If a man has a gun, or has access to a gun, and says he intends to kill you, you have the right to believe him.That's from one of Louis L'Amour's characters, Tell Sackett if I recall correctly.
Update:
A commenter has been kind enough as to verify the quote, and correct the wording. It should be noted that had the person Tell Sackett was speaking to had taken the message to heart, Louis L'Amour might not have had reason to write the next book in the series.
Milwaukee bloggers, myself included, have been critical or mocking of local officials who have denied the existance of a problem with gang violence in our area. Maybe those officials have simply judging our situation by the standards of a different locale.
There were eight people at last weekend's Christmas gathering, so the wee wifey baked four pies. The banana cream pie, classic favorite of the younger members of the household, was finished before the evening was up, but this one, a new addition to the spread, disappeared even faster. She had found it in one of the many comb-bound community compilation cookbooks she has collected, wherein whomsoever had contributed it identified it as Mom's recipe. Now it is ours, and it probably should be yours also.
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon butter -- softened
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs -- separated
1 cup milk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice -- one good sized lemon
grated peel -- of 1 medium lemon
1 9 inch cookie crumb pie shell
The wee wifey has switched over completely from pastry crusts to cookie crumb crusts. For this filling, either basic shortbread cookies or lemon wafers would be suitable. The little electric food choppers will reduce them to crumbs in three shakes of the cammb's tail. 1-1/2 cups cookie crumbs and 5 Tablespoons melted butter, mix together and pat into pie tin. Pre-bake at 350 for about 10 minutes before filling.
Using a spoon, cream sugar & butter until well mixed. Add flour, salt, egg yolks and milk; mix well. Add lemon juice and peel; mix well. In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; gently fold into lemon mixture. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour or until lightly browned and a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool.
The original recipe specified storing in the refrigerator, but since the eggs are completely cooked this isn't mandatory if you are serving the pie within a day or so.
Her fashionably voluptuous figure brought her the nickname Chubby and the attention of many in the unit.Evidently anorexia was not a problem among the upper crust in the summer of 1917, based on this little detail found in The Millionaires' Unit by Marc Wortman, the story of the Yale students, some with links to Skull and Bones, who formed the beginning of US military air power.
I myself once attempted to convince a group of musicians that they should perform under the name of "Open Mike".
On the other hand, I swear that this name never crossed my mind.
A commenter to a post of Owen's asserted that "Any news story involving lesbians is interesting." So I figured I'd check on the latest happenings on the Greek island of Lesbos in hopes there would be some high temperature activities taking place.
It turns out that Greece has a problem with illegal immigration, and that the island that we are vaguely aware of only because of the presumed lifestyle of one person who lived there in the 7th century BC is an entry point and site of a detention center. Given the attention given to illegal immigrants in the US, and to the island detention center operated by the US, you would think we'd have heard more about the Greek island detention centers for illegal immigrants, where facilities were in a poor state of repair, unhygienic and lacking in basic amenities, and physical abuse and, in some cases, behavior which could be considered torture have been used against detainees. I would bet that the behavior which could be considered torture is more on the order of waterboarding or sleep deprivation than of getting some female guard's frilly unmentionables stuck on your head.
It has enough rattiness; what it lacks is rattitude. I would hazard a guess that it was built this way to fulfill an obligation to steward the Earth.
I love the flavor of squid, but it does tend to be, shall we say, chewy. I reckon this variety will be chopped and steamed or fried, rather than stuffed whole.
In Heinlein's one swashbuckling novel, Glory Road, the Hero carries a sword inscribed with the motto Dom Vivimus, Vivamus ("While we live, let us live"). As for myself, I would prefer a fork incribed Dom Eatimus, Eatamus. It would have been perfect for consuming what the wee wifey made for our dinner l;ast night. A lot of what is sold as Alfredo sauce, and many of the recipes out there, would be more accurately described as Fred sauce, but this is the real deal and it doesn't take much effort to prepare. Metabolizing it is another story, which we leave as an exercise for the reader.
1/2 cup real butter
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup Parmesan/Romano cheese -- freshly grated
2 heaping teaspoons minced garlic (the boughten bottled stuff)
salt (to taste)
freshly ground black pepper
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 lb. fettuccine
fresh parsley -- chopped
Prepare fettucine pasta as directed on box. Drain; melt a pat of butter on still-hot pasta or stir in several drops of olive oil to keep pasta from sticking. Stir to coat evenly.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan over low to medium heat, melt the butter. Add cream, garlic, and cayenne.
Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens.
Remove saucepan from stove and stir in cheese.
Serve over hot pasta. Sprinkle on freshly ground black pepper. (Ground Peppercorn Medley - red, green and white adds a splash of color and flavor). Garnish with parsley.
There is a brand of packaged fresh garlic upon whose packaging is the assertion that there is no substitute for fresh garlic. This is often true, but in this recipe it would require, in addition to the labor of mincing, and of sautéing in the melted butter before adding the cream, but also greater precision as to timing and temperature. I assure you the readymade stuff was perfectly effective.
He awoke before she did, and gazed upon her. And discovered, as untold millions of men before him, that a wife is even more beautiful than a bride.Eric Flint - 1632
Me - morning of December 22nd, 1971
I posted this one year ago today, and it's still valid, especially since I just read 1632 off the Baen library disk for the umpteenth time whilst ridinng around with a laptop atop my lap.
When my wife came home I apologized before saying anything else: “Hi, hon. I’m sorry.”
And such is the good state of our marriage that she looked confused, and said “for what?”
That’s how you want to live.This was James Lileks, in this morning's Bleat, having cut the wrong corner making dinner the night before. His timing is impeccable; tonight is the 34th anniversary of our beginning to live pretty much as he points out we want to.
Sean is accusing Joy Behar of violating Godwin's Law. This would be like accusing someone of violating Cole's Law for shredding cabbage and mixing it with seasoned mayonnaise. Altho tradition holds that one in fact loses a debate by introducing a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler, Godwin, like Newton and Murphy, was merely generalizing about the nature of the universe and not laying down a prohibition.
In the comments to this announcement, I posted, with malice a fourth ought, the lyrics I have traditionally sung to the Underdog themesong. Another commenter wanted to know how I could be so wrong. I'm sure that particular wrongness of mine is simply a result of the early influence of summer camp, Walt Kelly and Mad Magazine.
By the way, for the person who stopped by today because of this referral, I apologise for not getting this posted earlier.
The cookbook's title is Are You Hungry Tonight? As I figured when I saw it on the library pickup list, it is a collection of recipes with links to Elvis Presley. Chicken à la king was a popular dish even in my neck of the woods around the time Elvis was playing Vegas, but I haven't seen in it on a restaurant menu in ages. Back then, comfort was a higher menu priority, and I offer this up as comfort food.
1 TBSP butter
1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1-1/2 cups sour cream
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp paprika
2 TBSP white wine
1 5 oz package frozen mixed peas, pearl onions and mushrooms
4 TBSP Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Warm a large non-stick frying pan, and melt the butter in it. Saute the chicken pieces over a medium flame, 4 minutes on each side. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper, then stir in the sour cream, soy sauce and paprika. Turn the flame down to low, and cook until the sauce is hot but not boiling. Add the wine and cook for another minute. Add the mixed vegetables, which were supposed to have been cooking per package directions while the rest of this was going on. Remove from the flame, and spoon/pour into a 1-1/2 quart flat baking dish. Top with the Parmesan, and stick under the broiler for about 4 minutes so it gets a hint of a crust.
The Elvis cookbook says to garnish with toast points, 6 slices of white bread toast cut into 4 triangles each, but that's a little too retro for me so I just serve over flat noodles. Altho our standard 2 TBSP of sriracha would be overkill, a couple teaspoonsfull in the place of the paprika warms things up without totally changing the character of the dish.
I drove the wee wifey to WalMart this afternoon, and wandered the aisles whilst she collected her knitting needles and canned goods. I was shocked and disappointed by a package I noticed in the aisle near their electronics department, a WalMart exclusive bundling a compact flourescent light bulb with a DVD of Al Gore's inconvenient propaganda.
This package isn't going to to make the watermelons start liking them, so I have to assume the motivation is to sell more of the light bulbs. I like compact flourescents, but I really don't believe they are actually going to change things.
We've long recognized that my son's canine is smarter than a typical dog, but this week he called me with evidence that she is smarter than some people.
Emrack went to the City Market in Kansas City (which he describes as being like Chicago's old Maxwell Street minus the porn and stolen tools) and picked up a bag of meat end scraps from one of the deli vendors as treats for Hunter. He tossed her one piece and she just licked and nibbled at it. He got the bag back out of the fridge, tossed her a second, and put the rest back. When she saw that, altho special, the treat was not a one-time rarity, she ended her careful savoring, and went ahead and wolved the two pieces down.
Altho he missed at least one, Chaz creatively rings a goodly number of changes on a favored blog insult in commenting upon a particularly assinine bit of commercial correspondance he recieved
Where we lived in Chicago, there was a cheap greasy carry-out eatery down the street. The men of Middle Eastern appearance down 35th from us in Milwaukee serve a better Italian beef sandwich than this Italian place did. The most memorable thing about the place was the neon signs in the windows identifying what they served. Because of the way they were arranged, the place was known as "Chicken Pizza". They didn't serve such a delicacy, but my wee wifey developed one.
1) pizza base -- whatever you want: pre-made like Boboli, box like Jiffy Mix, frozen bread dough defrosted or your own homemade.
2) white sauce: 1 TBSP butter 1 TBSP flour: make a roux (melt butter and stir in flour until smooth). Add 1 cup milk and 1/8 tsp each white pepper & salt. Stir constantly, bring sauce to a boil. Boil for 1 minute (to eliminate starchy taste). For a larger pizza use 1-1/2 TBSP butter & flour and 1-1/2 cup milk & about 1/4 tsp each white pepper & salt.
3) cheeses: shredded cheese (mozzarella) and parmesan
4) chicken breast cut-up, diced onions and minced garlic
Make pizza base & place in pan or on pizza stone. She likes to pre-bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Spread white sauce on pizza base. Sprinkle a bit of mozzarella cheese on white sauce. Saute chicken. onions and garlic. Spread over sauce/cheese. Sprinkle rest of mozzarella over chicken mixture and sprinkle parmesan over all. Feel free to add any herbs, spices you like. Bake for 20 minutes.
If you don't want a white pizza you can use bottled spaghetti sauce instead of white sauce and add any other vegetables such as green peppers & mushrooms, etc. to the chicken mixture. Another variation: substitute swiss cheese for the mozarella & eliminate the parmesan.
Victim disarmament advocates maintain that the best way to respond to crime is to be a coward, but here is evidence that raw courage is effective in driving off thieves.
Cromulent - n: A period of religious abstention observed by Conan the Barbarian in honor of his diety.
It is well known around the blogosphere that a link from the Instapundit will generate considerable traffic. It is this effect, known as the Instalanche, and not the once-infamous puppy smoothies, which gives Glenn his power. What most people don't recognize is that this traffic, like all wealth, trickles down. I call the resultant effect a Nearstalanch.
Nothing I've written of late has caught any particular notice, and thus my traffic, such as it is, has come from a few regular visitors, a few people who noticed various comments or trackbacks old and new, Recipe Carnivals old and new, and search engines. People looking for recipes are finding what they seek, but I'm not sure what draws those who are researching my name-grain or the new word game whose title happens to match that of a post of mine. Today, for the first time in a while the appearance of the latest Recipe Carnival was announced with an Instalink. The result was a 44% spike in daily page views for me from additional people checking out my contribution.
In what has to be a random coincidence, I got my first visit in about a year from the one non-carnival Instalink I'd ever gotten,
I have long maintained that nothing and nobody can ever bbe the new anything or anyone else. The assertion that Bruce Springsteen was the new Bob Dylan would have done him more harm than good if anyone payed any attention to it. Here's one which blows that comparison out of the water and leaves it in the dust.
I happened upon the current version of the highlight what you did variant of the let's all answer the same questions meme over at Kim's. He got it from Dave, who got it from Drumwaster, who had the sense to put it in the extended entry, without which inpiration I wouldn't have done it.
Note that, being a troglodyte I've never been farther from the US than a couple hour's drive into Canada and thus miss all the international ones. Instead I've visited my own local area in gread depth. There are also several which acrophobia discourage, and I've done very few of those.
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone - Tried without candles - even under a two-headed shower I thought it was dumb.
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables Andrea says herbs count, so then it follows that one could substitute smoking for eating...
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity - We've given a lot, a literal ton of food to the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, but never more than we could afford other than time.
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment - Inappropriate moments, but I'm sure there could have been worse ones.
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse Went to the track on an exotic combination of drugs. She saw brightly colored number 4s running across the wall. Payed $23.80 to win. We actually broke even during the time we tried handicapping, but it was more trouble than it was worth.
29. Asked out a stranger She still teases me about my pickup line 35 years later.
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse Looked at it thru a #10 welding lens
34. Ridden a roller coaster Wild Mouse at the Hastings County Fair - traumatic enough that I don't need loop-de-loops.
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer Kim says he did it to reach 1 gigabyte; I did it to reach 150 megabytes.
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign - Own a couple my son stole.
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip First vacation the wee wifey and I went on she picked out a few places she wanted to go so we loaded a tent and stuff in the car and took off. Had so much fun we went home early.
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach Peed in Lake Michigan off the rocks at The Point as the fog rolled in.
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love - Been traumatized by the breakup longer than the relationship lasted
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day - I assume ill doesn't count
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites - Toured historic sites; been near Indian mounds
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo Our first, done by Cliff Raven, was instead of engagement rings
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas - Passed thru Reno and stopped for gas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents I assume this doesn't mean digging the hole; my brother in fact scattered their ashes from his airplane
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children - One of my own and helped raise others
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over Started over just to pick up and move to another city would be a better way to put it
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane - Sorta held the controls, but it was still pilot's aircraft
109. Touched a stingray 63-1/2 splitwindow with fuel injection
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show - Won stuff by calling radio stations
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears - I'm a real square, just one 36 year old pierce in the standard spot on the lobe.
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse - Closest I've come is riding an elephant
119. Had major surgery - outpatient only
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days - Would have; got rained out the first night
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school And dropped back out again
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes Usually do other things with them; broiled, stewed, pickled and made into soup
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream When we first got the pictures hung at the big house
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts Repeatedly. Before the PC, built and modified my own computers with a soldering iron.
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head - Haven't shaved anything but the edges of my beard in over a decade
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life
In Dean's review of the latest James Bond flick (I belief that is the correct technical term) he suggested that anyone who hasn't seen any of them must have been living in a cave. When I commented that I must have been living in a cave without noticing it, he freaked.
Thing is, film just isn't my medium. I read fiction, lots of it. I even read most of the original Fleming Bond books when they came out; about the only time I did that with a mainstream bestseller. They didn't do much for me. I've seen almost no recent movies. The last two I saw at the theater first run were Jurassic Park (because the late Ms. Weasel asked me to accompany her) and Sixth Sense (because Emrack convinced his mother we should). Over the same period I've sat thru maybe half a dozen movies on video in their entirety, out of the hundreds the wee wifey has in her collection.
I don't watch television either. The last show I followed consistantly was The Man From U.N.C.L.E. back in the '60s. When Ms. Weasel first got cable I was excited to discover I could catch reruns. Much to my embarassment, the first episode featured a boy's choir assasination team and scenery suitable for a model railroad. I know other episodes were less awful, but I never tried again. The last TV broadcast of any sort I made a point to watch was the Dune mini-series. It sucked differently than the original film version, and again had some good points, but it certainly didn't lure me back.
I don't keep up with the music scene either, but at least what I listen to, ranging from Cujo to Kathy Mattea, isn't as troglodyte as my current driver, who hums along with Peter Frampton. I don't get to take part in some of the water cooler conversation (who shot J.R.? My theory was it was a hired hit-man) or the Galactica threads, but I get by.
As anticipated, Chris gives us a sample of Oleg's work.
I've been a fan of Oleg's about as long as I've been on the web. He does as fine a job as I've seen of explaining the reasons to keep and bear arms.
There is a liberal arts college in Wisconsin which is promoting itself as a business school via billboards across the state incouraging people to "Think Pinstripes, Not Khaki". I'd be interested, but I don't think they mean the same sort of pinstripes I would choose to wear.
This sort of approach would probably be equally effective in Milwaukee, or at least it would be if we had a gang problem here.
Update:
The story I linked has aged off the accessible portion of the newspaper's website, and I have put the text into the extended entry.
After more than a year with a beefed-up gang unit, the District Attorney's
Office has boosted the number of gang-related case filings and prison
sentences, according to new statistics released Friday.
San Bernardino County prosecutors filed 48 percent more gang-related cases during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, which began July 1. This is the first time prosecutors could compare year-over-year numbers.
In its report, the District Attorney's Office said it posted 313 gang filings from July 1 to Sept. 30, compared with 211 filings during the same period last year.
Prosecutors also saw an increase countywide in state prison sentences issued to convicted felons, from 99 to 155, and an increase in the number of years in state prison issued, from 528 to 828 years.
But even as law enforcement has waged war on street violence, the county's estimated 16,000 gang members have fought back.
"I think, generally, gang members are more violent and aggressive, a little bit more fearless than they used to be," said Cheryl Kersey, a lead prosecutor in the district attorney's Central Division Hardcore Gang and Career Criminal Unit.
When the District Attorney's Office began to seriously track gang crimes, it only had six specially trained gang prosecutors. Today, that number has jumped to 14, Kersey said.
That translates into more deputy district attorneys who know how to effectively prosecute defendants using special gang enhancements that can add more prison time to sentences, officials said.
District Attorney Michael A. Ramos said the numbers speak for themselves - an increase in each area.
The number of gang enhancements found true was 44 in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006-07, compared with 30 in the previous year.
Juries also found 11 defendants guilty compared with four in the same period last year.
"This means our war against gangs is having an impact," Ramos said in a statement. "We will continue to keep the heat up on the gangbangers to let them know they are not welcome in San Bernardino County."
Since the beefed-up gang unit was formed on July 1, 2005, prosecutors have filed a total of 1,325 gang cases, resulting in 574 prison commitments that amounted to 3,100 years in state prison, including nine life terms, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Additionally, 176 gang enhancements have been found true and 32 defendants have been found guilty in jury trials.
Stronger enforcement from prosecutors also helps cities, such as San Bernardino, that are putting forth an exhaustive effort to prevent gang violence.
"It is important that people who are found to have violated the law are held accountable for that," said Jim Morris, San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris' son and chief of staff.
That accountability, Jim Morris said, "is critical to a successful crime-fighting strategy."
The mayor won election earlier this year after running on a platform that included a multipronged plan to reduce violence with a balance of suppression and prevention.
"All those combined efforts are having an effect," Jim Morris said.
Still, prosecutors are anxious to keep up the momentum, calling for more manpower and resources, including investigators and support staff.
Some prosecutors are handling as many as 40 felony cases each, while others have 10 homicides apiece - some of them with multiple defendants, according to Kersey.
"We're managing right now, but I would hope that we'll have more deputies to be able to spread some of that workload around," Kersey said.
Here's another easy soup the wee wifey made in the crock-pot. Yesterday morning she threw it together after I drove her home (the first big snow storm would of course hit on the one night she doesn't get a ride from a coworker) and went to sleep. By the time my project manager decided the weather had cleared enough to send us home early it was ready. I have to admit that it isn't the prettiest soup out there, but it sure is tasty and filling.
1 pound Italian sausage -- sliced into medallions
1/2 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 can chicken broth -- (48 fluid ounce)
1 package frozen sliced carrots -- (10 ounce)
1 package frozen chopped spinach -- (10 ounce)
1/4 cup uncooked pearl barley
2 tablesoons sriracha sauce
If you are using uncooked sausage, put it in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with water, and flash for two minutes, This will firm it up enough that you can cut 3/8" slices which will make the browning more consistant.
In a skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage, onion, and garlic until the sausage is evenly brown. Season with Italian seasoning. Remove from heat, and drain well.
In a slow cooker, mix the sausage mixture, chicken broth, carrot, spinach, barley and sriracha.
Cover, and cook 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low.
