Charles Dobson's Secret Zucchini Chicken Curry Recipe (from How to Stuff a Wild Zucchini)

12 C WATER
1 TSP SALT
2-3 LBS CHICKEN BREAST
2 CELERY STALKS, sliced
1 MEDIUM ONION, diced
2 MEDIUM GALA APPLES (or any tart apple), pealed & diced
2 MEDIUM ZUCCHINI, peeled & diced
1 TBSP CURRY POWDER (add more only after tasting)
4 TBSP BUTTER divided
1/3 CUP RAISINS (may be golden or regular)
1 1/2 CUPS CHICKEN BROTH
1/2 CUP BARQ'S OR A&A=W ROOTBEER OR CAFFEINE-FREE COKE (no diet soda)
3 TBSP FLOUR
1 CUP OF EVAPORATED MILK, UNDILUTED OR COCONUT MILK
1 TSP SALT
1/8 TSP WHITE OR BLACK PEPPER
RICE COOKED
CONDIMENTS: SPICY MANGO CHUTNEY, RAISINS,GRATED COCONUT, LIME WEDGES

In a large pot, add water and salt and bring to a boil. Add chicken and sliced celery. (If chicken is frozen, boil for 20 minutes before adding celery.) Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 20 minutes. Cut up the cooked chicken and set aside. Reserve 1 1/2 Cups of chicken broth; set aside.

In a large skillet, melt 1 tbsp butter; saute diced onions for 2-3 minutes. Move to a separate bowl. Dice apples and zucchini and add to onions. Add curry powder. (I ended up using about 6 tbsp to suit my families tastes). In the skillet, melt the remaining 3tbsp butter and add the apple/ zucchini/ onion mixture. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring often.

In a bowl, combine the raisins, reserved chicken broth and soda of your choice. Add to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes.

Mix the flour into the evaporated milk, whisking to remove any lumps. Add the salt & pepper. When smooth, add to the skillet and stir. cook over low heat until the mixture is creamy and thick. Season to taste. Add the cooked chicken and celery.

Serve over rice with any of the condiments desired.

Serves 4-6.

BOOK SIGNING

Saturday June 20 I went to the Barnes & Noble in Chandler, AZ. My reason for venturing so far from home was a book signing by Janette Rallison.

I have met Janette a couple of times and always enjoy visiting with her. Several years ago, before she published her first book she was in Mom's ward. Mom thought highly of her and was excited both about her twins and her first book being published. I admit I read that book Deep Blue Eyes and Other Lies reluctantly, I was happily surprised.

Janette always has good things to say about Mom, and even remembers things about her family.

I am looking forward to reading the book I purchased at the book signing, not her newest release, but it has gotten so many great reviews I decided to read it first.

click here for more of Janette's books.

OUR UNINVITED GUESTS

A few weeks ago I started noticing this cat sitting by our back door, a lot.

Just before Memorial Day she started bringing her kittens to play on the patio, by the door.
They are very skittery and any human movement causes them to flee to safety, so all of the pictures I have are through the door and a few through the screen.About a week after we first saw them I started giving them food & water. Its way too hot to be inhospitable to our uninvited guests.






I call the one below Little Kitty, because when I first started feeding them he was tiny and the Momma and other kitten would push him away from the bowl when he tried to eat. The one above is Big Kitty.



After dark the kittens scratch at the door to come in, we are not that hospitable. I don't know if they will ever move on, now that we've fed them, they aren't quite big enough to jump to the top of the wall yet, so they will be here for a few more weeks.

UNDERWEAR

New economic indicator: underwear

June 17th, 2009 @ 7:33am

By Mary RichardsSALT LAKE CITY --

From underwear to new houses, what you buy shows how the economy is going. It's time to mention your "unmentionables."

To be brief, people are not buying new underwear. University of Utah finance professor Scott Schaeffer says panties and skivvies are now in the wants, not needs, drawer. "People tend to stop buying things that are not going to be noticed," he explained. Schaeffer says we're still getting haircuts, and Hollywood stars are still getting face-lifts.

But the stars are no longer paying to valet park, and old undies are easier to hide.

But the professor says it's not as easy to say, "Go buy new undies and we'll get out of this recession." "It doesn't work that way," Schaeffer said. "The underwear industry is not large enough relative to the economy to lead us out of the recession. This is more of an indicator." Schaeffer says this week's housing start numbers are a better sign: Buying new homes is tied directly to new jobs.

May June Birthday Parties

Last night we had our monthly birthday party, to celebrate May & June Birthdays. We had 7 birthday's to celebrate.

Carson turned 2 in May

Logan will be 6 in June

Rebecca is 21

Steve is 41

Staci wasn't able to join us

Leanne is 46

Dad is 82

It was an enjoyable evening seeing everyone and catching up.

for more pictures click here

BOOK SIGNING

I was able to attend a book signing at Seagull Book in Mesa, AZ this Morning. Lynn Gardner was in town to promote her new book Pursued: A Maggie McKenzie Mystery.

Lynn has published at least 12 mystery-suspense books for the LDS market. I've read most of them and look forward to reading the Maggie McKenzie Mysteries.

How to Stuff a Wild Zucchini

Sophisticated New York playwright Lori Scott feels like a failure when her producer boyfriend calls it quits on both their relationship and her first play. On a dare, she throws a dart at a map and ends up moving to Brigham City, Utah, where she plans to set aside writing, religion, and men to focus on her new career substituting as The Garden Guru for the local paper. But fate has something else in mind. When she accidentally lights her house on fire, Lori has no idea of the sparks that lie ahead.
Will she be able to resist the charm and persistence of local firefighting hero John Wayne Walker? Will old hurts and fears cause her to turn her back on the best thing that’s ever happened to her? Author Heather Horrocks brings a fresh, fun voice to this delightful contemporary romance about following your heart, finding true love, and wrestling with a basket full of zucchini!

I went to Deseret Book a couple of weeks ago, hoping they had Tristi Pinkston's new book. While I was looking at the wall of fiction for it I saw "How to Stuff a Wild Zucchini". Even though I am not a big fan of zucchini, I was intrigued by the title so I decided to give it a try. I am usually hesitant to buy books by authors I am not familiar with, but I'm glad I did this time.
This book is full of romantic twists and turns and zucchini. We are looking forward to trying the recipe for Zucchini Chicken Curry with Spicy Mango Fruit Chutney, included in the back, sometime in the near future.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone that is looking for a light romantic comedy.
This book is published by Deseret Book and is available from their website, Amazon.com and as always Inter library loan.

Patriots in the Park

This afternoon (Saturday) I was able to attend Patriots in the Park. It was an open forum to discuss the constitution, the community and the direction we need to take.

This was an informal gathering of patriotic minded citizens, at Steele Indian School Park. It was organized by Stephen Estes

He gave a speech about getting to know your neighbors and communicating. We can't solve the problems facing our country without talking about them. I made a video clip of the speech, some of it was swallowed by the wind, but I will paste the text here also.

We had a short speech by the woman above, I don't remember her name. She encouraged everyone to become precinct committeemen, and again also to communicate with friends and neighbors.
Keith Sipmann leader of the Tea Party Az P.A.C. spoke about the organization and things we can do in our communities.
Others in attendance expressed opinions about the direction we need to take. As in all political discussions some ideas were good, some were bizarre. What would a gathering like this be without a good conspiracy theory or 2. The best one of the day was the person that was convinced that the Boy Scouts were being trained by S.W.A.T. to break into the homes of private citizens and search them, for what I was never sure.

Tom Jenney from Americans for Prosperity was also in attendance, but didn't speak.

This is the printed transcript of Stephen Estes speech:

First off I wanted to thank everyone for coming here today. I know that we all share a common concern; that our government is failing us on many levels.We all talk about the problems we see every day. We talk about the media bias and the governments disinterest in following the articles of the constitution. We talk about job loss. We talk about the monetary woes in the country. We talk and talk and talk, but not of us are doing much about it.We are here today to talk once again, but we are also here to manifest our concerns into plans for action.There are things that we CAN do to change the direction the country is taking.I have a plan!1st - Introduce yourself to your neighbor and encourage them to do the same. We have to begin to foster the sense of community that used to exist in neighborhoods all across the country not so long ago.2nd - Educate yourself. Study the constitution of the United States. Understand what the provisions set forth in the document are about. Understand that there ARE limitations to the powers granted to the federal government!3rd - Educate those around you! Spread the word about constitutional rights. Let people know that this country was set up in such a way that the federal government must respect the rights of the states. Let people know that they have the right to the pursuit of happiness, life and liberty - that happiness is not a guarantee, only the right to pursue it is a promise!4th - Know who your government is and how to contact them. Know your representatives, legislatures, commissioners, senators etc. Then CONTACT THEM! Keep their mailboxes stuffed, their phone lines ringing and their email boxes filled.--------Today commemorates the 65th anniversary of D-Day. Brave young men stormed the beaches of Normandy and began the great push to restore freedom to the peoples of Europe who were the victims of tyranny and oppression. They fought not only with the weapons of armed conflict but with the weapons of truth - that man has the right to be free from absolute control. When the people of Europe called for help, we responded in force and with pride. We realized then that to achieve an objective sacrifices needed to be made. We sacrificed our lives abroad and we sacrificed our comforts at home.It is the right if not the duty of all free men and women to pursue equality and justice for all those that seek it! The greatest generation, the young men and women who served without recourse during world war two fought the fight of freedom not for recognition of their efforts. They did not seek heroic labels and they expected nothing in return other than the guarantee that their efforts to bring liberty abroad be realized.We saved the world from tyranny. We restored the rights of millions of men and women to pursue their own destinies unabated by an armed oppressors. We won that good fight and ushered in a new age.---------Today we are faced with a new tyranny. We are faced with tyranny from within. Our nation is being driven toward defeat and the weapons are lies. Our government; the very same that spearheaded the push for world peace is now fighting to take away the very liberties the Constitution guarantees!Our government has become corrupt and we have bestowed the privilege of public office upon individuals who’s sole gain is personal. We have allowed our elected leaders to special interest us right into a 9.4% unemployment rate - the highest in 25 years. We have let the government print money that doesn’t exist to cover spending bills that none of us voted for and put our currency standard in jeopardy of loosing it’s place as a purchasing standard worldwide.Our government is pumping BILLIONS of dollars into failed companies. We are subsidizing loosing interests such as Amtrak, bridges that go no where, government imposed service programs. We are gambling on companies and individuals who have a proven track record of failure but to ensure that these failed companies persist, our great leader has instituted government regulation and broad oversight committees - now even a pay czar to ensure pay caps. What the hell?We spend more per capita on healthcare in this country than any other nation on the planet and we have the worst record of success in healthcare advancement. At this very moment the government officially claims a budget of around 600 billion a year. The actual cost is around 1.5 trillion, and the government now wants the go ahead to reorganize the healthcare system and insure another 40 million people. It can not work. Let me say this again - IT CAN NOT WORK. Leave no doubt in your mind, this plan WILL bankrupt the United states.We have spent more money than we can pay back. We can not pay back the interest on the money we borrowed and the countries that have traditionally invested in the United States are with holding their investment capitol. Our economic policies as they stand and as they continue to evolve are poison. We have no way of knowing how this will end because we have not chosen a single path. Our economic policies change like the seasons. What’s next?So - All these GIANT problems. All this bad news. What do we do about it?Like I said previously and like I will say over and over again - we communicate!The foundation of change and happiness begins at home. In your home, the place where YOU raise your children and eat your dinner and talk to your loved ones about your day. The place where YOU plan your future.The government cannot dictate what is ethical in YOUR home! The government cannot dictate what YOU read in your home. The government cannot force YOU to eat what they think you should eat or talk about what they think you should talk about. The government cannot dictate your day to day life, they cannot force their opinions on you if you only realize that you have the right to choose your own destiny and refuse to be a part of the degradation of our society!It is your right to make a wrong decision. It is your right to choose the wrong job. It is your right to open a business and if it fails, it is your responsibility to pick up the pieces. NOT MINE. I would never invest my hard earned money in a company that is obviously failing. It just doesn’t make any sense.By coming together like we have today and like we will in the future, we can spread the idea to our friends and neighbors that community is still possible in this country. Even in a city as large as Phoenix. One block at a time, one neighborhood at a time, one city at a time we can foster community.We do not need the federal government to step into our neighborhoods and tell us how to treat each other. We already know how to do this. We all know right from wrong. We don’t need the federal government to save us. PEOPLE - WE CAN SAVE OURSELVES!True change happens in small steps. Do you know your neighbors name? If you don’t, you should. Do you see an old woman down he street who struggles to drag her garbage can to the street once a week? Walk over there and carry it out for her. Are you in a neighborhood that is littered with discarded cans and bottles and pieces of paper? Pick them up. Take some pride! We help each other, one step at a time. One tiny act of selflessness. We have a conversation with our neighbors, we have a block party to get to know each other, we share information. This is how we change! It doesn’t take money! It doesn’t take planning! It certainly doesn’t take a government program to tell us how to be neighborly! We can do this and today is the day we start.Please everyone - if you walk away today and take nothing more with you than this - That true change lies in the exchange of ideas, the discussion of events and the commitment to be a positive force in your community - than you walk away with a powerful set of weapons for change. We can and we will save this country and we will do it one heart and mind at a time.Thank you!