Blessings, Darlings!
I'm working on the food for the holiday weekend right now - menus and shopping lists.
Pulled pork meal: have roast, made rub, have slaw ingredients, have rolls, need to make sauce but have sauce ingredients.
Beer-can chicken: have beer, have can, have chicken, have rub. Have taters. Have green beans and have salad ingredients.
Brats meal: have brats, buns, more slaw ingredients, mustard, need chips.
Need one more dinner .... I guess eggs or spaghetti and sauce, since I've got all ingredients for those meals.
What's on your menu?
Frondly, Fern
Friday, May 27, 2011
Memorial Day
Blessings, Darlings!
What are your Memorial Day plans? We'll go to a parade, and pay respects at either the Antietam graveyard or at one of the markers where a body was found from that battle closer to home.
Frondly, Fern
What are your Memorial Day plans? We'll go to a parade, and pay respects at either the Antietam graveyard or at one of the markers where a body was found from that battle closer to home.
Frondly, Fern
Taco Recipe
Blessings, Darlings!
Dining well while broke continues. Tonight was taco night. But since the temperature was in the 90's, I chose to NOT fry tortillas into taco shells - we did soft tacos by just pan warming corn tortillas.
The shredded cheese was a bar of cheap cheddar from Aldi's. The tortillas were from a big package bought cheap somewhere else (Aldi's hasn't had corn tortillas at all this year!). No sour cream, but the Chubby Hubby could have used plain yogurt in its place. Tomatoes, well, I wasn't paying $2 per pound for fresh, so I used ones I had canned last year.
Taco filling was a mix of ground beef (sale priced) and black beans.
Taco Filling
1 large onion, chopped
2 green or red or yellow or orange bell peppers, chopped (I used ones I dried last year)
2 or more cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb ground beef
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp chili powder
4 tsp cumin
2 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper
1 - 2 tsp ground coriander seed
Add a bit of oil to pan. Saute onion and pepper until onion is translucent. Add garlic, cook about 30 seconds more. Add and brown meat. Drain excess fat.
Add the dry spices. Cook them for about a minute. Add the tomato sauce, beans, and maybe up to 1/2 cup water. Simmer 1/2 hour. Done!
Dining well while broke continues. Tonight was taco night. But since the temperature was in the 90's, I chose to NOT fry tortillas into taco shells - we did soft tacos by just pan warming corn tortillas.
The shredded cheese was a bar of cheap cheddar from Aldi's. The tortillas were from a big package bought cheap somewhere else (Aldi's hasn't had corn tortillas at all this year!). No sour cream, but the Chubby Hubby could have used plain yogurt in its place. Tomatoes, well, I wasn't paying $2 per pound for fresh, so I used ones I had canned last year.
Taco filling was a mix of ground beef (sale priced) and black beans.
Taco Filling
1 large onion, chopped
2 green or red or yellow or orange bell peppers, chopped (I used ones I dried last year)
2 or more cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb ground beef
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp chili powder
4 tsp cumin
2 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper
1 - 2 tsp ground coriander seed
Add a bit of oil to pan. Saute onion and pepper until onion is translucent. Add garlic, cook about 30 seconds more. Add and brown meat. Drain excess fat.
Add the dry spices. Cook them for about a minute. Add the tomato sauce, beans, and maybe up to 1/2 cup water. Simmer 1/2 hour. Done!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Today's Oracle
Blessings, Darlings!
As I added cream to my coffee today, it took the shape of a whale. Could be that there will be a Twitter problem today ("Fail Whale").
Or not.
Frondly, Fern
As I added cream to my coffee today, it took the shape of a whale. Could be that there will be a Twitter problem today ("Fail Whale").
Or not.
Frondly, Fern
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Analogies
Blessings, Darings!
I read a lot of what is posted at www.Patheos.com . It covers all sorts of religions and religious topics (even if some of the folks there, in my NEVER humble opinion, post on politics and NOT on religion).
Well. Today there was this post. I responded to it on Facebook, and I'm sharing my response right here, right now.
My Reply:
I read a lot of what is posted at www.Patheos.com . It covers all sorts of religions and religious topics (even if some of the folks there, in my NEVER humble opinion, post on politics and NOT on religion).
Well. Today there was this post. I responded to it on Facebook, and I'm sharing my response right here, right now.
My Reply:
How odd. If 'fat' was no longer an issue, I'd think that people would have to listen to their body and their taste buds, and see what actually tastes good and works best for their bodies. "Fat" is not a medical diagnosis of illness. Diabetes, high blood pressure, etc are.
So let's try THIS analogy instead:
What if all food was 'free' - that is, you didn't have to pay cash for it, and any ingredient you wanted was available in any amount you wanted ... and close to your home. No more food deserts in the cities. Fruit, vegetables, all cuts of all meats/fish/tofu just down the block from you. No one would starve again.
Would people eat only Twinkies? Or, no longer having to fill up on inexpensive refined flour/rice/sugar based foods (and having less pressure on their wallets), would they now select food for flavor, texture, nutrition? Would they, now that they were no longer choosing food on a basis of scarcity, select food on how it worked with THEIR particular body's needs? Without commercials pushing unhealthy food by this food lobby or that one, would they really pick the 48 oz cola that makes their blood sugar funky and their brain wired as their drink with lunch, or would they have one chilled beer? Having a bowl of organic fruit on the table, would they go out to track down gummy bears?
Or, to use another analogy - now that they have lean, grass fed, incredibly flavorful steaks (and garlic, pepper, salt, and steak sauce) at home, would they go out for greasy unflavored hamburgers?
Yes, I said steaks. Multiples. Maybe not all at one meal, because being overfull is not comfortable and your body TELLS you that. Just like it TELLS you if you listen and you feed it only junk food, even if the junk food is free.
Some people would still choose to be vegan - and it would be easier for them. Some would choose to be omnivores. Some bodies would still do best on Atkins diet, or Dr. Weil's anti-inflamatory diet. But, wit food free .... they would be able to follow the diet best for them, and listen to their bodies, without the pressure of a for-profit (or for-prophet) sales system.
So let's try THIS analogy instead:
What if all food was 'free' - that is, you didn't have to pay cash for it, and any ingredient you wanted was available in any amount you wanted ... and close to your home. No more food deserts in the cities. Fruit, vegetables, all cuts of all meats/fish/tofu just down the block from you. No one would starve again.
Would people eat only Twinkies? Or, no longer having to fill up on inexpensive refined flour/rice/sugar based foods (and having less pressure on their wallets), would they now select food for flavor, texture, nutrition? Would they, now that they were no longer choosing food on a basis of scarcity, select food on how it worked with THEIR particular body's needs? Without commercials pushing unhealthy food by this food lobby or that one, would they really pick the 48 oz cola that makes their blood sugar funky and their brain wired as their drink with lunch, or would they have one chilled beer? Having a bowl of organic fruit on the table, would they go out to track down gummy bears?
Or, to use another analogy - now that they have lean, grass fed, incredibly flavorful steaks (and garlic, pepper, salt, and steak sauce) at home, would they go out for greasy unflavored hamburgers?
Yes, I said steaks. Multiples. Maybe not all at one meal, because being overfull is not comfortable and your body TELLS you that. Just like it TELLS you if you listen and you feed it only junk food, even if the junk food is free.
Some people would still choose to be vegan - and it would be easier for them. Some would choose to be omnivores. Some bodies would still do best on Atkins diet, or Dr. Weil's anti-inflamatory diet. But, wit food free .... they would be able to follow the diet best for them, and listen to their bodies, without the pressure of a for-profit (or for-prophet) sales system.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Rain.
Blessings, Darlings!
Rain and thunder are happening as I type this. Which is typical for this spring. Which means my garden is FAR FAR FAR from in.
The soil here, being clay, really is sticky and heavy when wet. And rock hard when dry. We're trying to turn it, then add compost, but it's been really slow going. The guy who the landlord hired to mow the lawn is willing to till it, but his tiller needs welding so that hasn't happened yet, either.
So my seedlings wait, rather root bound and impatient. And I never got the greens and turnips and such in. I'll try for a fall crop of those.
How does your garden grow?
Rain and thunder are happening as I type this. Which is typical for this spring. Which means my garden is FAR FAR FAR from in.
The soil here, being clay, really is sticky and heavy when wet. And rock hard when dry. We're trying to turn it, then add compost, but it's been really slow going. The guy who the landlord hired to mow the lawn is willing to till it, but his tiller needs welding so that hasn't happened yet, either.
So my seedlings wait, rather root bound and impatient. And I never got the greens and turnips and such in. I'll try for a fall crop of those.
How does your garden grow?
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wicca 101 - Class 1
I'm kind of noodling about how I'd teach Wicca 101. I'd love some feedback! I've got ideas for the first three classes (I expect that there would be 10 to 13 classes in the series.
Class 1 – nature, not nurture.
In this class everyone is outside for the entire class. Summer is the best time for it. Tick, and maybe mosquito repellent is recommended. Go out looking at wild flowers. See that sex is everywhere in nature. See that all the sex isn’t hetero – much of it is a 3-way of one male flower part, one female flower part, and it doesn’t work without a female bee in the mix (or wasps or flies of any gender, for that matter). Note that some flowers are male only (easiest to see in spring, when mulberries and pine are spewing semen/pollen all over the place), some are female only, some are hermaphrodites.
Actually, with the mulberries, I suppose Wind/Air takes the place of Spirit. I'll have to ponder the implications of that, besides the obvious connection of air/east/beginnings.
Also note that sex is, sometimes, NO WHERE in nature. Ferns – a topic dear to MY heart – are asexual, with a whole different type of reproduction that includes not just spores but a haploid version.
Note the yews, with sexed plants PLUS asexual spreading/survival.
Meet some chickens, where the female are XY and the males are XX. And where XY females have been known to become fully functioning males if the flock needs it. Thus, transexuality is build into nature, too.
From here, the discussion goes into how polarity is not duality, it is subtle, shifting, mutable. Much of Wicca’s theology and magic is based on the dance of polarity. Remember this when talking of The God and The Goddess. Mutable. Dance. Subtle.
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