Cheeseburger Pies

     Maybe one of the most entertaining films of the past decade was O Brother, Where Art Thou?  In this movie, George Clooney, leading a jailbreak down in the early 20^th century South, finds himself attached to two brothers ~ all of them getting into one “spot” after another in search of…well, treasure.

    

     There are many things to enjoy about this movie, not the least of which is the soundtrack.  It gets regular play time at the cabin…especially on days where we linger outside grilling or building a fire.

    

     One scene I always loved in the film is a series of shots showing the unlikely friends bonding with each other.  The acoustic guitar version of Man of Constant Sorrow is being plucked in the background as the jail-busting trio is shown telling jokes, sitting by the fire, sharing stories, and stealing pie. 

     The nice part about that is, yes, they take the pie from a Southern kitchen’s window sill, but are at least honest enough to leave money for it.

    

     Well, I don’t eat pie too often, and I rarely make it at all.  (Believe me, I've tried.)

   

      In fact, the only two types of pies I’ve seemed to have gotten down are, one, Cheeseburger Pie (today’s recipe), and two, Ice Cream Pie (for the summer days a few months away.)

      One of my wonderful volunteers introduced me to Cheeseburger Pie when she brought it for a group of us at work.  I was hooked on this easy-to-make dish right away.

    
      So below are two versions of Cheeseburger Pie, with the second being “lighter” one for those still dedicated to their 2012 resolution to eat healthy, get fit, and drop some pounds.

     I enjoy making both, and I was able to make the "smart" version this past weekend for a spontanious night at the cabin:

Cheeseburger Pie

Lean ground beef (at least 80%) ~ 2 lbs.

Onions, ~ 2 large and chopped

Salt ~ 1 tsp.

Cheddar cheese ~ 2 cups, shredded

Original Bisquick Mix ~ 1 cup

Milk ~ 2 cups

Eggs ~ 4

     Brown the beef and onion in a skillet, sprinkle with salt, and let simmer about 10 minutes before draining.

     Pour the meat mixture on the bottom of the 13 by 9 inch glass pan, then layer the cheese on top.

In a bowl, mix the Bisquick, milk, and eggs well, then pour it even over the cheese.
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.  Let cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

     For the lighter recipe, use the ingredients below, substituting the turkey, Heart Smart Bisquick mix, low-fat cheese, low-fat milk, and egg substitute for the beef, regular Bisquick, cheese, milk, and eggs:

Light Cheeseburger pie

Leanest ground beef (93%) or ground turkey ~ 2 lbs.

Onions ~ 2 cups chopped

Salt ~ 2 tsp

Heart Smart Bisquick Mix ~ 1 cup

2% Reduced Fat Cheddar cheese ~ 2 cups

Skim milk ~ 2 cups

Egg substitute ~ ½ cup

    Whichever way you go, you’ll have an easy crowd-pleaser.

     Have a wonderful Tuesday. J

Football Weekend Nachos

    When I was a five year-old in kindergarten, I discovered I was forever part of a football family.

    Before then, for a short time, weekends meant rolling out of bed the moment my eyes opened and racing downstairs to watch back-to-back episodes of The Osmond Brothers and The Jackson Five.

    Well, it was all short-lived.

    In those days, a devout Catholic school girl who was forced to get up early each day and put on her plaid uniform and white blouse before battling her five sisters for a pair of matching navy socks relished the one morning when she could peacefully eat two or three bowls of sugary cereal with a prize at the bottom of the box, take in the line-up of Saturday morning cartoons, and stay in her pajamas without inquisition until noon.

    I remember it well, so I must have enjoyed that dream a handful of times before it all came to a crashing end. Eventually, not far into each Saturday morning, I was routinely plucked away from my animated joy and stashed into a station wagon with my clan of eight brothers and sisters.

    Now I questioned this practice, but, like the cherished Baltimore Catechism, the unambiguous answers were kindly swift and concise:

    Q: Where are we going?

    A: We are going to see a football game.

    Q: Why do we have to go?

    A: Because your father is a high school football coach, and we need to support him.

    In the beginning, I thought the boys in green and gold that my father coached were playing the same team week after week.  Even as a kindergartner, that seemed pretty pointless to me ~ this is why I can’t watch Donny Osmond again? Did we not just do this whole thing last week?

     But, as I learned my colors and gained a sense of time and geography, I learned that the teenage boys my father impassionedly coached each week both travelled to and welcomed Pennsylvania teams from different places all in search of one goal: to work their hardest to be the best on a fair and honest playing field.

    Now I could write a book about the entire forty-four years I spent as the middle child of a high school football coach who reluctantly received every accolade imaginable at every level from local journalists, area coaches, an entire community, the Keystone state, and the national realm.

    And, because of the one man’s faith, vision, and hard work, I have been blessed to be at black-tie events and witness the spirit of Vince Papali, hear the voice of Harry Kalas, and drink in the wisdom of Tim Tebow ~ among others.

    Though undoubtedly cool, it was never these big names that mattered ~ not to a man I proudly call my dad.

    What mattered were the names that most of us will never know.

    I ultimately learned that my Saturday morning loss of never watching Marlon, Jermaine, and Tito again was the priceless gain of thousands of young teenage players and their families. No title, trophy, certificate, championship, or any award can contain the love and respect that existed between one man and all these people who touched his life and the lives of my mother and my eight brothers and sisters…the ones I will forever and fondly call my “Football Family” (coming soon.)

     And now my happiest weekends since parting ways with the Osmonds and the Jacksons begin with humid high school scrimmages in August and go on to college bowl games in January. Finally, they end with February’s NFL World Championship, the Super Bowl ~ hype, commercials, food, and all.

    This weekend ~ as the final battle of the season inches near ~ no matter what team you are cheering for, remember that some unknown high school football coach played an immeasurably huge role in the lives of each of these professional players seeking that coveted ring... teaching them, disciplining them, motivating them, guiding them, and inspiring them.

    Here’s to them and to all of us gearing up for a “Football Weekend” ~ and here's to the simplest Game Day recipe you might ever know:         

     FOOTBALL WEEKEND NACHOS

            Ground beef (2 lbs.)

            Chili Seasoning (1 packet)

            Jar of Mild Salsa (Pace 16 oz. size or equivalent)

            Jar of Con queso Cheese ( Pace 15 oz. size or equivalent)

            Bag (or two) of Nacho tortilla chips

    

     Ground the beef in a skillet and, once cooked fully, add chili packet and let simmer.  After 10 minutes, drain and pour into crock pot.  Add jars of salsa and cheese and stir.  Allow to heat on low for about two hours before serving up at game time with tortilla chips.

      Variations include topping with sour cream, black olives, or chiles.

      Have a wonderful Friday and a great Football Weekend :)

Photo courtesy of Al Tielemans

Goals 2012: Keeping The Faith

     I love watching movies when someone who thinks they can’t do something discovers they truly can.

     It usually involves a student, a teacher, and a catchy tune playing as we watch the character become a better dancer, a national spelling bee champion, a confident fiancée, or a better something.

     You know those scenes…

     Kevin Bacon teaching Chris Penn how to dance to Let’s Hear It For The Boy in Footloose…(before SJP's stylin' days.)

     Patrick Swayze showing Jennifer Grey how to move to Hungry Eyes in Dirty Dancing…

     Laurence Fishburne guiding Keke Palmer from an inner city school to the National Spelling Bee  to Rubberband Man in Akeela and the Bee…

     Matthew MacFayden coaching Simon Woods to successfully propose to his future wife (as some lovely unknown music plays) in Pride and Prejudice.

     In these movies, and others like them, someone takes a “can’t” and helps another turn it into a “can”.  In every scene, the formula is the same:  a little time, a little effort, and a patient friend who has faith.

     By mid-January, it is often easy to lose our faith, especially if the enthusiasm for our goals for 2012 has begun to wane.  But it is also easy to stay on track with our own investment of time, effort, and faith that we "can."

     For those of you looking to establish healthier habits and get fit over the next few months, here are two little finds that might give you a boost and help you keep the faith:

     One is green tea.  Since watching a segment with Dr. Oz on one of the morning shows, I have made it a regular habit to buy green tea and always have it around.  It makes a great cup of hot tea, but mostly I make it by the pot and refrigerate it in a pitcher.  Just boil enough water to fill the pitcher you are using, letting six to eight teabags steep while it cools.  I like mine with ice and a packet of Splenda ~ simple and refreshing with a lot of health benefits.

     Of course, some like it hot, but whatever you prefer, getting green tea into your day is a good thing.

     The second find is a great little web site a Facebook friend unknowingly directed me to called http://www.loseit.com/.  It is also an I-pad and I-phone app.  Whatever you choose, it is totally free, very thorough, and an easy way to keep track of caloric intake during the day. It’s got a lot to it, so it is worth checking out if losing weight is one of your goals for the year.

      After a week on it, I lost 3 pounds (but I have to credit Jillian for some portion of that loss.)  If you are looking for a little help in the eating department, this might be a good fit.

     A third find is that not baking cookies as much is a great help, too. (But I sure do miss it.)

     Have a wonderful Saturday. J

Time To Get Busy

     Now I don’t know if Pathmark of Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania still has that little video section in the corner of its store like it did fifteen years ago.  But I do know that my best friend and I sure made a lot of use of it back in the day.  I bet we watched about eighty percent of their collection.

      Before DVDs became the standard, there were hundreds, maybe thousands of VHS titles in a small part of the store, where we went every other day to fetch our two movies for the fantastic daily deal of “buy-one-get-one-free.”  We watched a movie a night back then (something I only wish I had the time to do now.)    

     It’s probably since shut down, but I owe seeing some of my favorite movies to that little operation run by a twenty-something red-head who kind of looked like the girl in Urban Legend.

     Anyway, it was an unspoken rule of our little apartment that, when you went shopping, you returned the movies we had just watched and came back with two more.

     One afternoon, my friend came home from Pathmark with two movies in hand.  One I don’t remember what it was, but the other, I will never forget:  The Shawshank Redemption.

     “What are you doing getting a jail movie?”  I demanded to know.  “I don’t do jail movies.”

      As a general rule, it’s true.  Yes, I’ve seen The Green Mile, and, yes, I watched both versions of The Longest Yard.  But, as much as I love all kinds of movies…well, a Brubaker girl I’m not.

     Anyway, we agreed that, since a whole $1.98 was spent on renting it, we might as well give it a try.  If it got gruesome, violent, and graphic, we would just turn it off, rewind it, and put it back in the case for the redhead to file back on Pathmark’s shelves the next day.

     Though Shawshank was nominated, it’s funny that Forrest Gump was the Oscar winner that year because Tom Hanks was right:  You never know what you’re gonna get.

     The movie I was pretty sure I would have to turn my eyes from turned out to be one of the most engaging films ever made ~ and I couldn’t take my eyes off it.  Sure, it had some uncomfortable scenes, but everything else about the film overpowered that fact.

     (If you are one of the few who has not seen this film and you might want to see it, it is probably best to stop reading today’s blog, go watch it, and come back when you are done.)

     I realize that sometimes movies reflect reality and sometimes they don’t, but the reality is the seemingly ordinary character of Andy Dufresne embodied a spirit that would not be dominated in anyway by his circumstances ~ and this mettle is hardly limited to the world of fiction.  We are surrounded by people who achieve great things, even impossible things, just because they have belief in themselves and hope for a better day.

     Not only from Helen Keller to Walt Disney to Oprah Winfrey to Steve Jobs.  All you have to do is look around and you will see someone you personally know who lost that weight, got that job, earned that degree, gave up an addiction, reached that goal.

     Rest assured, there came a time in each of these people's lives where they almost gave up.

    In fact, at some point in the film, the viewers ~ along with Andy’s cellmates ~ are quite convinced that the falsely-accused accountant, after twenty years behind bars, has finally given up.

    And just when it seems that hope is lost…

    Well, who can forget the scene when the warden angrily throws rocks at Morgan Freeman, only to miss and hit Rita Hayworth…who reveals that Andy Dufresne was a man who knew how to make use of his time.

     So, today, just over a week after we came out of the New Year’s starting blocks determined to stick to our resolutions for 2012 no matter what, let’s remember that it’s all about time and what we decide to do with it.    

     We can make excuses for why we don’t and won’t be able to reach that goal, or we can keep picking at it, day in and day out, until it becomes reality.  And a less-perfect-start on the first day of the year doesn't mean we can't take any day of the year and do what we have to do.

     It doesn’t matter what it is ~ losing weight, quitting smoking, getting a degree ~ the choice is this: 

     In the words of Andy Dufresne, we either “get busy living or get busy dying.”

       Have a wonderful Tuesday.

         

   

     

Sweet Potato & Apple Pork with Sauerkraut

     As we start up 2012, cookies are out and crock pots are in.

     Yes, cookie baking will be hold for quite some time so that we can enjoy healthier foods to kick off a fresh new year of disciplined eating and regular workouts.

     So you won’t be seeing sweets any time soon on this blog, but you will be seeing some of  my favorite crock pot recipes.

     To ring in the first full week of 2012, what better way than to serve up a twist of the annual pork and sauerkraut inaugural meal? 

     It’s easy, inexpensive, and doesn’t require any fancy ingredients. Here it is:

     Sweet Potato (1 large)

     Onion (1 large)

     Apples (3 medium)

     Brown Sugar (3 tbsp)

     Salt (1/2 tsp)

     Pepper (1/4 tsp)

     Cinnamon (1/2 tsp)

     Pork chops (8 to 10)

     Sauerkraut (1 cans, 15 oz. each)

     Begin by peeling and cutting the potato into half inch slices and placing them on the bottom of the crock pot.  Slice the onion, then core and slice the apples.  Lay the onions over the potatoes, then the apples over the onions.  Next, sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the apples, followed by the salt, pepper, and cinnamon.  Place the pork chops on next, then cover it all with the sauerkraut.  Turn on low and forget about it for about five hours, then enjoy.

     A short and sweet post today ~ off to try to get organized!    

     Have a wonderful Saturday J

To Wisdom, Not Wizardry

     When my godson was three years old, he and his mother went shopping at the local mall, where she bought him a copy of the timeless classic, The Wizard of Oz.

     My dear friend presented it to her son as she drove along the hectic business highway leading away from the mall, reaching it to him as he sat behind her in his car seat.  He was very excited at first, mainly because she was so thrilled to give it to him.  So excited was he that he did what any three-old might have done when overjoyed.  He threw it out the window.

     My friend did not realize right away that her boy had sent Dorothy, Toto, and all their friends launching into a fatal ending that consisted of a steady roll of tires driven by hundreds of people eager to get home after a long day’s work.  When she noticed the video missing, she asked her son what had become of it.  He immediately cried.

     “It’s okay,” she assured him.  “You didn’t know that would happen.  We’ll just get you another one.”

     Now it’s very nice that nowadays we can just run and grab a movie off the shelves of many a store, and it forever becomes part of our video library.  Better yet, we need not go anywhere anymore for many movies.  They can be sent to our homes via Netflix or downloaded onto our laptops or TV screens.

     But what forty or fifty-something year-old does not remember the days of the annual television showing of The Wizard of Oz?  If you didn’t catch the only presentation of the film that year…well, you had a whole other 365 days or more before you would ever have the chance to see if Dorothy kills the wicked witch and gets back to Kansas with Toto.

     Those in-house movie nights sure were the best, as you waited all week from the day you received the TV Guide showing a black and white picture of Dorothy and her friends on its pages.  Anticipation mounted that week until, finally, on the night the movie finally aired, your house would become a movie theater, with you and your brothers and sisters filling the living room seats well before show time.  Your mother would serve the refreshments, always making something special to serve with the usual pretzels and potato chips…something like brownies or cupcakes or sundaes or pudding.

     Yes, back then, you knew that single showing of The Wizard of Oz on a thirteen-inch TV screen you hoped was in color was a special event ~ and so did the household of every kid around you.

     And even though every kid in your class had seen it before, when you convened at recess, you all talked about it every year as if it was the first time anyone of you had ever seen it.

     Well, those days are gone, and I am not saying I want them back.  I love most of technology’s advancements, and I am personally thrilled to own DVDs of my favorite movies instead of only being able to see it at the whim of a major TV network.  Better yet, I love that I can pull up almost any movie I want on my laptop at anytime.    

      Some things change and some things stay the same, but sometimes good things change and they are never coming back again. 

     As I have said many times, I love technology.  I love that it brings my movies and workouts and memories and information and the whereabouts of my son to me in a way that is convenient to my lifestyle.  Some wiz has made this all possible, and I appreciate that.

     And, yes, it has completely replaced the annual small screen experience of The Wizard of Oz for children across the nation, but it will never replace certain things in this life. In fact, only time will ~ and we would do better to be wiser about it.

     A listening ear.

     A warm hug.

     A first kiss.

     A final kiss.

     Laughing with a friend.

     Crying with a friend.

     A knowing glance.

     A great meal.

     A good run.

     A day on the beach.

     A hike through nature.

     Gazing at the stars on a clear night.

     Gathering around a campfire.

     A catch with your child.

     Celebrating your team’s win.

     Celebrating a child’s birth.

     Mourning a loved one’s passing.

     Falling in love.

     Being in love.

     Love.

     A parent.

     A friend.

     A spouse.

     A child.

     No doubt any reader could add hundreds more to the list.

     So often, you hear the jargon of the day... "The future is now." And, in a sense, that is true.

     But I also say this: “The past is now.” 

     The future is the future.  Like it or not, it is coming. Whatever happens this minute, this day, this next week or month or year…we are not getting it back.  No matter what the future holds for any of us, we can make a choice and effort to enjoy the people, the things, the experiences we have right in front of us, right now. This day, this moment.

     You will never know any of them in this way again. 

     So, in the wise words of another film classic, Wayne's World, "Live in the now.

     Because it won't always be there.

     Have a wonderful Friday… and a wonderful weekend with family and friends.

New Year's Blessing 2012

A New Year’s Blessing For You & Yours 2012

May we cherish those who love us,

Guide those who depend on us,

Honor those who have raised us,

Forgive those who have wronged us,

Reach out to those who need us,

Set boundaries for those who harm us,

Be understanding of those who are different from us,

Protect those who are weaker than us,

Respect those who disagree with us, 

Pray for those who disparage us,

Give hope to those who have less than us,

Remember those who have passed from us…

And may we always seek the will of the One who created us.

Have a wonderful Sunday & a Blessed New Year <3