Cheesy Garlic Jalapeno Biscuits

Last week I got the craving for Jalapeno Biscuits and found the following recipe here. They were quite good.

We all know those famous seafood chain cheesy biscuits. They're as addicting as they are garlicky. Now I want you to imagine those, with just enough background heat to make you go WHOA! Enjoy these biscuits on their own or with a piping hot bowl of soup.

Yield | 20 biscuits

Ingredients:

• 4 cups baking mix (Bisquick)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 3 tablespoons diced jalapenos (jarred or canned)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon dried parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the baking mix, cheese, water, jalapenos and ½ teaspoon garlic powder. Mix until dough is firm.
3. Using a small scoop, place dough on the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F for 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Combine the melted butter, garlic powder, salt, onion powder and parsley. Brush over baked biscuits immediately upon removing from oven.

Notes:

• Not a fan of heat? Simply leave out the jalapenos.
• Sub in Pepper-Jack cheese for an added kick.
• Toss in 1/3 cup cooked, chopped bacon for a delectable twist.

The world is "God Breathed"

I ran across the following quote from a comment discussing "Whatever happened to Bill Gothard".

This world is God-breathed. It is a wild, perilous, vivid, and unpredictable place. You cannot put it into a paternalistic, legalistic box and hope to see His face. Where can we experience God if we refuse to experience anything?

As a parent, I want to keep my son from experiencing pain and injury. On the other hand, those are things that make us stronger.

A case in point is our bones. In a recent podcast on bone health, the woman who was the "expert" stated that while taking calcium was needed, your bones only became stronger with impact. While cycling and swimming are good thing for your aerobic abilities, it is the impact of running or walking or punching a bag that helps increase the strength of your bones.

I've often said that it is my job as a parent to let my son "fail safely" so that he can learn. Each failure helps strengthen his character.

Spring Break 2011

We decided we needed some rest and relaxation this year for spring break so off to Orlando we headed.

We tried using frequent flyer miles but that didn't work out so well... Spring Break is, after all, spring break.

Kyle & Joel ended up flying into Atlanta Friday afternoon and meeting Marj's brother Mario who took Kyle home. Because of parent-teacher conferences, Marj flew in early Saturday morning. Joel picked her up and we stayed near the airport, heading to Mario's house (near the Alabama border with Georgia) the next day. We ate breakfast with them and headed to Orlando.

The highlights.

• Seasons 52 - A restaurant that specializes in dishes prepared with foods that are in season in that particular week.
• Finding a Whole Foods market.
• The airboat trip, seeing alligators (from a safe distance).
• The trip Joel & Kyle took to Cocoa Beach.
• Creating a "custom" R/C car at "Ride Makerz" (sort of like build-a-bear for cars).
• Relaxing with little to no schedule

What a family

It was a cold night when I got home, sub-zero temperatures. When I arrived home, however, I couldn't pull into the garage. Because of the cold, the garage door had gotten twisted and fallen off the track.

What to do. The garage door company closed at 4:00 and it was only going to get colder.

We did what any family would do (well, maybe not just any family). We rebuilt the door.

We pulled the sections of the door off that had fallen and, panel by panel, put it back up. Kudos to Marj & Kyle for the teamwork.

We'll have to live without an automatic garage door for a while but I think that is manageable.

A new dentist in his crowing glory

I was scheduled to go to my dentist of 10+ years next week. It has made sense to drive the 20 miles to Thornton 2 times a year because I can go to the dentist, then drive to the Park & Ride and catch a bus to downtown.

Last month, however, Qwest moved our office to an area where it made absolutely no sense to try mass transit. I found, however, that my commute is actually shorter if traffic cooperates.

The new dentist had been advertising this cool thing called a waterlase. It sounded high-tech and cool so I called. They had a check up appointment on Wednesday so I canceled my old dentist. Going to visit was quite the experience.

• Digital X-Rays.
• A review of the teeth by the dentist
• Digital pictures
• The explanation that I need crowns (I've never had them before) -- some sooner than later.

So, off we go... Yesterday, they prepped the teeth for crowns, sent the molds to the back, they "printed" the crown on a 3-D mill and re-filled a tooth. In the afternoon, I walked out with 3 crowns for the new year.

The Irony of our youth

It strikes me that it is ironic that a generation that doesn't seem to want to read would use Facebook and texting as a major form of communication.

Kyle is officially a TaeKwonDo Black Belt

After lots of years of preparation, Kyle has officially earned his black belt. He was unanimously approved by the other black belts in the school. This is a picture of him with his teacher in his new school uniform and belt (complete with embroidered name) ...

Yes, I am a proud father.

Kyle at Black Belt University

Kyle had a big weekend this weekend... His Black Belt University. Last year, most of his friends (you can see quite a few in the background) were promoted to black belt but Kyle didn't make it. We haven't heard yet about this year but have hopes that he will have earned it this year.

We heard a lot of good reports from those that were there more of the time we were. Like the kick to the chest he took from Quanginim and popped back up to continue sparing or his board breaking on the first night.

The following video... This shows Kyle with a 1 inch concrete brick (the kind you get at the garden center for lawn & garden landscaping).

Clearly we went round and round. ***

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Bill called to tell me about the headlight cover kit he used on his wife"s car. I needed one of these because when we drive in all the chemicals used to keep the ice down on the roads, it gets onto the plastic headlight covers some cars have causing them to cloud up, reducing the amount of light being produced.

On Bill"s recommendation, I put it to the test today... My drill and their kit... sanding (6 disks - 500 grit), more sanding (4 disks - 800 grit), more sanding (1 disk - 3000 grit) and polishing (goo)...

What a difference it made. To totally misuse a quote, Let there be light! or to quote a song "I can see clearly..."

*** I wrote this post last night on my iPod and totally messed it up... I took the basics and started over so no, you are not seeing double.

Ambient Lighting

How much ambient lighting is nearby?

I grew up in the country where, except for the city lights nearly 2 miles away, there was no significant light?

We found out, however, on Thursday morning when we overslept. The alarm didn't go off, the power did. I didn't realized it until I went to the bathroom and hit the light switch and nothing happened. I am so conditioned that I tried it again, thinking it was just my light bulb. The next thought was the circuit breaker but looking outside, I quickly learned every house nearby was dark with only the street lights on the state highway near our house actually on.

It was dark. I ran downstairs, grabbed a flashlight and showered by flashlight. Marj jumped into the shower after I did so I went downstairs and lit a few candles to eat by. I popped the emergency garage door latch and got the cars out, then was worried that it wouldn't lock and had to read the manual (by flashlight).

We walked the dogs by flashlight as well. That was when it struck me how much ambient light I have become adjusted to. When we returned we were surprised to see Kyle up. He woke up because it was "pitch dark".

We got our power back just before I headed off to work but one of the neighboring developments had to wait for another hour.

Just before I left for work,

Our Christmas Greetings.

I haven't made this before but here we go...

We have tried to reduce our paper foot print in past years by publishing our Christmas greetings electronically. You can read our family's Christmas letter here.

Logan found a "forever home"!!!

We stopped by with Logan to visit a family in Erie, CO today. They had filled out the paper work, went through the background checks and the home visit.

They met Logan and, not surprisingly, fell in love with him. It was a little sad to leave him but he will get all the human attention he wants there with no competition from other dogs. He will also get to children to play with and grow up with.

Logan's Big Day

No, not that day.

Yesterday we took Logan to the flyball tournament to sit at the Western Border Collie Rescue table.

Logan met several families who may be interested in taking him. We also got to talk to the people who picked him up in Grand Junction the day before Thanksgiving.

There was no end of activity so on the way home, Logan was out like a light

You can now see Logan's biography on the Western Border Collie Rescue website.

The Foster

A few months ago, I wrote about Western Border Collie Rescue. Last Wednesday, we had a new dog come into our lives for a little while.

Kyle named him Logan. We found out he is 2 years old and was abandoned by his owners who were behind on rent and left town. Wednesday, he was in a car from Mesa County (Grand Junction, CO) to Denver where we picked him up to foster.

He is good with kids, cats and other dogs. Loves balls and cloth frisbees and any sort of attention.

He will be up for adoption as soon as his vaccines are current.

Drops like Stars

Last night, I took the family to see Rob Bell speak in his Drops Like Stars book tour. Rob has an interesting way of looking at the world around us and draws on both the Bible and the experiences he and his friends have to describe how Creativity and Suffering feed each other.

While I think much (if not all?) of the audience were believers to some extent or another, the Gospel was preached.

A friend who, over the last 18 months, has gone through a few trials, joined us. I saw what was talked about speak directly to her.

At one point, Rob asked those who had been touched directly (themselves or a family member) by cancer to stand. This brought what seemed to be over half the auditorium to its feet. The point behind this is that the suffering eliminates the extra, leaving those affected looking at what is important. He suggested that someone given 6 months to live doesn't usually go "I guess I better go trim the hedges". Rather, they repair relationships and live life as fully as they can.

This will be an interesting book to read.

The bad, the good and the odd

We've had a set of Infinity RS225 bookshelf speakers for 10-15 years. This weekend, however, something happened and I heard a big pop. I didn't think much about it until we were showing August Rush to Kyle and kept hearing a crackling in one of the rear speakers.

I disconnected it long enough to pull it down and get the model number.

Thinking it was a lost cause, I decided to find out if I could get replacement parts. I went to the Infinity site and finally got into their support website (you get no support without the model number) and filled out an email form asking about the part.

Yesterday, I got a nice email from "Sharon" giving me the part number and a phone number to call to order the part. The $50 part is on the way which saves me at least $25 (to replace the speaker) or $100 because I'd need a matched set.

Let's see... That was the bad and the good... Now for the odd.

Infinity was purchased by Harman International (I knew this because it was on their site). While I was on hold, I was listening to a boomy bass voice saying "Thank you for calling JBL" (JBL was always known for their big bass). I finally discovered that JBL was also purchased by Harman International. One big happy family.

Lake Tahoe

On September 11-13, Marj, Kyle and I flew to Sacramento, CA and drove to Tahoe, CA for my nephew David Wozniak's Wedding. I woke up on Saturday, the day of the wedding, and convinced Kyle that we should drive around the lake. This slide show is what we thought was memorable...

To the pain*

It's a rather fuzzy photo... The black on the finger is not dirt but bruising.

You see, A couple of weeks ago, the battery in Marj's car died so I took her to church early (she was helping with lighting), then stopped for a battery on the way home.

I got home and started to put in the battery before Kyle and I had to take off. I went to pull the trouble light off the shelf and started pulling another bulb along with it. Reflexes took over and I went to catch the bulb... In the process, I slammed my finger into the air compressor. OOOUUUCHHH!!!

Kyle and I changed the battery. Sometime around the middle of church, I realized it was getting quite swollen and, after church, got a glass of ice to soak it in.

The good news, it wasn't broken... The bad news... It was black, blue and green for about 4 days.

* "To the pain" was a line from "The Princess Bride".

Western Border Collie Rescue

If you remember Keva, the newest family menber...

I would like to show you some of the work that the organization that we adopted him out of has been doing.

Ada Oklahoma. In June 2009, 120 dogs were left abandoned on a country farm outside Ada Oklahoma. Rescue agencies from around the country removed the dogs from the property. Six of those dogs came to Western Border Collie Rescue. This is a short look at their story.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Soldier Hollow Sheep Dog Competition

Another Birthday has come and gone

What left a mark?

• The joy in my son's face as he gave me his hand picked gift. "The John Lennon Collection Collectors Tin".
• Beating my parents to the "Happy Birthday" phone call with the phrase "Happy My Birthday" as they answered the phone.
• Finding out that we finally did get the Amazon Wish List to work and I now am looking forward to reading "The Nature of Atonement" and "Hebrew Thought compared with Greek" and listen to "Whole Lotta Blues - The Songs of Led Zeppelin".
• Finding out I now look in my 40's instead of 30's.

I think, what left it's mark most recently was waking up because of "partying too hard" and having to take TUMS. That Cookie Dough DQ Blizzard was good however.