From a Local Bakery
Bear Claws! We ordered these ahead and picked them up this morning. They’re cherry with almonds and delicious. If it looks like one is already cut in half and eaten, you’re right. I didn’t get in with the camera quickly enough; Chuck had already grabbed one.
On another topic, we have our Christmas tree! The tree farmers named their trees this year. Ours is Grayson. 🙂
In the beginning, I found Minnesota difficult in Eating the Opponent. Minnesota is so much like Wisconsin, it was hard to find something that was uniquely Minnesota that wasn’t also generally Midwest or Wisconsin type, too. Eventually, we found this.
Classic Tater Tot Hotdish
Easy to cook, delicious comfort food, and very Minnesot’n.
We’ve also made elk meat chili (anything wild game is good), wild rice (often says Minnesota on the package), and good old SPAM. In fact, today we’re planning brunch of pancakes with leftover caramel apple chunks and SPAM on the side. Take that, Vikings!
Sorry, folks. No picture. We did, however, get back into the routine of Eating the Opponent this week. The Packers play the Arizona Cardinals, so I brought out my binder and let Chuck (chief cook at our house) take a look. He almost chose a chicken dish, and then decided to shift gears and go with enchiladas.
He seasoned the ground beef with my home-grown green onions and jalapeno peppers. My hot peppers are still growing, thanks to climate change. After wrapping up the enchiladas and placing them in the pan, he poured my homemade and home canned enchilada sauce over them. This enchilada sauce is yet another way to use tomatoes and stock the pantry shelves. The grated cheese, of course, included good Wisconsin varieties: mozzarella and cheddar.
No picture (I forgot, oops), but the enchiladas were delicious. Even though Chuck cooked them, I had a hand in the process with my home grown ingredients and made from scratch sauce.
Go! Pack! Go!
I looked through my binder for Eating the Opponent, and we had a few recipes that worked for the Dallas Cowboys. Cowboy beans, for example, the dish we call Calico Beans outside of the NFL season, is easy to cook. Amigo reminded us that Papa Murphy’s Take and Bake Pizza has a Cowboy Pizza, too. Then Chuck remembered that he had made Texas Chili in the crock pot, and it was delicious.
And then we went out to lunch for our Fun Day Friday and found this on the menu.
Cowboy Chicken Sandwich
We made cider that afternoon, so Texas Chili in the crock pot was the perfect solution. Go! Pack! Go!
September 11. Packers are playing the Washington Commanders. This brings back memories of the first Monday Night Football game after the September 11 attack which was – Washington at Green Bay.
But back to 2025. We’re eating the opponent with a crock full of Senate Bean Soup tonight. The recipe is simple, and you can look up variations online. I kept it fairly straightforward, with dried beans and a ham bone to start out.
It tastes as good as it looks. Go! Pack! Go!
The NFL season begins as usual at the O.K. Chorale. We get together on Thursday nights to do our picks for the week. The menu for Eating the Opponent comes up for discussion, and we’re set for the weekend. Mostly.
With the routines in place, we gathered the ingredients to Eat Chicago with a home made deep dish pizza. Thick crust from my breadmaker, Italian sausage, peppers, onions, olives, pepperoni, home grown oregano, fresh tomato sauce from garden tomatoes – are you hungry yet? It was delicious and filling. We’ll have leftovers for lunch for a few days, too.
I’m drafting this post midday Sunday (That’s 3:35 in the NFL world), and Amigo is in the lead so far with picks. He has 7, I have 4, and Chuck and the visiting bunny are tied with 3 each. I keep repeating my script “it’s a good thing I don’t do this for money!”
Meanwhile, our Milwaukee Brewers are in the 11th inning of a cliffhanger with a score on 1-0 over the New York Yankees. Any minute now we’ll hear an update on whether they held the Bronx Bombers to a shutout and swept the series – or not.
Now it’s time to put the computer down and enjoy the Packers competing with their arch-nemesis, Da Bears. Go! Pack! Go!
I posted Treehugger’s suggestions for April 1 – 5, and then got lost in real life. Here we go; days 6, 7, and 8 of Earth Month’s actions.
From Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions:Â Â
April 6: Check for leaky faucets. One dripping faucet can waste a lot of water – treated water. This is an environmental and frugal action. Check the faucets and the toilets for leaks!
April 7: Cook pasta in its sauce, not water. This, again, is a water saving and money saving action. I’ll add my own suggestion: use homemade broth for cooking pasta – or rice. It adds a hint of flavor and uses a resource that’s available and created from potential waste products. At least, my broths are made from scraps that would otherwise land in the compost.
April 8, today: Skip meat and cheese for a day. This one is tougher. I can handle skipping meat or minimizing meat to a side dish portion, but cheese? I’m a true blue Wisconsinite. Cheese is everything! But since Chuck developed a lactose intolerance, we haven’t eaten as much cheese as we used to. I don’t top the spaghetti with parmesan and mozzarella automatically – just to my portion and maybe Amigo’s. And where do eggs stand in this challenge? I had leftover rice and beans with fried eggs for lunch. Delicious! I need to give this some thought.
Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself!
No one fumbles around with the tree in a Green Bay Packer fan household. Diminutive though they may be, these little delights are like prize jewels of the family ornament collection. This roly-poly guy is a jingle bell decked out in Green and Gold and a football uniform.
These two came from a student (oh, she knew me well). They look fragile, but they aren’t. You won’t see them on injured reserve. Tiny and shiny, the crystal snowmen are small enough to fit in a teacup, but they’re prettier near a string of lights that can reflect on their glory.
We were bowling Friday night. Picture this: a group of teachers and spouses, most dressed in their Friday Green and Gold, gathered at the local bowling alley (and Pokemon gym) for a post-holiday party. I managed to catch several Pokemon critters while we were gathering. Chuck captured a local craft beer for himself and a glass of white zinfandel for me. And then we bowled.
None of us – okay, few of us – were any good at it, so spares and strikes were exciting. It was reminiscent of the Pepsi commercials featuring Odell Beckham and some ordinary everyday folks celebrating their own achievements. Remember “This must be how Shelly felt when she won that purple bear”? I came back from a that’ll show ’em spare announcing to my team “This must be how Aaron Rodgers feels when he throws a Hail Mary!”
And it built from there.
Strike! “This must be how DaVante Adams felt when he scored that touchdown!”
Spare! and a strike to follow! “This must be how Clay Matthews felt when he caused that fumble and recovered it himself!”
Gutter ball. “This must be how Brett Favre felt when he retired – the first time.”
A missed split for a missed spare: “This must be how Odell Beckham felt when he punched a hole in the locker room wall.”
You can imagine the inspirations for these.
This must be how Richard Rodgers felt when he caught that Hail Mary against the Lions.
This must be how Mike McCarthy feels every time Aaron Rodgers throws a Hail Mary.
This must be how Jordy Nelson felt when he got speared in the ribs by that dirty hit.
This must be how Mason Crosby felt when he kicked off and then had to tackle the receiver.
This must be how Tom Brady felt when he got caught deflating his footballs.
Yeah, it was getting lamer than lame as the beers and the gin and tonics got tallied up and we returned our ugly shoes to the counter. In our defense, it was Friday the 13th, a full moon, and we’re teachers, for heaven’s sake!
So readers, let’s leave it at that. Play the game with me. What would you say to fill in the blanks? “That must be how (blank) felt when (blankety blank) happened.” Now put your Diet Pepsi down, and think on it. If it takes a little while, just remember that the 23rd time is the charm. Hey, it worked for Shelly.
The New York Giants are coming to the Frozen Tundra sometime today for a game tomorrow. No snowstorm this week, so Eli Manning and company won’t have to worry about sliding off the runway like Minnesota did two weeks ago. In fact, Amigo remembers a weekend many years ago when the opposition (he’s pretty sure it was the Giants) was snowed in and had to spend a second and maybe third night in their hotel. Maybe it was this game.
Then there was the year when word got out that Manning’s favorite television show was Seinfeld, and the local Fox affiliate decided to show something else in place of the usual rerun on Saturday night. In an attempt to psych out the visiting quarterback, they played an ancient black and white special on Vince Lombardi. Only in Packerland, my friends, only in Packerland do we take our football so seriously that it changes the television schedule – on Saturday.
We’re planning to Eat the Opponent with a choice we’ve made in the past: Jersey Bagels. We’ll be supporting a local business, getting something delicious, and showing our Packer spirit at the same time. The Giants play their games in New Jersey, after all, not New York.
I’m dressed up in one of my warmest and coziest Packer sweaters with a green/yellow patterned turtleneck underneath. It’s cold, cold, cold tonight. The Giants will face temperatures not quite as bad; the thermometer is due to rise above zero Fahrenheit tomorrow. Highs might even reach the teens. Go! Pack! Go!