Author: the outside lane

Happy. That about covers it.
Explaining the Strange Behavior, parenting, Philosophy, Religion

Lord, I Hope This Day is Good. So I’m going to make it good.

the outside lane

I introduced Thor to the music of Don Williams recently, and said something about it to Mom in front of him.  Thor nodded and said, “Yes.  And he has this song where he says ‘God, make my day good.'”  (If it has God in it, Thor is all over it.  He has been assimilated by Larry the Cucumber.)  The song is actually, “Lord, I hope this day is good.”

I was thinking about that this morning. 

Listen, last week was ROTTEN!  Car trouble with both cars (fixed, thankfully), landed gentry trouble (that’s going to take some time and money to repair, but that’s what I get for having made slumlord jokes), and assorted semi-serious issues combined to make me feel like wallowing.  And I did wallow.  But you know what wallowing gets you?  Dirty.

This morning, I was humming Don Williams.  I stopped to think about the lyrics of the song.  “Lord, I hope this day is good.  I’m feeling tired and misunderstood.  I should be thankful, Lord, I know I should.  But Lord I hope this day is good.”

I’m not the kind of girl who waits for things to happen.  I am impatient.  I’m not wishin’, and hopin’, and prayin’.  I’m doing.  I’m going.  I’m getting.  If it is important to me, I am on the move.  This does not always work to my favor because every good hunter knows that there is a time to lie in wait and a time to go crashing through the underbrush, but it’s who I am.  I do.  I go.  I get. 

I don’t expect God (or anyone else) to give me a good day.  I expect that I have been given all the tools with which to command my destiny, and it is up to me to use them.  When I feel tired and misunderstood, it is up to me to put it to bed (withholding sleep is a way that I punish myself) and explain the misunderstanding.  When I know I should be thankful, you better believe I am thankful.  That’s probably the one thing I have down pat.  Gratitude.

I will tell you that at the bottom of my heart, I will always be able to be thankful for what I have had.  Even if the day comes when I have nothing at all, I will always have what has been, and I have had such love and goodness in my life to date, that I can always be thankful for that.  Even the smallest spark makes a light in darkness, and sometimes that’s the best you can do.

I realized that I haven’t been on top of making sure Thor understands that happiness is his choice and his decision.  I want him to understand that his attitude is his to command, and his temper does not have to be a reaction to the world.  I never want him to wait for someone, or something else to make his day good.  So, when we got in the car this morning, I asked him, “What are we going to do to make this day good?”

He wasn’t sure, so I told him what I was going to do.

“I am going to find something good to say about everyone,” I told him.  “I am going to tell people nice things.  If I think someone looks nice, I will tell them.  If I think they do a good job, I will tell them.”

He smiled and intoned, because it was an imitation of some vegetable he’s been watching, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.  That’s Proverbs.”

Good old Proverbs.  Proverbs and Romans are my stomping grounds.  Another Proverb says that you should not only get wisdom, but that you must have understanding of that wisdom.  Knowing the square root of pi doesn’t mean you know how to apply it to anything useful, and what good is knowing 1.772453850905516027298167483314 if you don’t know what it means, or how to get there? 

So, I said to Thor, “That is the truth.”  And I asked him, “How are you going to use that?”

He still wasn’t sure, so I offered some understanding of the wisdom.  “You can use your words to make people feel good, and seeing that you have made someone happy will make you happy. 

“How about you tell one of your teachers thank you for taking such good care of you?  And, how about you tell one of your friends what you like about him?  And, if you think someone is good at a game, why don’t you say so?  Then, you’ll make someone else’s day good, and that will help make your day good.”

He liked that.  I like that.

I’m not telling you I am always on top of this.  I’m telling you that I let life get to me last week, and I ignored a lot of opportunities to turn my attitude around because it felt better (or at least easier) to wallow.  But I have it back on track this week.  I started with apologizing to someone for an overreaction I had.  As I explained to Thor, “Sometimes, you realize you were wrong a few days later.  You still have to bite that bullet and go say so.”

Summing up:

The goodness of my day=my responsibility

 

Chef Lane, Food

Chef Lane: No Noodle Lasagna

the outside lane

I’m working out how to utilize all the produce from my Bountiful Basket order.  First up, today, was the eggplant.  I had an idea of what I wanted to do with it, but when I started to work, I realized that the bottom quarter of the plant was not usable.  So, I switched gears and turned it into a lasagna.

No pictures again, but this time because it smelled so good I kind of dove into it before I thought to take any.

You will need:

  • 1 small eggplant
  • 1 small sweet onion
  • 3 leaves of fresh basil (or dried)
  • 1/2lb of ground lamb
  • 1/4 cup egg beaters
  • 1/4 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 cup pasta sauce of your choice
  • 1 tsp Garlic Paste
  • 1tsp Cilantro Paste
  • salt & pepper to taste
  1. Pre-heat oven to 350
  2. Slice eggplant into paper thin rounds.
  3. Dredge the rounds in egg (I added a dash of salt to the egg), then coat with bread crumbs.
  4. Place the coated eggplant on a cookie tray and bake at 350 for 10 minutes, turning the rounds halfway through.
  5. Remove from oven and set aside.
  6. Finely chop basil leaves.
  7. Slice onion into thin rounds.
  8. Leave half in rounds, and finely chop the other half.
  9. Mix garlic, cilantro, and chopped onion into lamb, then brown in skillet on stovetop. While meat is browning, add half the basil leaves.
  10. In a small casserole dish, pour a small amount of pasta sauce and cover bottom of dish. Layer the bottom with the baked eggplant rounds. Add a layer of onion rounds. Use half the goat cheese and create a cheese layer.
  11. Pour in the entire meat mixture for the next layer.
  12. Cover with a layer of pasta sauce
  13. Add the rest of the goat cheese and cover layer.
  14. Cover with the rest of the eggplant rounds and the rest of the pasta sauce
  15. Top with parmesan cheese and the remaining basil.
  16. Cook at 350 for 35 minutes.

This makes about 6 heaping 1/2 cup servings, and works out to the following per serving numbers (according to MyFitnessPal):

  • 253 calories
  • 17 carbs
  • 15 fat
  • 14 protein
  • 4 fiber

Thor ate his up!  This means I got eggplant, onion, basil and cilantro into the boy without his knowing it.  Yay!

 

 

Chef Lane, Food

Chef Lane: Zucchini Pasta with Macadamia Nut Butter

the outside lane

Since I found this recipe for Zucchini Pasta with Thyme and Sage on Addicted to Veggies, I have been wanting to try it out!  I wasn’t sure if I would like it, or if it would be suitable for the family’s tastes, so I’ve waited until today to do a test recipe.  My own recipe is strongly based on the one from Addicted to Veggies, but I changed some major ingredients to suit my tastes.  I loved it!  I wish I had made more.

No pictures today.  I couldn’t get any shots I thought were pretty.  But go over to Addicted to Veggies and check out her photos.  Check out the whole blog.  It’s fantastic!

To do your own test recipe, you will need:

  • 1 zucchini
  • 2 Tbs EVOO
  • 1/2 tsp Miso (You can find this in the Asian section of the supermarket.  It is a paste, and is usually near the soy sauce.)
  • 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
  • 1/4 tsp garlic paste (I use Gourmet Garden) or finely chopped garlic *this is optional
  • 1/4 tsp cilantro paste (also Gourmet Garden) or finely chopped cilantro *this is optional
  • 1 pinch of sea salt
  • 1 pinch of brown sugar
  • 5-10 macadamia nuts ground into powder, depending on how nutty a flavor you like.  I like it really nutty, so I did 10 (This is the only hard part.  I use a tiny nutmeg grater to grate the nuts down into powder–in between eating the nuts.)

Pre-heat your oven to the lowest set available.  Mine is 170 degrees.

Using a veggie peeler, peel away the outer skin of the zucchini.  Then, use the veggie peeler to make ribbons of zucchini.  Stop making ribbons when you get to the seeds.  You don’t want the seeds.  Set your ribbons aside, then make your butter.

You will have already ground your nuts into powder.  Add the rest of your ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine.  Then, drop in your zucchini ribbons and mix.

Put your “buttered” zucchini on a cookie sheet or oven safe platter and spread out so that it is fairly evenly distributed.  Place in the warm oven with the oven door open about 5 inches.  You don’t want to cook your zucchini, you want to wilt your zucchini.

Remove after about 10 minutes, or when warm and wilted, then eat.

Your zucchini will have the texture of a thin, flat pasta, and the butter is amazing!

Chef Lane, Food, Home Ec

Bounty! Nom Nom Nom!

the outside lane

I told y’all I would be picking up an order from the Bountiful Baskets produce co-op.  I got my first order today, and though I had been expecting a lot from the rave reviews my friends were giving me, I was still very pleasantly surprised by the actual amount and the condition of the food I received.  How to prepare some of the produce is a mystery to me, but the group website offers a blog with tips and ideas for how to get the most out of your basket.  And I discovered, from the Facebook page, that those weren’t plums after all, but delicious, delicious, delicious, juicy, ripe black velvet apricots.

My entire Bountiful Baskets haul. This includes the regular basket (all the fruit and produce you see loose), a hefty baggie of really good granola, an Italian veggie pack, and 5 loaves of sourdough bread.

Here’s what I got, and what I paid for it:

Handling Fee:  $1.50

Total Price:  $45.00

Item Name: Conventional Basket
Description: Roughly 50% fruit, 50% vegetables, and 100% healthy, fun and delicious!
Item Name: Veggie Lovers Pack – Italian Theme – Add extra veggies to your basket! Making dinnertime fun!
Description: Veggie Lovers Pack – Italian Theme – Add extra veggies to your basket! Making dinnertime fun! Italian Pack – Hoping for garlic, basil, oregano, rosemary, yellow and red onion, flat parsley, zucchini, regular mushrooms and eggplant.
This is the Italian Veggie pack I added to my basket order. For $15, I got fresh and pungent baggies of basil, oregano, and rosemary, a huge bunch of cilantro, mushrooms, a medium sized eggplant, a huge red onion, a large yellow onion, and a medium sized clove of garlic, and two zucchini.
Item Name: Sourdough Bread – 5 loaves – $10
Description: Ingredients: Unbleached Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Rye Flour, water, starter, salt
One of the 5 loaves of sourdough I bought with my Bountiful Baskets order (the rest is in the freezer.) I tried some toasted and slathered with KerryGold butter. I had to stop myself from trying more.
Item Name: Bountiful Baskets Granola – 2lbs – Oats, Honey, canola oil, roasted & salted cashews, dates, diced pineapple,  sunflower seeds,
Description: Ingredients – Oats, Honey, canola oil, roasted & salted cashews, dates, diced pineapple, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, sliced almonds, and almond & vanilla flavor.
As far as I am concerned, this was a great deal.  I can’t get out of the grocery store for those prices.  Well worth the cost!  I think Thor will enjoy shucking the corn with me.  I haven’t done that since I was a child, and I’m not sure he’s ever seen corn in its natural state.
Check into the co-op and see if they have one in your area.  They are across the country and have a lot of locations!
Uncategorized

Little Surfer

the outside lane

Ehow.com has some great tips for Body Surfing.  I have a very strong recollection of being hit in the snout by a wave, and pushed under while it cycled to shore.  You only need to get tossed around like a starfish one time to understand the power of a current.  It is terrifying to be sucked under water and drawn along with the flow, but the best thing you can do is stay calm, keep a clear head, ride the stream and remember not to inhale.  In most cases, you’ll pop right back up when the wave cycle has ended, but not before you have time to think about all the things you’ve never done.  Know what I mean?

Ehow makes these suggestions:

  1. Figure out where the waves are breaking and position yourself slightly beyond them.
  2. Swim in the same direction as an approaching wave so that the wave overtakes you just before it breaks. Freestyle (crawl) is the best stroke for this.
  3. Decide which direction (right or left) you want to ride once you feel the wave begin to grab you. It’s OK to go straight, but a much better, longer ride is achieved by heading away from the breaking part of the wave.
  4. Stop stroking, but keep kicking. Extend one arm forward (right if you’re going right, left if you’re going left), with your palm down and breaking the surface of the water.
  5. Streamline your body and continue riding the wave as long as desired – or until your face is plowing through sandcastles.

Those are actually good directions for how to handle an onslaught of bad luck.  Listen, you can’t stop a wave.  The wave is coming.  You can shout, scream, cry, wave your arms, jump up and down; the wave is coming.  You can try to fight it and get beaten up by it, or you can eye it, size it up, and figure out how you’re going to position yourself to end up on top of it.  And when you’re riding the crest of it, you’ll be able to see everything below you, including the sea floor exposed during the wave cycle.  You’ll be better set to land on your feet at the shore.

  1. Figure out the root of the problem you’re facing.  Treating symptoms doesn’t cure the cold.  Find the root, get behind it.
  2. Move forward with the grain of the problem, picking up solutions as you do.  Vaccinations are made from the disease.
  3. Decide how you want this to end.  Picture what you want for an outcome, then aim toward it.
  4. Get focused and don’t panic.  Keep calm and carry on.  Do what you know is the right thing to do.  The right behaviors will bring the right results.
  5. Be prepared for the end to come, and know that sometimes you land hard.  Just know that the next step is getting back up, and getting back out there.