Makeit Simple!

WARNING!  Health-conscious people must read no further!  This is one of those “Easy ‘n Good” recipes.  I make this when my energy is GONE and left me no forwarding address.

Chili Soup

1 lb. ground beef

1 T. instant minced onion

1/2 tsp. salt

1 can kidney beans

1 can tomato soup

1 soup can water

1 T. chili powder

chopped jalapeno peppers, to taste (optional)

minced garlic (optional)

Brown ground beef in a large pan; drain.  Add the rest of the ingredients; stir together.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 30 – 45 minutes.  That’s all!

Got Some Free Time?

I enjoy volunteering my time for a person or an organization.  I don’t drive, and I like to write, so one of the ways I volunteer is to write letters.  One of my past commitments included Adopt A Platoon.  I chose to write about them today because I just received their e-newsletter Full Battle Rattle and it jogged some pleasant memories from the dusty recesses of my brain!

Go to http://www.adoptaplatoon.org/ and, on the left-hand side of the page, you can click on Pages/Ways to Support, and there are several from which to choose.  I was a Pen Pal and wrote a letter each week.  Now, up front, A.A.P. will tell you (and I will tell you here) NOT to expect a reply.  If your soldier does reply, that’s really wonderful but, oftentimes, they are simply too busy.  Even so, they do appreciate hearing from home.  I know I would were I in the same situation.

Pleasant memories?  One time, I was able to meet one of my soldiers face-to-face when he was stationed at an Army base here.  That was just off-the-charts!

I also like Green Beans Coffee at http://www.greenbeanscoffee.com/ where you may buy coffee or another beverage for one service member or ANY number!  There is an option to send a note and say “Thanks!” with your coffee and indicate if you would like to be email “pen pals.”  To this day, I still touch base with one of my coffee recipients!

So, who knows what experiences are waiting for you when you invest a little of your time in those who are defending our country?!

Poetry Pause - On the Edge of the Moon

It's not the same
as in black-and-white movies
where the good guy always wins,
the boy gets the girl,everyone lives happily ever after
and nobody ever dies.

I'm living life
on the edge of the moon.
Not afraid of falling off, exactly,
but a bit nervous of falling down
to Earth
and to full-color reality.
It's nice up here--
so much closer to Heaven.
But here, I am alone.

The hurt is healing
and, ultimately, I was born
with a determination and
a strength that Mother
never taught me
but exists, just the same.
It's in the blood.

So I will journey away
from the dark side of the Moon.
I will not fall from the edge
but I will take a leap.
Look out below.
I am coming back.

by Pandora
appeared in Stand Alone Literary Magazine
February 1999, Vol. 3, #1

Have you ever felt like this?  I wrote this several years ago.  I was down and depressed when I began to write, but writing things out is one way to change my attitude and perspective.  In writing, I realize that all is NOT gloom and doom, and I do have a choice NOT to be a victim.

Easy is good!

I am disabled with Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.  As such, one of my many life mottos is, “Easy is good!”  I struggle with weakness and fatigue so I try to make life simple.  With that being said, welcome to In the Kitchen with MS -- Makeit Simple!  And this could apply to ANYone, really…Moms, seniors, any one who’s busy and doesn’t have a lot of time for fixing meals.

I always loved to cook, however I no longer cook the way I used to.  I look for recipes that are fast and easy, and prefer ones I can make in a crock pot or casserole dish.  I like a “medium-size” recipe that will yield about four servings.  That way, I have leftovers (which I LOVE!) and/or extra helpings that I can freeze for later.

Some additional “helps” that I do--when I get a LOT veggies and am not going to use them immediately, I try to freeze each in their own baggies.  This works with almost anything—onion, green peppers (green, red and hot ones!), broccoli, cauliflower, etc.  Whenever I need them for cooking, they’re right in the freezer.  Same with ground beef.  Either I make hamburger patties and freeze them, or I brown the burger in pieces and freeze that to use in chili, soups or casseroles.

I also like to make up my own recipes.  When I can, I go gluten-free.  (I feel better when I cut out the gluten, MS-wise.  By the way, this appears to be helping a LOT of MSers.  Gluten-free!).  One evening I made, what I call, Chicken Veggie Pasta.

Made gluten-free pasta.  Sautéed garlic in olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan, then threw in some hunks of chicken to warm up.  (Made the chicken in the crock pot the night before.)  In another small pan, par-boiled a crook-neck squash, drained, cut in pieces and added them to the chicken. Cut up a tomato.  Added a handful of cooled, cooked black beans.  Grated Parmesan.  Threw it all together in the pan with the garlic chicken, covered, cooked on low until hot.  Then, poured this on top of the pasta.  Pretty tasty.  Even for being (GASP!) gluten-free.

Marriage and Home and Life and Love

I’m on a nostalgia kick, here.  I keep this picture on my desk.  It’s probably one of my favorite pictures of Mother and Daddy.  Photographically, it wouldn’t win any awards.  You can’t see their faces.  But it’s one of those pictures that, for me, speaks volumes.

I remember taking it ... I was only about eight or ten years old.  I was sitting on the staircase behind them.  I see so very much in this picture ... had to be winter because of the boots to the left of the front door, and Daddy’s sweater, and Mother’s slipper-socks.  Daddy is standing there, looking out the window which looked out over the valley ... what was he thinking?  Was he imagining?  Dreaming?  Trying to sort out a problem?  Or simply thinking about shoveling more snow tomorrow?  Mother, ever present, looking up at him ... in love? (Always ... she adored him.)  Talking?  Dreaming with him, or problem-solving with him?  His arm around her shoulder (there was always physical contact between them) ... drawing her close ... in love? (Always.) ... maybe protection?  And there was our little poodle, Smoky, bottom center, gazing up at the both of them.

Taking that picture at such a young age, it was like reading a living example of what Marriage and Home and Life and Love is all about, should be about.  Not a lot of money, but more than enough of themselves to go around.  I’m sure, though, that this picture draws only me.  And it does every time I look at it.  So blessed.

Wordless Wednesday ~ It's for the Birds!

Wait a minute Mister Postman

I am a dyed-in-the-wool letter-writer.  Email is fine for exchanging jokes, sharing photos and short updates with friends on the other side of the country or just down the street.  But, there’s just SOMEthing about receiving a letter or card in the mail from a good friend, addressed to you alone.  I think it’s knowing that someone cares enough to want to share this piece of their life with you.  It’s knowing that your friend knows that this could be oh-so-boring to other people – “I made a good, strong, hot pot of coffee this morning.  It’s gray and raining buckets here.  I have a massive headache, but I’m still going to try to do some writing this afternoon….” 

But Friendship is the bond between you.  It’s knowing that, upon opening this envelope, I am about to be transported miles from my home to a small, friendly kitchen in another part of the country…another part of the world.  I can almost see my friend’s face through the steam from the cup of coffee…almost inhale the woodsy fragrances of her home…almost hear soft strains of music wafting from the dining room…almost feel the warmth and silky fur of her cat on my lap…almost as good as being right there with her.

…I must be off now.  I think I’m going to go write a letter and mail some love.