David's Boring Blog

 I am an animal lover. I enjoy seeing animals in nature. I enjoy the zoo. Though, I admit there is something melancholy about seeing animals kept in captivity. This might be compounded in the fact that it is done for profit. Still, I keep animals myself and have a good relationship with them. I'm not talking rhinos, tigers, snakes, or even lizards. I have cats. Granted there are dogs around the house as well. I enjoy our dogs. They aren't mine. I haven't really connected to a pup since Katie (my black lab dalmatian mix) and Buddy (our Saint Bernard) died. I will spend time with Harper or Gracie (both wonderful mutts) if they are in with me. I enjoy their attention and I think they enjoy mine.  That pales in comparison to the time I spend with my cats. I also spend time with the cats because there are more here that do not claim me than cats that do. Cat lovers understand this concept. Cats choose their humans. You can easily have a cat living in your house which you feed, w

 Last year I had a wave of nostalgia coincide with a need for a break from Final Fantasy games. The result was a burn through a series of Mario of Super Mario Bros. Games; Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World. I burned some time into Super Mario World 2:Yoshi's Island and Super Mario 64. I am still pissed at that snow level where you are supposed to get the Snowman's body to reconnect with his head. ARGH! I took a break there to run through both Legend of Zelda games for the NES before wading back into Final Fantasy for three straight games. Somewhere after I veered away from the Mario games I did a little internet research. Mario has spun off from his platforming roots into some interesting directions. He fights in the Smash series. He plays quite a few different sports including golfing, going to the Olympics, and playing soccer with the Strikers series of games.  I admit I have little interest in

 Before I jump into a fabulous recipe that is both exceptionally simple and delicious I want to take a second and say that I revisited the ravioli casserole with much better results. This go round I followed the original recipe including using the correct size baking dish and  leaving off the pepperoni. It was quite tasty though I don't love it for leftovers more than once. Without a protein reheating sauce, cheese, and noodles gets a bit bland.  I am not saying that meals taste better in my Spider-man bowl, but they certainly don't taste worse. The star of this week's culinary though was a surprise. With the crazy rise in costs on groceries I have been seeking out cheap solutions that are still satisfying and healthy. I add bonus points if I can tempt the kid to the table with the meal. Anything in the Tex-Mex realm is worth a look for me. I am a fat guy who loves my tacos.  Creamy Chicken Tacos Ingredients 1 pound of chicken breasts 16 ounces of salsa 8 ounces of cream ch

 I didn't exactly rebrand the blog, but putting up a recipe now and again is fun.  Cucumber Sandwiches Ingredients 16 slices high-quality soft white sandwich bread, remove the crusts 1 English cucumber 8 ounces cream cheese , softened 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt Instructions Peel the cucumber in stripes and cut into 1/8-inch thin slices  Place the slices on paper towels and sprinkle with coarse salt. Let rest for 15-30 minutes. Pat dry with clean paper towels. blend together the softened cream cheese, mayo, dill, chives, lemon juice, garlic powder, and salt. Spread one side of each slice of bread with the herbed cream cheese. Make up 8 sandwiches coating the inside of both faces of bread with cream cheese and layering with cucumber slices.  cut each sandwich into quarters Serve Enjoy with pinky raised taking delicate bites This ones probably deserves s

I used the beginning of the calendar year to make some dietary changes. I did not tie this to a New Year's resolution. I kept that really simple with trying new recipes each week of the year. I created myself a small list of behavioral modifications I was going to stick to. I added a routine of daily exercise that in no way resembles a fitness regiment. This is just me gaining a little bit of cardio fitness that I could build into something more. Simple stuff like riding the exercise bike daily and taking walks. Beyond that I eliminated from my diet sugary foods like Little Debbie cakes.  That may not be the most effective place to start my dietary transformation. It was an important step though because those foods are wasted caloric intake without good nutritional value. They are also something that challenges my self control.  Today was a hungry day. I hate when they happen. Luckily, I don't have too many days like today where I am consistently hungry. Those cravings sometime

The townsfolk were visibly frightened when they asked you and your friends for help. The constable was a big man at the start of middle age. He clearly a combat veteran as evidenced by the various scars that stood out on his heavily muscled arms. His left cheek had been torn away by some sort of claws and healed imperfectly leaving the constable with a perpetual sneer. This was no meek villager. Yet he stood in front of you explaining the disturbing events of the last fortnight.  Villagers vanish. Days later their dismembered corpses would appear in the town square stacked in disturbing and unnatural piles of pieces and parts. Burned into every spare inch of naked flesh were profane sigils writ with some seemingly impossible method. The local priest refused to perform rites over or even store the victims remains fearing infernal machinations. You all examined the gathered assortment of parts which equaled to nineteen villagers. With a flash of insight granted by his deity, Roderick und

Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup Ingredients 4 cups potato, peeled and chopped 3/4 cup onion 4 cups chicken broth 1/2 tablespoon salt 1/2 tablespoon pepper 4 tablespoons of butter 1/4 cup flour 1 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup sour cream shredded cheese to taste bacon to taste Instructions Set Slow Cooker to High (3-4 hour cook) or Low (for 7-8 hour cook)  Add potatoes, onions, chicken broth, salt and pepper to slow cooker approximately 45 minutes before you are ready to eat in a sauce pan over medium high heat combine butter, flour, heavy cream and sour cream. Whisk thoroughly until thickened Add the contents of the sauce pan to your slow cooker Mix well allow to cook on low for 30 minutes Spoon to serving bowls Top with shredded cheese and bacon Enjoy That was the original recipe I used. I have found several short cuts to make 1) more soup for meal prep and 2) less steps in the process.  David's Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup Ingredients 5 pounds of Yellow potatoes, diced (don't b

 Saturday morning has been exciting for me for about a month or so now. Yes, I started watching cartoons before the original Saturday Morning Reclamation post went up. I already had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series on DVD. I ordered DVD copies of Voltron which is actually two complete series; Lion Force Voltron  and Vehicle Team Voltron along with the movie Voltron Fleet of Doom. I could not resist grabbing a Blu Ray copy of the original Thundercats . To me it always felt like a nice transition between He-man and Voltron.  I also picked up the complete Dungeons & Dragons  animated series which is a whopping 27 episodes in total. Finally, I got my hands on a DVD copy of The Real Ghostbusters  which was sold to me as the complete series. However, the DVD text describes it as 100 episodes from the series. A quick glance at Wikipedia tells me that the series ran seven seasons and 140 episodes. Granted 33 of those were Slimer! segments. The completionist in me is upset.