And The Beat Goes On ...

And The Beat Goes On ♥

Compliant people politely deny their boundaries to keep the peace.  When they finally do stand up for themselves it is so out of character people close to them automatically assume that something is wrong and they blame someone else.  Perception does not equal truth—is the glass half full or half empty?

It all started back in elementary school; first or second grade, I believe.  Jody Barton asked me to spend the night at her house.  She lived about five miles from our house (actually we lived in a trailer and I was always too embarrassed to invite friends to my house).  Jody lived in a big old farm house with lots of trees around it.  It was a fun place to play.  I loved Jody.  She was my best friend. 

Back then we had party lines on the telephones and it just so happened that my parents shared a party line with Jody’s parents.  Every day at a certain time, which we had determined on the bus ride home beforehand, we would pick up the phone simultaneously and talk to each other for hours or until one of our mothers told us that was enough, which was usually the case. 

When Jody asked me to spend the night I did not know how to answer.  I had been to her house on several occasions to play.  Her house was very big.  A little girl could get lost in that house, especially in the dark.  It was not that I didn’t want to spend the night with my friend, but I was dreadfully afraid of the dark.  I still am.  (I have a very over active imagination when it comes to monsters and the boogeyman). 

I was afraid to tell Jody that I was afraid of the dark because I thought she would make fun of me, but I was more afraid to spend the night in that big G-I-N-O-R-M-O-U-S house in the dark.  I had to think of something.  So what did I do?  The same thing any normal elementary school child would do.  I lied.  I blamed my mother.

Those situations, as I have learned through the years, continued to surface over and over again.  I felt bad for lying to Jody back then about why I couldn’t spend the night.  I think what made me feel worse was that she asked Bonnie Fox to spend the night and after awhile they became best friends and I was eliminated from the picture.

Peer pressure is a terrible thing.  It can make you do things you wouldn’t normally do.  I learned very quickly how easy it was to put the blame on someone else (my mother, my kids, my husband) rather than stand up for myself regarding the things that I didn’t want to do.  It was much easier to blame someone than to take ownership and risk the abandonment of my so called friends.

This revelation came to me most recently because I made a choice.  I made a choice to stand up for what I believed instead of blaming someone else.  It was such an eye-opener to me because I never realized how compliant I had become over the years.

With a best friend you don’t need to pretend and you know you’re accepted for who you are and what you are no matter what… even at your worst your best friend loves you.  You can tell your best friend anything, share all your secrets, and not have to worry about being ridiculed … or can you?

Let no corrupt word proceed from your mouth but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. ~ Ephesians 4:29

We have to be careful what we say to each other, even or especially with our best friends.  Feelings can be hurt.  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.  The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.  ~ James 3:6.

Unless they are doing something Biblically immoral, unethical, wicked, illegal or sinful, some times it is better to keep our opinions to ourselves.  Just because we think a certain way or we live a different way or our views are not the same, it doesn’t mean we get to impart that knowledge as truth on our friends.

I guess that is why some people think friendship means “a ship that is big enough to carry two in fair weather but only one in foul”.

© Crackerberries 2011

Pork Pie

Meat Pie

Ingredients

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie shells I make my own but you can use the store bought ones.

1 pound ground lamb

1 pound lean ground pork

1 pound lean ground beef

2½ cups coarsely mashed potatoes

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1½ tablespoon basil

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 egg beaten

Directions

Brown ground meats over medium heat until thoroughly cooked. Drain off grease.

Mix together cooked meat, potatoes, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and allspice.

Line a 9 inch pie dish with pastry. Spoon meat mixture into pie crust, and top with second pie crust.

Brush top crust with egg and sprinkle with coarse salt. Shield crust edges with aluminum foil to prevent burning.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Remove foil for final 15 minutes of baking to brown edges.

© Crackerberries 2011

Granola Cookies

I really didn’t mean for these to come out the way they did, but they taste just like a granola bar made into a cookie.  I even crumbled one up and ate it in yogurt for breakfast the other day.

½ cup butter flavored Crisco

½ cup peanut butter (next time I will use a little more peanut butter)

1 cup brown sugar

½ granulated sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp maple extract

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

¾ cup all purpose flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour

3 cups dry oats

½ cup dried banana chips

½ dried figs

Preheat oven 375º.  Cream the Crisco and peanut butter together for 30 second; add sugars together in large mixing bowl and beat until fluffy.  Add maple flavored extract and eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. 

Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda together, slowly add to mixture and stir until well blended.  Add oats, banana chips and dried figs and mix well. 

Drop by scoops on ungreased cookie sheet two inches apart.  Bake 375º 10-12 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheet immediately and cool on wire racks. 

© Crackerberries 2011



General Tso's Chicken

This one is for you, Michael ♥.  If I remember correctly you like a lot of sauce so double that part of the recipe!

CHICKEN
1 lb boneless chicken meat
1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 egg, lightly beaten

Fresh ground pepper

1-2 tbsp cornstarch

SAUCE

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp dry sherry

¼ cup chicken broth

2-3 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger

2 tbsp minced garlic

EXTRAS

3 green onions

1½ cup fresh broccoli florets

5-10 red hot dried chili peppers

Oil for frying

Cut chicken into one inch cubes and combine with eggs, soy sauce and pepper.  Add cornstarch to coat the chicken; set aside.

Combine sauce ingredients in a bowl, stir well to dissolve the sugar; set aside.

Slice green onions and break apart broccoli florets.  Heat oil in large wok to 350º-360º; drop chicken cubes in hot oil a few at a time; cook, stirring and flipping often until golden brown and crispy (3-4 minutes).  Drain on paper towels.

Clean out wok and add 2 tbsp oil; once it is hot, add broccoli and stir fry 1-2 minutes; add green onions and red hot chili peppers and stir fry until aromatic (2-3 minutes).  Add chicken back into wok and mix everything well.  Push chicken and veggies up sides of wok creating a well in the center.   Pour in sauce and stir constantly until thickened.  Mix in chicken and veggies and serve immediately with egg rolls and rice.                                

 

© Crackerberries 2011

I'll Be Your Foxtrot

I’ll Be Your Foxtrot

          It was a dark and stormy night… (I always wanted to start out a story like that) and Charlie was the instigator.  There is always a troublemaker and a follower.  Foxtrot can be curled up in a ball, sleeping peacefully and Charlie will stand over him swatting him with his paw until he wakes up to play.  If Foxtrot doesn’t wake up right away and pay attention, Charlie will commence barking and swatting with the paw.  I have watched this go on for 15-20 minutes until Foxtrot finally gives into to the provocation of his brother.  As I watch this morning ritual I am reminded of their escape a few weeks back and more recently the incident with the possum.

          They had barked most of the night and as soon as dawn came, the barking ceased.  I checked on them to be sure they had not escaped again and Charlie had something in his mouth.  He was running all around and playfully trying to get Foxtrot to play tug of war.  I thought they had torn part of the blanket that covers one of the dog houses.  I went out to get a closer look and to my morbid surprise it was a possum.  Charlie was carrying it in his mouth just as proud as could be.   It was dead.  The first thing that came to mind was Lennie Small petting the rabbit in Of Mice and Men.  “I’m sorry, George.”

          We always thought Foxtrot was the dumb one, but as time goes on and I watch these two meatheads, I begin to see Foxtrot as Charlie’s Nathan.  I am reminded of the story in the Bible about King David and Nathan.  David didn’t want to go out to battle.  He wanted to stay home, lie around, eat bonbons and hang out with friends.  One night after having a big supper he was relaxing on his bed, chilling out, when he decided he needed a breath of fresh air.  He went out on the roof and was looking around at the candle lights flickering all over the kingdom when he noticed this sweet looking chick taking a bath.  Wow, he thought, I’m going to know her; which he did.  In those days, “knowing someone” was doing some mattress dancing.  Turns out Ms. Bathsheba was Uriah the Hittite’s wife, not someone King Davie should have been getting it on with.

          Charlie is like David; always after what he’s not entitled to and not supposed to have.  I picture the conversation before they left the yard.  Charlie says, “Come on Fox, baby.  Let’s go check out those two hot babes down the dirt road.  You know they want us!”  Foxtrot replies, “I don’t think it’s a good idea, Chuckie.  I think we’ll get in trouble if we get out.  We are tied up for a reason, for our own good.”

          As the story goes, Bathsheba ended up knocked up and King David hired a hit man to take out her husband.  She mourns the death of him and then ends up moving in and becoming David’s wife.  All of this really ticked off the Lord so he sent Nathan.  Nathan was a pretty cool guy and a good friend of David.  Nathan realizes that David can’t just go around killing women’s husbands because he thinks they are sweet looking and he wants to know them.  So he has to come up with a way to tell David this without David getting mad and killing him. 

          Foxtrot is Nathan.  He reminds Charlie all the time if it were not for the security of where they live, they would be out in the wilderness fending for their lives, sleeping in the rain, eating possum.  Charlie thinks about it and recallss the taste of possum in his mouth.  “They are only good to play with, wouldn’t want to make a steady diet of it” he says. 

          Nathan explains to David about a rich man that stole a lamb from the poor man.  This rich man had everything he could dream of having, but the poor man only had the lamb and cherished it with his life; fed it food from his plate even.  This made David very angry and he said the rich man had to be punished; he should die.  Nathan risked everything, his friendship with David, even his life, and said, “Yo, Bubba, that rich dude is you, man.”  Silence and Nathan held his breath waiting to see how David would respond.  Thank God, he came to realize that he had sinned against the Lord and spared his friend his life.

          Foxtrot loves his brother and doesn’t want him taking off by himself getting into trouble so he goes with him.  But while they are out romping in the wilderness, he talks him into coming home.  Of course he had to lose a bet about catching fish and he had to go for a cool swim.  But he stands up to his brother and tells him right from wrong.  Foxtrot is Charlie’s Nathan. 

          We all need a Nathan or a Foxtrot in our lives.  We need that one friend that will stand up and take a chance to point out something sinful in our life that we have hardened our hearts to and cannot see.  If you have a Foxtrot, thank the Good Lord for him/her.  If you don’t have one, pray for God to put one in your life.  If you have never read the story of David and Nathan you can find it in 2 Samuel chapters 11 & 12.

© Crackerberries 2011



Mac & Cheese Eastern Style



Mac and Cheese ~ Eastern Style

3 cups pasta shells/macaroni

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups milk

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 medium onion, caramelized^☼

1 cup chopped ham

Salt & pepper

Cook and drain pasta according to package directions.  Combine milk, eggs and parmesan cheese and add to pasta; mix well. 

Layer pasta in 2 quart greased casserole dish pasta, shredded cheddar and ham; do this two times ending with pasta. 

Spread caramelized onions on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake in 350º oven for 30-40 minutes until top of casserole is brown and bubbly. 

Let cool five minutes before serving.  My mother always says to serve macaroni and cheese with beets but I served with homemade pickles.

^☼   To make caramelized onions, add 2 Tbsp. butter to cast iron fry pan and melt; add sliced onions for 5-8 minutes, tossing often, until onions are tender and brown.

© Crackerberries 2011