Chilly night? Nope, CHILI night at our house!

I'm in an organizing mood and you can't really start on a project like that until you rid yourself of some of the excess clutter. That includes cupboards and refrigerators. I checking the dates on my frozen food and cooking meals accordingly.

Today, I found four boneless pork chops which is not enough to feed four people but cubed and cooked with lots of beans, onions, and rice makes chili . . . sort of! I'm not claiming to be authentic but as long as it tastes good, no one complains.

A 'secret' I discovered for making this dish more tasty is to toss the cubed pork with chili powder before browning it. It sears the meat better and makes it almost taste grilled. It seems to impart the spicy seasoning more evenly, too. Once the meat is browned, I add the onions and garlic and cook it some more before adding tomatoes, red wine,  sliced carrots, and simmering it. There is really no recipe to it, just add stuff until it tastes good!

I've been cooking for a long time and was really taken aback by two different remarks. One person asked me how to cook a pot roast once and I began with, "Okay, you rub the roast with salt and pepper, brown it . . ." The woman practically shouted at me, "You don't use a cookbook. How can you cook like that." End of cooking lesson for the day! Another time, I was chatting about a roast chicken I had made and the other person said that she doesn't care for roast chicken as hers always tastes bland. I asked what herbs/spices she used and she looked shocked and said, "You use spices? That's cheating!" That ended yet another cooking lesson!

The funny thing is that I do have a lot of cook books but when it comes down to getting dinner on the table, I have to go with what I have on hand and work around the ingredients. I do refer to my cookbooks for special occasions when I plan ahead and can make sure I have the required ingredients. I'm afraid, however, that I tend to read cookbooks like a novel!

A Corny story? :-)

Corn . . . the staple at barbecues, the favorite treat with a steak dinner . . . Suddenly, corn has become a culprit in our diets. I’ve been looking through various sites and like most any food in our lives, moderation is the key. And, with a lot of the fun things to eat, some of them need more moderation than others.

For those of you who think that since you don’t serve corn on the cob, creamed corn, and such, you are out of the woods on the possible negative side of consuming too much of this particular crop, thank about your last week . . . Corn bread? Popped corn? Corn flakes? Coatings on our fried foods? If nothing stands out, start reading the labels and see where this stuff sneaks in on us. Hey, even the animal foods of the cheaper variety include too much corn than is good for our dogs and cats.

One person who reads my blog mentioned this to me and got me interested in checking it out.

When cattle are ready for market, farmers increase the corn in their diet . . . to add weight!

Corn does have fiber but most people don’t chew it enough to break it down for ultimate use in our systems.

Corn can inhibit the absorption of iron in our bodies.

Ever heard of corn syrup? One guess where that comes from and if it comes from corn, even fresh corn has it. It breaks down faster than some sugars, from what I understand, so could raise one’s insulin levels which is never a good thing.

Corn chips? Tortilla chips? It is amazing where you find corn once you start thinking about it. And it has really crept in rather quietly as many of us were avoiding the potato . . . which would be a better choice, after all.

To my thinking, God gave us a lot of choices in the plants, trees, and grains he provided for us on this earth. We have variety so rather than ban anyone one item from our diets, just be aware of how much may already be in our meals and start making healthy changes or substitutions. Hey, pop corn at the movies is my favorite part and I’m not giving it up . . . but I can serve green beans instead of corn at dinner time!

The four properties experienced by our resurrected bodies . . .

Something I did not know! You learn something knew about our Faith every day. This comes from Canterbury Tales by Taylor Marshall. He has a unique, inspirational, or educational offering almost every day. Google it and sign up to have it come directly to your e-mail!

 

 

Sacred Scripture and Catholic theology teaches that our glorified resurrected bodies will experience four properties as an outflow of the beatified soul enjoying the vision of God's essence:

1) Impassibility - the glorified body will no longer suffer physical sickness or death, as Saint Paul teaches regarding the glorified body in 1 Corinthians 15:42, "It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption."

2) Subtlety meaning that we will have a spiritualized nature in the sense of a spiritual body as did our Lord as we learn at 1 Corinthians 15:44: "It is sown a corruptible body, it shall rise a spiritual," i.e. a spirit-like, "body." We see that Christ's glorified body was able to pass through closed doors.

3) Agility - the glorified body will obey the soul with the greatest ease and speed of movement as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:43: "It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power," that is, according to a gloss, "mobile and living." Saint Thomas Aquinas says, "But mobility can only signify agility in movement. Therefore the glorified bodies will be agile." We discern agility our Resurrected Lord's ability to bilocate and travel great distances in an instant.

4) Clarity - the glorified body will be free from any deformity and will be filled with beauty and radiance as we read at Matthew 13:43: "The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," and Wisdom 3:7: "The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds." Here clarity refers not being "clear" but to being "bright."

Quotes that all brought out a smile today!

"If you're not scared or angry at the thought of a human brain being controlled remotely, then it could be this prototype of mine is finally starting to work."
-- John Alejandro King

"To be a book-collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope fiend with those of a miser."
-- Robertson Davies

"Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable."
-- Samuel Johnson

"There is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong."
-- H. L. Mencken

 

 

Still all too true today!

Human Dignity has gleamed only now and then and here and there, in lonely splendor, throughout the ages, a hope of the better men, never an achievement of the majority."
-- James Thurber

The current administration is lowering the standards . . .

Every day, there is something new and nasty being put out by the liberal factions. One particularly offensive commercial had a little Down's Girl saying that Romney considers her part of the '47%' so vote for you know who. Uh, according to the platform of the democrats, abortion is an easy option and we all know that  is often used to avoid the 'problems' of Down's children. This morning, another ad supposedly by Romney's trash collector saying that he feels 'invisible' to Romney as he go about his menial job. I don't know who picks up my garbage! They don't know what kind of work I do or who I am as we both go about out jobs as required by our work ethic.

Now, this crops up as they try to put the 'Fear of the Lord' into churches with a threatening letter:
http://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=36789

What makes this letter so . . . interesting is this quote!

 

"And to anyone who says that church is no place to talk about these issues you tell them there is no place better -- no place better," she said. "Because ultimately, these are not just political issues -- they are moral issues." - Michelle Obama Address to the African Methodist
Episcopal Church

We the People . . .

Something we should not forget come the November election. A lot hangs in the balance including our freedom of religion and speech. Elected officials should learn that it is our vote that got them there and it will be our vote that will dismiss them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=JVAhr4hZDJE&vq=medium#t=19%2a