Our Favorite Hamburger

Yes, it's true:  I'm not vegan. 

I tried.  Once.  For about 48 hours.  I don't think it made me healthier because the crabbiness made my blood pressure soar.  I have sworn off veganism and I claim Biblical commands to subdue all of the earth just so that I feel better about myself when I eat meat.  It works.

To that end, our favorite hamburger for grilling at home.  And I did forget to take photos so you'll have to trust me that it tastes good rather than relying on food porn to convince yourself.

Quantity note:  This recipe is used to feed five people...two of whom are male teenagers, one an adult male, the other two are normal humans.  Adjust as needed...


COMBINE:
2 lbs ground round
1 lb ground turkey (I use the middle of the road in terms of fat content)
1/8 cup A1 steak sauce
1/8 cup finely diced yellow onion...you could use dry minced - reduce the amount
1/2 T garlic salt
1/4 t cracked black pepper

I try to shoot for quarter pound patties just because the math is easier for me - meaning about a dozen balls of meat out of this which of course will shrink down on the grill or broiler.

ONION HATERS - note that the onion should be finely diced - not looking for big chunks here - it lends a lot of flavor and was not offensive to our resident onion haters.  If the very thought of adding onion in chunk form to anything makes you want to swear off vegetables, consider at least adding 1/2 t (little 't' here) onion salt. 

A Little Random Randomness

Randomness on this Memorial Day....

Marriages ending make me sad.  Regardless the reason.  I think we (the husband & I) may be entering that stage in life (noooo...not a divorce announcement)...that stage where couples we know determine to divorce.  These are couples with a religious leaning - not random 'heathens'.  We even asked the question a few days ago, "When couple friends divorce do we have to pick one - or can we never have the two over at the same time?"

Today's Facebook observation - people who insist on posting the restaurant they are at with whomever they are with are very insecure.  Creating a pseudo-life by posting that you just had a plate of 'shrimp' at Red Lobster isn't impressive...it's kind of sad.  I'd be more fascinated by someone's life if they had the guts to post each time they were sitting in a bathroom somewhere (or standing...sorry guys)

We go through a lot of milk in this house.  But lately I'm noticing that we go through a lot of deodorant and disposable razors.

I don't like people making assumptions about my time.  I know - that's vague....  I don't feel like writing an entire post about the abuse of stay at home moms by the working outside the home types...BUT....it does bother me when there are assumptions made about me having a lot of free time and the ability to quick do something at the last minute - whether it's work or volunteering or what have you.  I don't mind being asked....I mind the assumption that I will certainly have free time.  It's vague....if you're reading this rest assured there's a really good chance it's not about you...it's just one of those observations that I feel compelled to type.

Sometimes I wish people could appreciate my children the way I do.  And typing this makes me realize I probably don't tell my children near enough that I appreciate them.

It's sad when people of faith are mean to each other.

I often wonder why people pay for gym memberships AND pay for housecleaners and/or lawn service.  Have they never realized how many calories are burned by cleaning or mowing?  (Of course they have - but it's not as impressive to post this activity on Facebook.)

Why Comerica Park & The Red Sox Was A Win....(In spite of a loss....)

Saturday found two excited kids and an equally excited dad driving to Detroit - home of the Tigers but, more importantly, temporary site of the Boston Red Sox.  It was a big game and it was some sort of hallmark for the children involved.

It's been a long hard road around here the past few years.  We watched a successful business crumble with the crumbling of not just an economy but, moreso, because of the crumbling of an arm.  There was fallout from that experience which we expected and didn't expect - ties that bind both strengthen and weaken in these situations.  We experienced both.  The weakening ties were hardest and most shocking but, in retrospect, it's been a good a thing.

There was a type 1 diabetes diagnosis which has forever changed our lives but, obviously, even more the life of the little girl living with it.  This has meant a life revolving around insulin and meters and doctors and hormones.  And it's meant that the weakened ties left her a bit alone during all of this - treated as if this all was rather inconsequential - 'no big deal'.

It's just been a lot.  So come April 2012 and a trip to a baseball game...it was meaningful.  Our son said, "It feels like things are getting a little better".  Our daughter just beamed.  Non-stop.  And the dad that could do this for his baseball nutty kids may have grown just a bit himself - prideful - but in a good way...the kind a dad/husband should have.  This game - this occasion - this hallmark.  It felt good.  It felt solid.  And in spite of a Red Sox loss, it felt like a win.

Budget Burnout....

Spring often marks budget burnout season for me.

Christmas would be the logical time but, thankful, Christmas is the same exact time every year.  Isn't that marvelous?!?  And since Christmas starts around July each year, I have plenty of time to figure out that and the budget juggle.

Spring, however, marks new life and new fiscal challenges.  Certain things just 'happen' and I can't put away enough to be ready - this year, for instance:

• BASEBALL...who knew that a child who never showed much interest would announce his intent to play.  Play ball!  Trying to find men's size 13 cleats at a resale store or on Craigslist is not easy.  Seems size 13s have joined some cult that pledges to not resell any footwear to desperate moms of bigfooted children. 
• HOUSE....new birth...new life....but some how the house just looks dirty.  I struggle this time of year with all the projects I want to 'quick' do and the funding that I know isn't there.  So I scrub and rearrange - hope for a good garage sale or two - and just try really hard to be thankful for a home.
• SCHOOL....the goal is to have the tuition all paid up by now.  It's not always easy.  We work second jobs and do side jobs and sell what isn't needed.  But it's hard.  I'm glad when summer comes and we can start trying to squirrel more $ away for the coming year.  This commitment to train up our children in the Lord as constantly as possible is huge.

Living without credit cards is a good good thing.  Trust me.  We don't amass extra debt. 

We also don't take fantabulous vacations or shop a lot for the new outfits that are absolutely necessary.  And we pray for contentment - for us and our children.

So come spring we have fresh flowers, lovely green grass, birds and sun...and budget burnout....  But never fear...summer is a'coming.

JOY suckers

I have a word that hangs in various places around our house - it seems to move about and rest in a place where it's most needed. Sometimes it's right by our front door, a gentle reminder when we enter the house after a crazy day. Other times it's in the kitchen - it seems to land there right when Type 1 Diabetes is morphing into a monster as it does from time-to-time. Lately it has been hung rather precariously beneath our mantle, with family photos above a clock appropriately marking time.

Today my eye caught sight of "JOY" right after a joy sucking moment. You know those moments - those little bumps along the road of a day which suddenly take us from joy (or at least contentment) to irritation. It could be someone driving in a manner we don't agree with. It may be an off-hand comment that reminds us of a short-coming. Sometimes it's a little reminder that there are areas of our lives that need tweaking but we haven't had the gumption to tweak.

I have a few of those tweaks that are long overdue. None are enjoyable to engage in, though I do realize that the end result will solidify joy a bit more in my life. The tweaks will heighten my joy which will only increase the joy of the people currently perched in photos on my mantle. And as if to further remind me what dragging my feet is doing, the clock sits with a face staring at me....asking me why I'm just so dense....why I drag my feet....why pleasing people not perched on my mantle is taking precedence over increasing the joy of those photographed subjects.

Being joyful always goes hand in hand with praying continually. And the joy suckers also do a lot of the work keeping me from that continual prayer. So today, as I receive yet another reminder that I need to get to tweaking, I look at that lopsided - yet properly placed - "JOY" and pray...not quite continually, but with earnestness, that I can make the difficult decisions - the tough tweaks - thereby increasing the joy for the more important people in my life.

Hard To Help

Did you ever encounter a person that makes it hard to help them?  I'm sure that introductory sentence is full of copious grammatical errors.  It doesn't even read properly.  But I'm keeping it.  (And I'm keeping the two sentences following that begin with 'but' and 'and'.)

Here's the type I'm referring to:

• Suzy has a lot of time on her hands.  It's a wonderful gift, mind you, she's a dying breed this stay at home mom, and many of us are extremely grateful to have Suzy around.  She is quick to volunteer and, by golly, when she volunteers she even offers to be President/Chairperson/Leader/Point Person (you get my drift).  This sounds awesome!  Way to go Suzy!  But then Suzy makes it really hard on everyone else.  It starts subtly with Suzy's complaints over how busy raising money for the first grade class is making her.  Then parents get the cutesy newsletters home with the not-so-subtle phrases about being the only person involved in this or that.  Soon we receive a list of donations "required" to pull off some function Suzy deemed necessary.  Finally, when a well meaning parent offers to bring something from the list Suzy counters with specifics on brand, type, exactly when the item must be delivered to "her function".  Oh Suzy.

The Suzys of the world can do a lot to kill the spirit of volunteerism in a group.  Whether it's a school, a church, or Girl Scout Troop.  Suzy, in her over-zealous desire to fill her hours and days, does suffer from burn out.  Burn out turns to full on martyrdom and, more than likely, Suzy already has some ego issues.

The sad thing is, Suzy is probably clueless over how her helping is actually hurting.  It is scaring some parents off from volunteering at all.  It is leaving her with work that could have been shared, had she let some people bring their own brand of potato chips, and it has rendered some fundraising stagnant because no one wants to donate to a toot-my-own-horn type.

Suzy is hard to help.  Suzy will probably always be hard to help.  Suzy, perhaps, needs to get a job for a while where she answers to people above her.  Or Suzy needs to be okay with barbecue potato chips, when what she really wanted was rippled. 

Don't be a Suzy.

Bean & Kielbasa Soup...the right kind of carbs for my little diabetic

Having a Type 1 diabetic in our home makes us all a bit more sensitive to carbohydrates. Not for vanity, but for being truly healthy. Eating a cupcake or a box of saltines is not the best use of carbs, eating legumes (beans, people) is a good use of carbs. In fact, they seem to help regulate our young diabetic's blood sugars in a truly wonderful manner.

And if they do this for her, they do it for all of us.

Now here's the thing - the moment legume/bean is mention many tune it out. Ewwww....I don't like beans......ewwww they're slimy....ewwww texture. I am a tough love kind of mom around the dinner table - I made it, I served it, you eat it. If I ask that of my children, asking it of adults doesn't seem unreasonable. PLUS with this recipe, there is some blending involved and some great flavor. So get over the EWWWWWW and embrace a good for you, good tasting soup....

BEAN & KIELBASA SOUP
2 cups chopped carrots
1/2 cup coarsely chopped yellow (sweet) onion
2 cloves garlic
4 cups chicken stock
2 large links kielbasa - cut in half and in chunks
3 cans great northern beans - rinsed
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
1 T oregano
1 T salt or garlic salt
1/2 T cracked black pepper

Saute carrots, onion, garlic in 1/4 cup of the chicken stock. Continue until the veggies start getting soft.

Add the cut kielbasa and saute again for a couple minutes.

Add the rest of the chicken stock, the beans, seasonings.

Let this simmer for a while. A while is about 5-10 minutes. At this point if you have an immersion blender use it in the pot, creating a creamy looking soup rather than the thinner version you have now. If you do not have an immersion blender, scoop 2-3 cups of the soup out and use your blender or food processor to creat that thicker texture - then put it back in the pot.

Final step, put in the spinach. Serve immediately. Store nicely in a freezer container.