Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Ratatouille over Drunken Beef


Ingredients:
1 large yellow onion(or Maui), diced
approx. 1 cup chicken, beef, or veggie stock
2 firm eggplants, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced(or 1/4 cup minced chopped from jar)
1 Tbl. dried oregano
fresh ground black pepper
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 packets Stevia(or any other sweetener, sugar)
2 med. zucchini, diced
2 yellow crookneck squash, diced

Prepare all veggies ahead of time
Spray large pot with non-stick spray, add diced onion and 1/4-1/2 cup broth.  Cover and simmer until onions are nearly translucent.


 Add eggplant, peppers, spices, garlic, and remaining broth.  Mix well, cover, and let simmer for approx. 10 minutes.  Stir often as eggplant begins to reduce in size.






Add stewed tomatoes and stevia and mix well.  Bring mixture to a boil and simmer about 15 min. 



Add zucchini and squash and mix well.  Cover, and let cook for 5 minutes.



 Mix well again, remove from heat and let sit 15 minutes.






Zucchini will also reduce in size, and should be slightly al dente.




(Use veggie broth and omit beef for vegetarian Ratatouille.)   Serve over couscous, quinoa, or rice for a starchy base.

Paleo would not use sweetener.  I used homemade beef stock

Drunken Beef
1-2 cups red wine(NOT cooking wine)
Any lean steak(such as London Broil) with all visible fat trimmed
5-6 sprigs Rosemary, fresh, cleaned
2 cloves pressed garlic
Seasonings:  Onion Powder, Black Pepper, Salt(optional)

Spread steak out on a large cutting board and season both sides, rubbing in spices and garlic.  Place in large crockpot and pour wine over, enough to cover the meat.  Turn on Low for 6-8 hours, until meat begins to fall apart when pressed with fork.  Remove from crockpot and rest 20 minutes.  Shred for serving.  Serve approx. 4-5 oz. beef on place and smother with Ratatouille.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Politics & Sundays...

I go to church on Sunday to renew my covenants I made with the Lord partaking of the Sacrament, and to be uplifted and edified.  Politics and government do not fall under either of those categories. 

I have way too many pet peeves, but ranking up there, my number one right now, is discussing politics in church.  Zaps the Spirit right out of the meeting.  I'm the Bishop's wife and I not only want to be there, but I really need to be there as well.  And when I hear politics or government being discussed I want to just go home and put on nice soft music.  It's like someone just popped my Spiritual bubble.  It starts off my week with a nasty taste in my mouth.  Sunday is the first day of the week for us and when I feel that way it makes the rest of my week stink.

Even when I walk by two people discussing government or politics I feel like I'm walking passed a heated argument.  Even if they agree, the conversations are naturally heated and temperaments are visible in body language and audible in voice tone and inflection.  Definitely not spiritually uplifting.  Conversation in the church should comfort and be around the Lord.  Regurgitating highlights of radio talk show hosts excited comments, best be done at another place, on another day.

I know He sees all of these in the public sector as His children as well, so I feel it best not to demean or talk down of any of His children.  I think we all agree that some/much of what is read on the internet or said over the air is embellished or unfounded.  You might be interested in this ARTICLE regarding why we believe even obvious lies.  The best quote, "Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true."

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Catching up...

It's been a while, I've been terrible about blogging lately.  Now that the kids are back in school though, I've been trying to find my new rhythm.  So far it's been all about doctors appointments since my old pulmo left town and so did his wife who was my primary care, and then getting my foot well enough to go back out in the work force.  The foot has been S-L-O-W.  But, I see a hike at the end of the tunnel.  No surgery still, but we're one step away from it.  But I'm pretty confident in this, it's called EWTS, and I have to go to the bay area to have it done.  So, in the mean time I decided to find a way to liquidate all of my craft supplies and use my new sewing machine that I've hardly touched since I got it.  I'm working on jewelry, purses, wallet key chains, and some whatnots to list in an Etsy store.  When I get it up, hopefully the end of the week, it'll be here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/accidentaldesigner .

Here are a few pics:
And here's the "PROTOTYPE" of a key chain/wallet I'll be adding too.  That was just some old fabric to practice on and work out the kinks.