Tortilla Pizzas à la Q

Assembled (pre-cooking) view of Tortilla Pizzas à la Q

In trying to share with my recently teen aged son some quick and easy food to make in the kitchen (without burning down the place), I used a dish that Elektra Q-Tion exposed me to. Using basic ingredients in the microwave for an easy and quick meal or even snack. Thank you Q!

Ingredients

• 6" tortillas
• pizza or spaghetti sauce
• shredded cheese
• pepperoni slices/toppings

Directions

• spread 3 TBSP sauce per tortilla (leave 3/8" edge as the "crust" area)
• spread several pinches of cheese (as much as you want)
• place 8 pieces of pepperoni (in 4 stacks of 2 like the image above)
• place on a microwave plate and cook in the microwave (on HIGH) for 30 seconds
• cut with a butter knife or pizza cutter into 4 pieces

Suggestions

• 3/8" edge because the cheese will melt and spread into those areas, keeping it on the tortilla instead of the plate
• Laying the pepperoni that way, makes for easier cutting between them without causing a mess
• 30 seconds to melt the cheese and heat it all up, but the plate isn't too hot for bare hands to handle
• Cut into 4 pieces, fold them over on themselves to use a fork or simply use fingers

Observations

• We all have items in our pantry or fridge that can be thrown on the pie. Modify this by what you have. Use the last few TBSP of salsa, tomato soup, or even ketchup in the fridge, and the last 2 or 3 slices of cheese.
• Quick sauce for 5 or 6 of the pies explained above: 8 ounce can of tomato sauce, Italian mix herbs, simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Make larger pies by using the 10" or 12" tortillas. Add several more seconds to cooking time and enough ingredients to evenly cover the crust.
• Smaller sized tortillas are easier for younger teens to handle. The easier to handle, the less mess made on the counter top.
• Use more toppings (browned ground sausage, cooked ham cubes, hot dogs, crisp bacon, tomatoes, cooked veggies, etc.) but play with the cooking time to determine what works.
• Flour tortillas (white or wheat) but not corn ones because they don't tend to cook "right" for me.
• Use a plate as the only "key" dish so there are less things requiring washing. Teens DON'T wash dishes.

Easy & quick to make, less expensive than getting frozen pizza snacks, and your teen helps you get rid of the food that would get thrown away. Especially during the late night kitchen raids they mysteriously perform.

Facebook Is At It Again

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Facebook just changed your email address in your profile and replaced it with an "@facebook.com" address without asking you. How to easily fix it?

Facebook launched their email system in 2010, which was pretty much ignored by everyone. This morning, Forbes commented that they removed everyone's email addy from their profiles, and replaced it with an "@facebook.com" addy instead (not their internal email addy for notifications and password resets, just the one listed on your profile). Fortunately, it is easy to get your original email address back:

1. Click "About" on your profile and scroll down to your email address. Click "Edit" to change.
2. Click the circle next to your Facebook email address and change its setting to "Hidden From Timeline."
3. Click the circle next to your other email address and change the settings to "Shown On Timeline".
4. Click the Save button (Remember this step).

That's all it takes. Unless like me, you never migrated to Timeline. Still easy, just read the screens. Is an easy, quick fix, but it surprised me that Facebook did this without asking my permission or notified me that it was happening. And, I have a couple of Facebook accounts now to "reconcile." But, it is all good.

Navigating the New Super-Highway

Let's be honest, today's lifestyle is so fast paced that it surprises me that we don't get more speeding tickets. I'm not talking about how you drive you car, but how you deal with the speed of the internet and how fast we can communicate with each other. This entry is based on my own personal thoughts on keeping connected to your life.

A key concern that we all have, is how to keep the work life separate from the personal life, especially if we travel a lot for work purposes. A simple solution to that, based on my perspective, is to buy a hard drive disk that works with your work laptop chassis. For the low cost of about $50, I could pack my personal hard drive in my carry on luggage, and using a small Phillips head screwdriver, could get online in the hotel, check all of my PERSONAL emails, Facebook, and search for whatever I wanted, without my company tracking it. If they are going to provide me with the tools to do my job, why not take advantage of that for personal reasons when I have to travel? Unscrew one or two small screws, slide out the company hard drive, slide in my personal one, and not worry about "big brother" watching me. I didn't have to lug a second laptop around with me to get through the TSA.

English: McDonalds' sign in Harlem. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The second largest concern we have, is how to "get online." Having a smartphone helps, since most cell phone companies have them, but I want to view things in a larger perspective, and keep my phone bill low. Free wi-fi is available all around us. You just have to find some close to you. Sure, most hotel chains offer it now, but what do you do when you are in the middle of nowhere? Go to a Starbucks or McDonald's or even local library. Sure, you might have to buy a horrible tasting coffee or burger, but you get access to the internet. If you live in an apartment complex (like I do), consider going "halfsies" with a neighbor on the bill. You can both set up your own profiles, but cut your costs in half.

So, it comes down to the last point, "I'm not a geek, I don't want to work that hard, what can I do?" See the Portable Apps entry. My first iPod is now nothing more than a USB drive. But I use it more now than I did for my music. There are ways out there, to expand your horizon, that don't impede you. Embrace life...live it...connect in any way that you can.

Coffee - More Important than the Alarm Clock

I mentioned in the Percolated Coffee entry how I make my coffee to enjoy it even just a little bit more than stopping at the coffee shop. Yes, I learned how to perk coffee at a very young age from my grandmother, and I was remiss in that entry to share with you some other suggestions about coffee. So here goes. For the first time ever, I'm going to share with the world a secret family recipe, and some other suggestions about coffee. I'm going to share the recipe as it was orally told to me, this is the first time it has ever been written down.

Ingredients

• 8-9 cups of water
• An egg
• Medium ground coffee
• Some cinnamon (ground or sticks, it doesn't matter)
• Saucepan, coffee pot, whisk, and cup
• Some elbow/wrist grease to make it happen

Directions

• Put about 6 cups of water in a saucepan, and bring it to a slow boil.
• Break the egg into a cup
• Crunch up the shell and toss that in the cup too
• Add 1/4 cup water to the egg and beat with a whisk
• Drop 4 TBSP ground coffee into the empty coffee pot, add 1/4 of the egg mixture to that, and slosh it around (save the rest of the egg mixture for tomorrow)
• If the water in the saucepan is boiling, pour it into the coffee pot (over the egg mixture)
• Put the coffee pot on a burner, set to LOW and simmer it for for 10 - 15 minutes

Suggestions

• After it has simmered for 10 - 15 minutes, add 1/4 cup cold water to settle the grounds, or take it off the burner for 10 minutes
• Pour it through a cheesecloth to filter out the grounds/shells
• Stick in the cinnamon stick or sprinkle the ground cinnamon to add flavor (saving calories)
• Drink it, and enjoy, finishes up a well prepared dinner on Sunday like you wouldn't believe

Yeah, there are more suggestions I could make, but I'll save them for another entry... Happy sipping in the morning to you...

Take a Step Back in Time - Parenting

In today's economy, fast paced and demanding life, it isn't easy to be an effective adult, let alone a parent. As a single working parent, with a teenager, let me make a few suggestions. Take a step back in time to how things were when WE were growing up.

"Back in MY day," we only had 1 TV in the house, it only received about 15 channels (we didn't have cable), I was the remote to change the channel (by twisting a knob), and had to adjust the aluminum foil covered antenna by hand. Today, we have 500 Channels and Nothing to Watch. My suggestion? Turn off the electronic things, and take them out on the back patio to talk WITH, not AT them. Float an idea and LISTEN to what they say. Set aside the cable/satellite TV, wi-fi laptop, eTablet, and smartphone.

My son and I spent the evening on the back porch while it was breezy, and I asked him a few basic questions that generated a lot of conversations, and we laughed hard TOGETHER. This conversation enabled me to recapture what it means to be "young at heart." Some of the basic questions started with:

• How did you sleep last night? Have any dreams? (clues you in to what is in their subconscious)
• What was the best part of today? (lets you know what they enjoyed about this day)
• What was the hardest part of today? (lets you know what might be "bothering" them)
• What was the easiest part of today? (lets you know what they might excel at)
• What was the most enjoyable part of today? (lets you know what sparks happiness)
• Anything else you want to talk about?

The last one is what tends to generate the most conversation, once you get them talking. And once you do, "please hold on to the bar" because it is going to be an interesting ride. Once I got my son talking, we talked about school, soccer, girls, dating... yeah, that was DEFINITELY an interesting evening in front of the fire bowl.

But I digress... my suggestion is to shut off all of the electronic stuff that clutters your life, and live your own, accompanied by those immediately around you. Toast some marshmallows, make S'mores.