This is one of those recipes that I think I found somewhere online and immediately adapted and have made it from my head since then. It makes a 9x13 dish. When I made this ahead for supper last night I split it into a 7x9 and an 8x8.
I covered the 8x8 with cling wrap and then with aluminum foil and labeled it with the dish name and date stuck it in the freezer so we'll have supper for another night =)
What you'll need:
9x13 pan, or a 7x9 pan & 8x8 pan (or two of either!)
a large, deep skillet or pan. I use Anolon's Advanced 12" Covered Deep Skillet
pack of tortillas - the larger they are, the fewer you'll need
cooking spray
1 lb ground beef
Stoplight bell peppers (1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow ... or you can use orange ...)
1/2 onion
1 can black beans (I usually use the large can, but this time I used a small can)
1 can refried beans (I usually use the small can, but this time I used a large can)
cilantro
curry
garlic (you can cut up the cloves, or use the powder)
1 pk Ortega Fajita seasoning (my favorite!), if desired
1 small can of tomato paste, if desired
sour cream
hummus, if desired
shredded cheese of your choice
Directions:
Start out by browning the ground beef in the skillet.
While this is browning, cut up your onion and bell peppers. Drain grease from beef, add onion and peppers, & season with the garlic, curry, and cilantro. (I really don't know how much I use. Probably a heaping teaspoon of curry and 2 heaping teaspoons of garlic and cilantro? Its really up to how you want it to taste!)
After the onions begin to become see-through, add the black beans and then the refried beans. Mix well and let simmer awhile. This lets the flavors really mix well. Make sure you stir it from time to time so that everything cooks and nothing gets burned.
Meanwhile, spray your pan(s) with the Pam. Be generous - I didn't spray enough this past time and it was very hard to get the bottom layer of tortillas up when serving!
Put tortillas on the bottom of your dish(es) - they will go up the sides as well, this is what its supposed to do. Try and cover as much of the bottom of the dish as possible. Sometimes you'll need to rip a tortilla in half to get the appropriate coverage.
If you're using hummus, I also recommend that you put a layer of hummus on the tortillas. (I put it on top of the sour cream this past time and that just kindof mixes in ... should've just premixed it with the sour cream, really! but I think putting it on the bottom would work nicely and be less messy.)
Also, put the amount of sour cream you want to use (you'll need to be able to cover the dish with it twice) in a separate container and add ... I guess I add about a couple teaspoons?? of garlic in the sour cream, and mix. (I'm really not sure on these seasoning measurements.)
If you're using the can of tomato paste, go ahead and open it and mix in the pack of fajita seasoning.
If you shred your own cheese (like I do) go ahead and take care of that now as well.
Preheat oven to 350-400 degrees (I'd recommend the higher temperature if it was in the refrigerator overnight and most of the day like mine was.)
After your mix on the stove has simmered out most of its liquid, spoon it into your dish on top of the tortillas (and hummus). Spoon and spread the sour cream mix on top of it. If you are using the tomato paste mix, spread it on top of the sour cream. Top with cheese (I like mine cheesy!).
Put another layer of tortillas down, put hummus on top. Spoon the rest of the beef/bean mixture on top. Spread the rest of the sour cream on top, and then the rest of the tomato paste mix. Top with cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and put in the oven for 45-60 minutes.
If you made your dish ahead of time, set out to unrefridgerate for at least half an hour. Mine took longer than I was expecting to heat up in the middle once I put it in the oven. I've only made this dish day-of before, so I'm figuring out what to do if you make it ahead of time. :-)
After the dish is warm in the middle and a little bubbly, take off the foil for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is browned on top.
Voila! I hope that wasn't too confusing. This is a highly versatile dish, so feel free to take and add to it - let me know what you do and how it turns out!
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Practicing Forgiveness
"True sorrow leads to repentance and the changing of ones ways."
Its not too uncommon to hear some such admonishment. And it's needed -- we ought to truly be sorry, instead of just apologizing because it's expected. It seems, though, that instead of only encouraging people to truly be repentant of their actions, we should also be fostering within people true forgiveness.
Just as people say "sorry" out of obligation, so do people say "I forgive you" "'sok" "no worries" or some other nice-ity.
First, "'sok" and "no worries" do not even begin to constitute verbal forgiveness. It's merely a polite way to respond to an apology of sorts (regardless of sincerity).
Second, just because the words "I forgive" exit your mouth does not mean you truly forgive the offender. Forgiveness is not merely words.
Forgiveness is commonly defined as granting pardon or remission. I don't think most people even begin to comprehend what that means, but another accepted definition is to quit feeling resentment. That's right, forgiveness is more than words, it's an emotion -- one that we, most likely, have to cultivate.
How do we cultivate forgiveness? How do we shed feelings of cold shoulder, revenge, spite, or just simply a hurt that you hold against someone? Aren't some things just too big to forgive?
Forgiveness is active. It's alright if, after initially granting forgiveness to someone, you find yourself struggling. This is where we must practice forgiveness. We must seize these hurt-filled moments and consciously decide to forgive - to not hold the offense against the offender. And we must do this until we teach ourselves, cultivate within ourselves forgiveness.
This can be a process, as every situation requiring forgiveness varies. And while it may feel as if some hurts are too great to forgive: say "I forgive you" and actively forgive whenever you have the chance.
After all, Jesus has forgiven all of us of every single wrong thing we have done -- and all those things we ever have or should have said "sorry" for was ultimately directed at him. He no longer holds our offenses against us if we accept him for who he is - our king.
If he can forgive everyone of wrongs done against him (which, since he king, is treason and rightly punishable by death) then how much more, especially after receiving such a forgiveness, should we willingly and gladly give forgiveness to others.
To give completely. That is what forgiveness originally meant, and it still holds true. Forgiveness is to completely give away resentment against another. It is not something we merely say to appease. Forgiveness is something we must practice, and, in Jesus, we have a great example to follow.
original image source
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Friendly Reminder: Holidays Approaching
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| image from http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/thanksgiving-day |
- Plan on where you want to eat for Thanksgiving, and who you want invited. Go ahead and send invitations so your (hopeful) guests can make their Thanksgiving plans.
- Make your menu and start looking for deals in the grocery store. Websites such as Money Saving Mom and Faithful Provisions have great posts that both give recipie ideas as well as where to get those deals.
- Decide: do you want to decorate? If you do, do you already have everything you need, or will you have to run out to the store to buy decorations or craft supplies? Go ahead and set up what you want displayed for Thanksgiving. That way it's already done, and if you realize you're missing something you have time to go the store without a huge headache. Enjoy a few weeks of fall colors and reminders to be thankful, that certainly never hurt anyone. :-)
It is not the day I start looking for presents. I received an email today "I know it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas presents..." it began. Too early? I'm just under 3/4ths of the way finished! My personal goal is to be finished by Thanksgiving. I don't always succeed, but I usually come close. That is a totally unrealistic goal for some people, but it doesn't hurt to go ahead and start Christmas shopping.
Here are some ideas for you to go ahead and start:
- Make a list of who you need/want to buy presents for. When possible, right down specific items you want to buy for them.Write down your budget for each person, and stick to it (if you love giving gifts, like I do, this is the hardest part).
- Compare prices online. Often you can see both online and in store prices. Don't just check the stores and their websites, check to see if Amazon or Ebay (or similar store) has what you are looking for. There is quite a lot you can find at deep discounts on those sites ... and all without the hassle of shopping in an over crowded store and being overwhelmed by the noise, commercialism, and attention-grabbing signs and displays designed to make you spend more. Note: Don't forget to add in shipping to the cost of the gift. Some websites are offering free shipping on all orders during this season, just check and make sure you'll still be getting a better deal/that you're staying in budget before you buy!
- Leave room on your list to fill in what you've bought each person and how much left you have in your budget. Those sites I mentioned above for Thanksgiving help? They're useful in finding good deals on gifts too, especially making good use of those coupons (which they'll often link to :-) ).
- Buy (or make!) some inexpensive, more generic gifts that you can use in case of emergency (you forgot about someone and realize it last minute, like your child's teacher or your work's Secret Santa) or for people you want to remember but but can't drop a ton of money on.
Those are some of my tips to help you have a less stressful Thanksgiving and Christmas. So what do you do to prepare for the holidays? What traditions are you looking forward to? And what do you do to figure out how to buy for those difficult people on your list (in my case, the men in my life)?
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Chicken Run {Movie Review}
"Mrs. Tweedy! The Chickens are Revolting!"
"Finally, something we agree on."
In spite of being a little too environmental for my tastes, and having part of the plot being completely foreseeable from near the beginning of the movie, I would still say this is a movie worth watching.
Clay-mation always amazed me. The effort that goes into every second of the film is utterly astounding. Clay-mation is definitely not what I am cut out for; I'm just not that patient!, but I enjoy watching it.
It was amusing in scenes where The Great Escape was parodied; I just am not particularly keen on comparing what happened in a WWII prison camp to chickens on a chicken farm. (admittedly, Mrs. Tweedy's farm is a little over-the-top).
Chicken Run is still an amusing little movie, and all ages should enjoy watching it.
2 out of 5 stars.
Before I had seen The Great Escape I gave it 1 star.
(I'd personally give the movie a PG rating, not the G rating it has.)
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Thursday, October 20, 2011
Flawless {Movie Review}
I must say I was quite impressed with this movie. Excellent acting, filming, directing, script, wonderfully executed, and you are completely taken in. I love a movie that makes you think. This one did. At least, it made me think. It is, however, rated PG-13 for brief strong language for a reason. I believe they cursed two or three times in the entire movie, every time was strong. If it was not for the language it could easily be PG.
While the plot itself was wonderful the best part came at the very end of the movie. I was, to be completely honest, shocked at the final message the movie sent to its viewers (mentioned below under "spoilers"). I absolutely recommend seeing this movie.
WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD.
The final message of the movie shocked me because the entire film had, in a sense, been about a woman making it in a man's world. At the end of the film we hear that the woman actually never discovered herself until after she got out of the business world and stopped trying to "prove" herself to herself and others. She discovered who she was by helping others outside of "work." It was a refreshing message, and to have that delivered after such a great plot and story was very memorable and impacting.
4 out of 5 stars.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Politically Correct Torture
I know this is dealing with a policy that is not currently being discussed, but the article has applicability beyond the one policy.
While many aspects of the training remain classified, I can say that we received treatment far more challenging and uncomfortable than anything the terrorists ever experienced at Gitmo or Abu Grab. As has been reported elsewhere, waterboarding was common at SERE school as it was in my class. It was done to help us resist giving up sensitive information in the event we were interrogated by the enemy. SERE is probably the most impactful training I've ever experienced.
Now, despite decades of its use on American service members, President Obama declares that waterboarding is torture when used on terrorists. Is it? Reasonable people cannot disagree whether scalding a person's skin, dismembering him, or beheading him constitutes torture. Those are undeniably torturous acts that our enemies have inflicted on Americans. But since waterboarding leaves no permanent physical damage, reasonable people can disagree over whether or not it's actually torture and should be used on terrorists. I'll address that question in a future column.
What I'd like to address in this column is the shocking inconsistency of the President's position. Despite being against waterboarding, President Obama does not seem to think that scalding, dismembering, or beheading is torture in all circumstances. In some circumstances, the President actually approves of such treatment, so much so that he is now exporting it to other countries with our tax dollars. He's even thinking of forcing certain Americans to inflict it on the innocent.
In fact, the President along with most in his party and some in the Republican Party, think that such brutality is a Constitutional right, which they cleverly disguise with the word "choice." Choice in these circumstances actually means scalding, dismembering, or de-braining a living human being—which is literally what saline, D&C, and partial birth abortions respectively accomplish. (Before anyone labels me an "extremist" for making this point, realize that I'm just factually describing what these procedures literally do. In my opinion, the "extremists" are those who deny these verifiable truths.)
The President might say that the comparison doesn't work because we're not sure about the humanity of the unborn. He said as much in the Rick Warren debate when he declared that the question of life's beginning was "above his pay grade." Well, if there's any doubt about when life begins, shouldn't you err on the side of caution and protect what may be a human being? If you're not sure whether the rustling in the bushes is a deer or your daughter, won't you get a certain ID before shooting?
Actually, there is no doubt about the humanity of the unborn. We are sure that an unborn child is a human being, and we know this not by religion, but by hard scientific data. The President knows this. If embryonic life is not human, then why does he insist on using taxpayer dollars to harvest embryonic cells? Answer: because they are human. Moreover, human bodies and body parts are extracted from the womb by abortion, not just "tissue." Finally, it's a scientific fact that at the moment of conception a new genetically unique human being exists. You haven't received any new genetic information since the moment you were conceived. Only four things separated you from adulthood—time, air, water and food. Those are the same four things that separate a two-year old from adulthood. We don't allow the killing of two-year old humans; why should we allow the killing of humans just a little bit younger who happen to be in a womb—especially those at full term?
But the legality of abortion is not the main point here. That's bad enough, but the President is advocating something even worse. He isn't just allowing abortion to continue, he seeks to promote and subsidize it through the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). That deceptively-named bill will end the choice of certain doctors to conscientiously refuse to do abortions, and it will end the choices millions of Americans have made to restrict abortion through parental notification laws, informed consent laws, and even bans on partial birth abortion. All of those restrictions freely chosen by the people of this country will be invalidated by FOCA. The President also wants to force taxpayers to pay for abortions right here in America.
Why does he want to do this? Doesn't he know what goes on in an abortion? I have to assume yes. He's a very intelligent man. That leaves us with one of two possibilities, neither of which is good. Either he really believes that scalding, dismembering, and de-braining ought to subsidized and increased, or he is willing to champion these things to please his base for his own political gain. The former is madness. The latter is an example of "the ends justifying the means," which leads us back to waterboarding.
Questions for the President:
I'm not intending to be uncharitable, and I hope I am mistaken. But it appears to me that this President is willing to subsidize the killing of the innocent to potentially save himself, but is unwilling to simulate drowning on the guilty to potentially save thousands or millions of Americans—a simulation that we have performed on our own servicemen for decades.
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Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Silent and Sounding
When I can't feel you, I have learned to reach out just the same
When I can't hear you, I know you still hear every word I pray
The experience of God's presence should not be confused with the existence of his presence. Unfortunately, this confusion is all too often the case.
When we don't "feel" God, we wonder what is wrong. I think this is normal, but it is something we should work to correct within ourselves. God does not change with our mutability. He is constant. He never leaves.
By him, all is. He holds everything together. He sustains the universe.
He is there, and he is not silent.
Even when we don't have the experience of his presence, it is still present.
I think Michael Ward's explanation of silence in his book Planet Narnia nicely relates to the silence we often feel occurs with God:
"For Lewis there were two kinds of silence, the good and the bad. The bad kind features in the title of the first volume of his Ransom Trilogy (1938-1945), Out of the Silent Planet. The silent planet is Earth, out of which comes the hero of the trilogy, Dr Elwin Ransom, on a journey to Mars. He discovers that, in the language of Mars, Planet Earth is know as thulcandra. Earth is thulc ('silent') because she does not join in the music of the spheres. Earth's presiding intelligence...is 'the Bent One' who has nothing to say or sing to the other planetary angels. Earth's silence is a dumb silence, a dead silence.
"Mars and all the other planets are also silent, as far as the inhabitants of Earth are concerned, but for a different reason. It is not because these other planets are sullenly mute that they are not heard. On the contrary, they are not heard because their singing in is perpetual. As Lewis explained in an address entitled 'Imagination and Thought in the Middle Ages':
[The music of the spheres] is the only sound which has never for one split second ceased in any part of the universe; with this positive we have no negative to contrast. Presumably if (per impossible) it ever did stop, then with terror and dismay, with a dislocation of our whole auditory life, we should feel that the bottom had dropped out of our lives. But it never does. The music which is too familiar to be heard enfolds us day and night and in all ages."In the pre-Copernican model of the cosmos the planets were silent and sounding at the same time: their music was not heard on earth because it was always heard. And it is this sort of silence, a pregnant silence, resonant with significance," that I believe God's presence is to us. Unlike the singing of the planets, however, sometimes God allows us to "feel" him in a more experimental way than normal life accustoms us to. These times should be cherished, but we should not think we are less spiritual when we only have his perpetual, sustaining presence in our lives - what an undeserved blessing and magnanimous gift!
Song lyrics from Brooke Fraser's Faithful
Michael Ward, Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis, (Oxford: Oxford Press, 2008), 21-22.
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