We had a great tortilla supper tonight.  I browned about 10 boneless skinless chicken breasts in butter in iron skillets until they were golden brown.

I then made a bit of gravy with flour and the drippings left in the pans and poured that and some water over the chicken breasts.  Then I added two cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles and fresh ground pepper.

I covered the pan of chicken breasts with aluminum foil and put them in to bake at 350 for a couple of hours. 

Meanwhile, I put 6 cans of black beans into a large crockpot and added one large onion that had been chopped and sauteed in olive oil.  I also added about half a cup of taco seasoning to the black beans.

After a couple of hours the chicken breasts were tender enough to just tear apart with a fork.  After tearing up all the chicken, the entire contents of the above pan were dumped into the large crockpot with the black bean mixture.  This made a delicious tortilla filling!

Table set with all the fixins:  cream cheese, shredded cheddar, lettuce and tortillas.

I also tried a new bread recipe today.  I had been wanting a good recipe for bread machine parmesan bread and I found one here.   It turned out very well. 

It was really good dipped in the bean and chicken dish!  So I had one tortilla and one piece of bread. 

Lynn

Generally speaking, cats love gardens.  Where else can a natural-born predator find an abundance of insects for chasing, tormenting and slowing killing?  Where else can such a self-indulgent creature find a bed of catnip to wallow in until totally oblivious to all else in the neighborhood?

Why, in the garden, of course!  I am fortunate enough to have a couple of resident garden cats — Fluffy and Jasper.  Some days it seems more unfortunate than fortunate, but mostly I like garden cats.  It was quite entertaining today to watch Fluffy study the carpenter bees which were hanging seemingly in a stupor all over the akebia and jessamine. 

It wasn’t long until Fluffy decided she’d like a closer look at one of these heavy B52-type bees that buzz through my garden all spring and summer.  I watched, amused, as she stood up on her hind legs to get a closer look.

My amazement turned to astonishment as I watched Fluffy actually climb up onto the vine-covered arbor to try and knock down a carpenter bee.  Precariously perched on the little rung, Fluffy batted at a carpenter bee until she had knocked it, stunned, to the ground.  Then she jumped!

Poor carpenter bee.  I thought of how I’d feel if it were me batted down from a mass of vines, facing a full-size lion.  I suppose it’d be about the same as what was going on with Fluffy and the carpenter bee.  I didn’t intervene.  This same thing is going on all the time whether I’m inside unknowing or outside trying to do something about it all.

I’m not sure if you can see the large black spot in the grass in front of Fluffy, but that’s the unlucky carpenter bee.  Fluffy would watch the bee struggle and then bat it with her paw.  This went on and on until finally Fluffy grabbed the bee with her mouth.  I’m not sure if Fluffy got stung (only the females sting) or if this bee just tasted yucky or it just felt plain gross.  At any rate, I had to laugh at Fluffy’s face and stuck-out tongue!

Well, Fluffy, that’s what you get for trying to eat carpenter bees.

Lynn