Patience Unraveling

Long lines and short tempers...  instant coffee in the microwave... frozen “convenience” foods that cater to the “I need it yesterday” mentality as a culture. I’m late! I’m late! I’m late! we scream as we dash out into rush-hour traffic. Seems like everyone’s patience these days is worn thin with all the hurrying, scurrying and worrying.

Patience. That’s one of those little ‘object lessons’ that I definitely object to. I’ll give you an example. I found a cool decoration for our basement rec room, one of those retro beaded curtains that hang in a doorway. 
I wanted to string them along the open space going down our cellar stairs.

The individual beaded cords had to come off the hanging rod, since the area was wider than the rod. So I did that. But then … those beady little strings managed to get intertwined into a big, knotted mess. It was unbelievable. I had to disentangle each twisted string from the heap.

So, naturally, I copped an attitude while I was doing this. What is the point of this … nothing is ever easy... why, Lord, whhhyyyyy? Thoughts turn cosmic when things make no sense.

But after a while, I got into a groove working on those silly strings, unraveling the knots one at a time as if they were wound into a kind of puzzle. And rather than hang on to my frustration, I began to see that even the most ridiculous of situations can be turned into a lesson in patience.

It's one of the "fruits of the spirit" talked about in the Bible (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness... found in Galatians 5:22-23) we often think we acquire instantaneously when we begin a relationship with God. But fruit takes time to ripen and grow, time to cultivate its sweetness. There’s no shortcut, no easy way to learn patience. It must be developed in us. And that only happens when we allow God to teach us through the trials (major, minor, or just plain annoying) that we experience daily. 

No express lane thinking for me, thanks. I’d much rather take the scenic route, and learn to enjoy my life instead of just rushing through it.

Well, the beaded curtain did get up after a while... and I have to say... 
it looks great. Though only a small lesson in patience, it may yet prove handy. Winter’s not too far away. And I can’t wait to see what our box of Christmas lights looks like.

The Wrong Line at the Wrong Time

Let’s talk food shopping. You know when you’re at the grocery store, finished with the hunting and gathering and in a hurry to leave? You scan the checkout lines, trying pick which looks the fastest. This may seem like a no-brainer decision, but in reality it takes a very scientific approach to correctly choose the lane which will most likely get you and your groceries home the quickest.

There are important factors to calculate:

1) How alert is the cashier (upright or slumping?)

2) Number of customers already in line

3) Quantity of groceries in the carts ahead

4) Whether those customers look like they will either: a) argue with the cashier over expired coupons and non-existent sale prices, b) or worse, try to chat with the cashier

5) Whether those customers have their kids with them, which means they will be distracted and slower to unload their groceries and sort out their coupons and beverage-return slips, all while trying to keep the younger child safely in the grocery cart seat and focused on the free cookie snagged from the bakery to keep them out of meltdown mode during the tedious check-out process, while the older child is busy sneaking forbidden items onto the conveyer belt which go unnoticed because the harried parent is otherwise occupied. (This being a hypothetical situation and not one I’m familiar with myself…)

Unfortunately, even the most astute assessment can backfire, because at the exact moment you commit your cart and move into a checkout lane, that lane will reverse polarity from warp speed and grind down to a crawl. As every line but yours moves forward in a forwardly direction, there’s nothing you can do but grit your teeth and sweat into your coat. You know that feeling? I feel like that all the time.

And then, of course, we have the shopping horror-stories. These are typically not as gruesome as pregnancy/childbirth stories from veteran moms to expecting mothers-to-be, but it’s a shared experience we can all relate to. My favorite three shopping stories are all grocery store mishaps. The first is from a few years ago, as I was checking out, and the woman behind me in line had a child who was touching and handling my groceries as I was putting them onto the conveyer belt. This child was definitely old enough to know better than to touch someone else’s stuff and I politely asked the woman to have her stop. This mom – obviously a strong disciplinarian - responded with, “She ain’t got no germs!” Charming. Ain’t got no manners, either.

My second story (which happened quite recently) continues on the conveyor belt, where again I was unloading my groceries and the woman behind me began unloading hers before I was even halfway finished. The plastic stick divider did nothing to keep her stuff from squashing my poor groceries as the cashier and I struggled to keep up. This is one of those times where we wonder if it will do more harm than good to say something. Hey, lady, turn on your “clueless” light and warn us all that you’re coming.

My last trip is a visit down Amnesia Lane, and one incident I would rather forget. I was newly married and doing some grocery shopping on a very limited budget. I had maybe $30 dollars in my pocket at the time, cash only, without a credit card or bank/ATM card as a backup. I don’t know what I was thinking but I had loaded up my cart without keeping any kind of mental tally. I checked out and it added up to something like a hundred dollars. Reality hit, and hit hard. Had to explain I only had $30 and started the tedious (and embarrassing) business of voiding pretty much my entire order. That’s one store I never visited again.

Sometimes food shopping is great, where I get to slay dragons and battle giants and come home with fabulous deals on meals for the family table. It’s a hard fight, but one I enjoy winning. Other times, not so much. Shopping can be at best an outright drag, or at worst… well, you fill in the blank. Which reminds me, the fridge is empty and I’m pretty sure I saw tiny tumbleweeds blowing around in the pantry. I’ve got to suit up for battle and get out there to do some serious shopping. I’ll likely have my kids and my coupons with me, so if you see me in the checkout line at the store, I give you carte blanche (freedom of the cart) to pick any line other than the one I’m in. It will guarantee you’ll get home in record time.

It's chili out there

As a child, I was as fussy about food as you can find. Though my mother was an excellent cook, it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t try anything new. No Chinese or any other ethnic food, no to anything that looked suspiciously vegetative… heck, I wouldn’t even eat pizza when I was young. I would scrape everything off and just eat a wet triangle of bread. Yep, I was that bad.

In college when I lived off-campus and had to cook for myself, I survived on ramen noodles. But once I got married I realized I had to man up and learn some basic cooking skills. And when I started that… my love of cooking took off. The more recipes I tried, the more pride I had, and the more curiosity I developed about food and cooking. So in time I turned into quite a good cook. I’ve catered some awesome parties, and I am now a foodie through and through. So, if you have a fussy eater out there (of any age!) there is still hope. They can be taught, and turned.

Funny back story about my chili recipe. My girls are six years apart, but at separate times, each girl has brought home Thanksgiving schoolwork with their thanks for different things in their lives… and BOTH girls have artwork proclaiming, “I am thankful for my mama’s chili.” Warms you right up inside!

Now, chili can be a very regional kind of dish, with as many recipes as there are regions. So I don’t make any claims to say mine is the end-all of chili recipes. But when your kids cite your chili as one of their "thankful for's" … then you can bet it’s a good one!

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                       Simply Delicious Chili

1 pound hot Italian sausage links, removed from casings

2 pounds ground beef

1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 28 ounce can kitchen cut or diced tomatoes

2 soup size cans dark kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 soup size cans light kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 medium onion, chopped finely

2 red peppers or 1 red and 1 green pepper

1 box Carroll Shelby Texas chili seasoning 

Pour the two cans of tomatoes into a large cooking pot along with two cans worth of water. Add the chili seasonings and mix together. Crumble the sausage meat and cook in a sauté pan until browned.

Add cooked sausage to pot. Brown ground beef in the sauté pan with a little salt and pepper. Drain and add to sauce pan. Chop up onion, add to sauté pan with a little olive oil and cook for 5 or so minutes. Cut red/green peppers into small pieces and add to pan with onions. Sauté until softened, then add vegetables to pot. Add drained cans of kidney beans. Let simmer approximately 1 to 2 hours on the stove top, or load all ingredients into a large crockpot and cook about 4 -5 hours on low.

Serve over cooked white rice, and top with shredded cheddar or Mexican style cheese if you like. Cornbread and a leafy green salad make great side dishes.

Please note: I have specified Carroll Shelby’s chili seasoning in this recipe. You can certainly do your own spicing, or buy a different package of chili seasoning that you prefer. This brand comes with a really impressive amount of seasoning, plus separate bags of mesa flour (for thickening) salt and cayenne pepper, so you can spice it to taste.

Chef’s notes:

You can use ground sausage for this recipe, or get sausage links and just take the meat out of the casings. If you do the second option, have a little water in the pan you are going to cook the meat in, and use your hands to break up the sausage into small pieces in the water. It will cook up much more evenly that way.

Chili is a great dish to play ‘hide the veggie’ for those fussy eaters in your house. I use a micro-grater and grate a couple carrots right into the pot of chili. It gives the dish a touch of sweetness, and adds an extra veg to the dish. And no one will ever know! ;)

Serving tips: our family loves chili over a nice bowl of white rice. You can certainly use brown rice to sneak in a few extra vitamins - and even fussy eaters won’t notice the difference under a steaming scoop of savory chili. You can also top it with a little shredded cheddar or Mexican-style cheese, some sour cream, or whatever you like!

Cook smarter, not harder: this recipe works wonderfully in a crockpot. Just prep your ingredients in the morning and come home to a hearty dinner. Also, chili freezes well. So go ahead and make a double batch, and freeze half for an easy-peasy freezy meal!

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Perfecto Cornbread 

1 cup cake flour

2/3 cup yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg, room temperature

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk, warmed

  

Preheat the oven to 400° degrees.

Grease a 9-inch round, 1½-inch deep cake pan.

With a fork, stir together the cake flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Beat the egg, melted butter, oil and milk in a large mixing bowl until well-blended. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir until blended. The batter will be somewhat thin and light.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 15 minutes, until a straw inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Press the center of the bread; if it feels slightly firm the bread is done. Be careful not to overbake.

Serve warm wedges of the cornbread with honey butter.

  

Yield: one 9-inch round loaf. Batter may also be baked in a corn-muffin pan or regular muffin tin for approximately 10 minutes. Makes several batches.

Cook smarter, not harder: An easy make-ahead shortcut: sift together the dry ingredients and keep them in a container. Then when you are ready to cook, grab the wetworks, mix ‘em together, and pop your cornbread in the oven.