oops

forgot again the Sunday recipe...tonight is cool, is Halloween so...

Joe's Sweet, Hot and Savory Corn Chowder

16 oz frozen corn

1 stick butter
4 potatoes, diced
1 tablespoon died orange zest
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chives, chopped
1 teaspoon smoked dried hot red pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
options
vegetable stock
dry potato flakes

defrost corn and sauté it in butter with the potatoes, salt, orange zest and dried red pepper.

allow the corn to just caramelize and add the orange juice.
simmer for 1 hour and add water or vegetable stock (without tomatoes) to keep the liquid from drying out.
add scallions, sour cream and half and half and bring just to a boil.  Thicken with potato flakes is desired.
serve in bowls topped with parsley.

Sandy

So the wind begins to blow
and the trees begin to dance.
The people tremble
from what is not known.
How like us to fear the wind
and the rain.
The storm comes
and we prepare the best we can,
but i prefer what the trees do...
to dance!

Day 4 of the imposed "squeeky" vow of silence

Day four of my voice sounding quieter than a mouse,
my house mates are relieved,
cause i love to talk.
I have taken traditional and untraditional remedies.
I have seen my docotor,
who verified it was only viral, not bacterial.
I have increased my vitamin C,
add zinc.
Taken a spoonful of Tumeric with honey -
all of these Anti-virals and immune system boosters.
i have had my Anise tea and lemon.
Drunk chicken soup,
but when i try to speak - i only squeek!
It is much fun to those who know me
and to their merriment they listen to me try to talk.
I have spent time in bed,
that i would rather be doing something else.

My voice, my voice, wherefor hath thou gone?

a bad misquote, but it expresses my feelings.

the little things

like bacteria and viruses,
yes these things can get us down
and today i got one dozy of a head cold.
My treatment is fairly traditional:
vitamin C, twice daily,
tea, not coffee and
then some herbal concoctions,
honey and lemon, especially since my throat is affected -
i have no voice.
Mint in my tea and now before going to bed,
Anise tea (or fennel) from the seeds in my yard.
Oh there was cough medicine, but so far it is not in my lungs,
if that happens,
i call a doctor.

Green Tomatoes

As you know from my last post, i went cleaning up my garden this week
and found some wonderful surprises!
Things that were wonderful,
but not such a surprise,
were a large quantity of Green tomatoes.
While raised in the South of the US,
I never really liked the typical "Fried Green Tomatoes",
that was the usual end to such things,
sooooo....2 recipes for dealing with them.

GREEN TOMATO Cornbread

5 large Green tomatoes

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix (you thought i was going to do everything from scratch?)
1 tablespoon salt
2 Onions, slivered

Clean and then boil the tomatoes till just soft with salt
Drain and remove tomato skins (if loose) and quarter
Follow directions on Jiffy cornbread package.
Mix tomatoes into the batter and pour into a greased pan.
Bake and enjoy!

GREEN TOMATO SALSA

1 Quart Green tomatoes

2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon salt
2 Chipolte peppers, diced
1 cup Green onions, diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Clean and then boil the tomatoes till just soft with salt
Drain and blend tomatoes, discarding skins where possible
add all other ingredients and simmer to reduce the volume about 1/2.
Chill and serve with what ever you want.
I have been using this with Enchiladas of various fillings to the delight of all.

A final bit, because the dreams of "what comes after this life" are still coming fast a furious and if there be any truth to them, I'll be cooking with my spiritual family at many feasts!

Doors opening

I have a direction,
bolstered by a doctors note.
A plan has formed,
and i am now at peace.
Tomorrow will bring the battle to enact the plan,
but i will follow it through.
The clarity in that doctors note,
of what i go through each day at work,
helped clarify all of it,
all that i have been struggling with these 4 years.
The note is 2 pages,
explaining in detail just what "oblique diplopia" is causing,
along with a bilateral sixth nerve palsy...
or is it the other way around?

It does not matter,
a plan is formed.

Latter there will be recipes, i promise.

Beautiful day

I was cleaning up the garden,
since it is the time for me to do such things.
I believed that the harvest was finished'
save a few green tomatoes.
But the cucumbers,
which had not done well
(saying i got 3 for the entire season),
had surprises for me!

It seems i would rather clean a garden,
than almost anything else!
The exception might me cooking!

Tomorrow i will post 2 recipes that i work with green tomatoes.

Missing a Sunday

So last Sunday i did not post a recipe, so that might tell you the state of mind (or heart) i was at,
but today is a new day and i will rejoice and give you another recipe

TEXAS CAMPFIRE CHILI

Makes 10 quarts of chili

9 lbs ground chuck

5 lbs chuck steak, diced into 1/2 inch squares, fat  included
2 cups Hatch Chili peppers, diced
1 cup smoked Hatch chili pepper
3 Chipolte peppers, diced, not dry
2 medium onions, diced
2 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons paprika
1/2 cup ground chili powder
2 sticks butter
3 tablespoons salt
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons raw sugar
2 tablespoons Bustello instant coffee
1 bar 90% cocoa
1 quart spicy V8
4 bottles Dos Equis

Grill all the meat cook it to just past pink - some will be browned.

Sauté the chili's, onion, cumin and paprika in melted butter with the salt and then add 1 beer.
Add meat and diced tomatoes and bring to a simmer.
add sugar, cocoa, V8 and one more beer.
Cover and let simmer several hours.
Add the last of the beer and the coffee, simmer one more hour.
Refrigerate overnight and reheat to serve.

sorry

I have had to go back to not letting "Anonoymus" comments - the spam was overwelming - open id is okay, but i can not deal!

Discouragement

this follows me,
this haunts me.
It stalks me and tries to do its worse,
but people are in my lives,
they keep telling me what the truth is,
it is not the same thing discouragement tells me.
It is defeated.
Today my inspiration started with Joel Osteen,
It reminds me that i never can see the whole picture,
but that thing do work together for good.
I believe that,
i need to be reminded constantly
because that stalker i mentioned earlier,
it does not say these things
and it takes the smallest things to wreak its havoc.
Another friend helped more,
reminding me that what i do is some for me
and some for those closest to me.
And after that,
nothing else matters.
I have a lot of people close to me
and they all matter very much.
all they need to do is receive it.
I find some of my worth in helping others less fortunate than i,
or may be fortunate in other ways than i.
So looking at things in the former
each of us has something to give each other
so that we are all of equal fortune.

It is chili out

And today is the Chili cook-off,
but this is not a post about this,
it is a post about discouragement..
I did not like the continuation of
Doctor visits
and more tests
and no answers,
especially not the answers that I wanted.
When faced with discouragement,
with waiting
and wanting,
I try to figure thing out.
My intellect is not so great as to truly know what is best,
the variables are too great,that i believe even
 Einstein or Steven Hawkins
 would be daunted by them.
me,
 i go on,
finding a peace,
stilling my heart
(with help of course)
to listen for that still small voice.
So often we go to a place
and know that it is not up to us
and then we try to take it back,
go back to the fire
or the wind
or the earthquake
and that is Not how it should be.

Hay Stacks

2 kinds last night - the first:

Hay Stacks

a meatloaf type dish without the pan

Using various kinds of ground meat, savory vegetables, spices and cheese, a Hay Stack fits your mood;  this is for an Italian Hay Stack

1 lb Ground beef

1 lb ground veal
1 lb ground pork
1 white onion, diced
1 tablespoon of garlic, diced
1 tablespoon basil, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
4 eggs
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
Options: 1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

Mix all the ingredients together well, shape them into large, 3" meatballs and place them on a greased baking pan, pressing down to make a flat bottom, but leaving the top rounded.

Cook at 350 F for 1 1/2 hour.

 

Hay stacks

Potato

 

These go with the other in a fun way

5 potatoes washed and Shredded (like if you made Latkas)
1/2 Diced onion
1 table spoon salt
1 tea spoon paprika
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 eggs
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese  grated or shredded

pat the potatoes dry after shredding and mix all of the ingredients except the cooking oil.
put a bit of cooking oil in each spot in the pan where you will place a hand compacted handful of the mixture onto the baking pan.
make the stack look like the meat.
place a bit of the oil on the top of each stack and bake for 1 1/2 hour at 350.
The outer layer should be crisp and the insides soft.

note that the cooking times are the same and they can be done together on the same pan.

Wispy dreams

 

wispy,

it is the best i can describe.

Dreams that come,

they are so wonderful.

At a place familiar,

a rocky beach,

where i have never been.

Filled with people i know,

from the past and the present.

Those who are still here

and those who are not.

It is a great party

and some of those who i know and are still here

are younger,

more vibrant

and they come from a point and time that i did not know them.

This is a great dream,

full of love and hope.

It repeats,

still another day.

I wake, not wanting to..

I still want to be there,

wherever there is

in my wispy dreams.

signs of the begining of Autumn

The Harvest moon within a bank of clouds

the Autumn Scarlet's berries turning red

Cooler temperatures are here and the Hybiscus flowers last for days

Life

In this place of intellect and reason

Comes from the heart,

A thought.

In the storm and whirlwind

Of confusion and angst,

 

God is not there.

 

In a quake

Of fear and anxiety,

 

God is not in them.

 

In the insanity of desire

or lack thereof,

this is where these things reside.

 

In the quietness of our heart,

In the stillness of our mind,

There it is

That we find God.

 

 How long did it take me to reach this place?

How many storms have i weathered?

How many quakes have i endured?

But i have not perished,

rather i have grown

and in ways that surprise me.

 

The whirlwind of work comes again

And thoughts are blown out of reach

For but a little while.

 

This is a adapsion and paraphrase of a favorite verse in the Old Testament; 1 Kings 19:11-13