"I am the United States"

"I am the United States. I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence is my birth certificate.

The bloodlines of the world run in my veins because I offered freedom to the oppressed. I am many things and many people.

I am the United States.

I am 180 million living souls and the ghosts of millions who have lived and died for me. I am Nathan Hale, Paul Revere, Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry. I am John Paul Jones, The Green Mountain Boys and Davy Crockett.

I am Independence Hall,the Monitor and the Merrimac. I am Lee, Grant and Abe Lincoln.

I remember the Alamo, the Maine and Pearl Harbor. When freedom called, I answered and stayed until it was over over there.

I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheat lands of Kansas and the granite hills of Vermont. I am the coal fields of the Virginias and Pennsylvania, the fertile lands of the West, the Golden Gate and the Grand Canyon.

Ohhhh, I am big. I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Three million square miles throbbing with industry.

I am George Washington Carver, Daniel Webster and Jonas Salk. I am more than 170,000 schools and colleges and 250,000 churches where my people worship God as they think best.

I am the roar of a crowd in a stadium and the voice of a choir in a cathedral. I am Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.

Yes, I am the nation and these are the things that I am. I was conceived in freedom and God willing, in freedom I will spend the rest of my days. May I possess always the integrity, the courage and the strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a beacon of hope to the world.

"I am the United States."

 

I did not write this.  It was performed on The Lawrence Welk show.  Oh I miss my America.  America please come back to your roots of God and country.  I love you and will continue to pray for renewal and revival.

Lack of Inspiration!

Okay, I admit it.  I am lacking inspiration right now. It may be from being so tired.  I do have a lot going on.  My sweet husband had out-paitent surgery this week on his shoulder.  My middle child has been sick.  I am getting over an infection.  I just have not felt like being adventurous and trying new recipes.

Tonight was one of those nights where I knew I needed to make dinner but was totally clueless on what to do. I did not feel like running to the store.  I peeled potatoes and cut them and put them into a pot to boil.  While they were boiling, I put a pound of ground chuck (poor chuck) with a chopped onion and a couple of teaspoons of chopped garlic into a pan to fry up.  When the potatoes were done, I drained them and put them back in the pot with a stick of real butter and some milk and mashed them.

I flipped the oven on to 350 degrees.  I took a can of Campbells Cream of Mushroom soup and mixed it with a soup can of milk.  I poured that in the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan.  I added the hamburger/onion mixture and stirred it together.  I added some frozen corn and peas and stirred again.  I put the mashed potatoes all over the top and threw it in the oven.  While this baked, I fried some okra.

This is what we had for dinner.  Not exactly totally healthy but not too bad either.  What in the world has happened to my inner Italian Grandma?  I had no inspiration to make a sauce, a meatball or anything.  Maybe I will be better after I get some rest this weekend?  I hope so.

Chicken & Bacon over Noodles

So tonight's dinner was inspired by poking around the Food Network Facebook page and looking at different recipes.  I took one they posted, twisted it and made it my own.

This is what the finished product looked like and here is the recipe.  I will warn you it is NOT low fat.  I don't think it really matters as it is hearty enough that you don't over eat.

(1) pound of bacon
(1) pound of boneless chicken tenders
(1) medium onion, chopped
(1) small yellow sweet pepper, seeded and chopped
(1) small orange sweet pepper, seeded and chopped
(3/4) cup of flour
(2) tablespoons of Soul Seasoning
(3) cups of chicken stock
(1) 16 ounce of sour cream
(1) package of egg noodles

Dice the bacon and put in the bottom of a large pot.  Saute until crispy.  Dump in the onion and peppers and saute with the bacon.  Do not drain (unless you are trying for low calorie....but why??).

Mix the flour and Soul Seasoning in a large bowl.  Add the chicken tenders and toss to completely coat.  Once coated, go back to the pot and push the bacon and veggies to the side.  Add the chicken tenders and include any leftover flour into the pot.  Brown the tenders on both sides until almost cooked through.  Stir the chicken and veggies together. Add all the chicken stock.  Put a cover over the pan and let come to a slow boil and cook until chicken is completely done.

While chicken is cooking, in a separate pan, boil egg noodles until tender.

When chicken is done (usually about 10 minutes or so) reduce heat to very low.  Stir in the entire container of sour cream and stir and cook slow for 2 more minutes.  Serve over cooked egg noodles.

The bacon drippings and the sour cream really made this a luscious, creamy gravy over the pasta....I wanted to drink it!  I hope you try it!

It doesn't always have to fancy, sometimes it just needs to be QUICK!

It's Monday! I was tired after a stressful day of work and then running around grabbing children from their school activities.  I was also HUNGRY!!  What to fix?

I chopped an onion and threw it in a skillet with garlic and ground chuck (poor chuck)!

I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees while browning the chuck (poor chuck).

In a separate bowl I mixed one standard size can of Cream of Mushroom soup with a soup can of milk.

When the hamburger was done I mixed it with the soup mixture and put in the bottom of a 9" x 13" glass pan.  After spreading that in the bottom, I put a layer of jalapeno jack cheese slices over it all.  I then put a layer of frozen tater tots over all of it.

I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes I sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese over the top and put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes.

This is what it looked like (after I had already dipped some out).  We all liked it and it must have been good as evidenced by the next picture.....

It's all gone!!!  It was quick and it was good.  It certainly was not very low calorie! Stuff like this feeds teenagers really well!! I am sure I will make it again!

Nick's birthday cake!

Today is my "baby" boy's 16th birthday!  Because he had youth group at church tonight I decided he needed a BIG cake.  What you see above is actually the compiling of THREE bundt cakes.  Two bundt cakes stayed whole and are stacked on top of each other.  The third bundt cake (which was the only chocolate one, the other two were white) was ripped into pieces, shoved in the hole in the middle to fill it up and then pieces laid on top to help resemble the mountain.  I made a double batch of my family's special recipe chocolate frosting that hardens into candy.  I poured that all over the place.

While the frosting hardened I then made my "clouds" for my mountain.  The recipe is actually from an amazing site called "Just a Pinch" recipes.  JUST A PINCH
I so adore this website.  I get the daily email recipes and am always pleased and surprised with the content.  SO....I successfully made meringue clouds with M&M's stirred in.  They were fluffy and yummy and perfect!

AND as you can see, I actually bought my son FOUR cars for his 16th birthday! Okay, okay, they were only Hot Wheels but how many kids can say their parents got them FOUR cars for their birthday? ;-)