Free Lego Club Magazine

If your kids love building with Lego blocks you can get a free subscription to Lego Club Magazine for each child in your home!  Each issue includes Lego News, cartoons, building challenges and activities.

Get yours now and get building!  https://club.lego.com/en-us/join/magazinesubscription/

K-Cups Can Be Recycled Through The Keurig Program

I recently discovered a recycling program for K-Cups! The table top recycle bins are for corporate use, not in home use. But it's good a program actually exists until they can start making the k-Cups recyclable for private homes. Read about it here and tell your employer!

https://www.groundstogrowon.com/keurig/learn-more.html

Orange/Ginger Barbecue Mop Sauce

I've been experimenting with orange zest so I decided to try my hand at making a zesty barbecue sauce.  It came out terrific! I hope you like it!

3-4 lbs. pork ribs (2 racks, each cut in half)

salt

pepper

1 large orange, zested, then squeezed (should have 3/4 cup juice and at least 1 tablespoon zest)

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 tablespoon pressed or minced garlic

1 1/4 cup Ketchup (no high fructose ingredients)

2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

diced green onions (optional garnish)

Lightly salt and pepper ribs and let rest uncovered for 1/2 hour. Mix together the rest of the ingredients. Taste the sauce and add more ingredients if desired. Maybe you like more garlic or ginger or soy sauce...

Grill or smoke ribs as usual. Brush with sauce if grilling, or toss into sauce after smoking. 

Serve immediately. Garnish with green onions, if desired.

For slow cooker: 

1.)   Set slow cooker to LOW. Place two halves of ribs in 4 qt. slow cooker. Pour 1/2 the sauce over them. Place remaining two halves ribs on top of ribs in cooker, pour remaining sauce over them. Cover and cook for 3hours. Rotate ribs. Cover and cook an additional 3 hours, then rotate ribs again. Cover and cook an additional 2 hours. 

2.)    Pre-heat conventional oven to 350 degrees. Carefully transfer ribs to 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Set aside.  Pour sauce into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. (I added an additional tablespoon of brown sugar at this point.)  Mix together 1 tablespoon corn starch and enough cold water to form a loose paste. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce. Don't use it all if you don't need it.  Boil and stir for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

3.)    Using a ladle, generously pour sauce over each rib half. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes until sauce is set.  Serve meat garnished with diced green onions, if desired.

Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza

This makes 2 pizzas

2 Boboli pizza crusts (or any 2 ready made pizza crusts, regular or oblong;
flatbread ready made pizza crust is good too!)

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (usually 2 breasts or 1 large)

Salt

Pepper

Montreal Seasoning, or any seasoning you like to season the chicken. Make it as spicy as you like.

1 16 oz. bottle Big Y Wing Sauce (Or your favorite wing sauce)

8 oz. bleu cheese crumbles

16 oz. (2 cups) Big Y Monterey Jack cheese

Optional Garnishes:

Bleu Cheese Dressing

Snipped green onions

Season chicken breast with a sprinkle of salt and pepper on both sides, then with your favorite spicy seasoning.  Now you can grill chicken until done, or bake it in the oven until done.  (I like baking it in the oven.)

Here's how to bake the chicken. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put chicken in foil lined pan. Bake 25 minutes, turn chicken over.  Bake another 25 minutes. 

Allow chicken to cool a bit, then cut into bite sized pieces.  You can slice it thin or cut it into small chunks, and place in a bowl. Add 8 oz. wing sauce and toss to coat. At this point you can make your pizzas, or store chicken in sauce overnight in the refrigerator to make pizzas the next day.

Strategically place chunks of chicken on each crust.  Sprinkle liberally with bleu cheese crumbles, and top with Monterey Jack cheese. (1 cup cheese per pizza)

Bake pizzas directly on oven rack, (no pan) one at a time according to pizza crust package directions. You want the cheese melted on top and bottom crust nice and crispy.

Optional: garnish with snipped green onions and/or lightly drizzle with bleu cheese dressing.

(If you only want to make one pizza, freeze the chicken/sauce in a container and pizza crust for another day.)

Shrimp & Spinach Soup

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup matchstick-cut peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 (14-ounce) cans vegetable broth
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 cups bagged pre-washed spinach (about 2 ounces)

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in shrimp; cook over medium heat 2 minutes or until shrimp are almost done. Stir in spinach; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, Cooking Light
NOVEMBER 2004

Nutritional Information

Amount per serving

• Calories: 120
• Calories from fat: 14%
• Fat: 1.9g
• Saturated fat: 0.3g
• Monounsaturated fat: 0.2g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 0.5g
• Protein: 17.1g
• Carbohydrate: 6.5g
• Fiber: 0.3g
• Cholesterol: 115mg
• Iron: 2.2mg
• Sodium: 861mg
• Calcium: 52mg

 

Crispy Baked Buffalo Wings

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 20 chicken wings
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup hot pepper sauce

1.  Using paper towels, squeeze chicken and get all water out, and dry wings. 
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place cooling rack over it. Lightly spray rack with cooking spray.  
3. Place the flour, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt into a resealable plastic bag, and shake to mix. Add the chicken wings, seal, and toss until well coated with the flour mixture. Place the wings onto the rack, and place into the refrigerator. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Bake wings for 25 minutes, turn and bake for another 25 minutes.  Remove from oven.
5. Whisk together the melted butter and hot sauce in a small bowl. (Or use your own hot sauce.) In a bowl, coat the wings with the hot sauce, and place back on the rack and broil for 4-5 minutes, turn wings over and broil for another 4-5 minutes. Done!

Replace Your Keypad, Not Your Car Key Fob And Save $$$

if you have a car or truck remote with some loss of functionality, you're going to find this helpful. My brother did some testing and he discovered that switching key pads between remotes is a great way to repair your remote, and save money. All functions including "remote engine start" can be initiated depending upon which key pad is installed in the remote keyless entry key fob.

This proves that replacing the key pad $9.95 (Free shipping) will solve the problem! It's a lot less expensive than replacing a perfectly fine remote, which needs to be programmed by the car dealer at a total cost of $90.00-$150.00 or more! Hope this helps others. 

You can buy a keypad at carandtruckremotes.com