Slow Cooking Thursday

It's time for another Slow Cooking Thursday, hosted by the lovely Sandra at Diary of a SAHM. Today I have an easy sandwich recipe for you.
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Barbecued Chicken Sandwich
6 cups cooked shredded chicken
1 onion, chopped
2 cups water
1 1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
In 4 quart slow cooker, combine all ingredients except chicken, then stir in chicken. Cook on low for 6-7 hours. Serve on buns.
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For more slow cooker recipes visit Sandra at Diary of a SAHM.

Works for me Wednesday

Today is a special Works for me Wednesday. The theme is simple recipes with 5 or less ingredients. Sounds like a great idea, don't you think? Here's a few favorites.

Biscuit Tostadas
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
1 jar (16 ounces) salsa, divided
1 tube (17.3 ounces) large refrigerated biscuits
2 cups shredded colby jack cheese
2 cups shredded lettuce
Add 1 1/2 cups salsa to cooked ground beef. Heat through.
Split each biscuit in half and flatten into 4 inch rounds on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Top with meat mixture, cheese lettuce and remaining salsa. Makes 16 tostadas
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Bubble Up Pizza
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, browned and drained
1 can (15 ounces) pizza sauce
2 tubes (12 ounces) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Stir pizza sauce into cooked ground beef. Quarter the biscuits; place in greased 9X13 pan. Top with beef mixture.
Bake uncovered st 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle with cheeses. Bake 5-10 minutes longer until cheese in melted. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
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This next recipe is a hit whenever I make it. If I take it somewhere, there is never anything left. Heather has made these for church and youth events and now gets special requests for them. They are so easy, but so good! My recipe technically has 6 ingredients but I had to include it!
Scotcheroos
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
In large saucepan, combine the sugar and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat until mixture is just boiling. Remove from heat and add peanut butter. Then stir in cereal and stir until coated. Press into greased 9X13 pan. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together and spread over bars. Refrigerate until topping is hard, then store out of refrigerator.
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For more easy recipes, visit Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer.

Busy day!

Bob and I both had the day off because he had to go in for his first colonoscopy. It wasn't how he would choose to spend a morning, but as we were told, the prep is worse than the test. It went well, everything looked good and he doesn't have to have another one for 10 years!

We were back home by noon, so we thought we better do some more painting.

Here are the dining room windows, taped and opened up; all ready to have primer put on.
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We got primer put on all the cabinets and wood trim and were even able to get the windows and trim completely painted. The cabinets need to be painted yet, but at least the primer is on. Painting windows and trim is a tedious job and I'm glad to have that part done!

More flowers

This time of year it seems like something new is blooming every week. Here's some of the newest blooms in our gardens.

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This is an Oak Leaf Hydrangea. The flower heads aren't as ball shaped as regular hydrangea's and they flower for quite a while. This bush looks nice even in the winter, because the woody part of it has a nice shape. The branches and stems are very twisted, so are interesting to look at.
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The climbing roses on the arbor are starting to open up. We wish they would fill in more, but it's a start!
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Here's a closeup of those roses. Aren't they pretty?
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These are Stella D'oro day lilies. They flower for quite a while, and make this a cheery place to sit!

They're gone!

I though I better update you on my last post. We survived, we are done, hooray!
The inspectors are gone and it is a huge relief. I think this was probably the worst inspection I can remember, mainly because one of the team members was completely unreasonable and very demeaning. I think they give these people classes in intimidation and she was very good at it.
We ended up doing very well and they did tell our administrator that there is a unique feel to our place because of the interaction between residents and staff. Of course - none of that is in the report and it wasn't mentioned to us, except by our administrator. Our crazy citation for this year was that all of our call bells cords are not uniform in length! We better get right on that, don't you think?
The sad thing about this is that not only does it disrupt our residents lives for a week, it sometimes drives people away from the nursing home field. We actually had a Dr quit a few years ago because he said he didn't need to deal with this. My good friend Nancy wrote this post today about how she feels following this inspection.
This is not the end, I'm sorry to say. They will be back in about 2 months to make sure we took care of the things they cited us on. In the meantime, we should be able to go back to enjoying our job!

What a week!

Oh yes - it's that time again. The dreaded inspectors are back at the Long Term Care facility I work at. This happens yearly and it is never fun. They come and they stay for a week, watching our every move, following us with their clipboards and writing things down.
Now, I do realize that these inspections are needed. There are some bad facilities out there and it's important that all facilities be checked out and that we all have standards to maintain. That being said, I think all places should be held to the same standard. Did you know that each state has different rules? What's even more amazing to me is that my state has more rules to be met on the west side of the state than the east! Assisted living places don't even have to have these types of inspections.
I also think it would be nice if these inspectors would answer questions and maybe give suggestions on what they would do with some of our difficult patients instead of just saying we should handle things differently. For example, when a person falls we have to fill out all sorts of forms and reports. We are supposed to come up with a way to stop this without using any type of restraint or medication to sedate them. With most people we are successful, but some of our Alzheimer's patients just don't understand and will continue to try to get up and walk although they are physically unable to. We may then be cited by the state for neglect or not having a safe facility.
We are told every year when the inspectors leave that they are impressed with our care of our residents, they can tell we have a caring staff and they like the interaction we have with the residents. They are also always happy with the way our residents skin looks. We don't have bedsores, because we take care to keep them clean and turned to prevent this. However, although they can tell we take care of our residents, they will never leave without finding some things to give us citations on. A few years ago we got a citation on not having a policy on keeping our fly swatter clean! (and that's the truth) Of course, if you looked at our survey it wouldn't say that - it would be under the housekeeping and cleanliness report. The problem is that when the general public looks at these reports, nothing is specified so it really is hard to tell which nursing homes are not as good as another.
Oh well, as I said before, this is a necessary thing. We'll get through it, as we do every year. They will probably leave on Friday and then we can start the process of responding to their survey and writing up a plan of correction for anything they cite us on.
If you want to read another opinion on state inspections, visit my friend Nancy.

Slow Coking Thursday

I love summer for many reasons and one of them is fresh fruits and vegetables. They taste so much better, fresh from the garden or farmers market! The recipe for today is one that uses some of those fresh tomatoes. Our family really likes salsa, but I'm afraid it's usually the boughten type. My sister Cheri makes some really good salsa and cans it, but I don't usually have the time for that. I found this recipe last year and we really liked it. It's easy and very tasty!
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Slow Cooked Salsa
10 plum tomatoes, cored
2 garlic gloves
1 small onion, cut into wedges
2 jalapeño peppers
1/4 cup cilantro or parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cut a small slit in two tomatoes; insert a garlic clove into each slit. Place tomatoes and onion in slow cooker. Cut stem of jalapeños; remove seeds if milder salsa is wanted. Add to other ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until vegetables are softened (some may brown); cool. In blender or food processor, combine tomato mixture, cilantro and salt; cover and process until smooth. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: about 2 cups.
Stop over at Diary of a SAHM for more slow cooking recipes.