gregory
Couric and Palin – unseen footage
GoAnimate.com: Couric+and+Palin+-+unseen+out-takes. by Gregory
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Black Bean Burger recipe
While we often buy the the frozen veggie burgers, the best one I have tried is the Black Bean Burger from Phat Bites here in Nashville. So, I went on a search for a black bean burger recipe that looked similar to their’s. What I ending up doing was combining two recipes together and came up with a recipe of my own that is really great and very close to the one at Phat Bites. (I think they also have shredded carrots in their recipe but I didn’t include it) Tastes best with some garlic hummus on top instead of cheese.
BLACK BEAN BURGER RECIPE
1, 15 oz can black beans
1/2 green or yellow pepper finely chopped
1/2 onion finely chopped
3 cloves pressed or chopped garlic
1 egg
3/4 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon soy sauce
15 drops Worchestershire sauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Cook onion, pepper and garlic in tablespoon olive oil until slightly caramelized.
Mash black beans with potato masher or by thoroughly squeezing with hands. Mix all ingredients and blend with a fork.
Makes 4 LARGE patties (a whole meal in itself) or 5 0r 6 smaller patties. Pan fry in small amount of veggie or olive oil. Can be baked in oven as another option, but grease the pan.
Unitarian Universalists need a music makeover
We joined our local UU (Unitarian Universalist) church last year and attended quite a lot in the beginning. Now, well, not so often. Why? The main turn-off for me is that the music is just so damned BORING. In fact, I recently rewatched the Winona Ryder version of LITTLE WOMEN and, guess what? They were singing some of the very same hymns for in our UU hymnal.
Often, when the words are chanted in unison instead of sung, it’s not that bad. But whenever the time comes for us to have to stand and sing I feel so, the only word for it is “Puritanical”.
The blog coverlaydown.com wrote a post on the UU songbook, Singing the Living Tradition. Part of what they had to say is below in italics:
The current UU hymnal Singing the Living Tradition, first published in 1993, is a hodgepodge of folk songs and gospel spirituals, poetry set to old English and shapenote tunes, and biblical texts set to classical melodies. A few psalms remain from earlier ages, and composers such as Bach and Hayden have a presence, but they nestle among songs from sixties folk singers Holly Near and Richard Farina, and modern settings of lyrics from Confucious and Rumi, Emily Dickinson and Sara Teasdale. Martin Luther is there, but so is Duke Ellington.
As I will be discussing in my sermon, the current hymnal has some major flaws, mostly stemming from the way in which its songs were selected for their lyrical content rather than any sense of singability. The relative inaccessibility of the songs is coupled by the inherent tension between an everchanging religion which reflects the world-as-it-is and the very commodification of the canon which results from publishing a definitive hymnal in the first place. Just fifteen years past its original publication date, the hymnal is already seen by many practitioners and seekers as far out of date, and desperately in need of renewal.
My suggestion to the UU church is to immediately run out and rent a copy of Whoopi Goldberg’s SISTER ACT. If Sister Mary Clarence can bring some toe-tapping tunes into the church, then shouldn’t a church that claims to be so liberal and modern do the same thing? I’d even settle for the occasional AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH or even Jem’s IT’S AMAZING.
The right message is there for me and the teachings are mostly on track with what I believe. The people are welcoming and open and the services offer a wide variety of topics and lessons from all religions.
But the music? Come on. Welcome in the 21st century Unitarian Universalists — because, your message is modern and hip — but your music is is better fit for a Mayflower full of Pilgrams.
Menu Planning
It never fails. As we TRY to eat better, we always end up in a restaurant or ordering in because of lack of planning. We look at each other – “What do you want to eat tonight?” — “I don’t know.” — “What about you?” — “I don’t know either.” Then we reach for the car keys or order a pizza online, despite the fact that the refrigerator is full of veggies and the cabinets are bursting open.
So, we made a master menu. I opened my 1998 version of Microsoft Publisher, which has real restaurant menu formats, and began to type in Main Courses, Vegetables and Sides, Soups and Salads. We’ll continue to add to this master menu.
Then, for the weekly menu we proceeded to decide on the seven main courses and the vegetables that would best go with each one. With this approach, we discovered that we had a short shopping list. Then, when we went to the refrigerator and the freezer, we found that many things could be removed from that list. No more tossing out organic vegetables that we paid a fortune for (although the chickens will be dissapointed that there aren’t as many greens left over).
Also, with planning a menu, we saw that there would be at least 3 or 4 days where there could be leftovers for lunch the next day.
Now, we decided NOT to specifically say, “This meal is happening on Monday, this one on Tuesday,” etc. Because we knew that would bore us. BUT, with each week, we do have seven choices and all the shopping finished for all the ingredients. This first week, well, its not adventurous cooking. But, it’s a heck of a lot better than takeout. We even ended up with two vegetarian days and one pescotarian day.
1.Chili with grass-fed ground beef
2.Chili again for another day
3.Baked Chicken, corn on cob, green beans
4.Vegetarian Spaghetti and salad
5.Fish and stir-fry veggies over rice
6.Vegetarian “Meatballs”, asparagus and pinto beans (beans cooked previously to go into chili)
7.Homemade Pot Pie (leftover baked chicken) with a rice flour crust