Modern Day Cat!

When I was growing up, we always had a cat or two about the house. We never had to call them for their feeding time. The minute the can opener bit into the lid, no matter where the cat was, she immediately showed up and meowed and stretched to reach the counter and the delectable cat food that was sure to be served. Unfortunately, more than cat food cans were opened i those days, so the cat had a lot of disappointments. Nevertheless, she showed up every, single time . . . in case.

I realized, this morning, that cats have grown with the times. Even as I send e-mails instead of hard-copy letters, modern times have changes the outlooks of today’s cats – pop top cans! Our cat was quick to realize the sound of a can lid being pulled off often correlated with the serving of stinky cat food. Again, as did her ancestors, it doesn’t matter if it is her can of food being opened. This morning, I had just fed the cat her bit of canned food and decided to split a can of dog food between our two dogs for a morning treat. The cat is busy  gobbling up her own food when . . . I popped the lid off the dog food. Her head jerks up, she sees the disengaged lid going into the trash, forgoes her meal in hopes of whining another morsel of something from me. I put a scrapping of the canned dog food on her plate for a taste. She sniffs it and finishes off her own food. She takes a second sniff, noticed that her food is all gone (this always seems to be a surprise to her as if she wonders who could have eaten it!), and cleans up the dog food, too.

Natural Virtues and Modern Times

“Natural virtues, practiced in the proper frame of mind and heart, become supernatural. Each century calls for its type of Christian perfection. At one time it was martyrdom; at another it was the humility of the cloister. Today we need the Christian gentleman and the Christian citizen. An honest ballot and social decorum among Catholics will d more for God’s glory and the salvation of souls than midnight flagellations or Compostellan pilgrimages.”

(Archbishop Ireland – Introd. To Elliott’s Hecker.)

Interesting quote and our current mind set seems to fall short of the stated requirements. It is hard to forge ‘natural virtues’ on a large scale when the majority accept sin as normal and abortion a mere medical procedure. A ‘Christian gentleman and the Christian citizen’ would have spent more time researching their cast votes in many elections and we might not be in the moral and economic predicaments we find ourselves today. There is an often used phrase about apologizing afterwards. The trouble with that is the result of a selfish or unthoughtful vote/action could change the very future of even the yet unborn . . . At least those unborn who will be allowed the ‘privilege’ of being born.

Italian Night Meal! Low-Maintenance Italian Sauce

Low-Maintenance Italian Sauce

Ten peeled garlic cloves

3 peeled carrots

3 stalks of celery

1 large onion

1 green Bell Pepper

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

Generous pinch of black pepper and salt

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoon dried Basil

1 teaspoon chili flakes

1/4 cup olive oil

2 small cans tomato paste

2 cans diced tomatoes

2 cups chicken broth (canned or homemade)

1/2 cup red wine

Put all the ingredients, except  the tomato products, broth and red wine, in the food processor and pulse until they are ground but not slush. Put back into the large cooking pot along with the remaining ingredients. Simmer anywhere from two to four hours. When your sauce is ready, you can run it through a blender for a smoother version or serve as it. Stirring in a half cup of freshly-grated Romano or Parmesan is good. Taste for seasoning and serve.

Serve over pasta, meatballs, or thin down leftover sauce with more broth and turn into a hearty vegetable soup. Want a meaty version? In another pan, crumble ground beef and brown and add to the sauce a few minutes before serving. Wouldn’t hurt to have some garlic bread on hand to sop up the sauce.

You could also put everything into a crock pot and forget about it for the day!

Corn Muffins to Brighten a Sunny Day

Corn muffins don’t last long in our household but when we had to eliminate wheat from our diet, we were afraid we had enjoyed out last muffin. Using all corn meal made an okay muffin but it was pretty sturdy and not as appealing. There are a lot of flour blends on the market as recipes for making your own but I’ve found BetterBatter to be a time-saver and it consistently produces good outcomes with my baking.
Corn Muffins

2 cups BetterBatter Gluten-Free Blend
2 cups corn meal
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
4 lightly beaten eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either line muffin tins with cupcake papers or spray with vegetable oil spray.

Combine the flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Mix together the milk, eggs, oil and butter. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together until just blended. If the batter seems a bit dry, add drops of milk until you have a good consistency. Spoon mixture into prepare muffin tins filling about 2/3rds full to allow for rising..

Bake for 15-25 minutes depending on size of muffin tin or until tops are set and starting to brown a bit. A good test is inserting a toothpick in the middle to make sure it comes up ‘clean’ with no wet batter. Cool a few minutes before removing them to a rack to finish cooling down a bit. Serve warm but leftover ones (if there are any!) taste great cold the next day. Mix together some honey and softened butter and you have a great treat.

This recipe makes approximately 24 muffins.

*Remember that gluten-free flour blends weigh in a much heavier cup of ‘flour’. You need to weigh gluten-free flour (I used BetterBatter) and a cup of gluten-free flour is 140 grams.

Immorality Is Not the Backbone of a Strong Country

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. it behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

(This could apply to any election year, but is credited to Abraham Lincoln, 1863!)

The political turmoil is stirring up as every candidate or want-to-be recognized candidate sends out their messages to their personal advantage. They want to win a nomination and, ultimately, the political office so truth isn’t necessarily a primary issue in their campaigns. Perhaps, it isn’t only the politicians that are helping our country down a slippery path.

I am beginning to see where the problems of the world are centered. Although the people perpetuating evil are the catalyst for bad times, the reason for the continued lack of values in our social, political and moral environment happens because of the ordinary good people! I am talking about those who have decided that one vote, one objection or one argument on the side of goodness wouldn’t really matter in view of the vastness of the problems we are beset with today.

During the last election, I mentioned to someone that if you vote for a pro-abortion candidate, you share in each and every abortion made possible because that particular candidate was elected to a position that made his agenda of death possible. Their quick retort was, “I voted for him/her because of his/her stand on the major political issues.” How does God weigh major political issues when the life of a baby is in the balance?

Someone else told me that there are too many charities. Rather than try and support all of them, just avoid the decision and don’t donate to any of them. Realistically, one can’t give to every good cause, however, who knows where the widow’s mite you do give will make a difference? Pennies add up to dollars when everyone thinks about those in need.

How many people are really shocked today when they hear about someone having a baby out of wedlock. Or couples living together without the benefits of marriage? When our leaders exhibit immoral behavior, does it make any impression other than to grace the political cartoon on the editorial page? I was informed that you can’t change the world so you might as well learn to live with it! Did we buy it, when certain people once explained their guilt by saying, “we were just following orders.”? Majority should never rule when their rules are wrong.

We are firstly responsible for our souls and those of our children. We can’t isolate ourselves from the ways of the world, but if we don’t do our part to change the world, what kind of legacy are we leaving our children. Will they look back on our example and continue their lives in Godly ways?

Curiosity in the Face of Fear!

Our cat, Marcella, is very shy around people outside the family but even when you think she is totally in hiding, you can often find her checking out the visitors from a safe distance. According to Marcella, “I’m am not shy! I’m careful!”

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness!

“Better keep yourself clean and bright. You are the window through which you must see the world.”
George Bernard Shaw

“I believe in getting into hot water – it helps keep you clean.”
G. K. Chesterton quotes

“Do you know what you call those who use towels and never wash them, eat meals and never do the dishes, sit in rooms they never clean, and are entertained till they drop? If you have just answered, “A house guest,” you’re wrong because I have just described my kids.”
Erma Bombeck

“God doesn’t seek for golden vessels, and does not ask for silver ones, but He must have clean ones.”
Dwight L. Moody

“If they’d lower the taxes and get rid of the smog and clean up the traffic mess, I really believe I’d settle here until the next earthquake”
Groucho Marx

“Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks only when driven to speech by something outside himself-like, for instance, he can’t find any clean socks”

Canine Confusion!

When I came into the house, this morning, my dog pushed her way in – which is not allowed! I tried to get her out but she was strongly focused on . . . something. I followed her line of sight and she was seeing a stuffed animal one of my children had left on the front door landing. She wasn’t trying to attack it but was severely disturbed by the fact that we didn’t seem upset about a CAT being in our house. I brought her over to the cat toy and the dog approached very carefully. She tiptoed up and carefully sniffed it extensively. She looked confused as it didn’t smell like a CAT. She went back to her place by the backdoor but kept her eye on the CAT.

I’m thinking how confusing it must be for a dog trying to figure out what is going on at all times. Chick is still trying to figure out why we have three ‘food’ boxes yet give her so little of their contents. Although she is interested in the refrigerator ‘food box’ and the freezer ‘food box’, she would really like to get into the garbage can ‘food box’. She sighs a lot as she can see that WE just do not understand how we could make HER life so much more happy!

Praying for Our Soldiers

A Soldiers Prayer – Praying for Safety and Courage 

A Prayer for Soldiers Brave warriors, should fate find us in battle, May our cause be just. May our leaders have clear vision. May our courage not falter. May we be triumphant an earn victory as we show mercy to our enemies. May our efforts bring lasting peace. May our sacrifice be always appreciated by those we serve. May we return to our loved ones unharmed. Should we be harmed, may our wounds heal. Should we perish in the struggle, may God embrace us and find for us a place in His Kingdom.