Cathy Burnham Martin's Blog, page 48

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and those who love and care as mothers.

“A mother is your first friend, your best friend, your forever friend.”

— Amit Kalantri (1988 – )
Indian mentalist, magician, and author; from “Wealth of Words”

I am blessed with an absolutely marvelous mother and immeasurably blessed to have her still with us and healthy as she approaches age 94 next month. My sister Deborah took this picture as Mom was enjoying a lobster roll at the Lucky Lobster in Dunedin, Florida in celebration of Mother’s Day. May she enjoy making lovely memories for many more years. Thank you, Mom, for being the very best.

Eat What You Want Day

“Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they’re always there.”

— Unknown

Thanks to you all for the multitude of sweet birthday wishes yesterday. I enjoyed a splendid 70th with a few friends who came over for tapas. And Sir Ronald added an ice cream cake.

Since today is National Eat What You Want Day, I will share one of the items I created for yesterday’s birthday tapas spread.

Super Simple Chicken Taquitos
You can also make these with veggies, beef, combinations, or just cheese. Use your favorites!

Leftover chicken, shredded or chopped, seasoned to suit your taste
Cooked bacon, chopped
Sweet onion and/or peppers, finely chopped & microwaved 1 minute
10” soft flour tortillas (or zero carb or other wraps)
Queso or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (seasoned, if desired… see Notes)

Combine chicken, bacon, and veggies; warm slightly in microwave. Cut tortillas in half. Before filling, soften each for 15 seconds in an olive oil-sprayed skillet over low heat. Lay the softened tortilla half on your work surface with the straight edge facing you. Spread a heaping tablespoon of your chicken filling along the straight edge; top with cheese. (I also scatter a few shreds of cheese on the exposed section of the tortilla, as the melting cheese prevents the taquito from unraveling.) Roll up the taquito and place seam-side down on an oil-sprayed baking sheet. Repeat to make as many as you like. Place in 400°F oven for 7-8 minutes. Then use tongs to turn them over (adding more oil spray, if needed). Let cook another 5-6 minutes. Serve with a favorite picante sauce.

KISS Notes: I like to add some sass to the cheese by tossing it with some cumin, chili powder, finely chopped cooked chorizo, and a dash of garlic powder. I stir, then melt them all together. After refrigerating, the combo is perfect for spooning atop your filling. For more kick, include finely diced fresh or pickled jalapeños. To make the recipe extra easy, combine the chicken, bacon, and veggies ahead of time; then simply warm them up a touch before loading your taquitos. You can also deep fry taquitos, if preferred. Corn tortillas are usually fried. By the way, the only reason I cut the tortillas in half is because I want less wrap and more filling. Traditionally, you can simply place your filling on the lower third of a whole tortilla, for which you may prefer to use smaller tortillas.

Ageless

 

 

“It takes a long time to become young.”

— Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973)
Spanish painter & sculptor

To Wealth of Friends

“Awards become corroded. Friends gather no dust.”

— James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens (1913 – 1980)
American athlete and Olympic track and field multi-gold medalist

Learn, Don’t Burn

Photo by Florian Olivo

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr., (1929 – 1968)
American Baptist minister & civil rights activist

Hmmmm… Perhaps only the wisdom of time, age, experience, and hindsight helps us grow and learn to educate ourselves before blindly spewing hatred, violence, and ignorance in unwittingly random directions. Let’s be better and smarter than this. Let’s get it together, America.

Fun in May

 

We have so greatly enjoyed the visit with my sister Deborah from Hawaii!

 

 

 

 

 

And the Bonfire Taco Party attended by 40+ friends.

 

 

 

 

Special thanks to all who helped with preps and clean up and for the delicious goodies several of you brought to share during the festivities. We had a terrific time and look forward to the next gathering!

Growth through Friendship

 

“A friend is someone who accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.”

— William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
English playwright

We Have the Right!

 

“Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.”

— John G. Riefenbaker (1895 – 1979)
13th Prime Minister of Canada (1957 – 1963)

Feast, if You Will

“Preach not to others what they should eat, but eat as becomes you, and be silent.”

— Epictetus (55 AD – 135 AD)
Greek Stoic Philosopher

Overcome Discouragers

Image by John Hain

“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember… the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.”

– Zig Ziglar (1926 – 2012)
American author