to say, MIL was depressed, scared, angry--you name it. She did NOT want to go, and we had to lay it on the line for her that she could have another heart attack if she didn't get treatment.

We went to visit her today, and she is still in a very foul mood. Understandable, after having just been released. Her blood was dangerously thin, so they gave her a plasma transfusion to thicken it up. She is on a drug that is supposed to get her heart back into a steady sinus rhythm. Once they achieve a steady rhythm, they will let her come home.

Bud us staying up at the hospital with her, and I came home to tend to the dogs and cat, and get my schoolwork done (horribly behind once again due to all the back and forth to the hospital).

It will get better! It is a very blustery autumn day, and the wind is howling quite loudly at the moment. At least the sun decided to peek out a few moments ago! As I looked out the window, a convoy of classic Volkswagen Bugs, Beetles, and Microbuses were passing by. Never seen so many different colors! One looked just like Herbie the LoveBug. Too cute!

Off to tackle the mountain of schoolwork I have to do.

Ham and Bean Soup

In my previous post, I mentioned that I am making ham and bean soup and cornbread. Here is my recipe for the soup. Bud doesn't do veggies, so there is no carrots or celery in this batch. But if you are like me, and love you some veggies, follow the recipe below. Mmmmmm good!


DeeDee's Ham and Bean Soup


1 pound dry great Northern beans
8 cups water
tsp teaspoon salt
1 pound diced smoked ham
1/2 cup diced carrots
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon ham soup base
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

Place beans and salt in the water and bring to a boil. Let boil 15 minutes, then cut off the heat and let soak for 4 hours (covered). After 4 hours, drain off the water and add 12 cups of fresh water to the pot. Add ham soup base and diced smoked ham. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer for an hour. After an hour, add in your carrots, celery and onions. Once again bring the pot back up to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for another 40-60 minutes. Beans and veggies should be tender. If not, continue to simmer until beans and veggies are tender. Add white pepper before serving. Serve with cornbread or crusty french bread.

MIL is home!

We got to bring MIL home yesterday. She still has zero appetite. We took her to Main Street Pub, and she ordered a steak, fries, and a cup of homemade potato soup. She ate two bites of soup, two bites of steak, and two french fries, and couldn't eat any more--and that is the most she has eaten since a week ago Thursday night!

It is going to be a slow road back to recovery for her. I think she expected to feel a lot better sooner. She is healing well, though, and she is doing a great job under the circumstances. She was so happy to just be able to sleep in her own bed!

She had dialysis this morning, and Bud called to say she was having a rough go of it. When she gets dialysis, all the meds in her body get dialysed out--including the pain meds. So it is essentially 4 hours of pain for her right now. Wish I could do the dialysis for her...

It is a very blustery day out today, overcast and bleak. I am going to make a pot of ham and bean soup and a skillet of cornbread, perfect for a cold, yucky day. I am hoping MIL has an appetite and can get a few bites down. I expect she will sleep through most of the day on and off, and that is okay; she needs the rest.

Thanks to all who kept her in your thoughts and prayers. Very, very appreciated.

Because God evidently doesn't think we have enough stress....

MIL is in the hospital. We took her to the ER at 3am on Monday morning, as she was having chest pains. They took her by ambulance to Borgess Hospital in Kzoo, and they did a heart cath. Turns out, she has three major blockages and and needs bypass surgery.

So now the poor woman has to deal with both dialysis and having her chest cracked open on Friday. She is taking it amazingly well. She is of course scared, but she has accepted that it has to be done and there is not a whole lot she can do about it.

This is a major deja vu for me--takes me back to when ES was in T-town and had her leg amputated. Drove 45 miles every day after work to go see her while she was in the hospital. Guess how far Kzoo is from here? Yup, just over 45 miles. At least this time, Bud and I are dealing with it together. When ES was int he hospital, if you were a follower of the other blog, the Self-Sustaining Kitchen( http://bamagalskitchen.blogspot.com/ --it is still up and running--go there for a lot of background and more on this storyline), you know that right after ES had the amputation, Bud had to rush to Michigan because his mom had had a heart attack, and his dad was in the hospital as well...not a pleasant time in our lives to say the least.

Mom is scheduled to have surgery on Friday, and Bud and I have been operating on little to no sleep; calling friends and family to keep them updated; trying to not have meltdown. I just did all the homework for one of my classes in record speed. My brain is thoroughly fried.

MIL, ever the worrier, is focusing not on her pending surgery, but rather on the fact that she was supposed to get her car serviced on Friday, was supposed to meet a friend for lunch this week, and oh, yeah, Peanut, the Jekyll-Hyde dog, was supposed to go get her annual booster shots. Not to mention that she had a ton of crafting projects she was working on that she had planned on finishing...gotta love her. She is obsessive-compulsive-and-very-likely-insane.

Keep her in your thoughts, everyone--all three of you intrepid followers!