Spaghetti Squash

Seeing as one of my older boys does work for a vegetable farmer, we have access to the seconds on everything which is grown there.   I am hoping we can get a lot of spaghetti squash so I can sneak it into everything which has pasta in the ingredients.   Tonight’s meal was something I made up similar to a meal I make in the winter anyway.   It is a sort of taco lasagna.   

I mix and cook the following ingredients.

One pound ground sausage

One pound ground turkey

One large onion

a clove or two of garlic crushed

brown all of these and add, one heaping tablespoon cumin and one of chili powder.   The juice of one lime, one large green or red bell pepper,  leftover corn from corn on the cob, twelve or so tomatillas and 12 of romas seeded and chopped.  One large zucchini chopped well.   Then……the meat from one large or two small spaghetti squash.  Stir well.

I then took several packages of tortillas left in the fridge from previous recipes and lined my sheet cake pan with them.   Put half the meat/vege mix over the tortillas, spread the contents of one large container over top of this, add the other half of the meat/vege mix, top it with a bag of cheddar cheese to your liking and then I take the remains of tortilla chips that the kids have left, crushed them and sprinkled over the top.   

I baked it at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes depending on how hot you prefer your dinner and enjoy.   The kids were very happy to eat dinner and didn’t even notice the spaghetti squash.   Tomorrow I am going to try adding a spaghetti squash to my homemade chicken noodle soup but still add the noodles.   We shall see if the kids notice.

Take note my recipe is for a crowd also known as my family.   Cut the amount in half or freeze half in a pan for another time if your family does not require such a large quantity.   

And of course

if you blog on not grousing, then everyone will make you nuts so you are tempted to grouse.   Hee hee.....hee, heh, heh. heh,.........

Don't Stew

I didn't know what else to call this post.   It isn't related to meat.   It is about stewing over past hurts and disappointments.   I read recently, and wish I could remember where, an article about how to avoid letting hurtful words get inside you and fester.   I don't know why the article seemed fresh to me.    I have heard this sort of message plenty of times in conversation, sermons, advice given, but it struck me differently this time around.    The article was completely a reminder to discipline yourself not to give recognition to hurts by repeating them to yourself or to others.  

Examples of this came to mind.   I don't think I go anywhere without hearing women grousing about something.   Famous grousing is over little bitter comments of what their mother-in-law said or mother or neighbor or friend did......at their wedding, while they were expecting their first or second child, at church.    The example helped me ponder what would happen if we could just keep our mouths shut over these little hurts and injustices.   What if.   Well, I think the hurt and injustice would not become cemented in our brains so hard.  We might get along with those people more.   Repeating it just makes it fresh and hurtful all over again and of course we hurt the person who hurt us to begin with.   Why do this?


I think we tell these stories because it is fun and gives us attention and makes us feel better about ourselves.   That is not MY fresh observation (thanks Pastor).   (Thanks Jesus).   Shutting down our urge to grouse is a hard discipline but a worthwhile effort.   It isn't our effort but the work of the Holy Spirit.  

Explaining this further is hard for me to put into words.    Looking backwards, I can think of the many brides who spent years griping about what went wrong at their wedding.   What if..........they just overlooked what happened, if I overlooked what happened that was actually not that big a deal in the great scheme of life, and instead loved our neighbor by forgiving them and shutting up about it.   The hurt would leave the crevices of our mind and maybe we wouldn't have as much fun talking about our neighbor who hurt us.   Would that be so horrible?   50 plus years of grousing can be repeated and to what profit is THAT????   What if someone hurts us this week????   What if we just kept it to ourselves?   What if we didn't confront the person who hurt us (already screwed up with that thought today), then what?   Well, I am not going to try to answer that question but I do know this concept will always be a struggle for us sinners.   Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that our sin is forgiven.   Thanks be to God that the Holy Spirit gives me a good shake every so often.   Thanks.   I needed that.  

Only brush the ones you want to keep

Chasing after all the little things and big things the kids need to be actively doing, can certainly be exhausting.   Teeth.   I have a hard enough time chasing after mine let alone the kids.   My hubby is better at chasing after their teeth and he hasn't been here much.   So I decided, after seeing a woman my age with disgustingly, screaming white teeth, to have a 'get your teeth whiter' contest.   I took pictures of their grins and next week we are going to take some new pictures and see if there is a difference.   I have picked up two minute hour glass timers (or whatever you call them) and that has helped some in the past, but the mere fact that they don't understand the twice a day concept makes me a bit tired.  

My mom, a dental hygienist by trade, seemed to have no trouble impressing upon us the importance of brushing but there were only two of us.   Charley and I have been boosting bottoms up on the counter, changing table, etc. for teeth brushing for almost 22 years and still counting.   The little ones get help and the older ones, we at this point, we can only pray they are chasing their teeth.   I have made the drill noise when asked what happens if they don't brush their teeth better............they have blank faces in return.   I hate that noise.  

It seems we escape the drill mainly for not drinking soda or juice etc.   They also have a mother who is incapable of making them cookies so that is a plus for them and my pocket book in dental bills.   Their father hates gum chewing.   He inherited that loathing from his parents who probably were strictly opposed to gum chewing from the lack of money for that luxury.   That too has helped.

I think I will go brush my teeth now.   Our reward for improvement in teeth brushing has been decided upon too by-the-way.   One package of Oreo cookies to be woofed by the kids who have shown improvement.   Perhaps we will have one package of Oreo's a week to make sure they are keeping up.