Friday Five - Lifted

Today's Friday Five invites us to share things that lift us up. My picture today is from the movie Up! Great movie! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! It'll lift you up too!

A Scripture: Numbers 6:24-26 - "May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." This has been a long-time favorite. Yesterday I received this blessing from a local Rabbi in Hebrew, which was just an amazing experience.

A Piece of Music: Chris Rice generally does it for me. My go-to piece is usually "Smell the Color 9," but I also love "Hallelujahs"

A Place: Being at Camp Sumatanga is always good for my soul. I think the next best thing is being at home in my bed with my dogs and my hubby!

A Person/Group of People: Two people that can always lift me up are my husband and my brother. Both are able to make me laugh and will always be there for me, no matter what.

Something You Do: Working on crafts is always a great way to lift myself up. Anything where I can be creative and explore new things and find new ways of expressing myself is uplifting.

Do any of these things do it for you?

Chicken Tetrazzini

As I've said before, I ate a lot of chicken casseroles growing up. Chicken Tetrazzini showed up pretty frequently. According to my mom, it was one of my dad's favorites. I didn't love it and so I've sort of avoided it as an adult. Jeff didn't eat chicken casseroles growing up so this is a whole new world to him and he wanted to try it so, I decided to give it another shot. But I'm changing it up a bit.

In all fairness, I don't remember exactly how mom did this because most of our chicken casseroles were pretty similar - boiled chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces, cream of something soup (usually chicken or mushroom), sometimes some sour cream or mayo, some kind of starch (noodles, stuffing mix, crackers, etc.) and sometimes some cheese. I think part of my resistance to chicken casseroles was a result of the fact that they all were pretty similar and it just got old.

So my version was a little different: I started with the basic chicken base from my crock pot chicken and dumplings. Then, because that covered the cooked chicken and cream of soup, I just needed some noodles and cheese. I cooked the noodles a little less than al dente because I knew they'd cook a bit more in the oven. I also broke them up a bit so they were closer to bite sized (next time I may use another shape pasta) I also mixed in a little bit of cream cheese to add to the creaminess. I topped it with a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese, but didn't mix in a ton of it. Then it all got tossed in a small casserole dish and baked at about 350 for 30 minutes.

The Verdict: Not bad! Next time I would probably add a little more cream cheese and perhaps a little sour cream. Jeff requested more cheddar cheese, too. Overall, this is a casserole I can get on board with.

Friday Five - Scattered

It's been a while since I did a Friday Five, but today is as good a time as any to get back into it! Since my life still feels a bit scattered and I don't really have things together right now, this seems particularly appropriate.

What is something you are chronically looking for? I'm bad about laying my phone down around the house (and since it's not wrapped in hot pink anymore, it's harder to spot!) Generally I can locate it pretty quickly, but it still gets annoying. I may go on the hunt for another belt clip just because of this!

What movie are you looking forward to watching sometime in the future? I have Christmas on the brain and I'm really looking forward to seeing some favorite holiday movies again like The Santa Clause, A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. As far as movies I haven't seen yet, I still want to see Despicable Me.

What is one of your favorite comfort foods? Just one? I guess I would have to pick macaroni and cheese, although right now the idea of tomato soup and grilled cheese is very appealing too. Maybe it's just warm, melty cheese that is my comfort food!

Tell us a story of one of your favorite people that has touched/blessed your life. - I have been thinking about my mom a lot lately, so I guess I will go with a story about her. She had a fabulous sense of humor and never failed to make people laugh. When my college boyfriend and I went on a trip to New Orleans, she requested we bring her back a feather boa. Because she had recently finished chemo and didn't have much hair, we also got her a fabulous lavender wig. One weekend I came home from college and she was in the kitchen making dinner wearing the purple wig with that boa flung around her. I almost fell down the stairs because I was laughing so hard, and all she could say was, "What? I can't help it that I'm fabulous!" She was indeed a fabulous lady and I miss her a lot.

What do you do to focus or calm or center yourself? Music has a way of really helping me focus and "be still" especially in conjunction with a nice bubble bath. Chris Rice is my favorite, especially "The Living Room Sessions"

Bonus: First thing that comes to your mind after you read this - I have too many answers and I really don't want to follow directions right now! At least now I know what I'm having for lunch (and what I am going to watch while I eat it!)