what to do first ...

my dear friend shannon talked me into doing the day zero project. i still don't think i'm very clear on the overall purpose of this, but you make a list of 101 things that you want to complete in 1,001 days. i tend to be a fairly impulsive person (but not in the dangerous way) and tend to just do whatever i want, whenever i want; therefore, it was a touch difficult for me to come up with a list of 101 things when i've done most of what i want to do already. i'm also very rational and know that 1,001 days isn't a super long time and i don't get an unlimited budget so i couldn't list some of the things i really do want to do like "open a restaurant." trying to come up with a list of 101 things that i thought i could actually complete in 1,001 days proved to be a challenge in itself. the task of completing the list was my #1 thing, and only thing i've completed thus far.

i tried to put things on my list that i thought would be fun, interesting and new. i also tried to add a few things i knew would be easy for me to accomplish. being the opportunist that i am, i also put a few on there that while they are not the same thing, i could totally kill two birds with one stone. since shannon wouldn't let me prorate my number of days to meet a shorter list, i had to find a way to make this doable. an example of this can be found by looking at #23 and #14. i can satisfy #23 as one of the three in #14 ... two birds, one stone!

you can find the full list here: http://dayzeroproject.com/user/valwatson

since cooking is one of my passions, yes, many of the items on my list have to do with cooking. i'm trying to branch out though and am forcing myself to do so with #34 and #51. then there are the things i did just to appease dan. in consideration for many of the items on the list that he will have to endure (see #17), i added #76 and #77. so does that satisfy #19? perhaps. i think i'll leave #19 left as incomplete though because that is one that i don't want to cheat, it'd be bad karma. ok, enough of the numbers, sorry.

bottom line, this is going to be tough but i'm going to do it. now i just need to determine what to do first. i think #22 is a great way to start ... go rangers!!! dan and i are going to the world series game at rangers stadium on halloween :)

The Perfect Bite

For my last bite of any meal, I have to have the “perfect” last bite. Dan makes fun of me relentlessly over this peculiarity, but I just can’t help myself. If I’m at breakfast, my perfect bite typically consists of a bit of egg atop a small piece of bacon over some hash browns, lightly dipped in ketchup (unless I’m having pancakes or French toast in which case the bite has to be from the very middle, no side/crust) … YUM! I simply cannot end a meal on a sour note. It is so important to me that often, I’ll even assemble and line-up 2-3 last bites. The other night, we went to a steakhouse and Dan couldn’t help himself from torturing me as I lined up 3 last bites: 2 onion strings on each of the 3 cubes of ribeye so that I could then dip my fork into my potato then spear the onion/steak combo for my perfect last bites.

It was because of his ribbing that I think I may have come up with the perfect restaurant idea … American food served tapas-style. In other words, every plate would have 5-6 perfect bites!! This would also solve my problem of when I just want a bite of something. I would definitely serve breakfast as I am often conflicted when faced with ordering breakfast. I want a bite of everything but the combo meals are too much food for just one person; I try to talk Dan into ordering some of what I want so we can just split but he usually orders something I don’t want to touch; so either I end up half-way satisfied because I only order one thing or wasting a ton of food because I order everything even though I only want a bite. How great would it be if Dan and I could order breakfast tapas?? We could have a few bites of pancakes, some waffles, eggs with sausage, (oh yea, and a plate of something he wants too) I am DROOLING here just thinking about it! For lunch, we’d serve small shot-glass sized tastes of various soups paired with bites of matching sandwiches; for example, I’d love two shots of tomato soup with 5 bites of grilled cheese followed by a shot of black bean soup and 3 bites of a chicken tortilla wrap. OR you could pick your favorite bites served on skewers over a lunch-sized salad.

Dinner would be magnificent. We’d serve some traditional things like bacon-wrapped scallops and grilled bbq shrimp skewers, olive and cheese plates, various croquettes, etc. for the Happy Hour crowd but our signature foods would be our Perfect Bites. My star attraction would be the ribeye bites described above but I’d also have pot roast bites (roast topped with a slice of carrot, slice of celery and cube of potato drizzled in gravy) and for sure serve chicken parmesan/fettuccine alfredo spears! I’m seriously having difficulty concentrating on anything else while I sit here brainstorming different Perfect Bites and wondering how I’d be able to build things like the “baked bean with macaroni and cheese over corndog” bite off the kids’ menu without making it an ugly mess. I think the shepherd’s pie bite would be ok but the chicken pot pie bite difficult; lasagna bites easy but any other pasta besides ravioli too messy. And for gnocchi and prosciutto with asparagus, do I layer them one on top of the other? In which order? Or should I just wrap the gnocchi/asparagus in the prosciutto?

So many questions, but I’m sure I’ll get it all figured out before I ever actually open a restaurant … if I ever do open a restaurant. In the meantime, enjoy how to turn your leftover mashed potatoes into delicious and light homemade gnocchi!

Leftover potato gnocchi:
3 cups leftover mashed potatoes, a little bit dried out (leave uncovered in the fridge overnight)
**really this can be any amount, just alter the egg/flour amounts**
1 egg, beaten well
1 cup flour, if using whole wheat flour you'll need more (make sure you sift it or if you don’t have a sifter, toss it in a bowl and run a fork through it a few times)
Salt to taste

- Mix the egg into the potatoes until fully incorporated and the potatoes are sticky, lightly salt the mixture to taste (I sometimes add pepper and garlic here too)

- Add the flour a little at a time until you get a crumbly mixture then knead the dough VERY gently, if it’s too crumbly add a few drops of water, if it’s too tacky add a little more flour; the dough should be moist but not sticky (I usually start by adding about ¾ cup of the flour to get it crumbly then the rest as I knead it to make it a more consistent dough)

- Now the hard part … cut the dough into 8 pieces and roll each of the 8 into a long, thin log without overworking the dough (very light touch required); cut each of the logs into ½ inch pieces (I use a pizza cutter for this) and lightly dust with some flour until ready to boil OR lightly dust and follow next step if you’re up for the challenge (I failed next step 4 times before finally succeeding)

- Optional step (aka HARD step) - to shape the gnocchi hold a fork in one hand and place a gnocchi piece against the tines of the fork, cut ends out; very quickly but lightly, use your thumb and press in and down the length of the fork creating a little curl/C-shape with the ridges from the fork on the back

- Finally you get to boil the gnocchi!!!! Bring your pot of salted water to a boil and drop the gnocchi a little at a time into the boiling water; gnocchi is done when it floats to the top, it should only float for no more than 30 seconds or so before you fish it out with a slotted spoon

- Immediately toss the gnocchi in sauce and serve … enjoy! I like this best with pesto, for a super easy homemade pesto w/ tomato, blend a jar of sundried tomatoes (with the oil they’re in) with a big handful of fresh basil, 2 garlic cloves and some black pepper until smooth.

happy first full day of fall!!!

Autumn is hands down my absolute most favorite of the four seasons. It is also the only time of the year that I miss living on the East Coast. While Texas is beautiful, nothing compares to a drive through rural Pennsylvania in mid-October with the sun shining and the various colors of the leaves providing such beautiful scenery that you almost forget you’re in the 21st century. Texas tries, don’t get me wrong; we have pumpkin patches and such, but nothing close to the outdoor harvest festivals of PA/NJ that serve homemade apple cider and hand-crafted beers from locally grown ingredients. It’s also just hard for it to feel like fall here with the 95 degree temperatures instead of the crisp, cool mornings so common back East.

Last fall, Dan and I went to Boston with our friends Shannon and Ed to celebrate Shannon’s birthday. It was definitely one of the best mini-vacations ever! We had a great time with great friends, saw all the sights that could be seen (ps if you’re going to walk 15miles per day, wear appropriate shoes and no, flip flops are not appropriate shoes … whoopsie!), drank A LOT of Sammy A “LAH-guh” and most importantly, we rang in Shan’s birthday with a bang-bang-bang. As wonderful as the company was and as beautiful as the scenery was, I almost lost it over all the pumpkin-based products at every stop. Breweries had various pumpkin ales, bakeries had pumpkin everything and local ice cream shops had pumpkin ice cream (side note: if you’re ever in Salem, MA you must get the pumpkin pie ice cream at the little shop right near the ferry). Suffice it to say, if there was pumpkin on the menu, I had it. One may say my obsession with pumpkin* borders on the unhealthy, but I don’t mind, I love me some pumpkin!!!

To me, autumn truly begins on the Monday of Labor Day weekend. That day typically signifies the end of summer: you’re in pain from the weekend-long last blast before school starts back up again, it’s your last chance to hit the beach before packing up and heading back to reality, and it is sadly your last “holiday” from work until Thanksgiving. It’s also the day I usually start picking up cans of pumpkin in the grocery store. However, this year we experienced a pumpkin shortage. I went to the grocery store as usual with thoughts of pumpkin cheesecake dancing in my head, but I could not find pumpkin anywhere! I checked two other stores before heading to the farmers market then eventually the specialty food store but still no pumpkin. Ok, maybe it was just going to be a week late, two weeks late, three weeks late?? Those of you who know me, know that I almost fell into a full-blown depression over this. Then last week, I saw actual pumpkins in front of the store and flew to the baking aisle, but alas, there was still no pumpkin puree … I was sad. Thankfully, pumpkin has now made its grand appearance on grocery store shelves and I am ready to stockpile.

In honor of the first full day of fall, and thanks to a big can of pumpkin given to me by a fellow foodie, I made a pumpkin walnut cake with cinnamon butter cream frosting. I would normally have made this cake with cream cheese frosting, but I didn’t have cream cheese in the house and was too impatient to wait for Dan to go to the store to get me some so I subbed butter cream frosting instead. Over the next few months, I’ll use pumpkin in everything, sweet and savory, until Dan finally confesses that he’s had enough and begs me to please stop the insanity. Here are the recipes for the cake/frosting that I made to celebrate the coming of fall; they are super easy and this cake will fill your house with the most delicious aromas of autumn. I hope you give them a try!

After the cake was baked and almost cooled, I frosted it while still warm, gave Dan a sizeable slice then packed it up to bring the rest to work this morning. To quote two coworkers:
- It’s like pumpkin pie but richer; it is SOOOOOOOOO good
- I can’t believe Dan let you leave the house with this; I would’ve tackled you at the door and kept it for myself if I were him


*Remind me some day to tell you about my similarly unhealthy obsession with bacon and my trip to Montreal when I had bacon with every meal. Don’t judge, bacon makes everything better!! Dang it, all this talk about Montreal makes me want poutine.

Pumpkin Walnut Cake:
1 box cake mix – butter recipe (Moist Deluxe is best)
1 cup water
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts
cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
1. Mix all ingredients except walnuts using an electric mixer; first on low speed for 2-3min then on med-high speed for 4-5 min
2. Stir in the chopped walnuts
3. Bake at 375 for 40-45 min (if using bundt pan; 30-35 min if using 2 rounds)

Cream cheese icing
1 stick butter (½ cup)
1 lb cream cheese (two 8oz pkgs)
1 cup powdered sugar (sometimes more)
1 tsp vanilla
**add about a teaspoon of cinnamon with the sugar if using to frost the pumpkin cake**
Cream the butter and the sugar together with an electric mixer, add cream cheese in chunks and blend on high until smooth, add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

Buttercream Frosting½ cup shortening (Crisco all-vegetable based)
1 stick (½ cup) butter (make sure it’s super soft but not melted)
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk (don’t use skim but 2% is ok)
**add about a teaspoon of cinnamon with the sugar if using to frost the pumpkin cake**
Cream shortening, butter and vanilla together then gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well with each cup. After all the sugar has been added, it’ll look tough and difficult to spread so add the milk a little at a time until light and fluffy and spreadable.

feel better soup

Everyone has that one thing that makes them feel better when they’re not feeling well … I have multiple. When I’m sad, I want popcorn with lots of butter. When I’m sleepy, I want chocolate milk. When my belly hurts, I want peanut butter on toast. When I have a cold, I want soup. When my muscles ache, I want a burger. When I am stressed, I want pizza. When Dan is any of the above, he wants “feel better soup.”

Turkey vegetable soup, aka feel better soup, became Dan’s go-to back when we had dated less than 6 months and he got a really bad cold. Wanting to be a good girlfriend, I took the Thanksgiving leftovers and tried to recreate my grandmom’s turkey soup as best as I could from memory. I somehow succeeded in both making a fantastic homemade soup and making Dan feel better in a snap! Now it’s become my annual tradition: every Saturday after Thanksgiving, I turn my leftover turkey into “feel better soup.” I try to make a HUGE vat of the soup and preserve it to last through cold and flu season, but it rarely does. Dan drinks this soup like water, having it every evening between dinnertime and bedtime, like it is a preventative medicine. If he does get sick, he’ll eat it and only it until he’s better. I’ve found I make multiple batches of feel better soup throughout the year now, in addition to the once a year event (side note: it also cures hangovers). I do have to admit that I sometimes wonder if this soup is magic!

I don’t know how to explain it, there’s just something about it; the smell wafting through the house as it simmers on the stove puts a smile on my face and starts to make me feel better hours before it’s ready for eating. So when Dan wasn’t feeling so great this past weekend and said he wanted feel better soup, I went to the store and bought some turkey breasts, hit the produce aisle and went straight to work. While it wasn’t exactly the same as our after-turkey-day soup, it came pretty darn close and it still cured my honey. I’ve tried to make it with chicken before and it’s just not the same, chicken does not have the healing powers of turkey. The soup varies from year-to-year based on what’s left over from the turkey day feast and batch-to-batch based on what I have in the fridge; however, the main components are always the same: turkey, broth, tomatoes, and lots of vegetables!

Here is the soup, as made this past weekend:
•1lb turkey breasts
•6 cups chicken broth
•4 cups water
•15oz diced tomatoes
•15oz stewed tomatoes
•4-5 carrots
•4-5 celery stalks
•1 medium onion
•2-3 cups mushrooms
•2 heads broccoli
•2-3 cloves garlic
•Olive oil, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning

Lightly season the turkey breasts with olive oil, salt, pepper and poultry season then bake until cooked through. Allow the turkey to cool then shred it into small bites.

Peel and chop the carrots; chop the celery and onion; slice the mushrooms; break up the broccoli into small florets and mince the garlic.
Pour a healthy bit of olive oil in the bottom of a large stock pot and add minced garlic, sauté until the garlic opens up and makes your kitchen smell fantastic. Add the carrots, celery and onion and sauté about 10min or until the veggies are tender. Add the mushrooms and sauté about another 5-7min. Add the broth, water and both cans of tomatoes; bring to a boil. Add the turkey, broccoli and some pepper; reduce heat to low, cover, and allow it to simmer for 2-3 hours.

You can add egg noodles, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Serve garnished with a little bit of parmesan and fresh cracked pepper … and a big hunk of bread!

The Next Food Network Star ... Season 7!

Last year, I wanted to audition for TNFNS but I didn’t find the application online until the deadline had already passed. I am not making that same mistake this year!! I downloaded the applications, all eleven pages of it, and am sitting down to start working on it … gender? F; nickname? No thank you; food industry experience? hmmm does being a waitress/hostess in college count?? If I were an ingredient I would be __________ because _________ … and now we get to the tough questions requiring self-reflection, ugh!!

While I ponder my “culinary point of view,” I scroll through the 10 pages of legal yaddayadda to figure out what I’m signing up for and notice a simple sentence that states I may be asked to develop 30+ original recipes “on the spot” if I get invite to NYC for a final interview with producers so to start preparing. FUGH! Well, as I sit and think about this (and abandon my application for a moment), I dig out my handwritten recipe book where I try to remember to write down new dishes I create on the fly: 1, 2, 3, 4 … 38. WOW! I had no idea that I’d come up with that many, well no that’s not true, I knew I had that many in my repertoire, I had no clue I’d written that many down in my book! (Thank you Aunt Vicki for the wonderful bridal shower gift btw)

Ok, now I’m obsessing: do the 30 original recipes need to be all entrees or should it be entrees paired with sides or are sides separate “recipes” according to the true definition? I’m going to guess that sides are a separate recipe for now, but prepare for the worst. Dinner tonight is my chicken and black bean enchilada casserole and it is not written down in my book but it is an original recipe I made up one day when I didn’t have a whole lot of ingredients in the house but Dan wanted Mexican. I’ve enlisted the help of Dan to try to write down what I use and how much I use when I create these on-the-fly recipes based upon the contents of my cupboards and fridge. One more recipe added to the book! This is doable, I can do this, I can be a tv chef!!! Well, once I figure out my culinary point of view that is …

Chicken and Black Bean Enchilada Casserole
1lb skinless/boneless chicken breasts
2 cups fat-free ricotta
1 cup fat-free sour cream
2 cups reduced fat shredded cheddar
1 can black beans
2 cups salsa
3 jalapeños, diced (or a 4oz can of diced green chiles)
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1tsp chili powder or fajita/taco seasoning
1tsp cumin
½ cup fresh chopped cilantro (or 2tsp dried)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
8 corn tortillas, cut into quarters

Lightly dust both sides of the chicken breasts with salt, pepper and chili powder; bake until cooked through then shred and set aside in a bowl.

Sautee onion and garlic in the olive oil until onions are clear, add to the bowl with the chicken. Drain and rinse the black beans.

In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, sour cream, jalapeños, cumin, cilantro and some more salt and pepper.

In a deep casserole, pour 1 cup of the salsa then spread to cover the bottom; top with half of the tortillas then half of the ricotta, half of the black beans then finally half of the chicken. Top the chicken with the remaining salsa and half of the shredded cheese then repeat layers: tortillas, ricotta, black beans, chicken then remaining shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 30-40minutes until heated through all bubbly. Let it cool/set for about 10min before serving.

ONE DOWN, SEVERAL MORE TO GO!! Now back to some deep self-reflection, booooooooooo

if i had my own tv show

Most people don’t know this about me, but I’m not so great in front of an audience. Put me at the head of a table and ask me to conduct a meeting and I’m fine, as long as you let me stay seated. Put me at a podium, standing on stage, in front of an audience that is staring at me and I will freeze!! I’ve been told that I hide it well externally, but I don’t believe that for a second. Internally I feel like I am on fire, I constantly pan the room looking for the nearest exit and the clearest path towards it so I waste no time getting out the door and away from the scary audience when I’m finally done presenting.

this is my adorable nephew evan, the pic makes sense when you get to the last paragraph

In the fall of 2002, my siblings and I were on the Weakest Link. The audience was behind us and in total darkness, but I still felt their presence. The lighting on set was such that I could really only see the host, cameras/crew and my siblings, but I knew everyone behind me was staring at me, waiting for me to give the wrong answer. And really? Did I really miss a Britney Spears question on national tv?? That aside, I think my true downfall was that no one was standing there by my side. My closest sibling was only 2-3 ft away but at her own podium which made it feel like it was 2-3 football fields away. Even worse was the after-interview: just me, the camera, and two of the staff egging me on to make a nasty comment about one of my siblings. If you’ve ever seen the show, and no I won’t show you if you haven’t seen it, I was awful!!

In contrast, my sister and I were on VH-1’s very short lived series Motor Mouths and I wasn’t the least bit nervous. It was just us, alone in a car filled with hidden cameras, singing along to the cd they gave us, with me trying to get her to make a fool out of herself and eat a Slim Jim. I was totally fine, because I had my sister, an ally, sitting there right beside me through the whole thing. The episode only aired once, and I do not have a recording, but I did so much better. I was at ease, relaxed, totally as if the cameras weren’t there … until the last and final moments when all these people jumped out at us to tell my sister the jig was up and that she’d just been filmed for national tv. When that happened, I nearly sh*t, but so did she so I looked fine in comparison.

Therefore, if I had my own cooking show, I would want to have guest “stars” on all the time. Not true stars in the sense that they are in movies or are on tv (although that would be nice), but rather I’d want to have the people who have starred in my life and who would make excellent co-hosts to help me feel more at ease. If I had my nearest and dearest there with me, Dan flanking the stage and a friend or family member standing there with me to chat in front of the cameras while I cook, then I’d be a-ok! I think for my first episode, I’d want my dad to be there. After all, he’s the one that first taught me to cook; making E.T. shaped pancakes on Sunday mornings. My first episode would be “It’s all about family” with my dad and maybe my nephew Evan there too. We would make pancakes together, buckwheat of course, and dad could demonstrate how to make the perfect dunkin’ egg. We’d talk about how much fun we had on Sunday mornings, making breakfast for the family then going out and spending the day playing sports or ice skating on the frozen lake. I could give my quick lesson on the importance of a good, healthy breakfast to fit in line with my show’s theme, Evan could roll his eyes.

After we clean up the pancakes, Evan and I could make some chocolate chip cookies, a staple I recall from my childhood that went great with hot chocolate after a long day of playing out in the snow and over which we often recounted stories from our day. My aunt Jill makes the absolute best chocolate chip cookies in the world so she may have to be there so Evan can do a side-by-side taste comparison of Jill’s regular cookies vs. my healthy whole wheat ones. Even if he chose Jill’s, I wouldn’t mind, I’d just be having a fun time in the kitchen with family. And I must admit, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jill’s cookies were the winner, I think I’d choose them too!

My overall theme to my 1st season would be quick & easy, healthy family meals. I’d close out my episode by reminding my virtual tv audience that I believe a kitchen makes a home and that no matter how busy you are, if you follow my recipes you will never be too busy to spend family time, in the kitchen together. Then maybe the camera would pan over to Evan’s adorably chocolate covered smile (seriously, how cute is that kid?) and he could say “bye!!” I’d give everyone a hug and whew! first episode over.

I choose the stick …

From time to time, I make rash decisions and put myself through complete and utter torture. I’ve done bootcamp a few times, tried belly dancing (which was more emotionally scarring than physical), trained for a half-marathon and had countless other “great” ideas turn painful. This week? The Cleanse!!! I came home from work today with an enormo bottle of pills and told Dan that a coworker and I had made a pact to do a cleanse together. She’ll be doing a cleanse that I did last December; however, I’ve ventured into the unsafe and decided to try something completely new and unknown. Dan’s response: ugh that means wheat flour and no ice cream again; ok fine, but you’re not using MY bathroom!! Can you at least make that lemonade parfait stuff? As usual, he got over it pretty quickly as he knows it’s difficult to sway me once I’ve made up my mind about something. Easier to grin and bear it than argue the unwinnable argument.

Last December, I had more vacation time than I could carry forward into the new year and decided to take the week of Christmas off. In typical fashion, I was unable to sit still after the first few minutes Saturday morning (even before the first work-day off), took my car to get an oil change, and while walking around Wal-Mart trying to waste time while waiting on my car, I wandered into the scary vitamin aisle and had the GREAT idea to purchase a cleanse. I sat there waiting on my car, read the little pamphlet cover-to-cover and prepared myself mentally for the inevitable physical pain. As with anytime I decide to do something crazy like cut out carbs or give up my vino, I went on a total food bender and put off starting the cleanse until Monday. Monday morning, after Dan went to work and before a visit to the dog park, I googled, searched blogs and read message boards trying to understand what I had gotten myself into. It scared me sh*tless, but I’d made my mind up and I was going to get through it no matter what!! Just before lunch, after the visit to the dog park, I took my first dose … nothing. Before bed, I took my second dose … nothing. Day 1 came and went with nothing notable. Day 2 came and went with nothing notable.

Day 3. While not painful and awful, it wasn’t fun. I tend to be a private person when it comes to those things, even though the rest of my company (minus a few) clearly do not have my same issue, so I won’t go into too much detail. Day 4, fine. Day 5: I decided that I was fine, my body prevailed and had won out in the fight against the cleanse. I was going to be fine so why not just eat what I want instead of keeping to the high-fiber, low-cal, low-fat, fruit and vegetable rich diet … I wanted WINGS!! Big mistake, big, HUGE mistake (see Pretty Woman). Day 6, wings still hurt. Day 7, fine. Day 8 … 7lbs down!! Initially, I thought it was just water weight and the wings that made the difference, but two weeks later those 7lbs became 10lbs and stayed off. The cleanse was a success.

Now as I sit here perched on the edge of summer with zero will to eat right or exercise, I’ve decided to try another cleanse to kick start my efforts. While I could just do the same one I did before, I couldn’t find it in the store and was too impatient to wait and go to another store. Therefore, I bought a different kind of cleanse to try. So at least for the next 14, yes, 14 days I will eat healthy and do some exercise, if for no other reason than the fear of the consequence. In the age old tale of the carrot and the stick, I choose the stick. With my whole wheat banana bread baking away in the oven for my week’s breakfasts and the turkey chili simmering on the stove for lunches, I am prepared. Wish me luck!!!