we are all broken

 

love fills the cracks. hope

holds the myriad pieces 

together with faith.

Citrus Garbanzo Veggie Nachos

 

The citrus dressing makes this dip irresistible.  You can make this your own by substituting the beans with tofu,  the radish with any crunchy vegetable or fruit like apples or carrots or jicama or even nuts, the pineapple with mango or any exotic fruit and the red pepper with bottled pimento.  The citrus dressing though I suggest you keep as is except for the amounts of some ingredients like the sweetener and amount of salt.

Citrus Garbanzo Veggie Nachos 

Adapted from this site

Ingredients:

Garbanzo Vegetable

1- 14 oz garbanzo beans. drained and rinsed

1/2 cup pineapple tidbits, drained

1/2 cup radish, cubed

2 tbsp red pepper, diced

2 tbsp fresh cilantro

3 scallions, thinly sliced

Citrus Marinade

1/4 cup orange juice from two oranges or from bottled fresh orange juice

zest and juice of 1 lime

1-2 tbsp maple syrup or date syrup

4 pieces jalapeno pieces from a bottle, chopped

1/4 tsp salt

ground pepper

Serving:

Tortilla Chips (I used lime corn tortilla chips)

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients of the garbanzo vegetable mixture in a bowl,

Combine the citrus marinade in a small jar and secure the lid and shake.

Pour the marinade over the garbanzo veggie mixture and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Serve with nacho chips as a dip or you can top the nacho chips with the dip before serving.

1. 
   

Spicy Sour Black Bean and Tofu (Vegan Dinuguan)

This dish satisfies my soul.  It never fails to bring me back to family gatherings when the carnivore version is proudly served.  The original recipe calls for inards of the pig which I will not enumerate.   It is blackish in appearance so everyone easily knows that this dish made the table. And everyone does rejoice. It is good.

Surprisingly, this vegan version which has been adapted from Astig Vegan hits all the receptors in my tongue reminiscent of the original.  It  has the sourness and heat chacteristic of the original and it is so much easier to prepare and less obnoxious looking and sounding.  The effects without the drama.  I love this, I almost ate the whole thing.

Spicy Sour Black Beans and Tofu (Vegan Dinuguan)

Adapted from Astig Vegan

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

1/4 cup vegetable broth or more as needed

1 15 oz can black beans, undrained

14-16 oz extra firm or firm tofu, just drained not pressed and cubed

1 banana pepper whole or 1 poblano pepper whole

1-2 tbsp white vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Saute the garlic and onions in the broth till cooked.  Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer till the pepper is softened.  Add just enough broth as needed.  You want a sauce consistency not a soup.

You may cut the banana pepper upon serving into two pieces..  I cut mine since I need that pepper flavor and heat.  Poblano pepper might be a middle ground approach. A tamer one is green pepper and a tiny pinch of red pepper flakes.  

back to normal. almost.

 

what more can i say

more of the same as before

spoiled to death by their aunt b

candies galore. even i indulged

boy i regretted choosing chocolate for lent. 

old toys rediscovered.

leggo time with lolo.

new ones bought. by aunt b of course.

and us next day at the mall.

reading their favorite books.

to luca by maddie. sweet.

kitchen crafts.  making rice krispie treats.

measuring with cups.

taking orders for toppings

for doughnuts and making them.

it was a fruitful day.

i wish i did not give up chocolate for lent. ahhh.

it was a definitely a yes day. even for me except for chocolate.

then their favorite part, sleepover.

with candies and videos till wee hours.

decadence to the max.

its been months.

it has been a long time.

yes yes yes. thanks to the vaccine shots.

they are back 

grateful.

st therese the little flower abandonment pray share chat

 The theme for today is abandonment.  The narrative is based on one portion of the three part series of talks on St Therese of Lisieux Life of Prayer given by Lori McMahon and Susan Muto of the Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality at St Bernadette Parish Monroeville PA in October 2016.  PLUSRichard Rohr  Reflection on Love for 3/17/2021.

1.  Calm Challenge | Day 5 - YouTube

2.  Meditation music to accompany the narrative part.

Beautiful Relaxing Music • Peaceful Piano Music & Guitar Music | Sunny Mornings by @Peder B. Helland - YouTube

3.  Narrative

The following slides on "Living in Appreciative Abandonment". came from the last portion of a three part series of talks on St Therese of Lisieux Life of Prayer given by Lori McMahon and Susan Muto of the Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality at St Bernadette Parish Monroeville PA in October 2016.  

  

4. Prayer

THOMAS MERTON'S PRAYER OF ABANDONMENT

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and that I think I am following your will does not mean I am actually doing so.

But I believe the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all I am doing. I hope I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

5.  Richard Rohr medication 3/17/2021

Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation

From the Center for Action and Contemplation

 

 

Week Eleven: An Expanding Love

 

Loving the “True You”

 

 

 

I very much enjoyed my time with Bishop Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, when we worked together on the Reclaiming Jesus project and when I had dinner at his house in New York City. He reminds us why we must accept God’s love for us before we can love another:

I’ve come to see that the call of God, the love that bids us welcome, is always a call to become the true you. Not a doormat. The true you. Not an imitation of someone else. The true you: someone made in the image of God, deserving of and receiving love.

There is a Jewish proverb, “Before every person there marches an angel proclaiming, ‘Behold, the image of God.’” Unselfish, sacrificial living isn’t about ignoring or denying or destroying yourself. It’s about discovering your true self—the self that looks like God—and living life from that grounding. Many people are familiar with a part of Jesus’s summary of the law of Moses: You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself [Mark 12:31]. Yourself. Loving the self is a required balance. If we fail in that, we fail our neighbor, too. To love your neighbor is to relate to them as someone made in the image of God. And it is to relate to yourself as someone made in the image of God. It’s God, up, down, and all around, and God is love.

Sometimes we can only recognize God’s love for us through the love we receive from another person (whom God has loved well). The important part is that the flow of love gets started. Bishop Curry continues: 

The ability to love yourself is intimately related to your capacity to love others. The challenge is creating a life that allows you to fulfill both needs. . . .

I’ve seen it happen enough times to be confident in saying it. Perhaps loving others saves us from the confusion, the frustration, and ultimately the neurosis that comes when we try to center the world around ourselves. Or perhaps it allows us to step outside the self enough to see ourselves with some distance, for a better perspective on what’s missing. Or maybe when loving ourselves is hard, practicing loving others strengthens the muscle enough to turn the force inward. . . .

Love is a commitment to seek the good and to work for the good and welfare of others. It doesn’t stop at our front door or our neighborhood, our religion or race, or our state’s or your country’s border. This is one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth, as the hymn goes. It often calls us to step outside of what we thought our boundaries were, or what others expect of us. It calls for us to sacrifice, not because doing so feels good, but because it’s the right thing to do. . . .

God’s love is everywhere, in all things, and that includes you.

 

 

Bishop Michael Curry with Sara Grace, Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times (Avery: 2020), 95–97, 23, 49.

Image credit: Dorothea Lange. (1936) "Bum blockade." All heading north. South of King City, California. Difficult to get a record of this movement because these men wouldn't be photographed as a result of Los Angeles police activity (detail), photograph, public domain.

6.  Happy birthday Sue

7.    our father. song

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O2lgVpwqD1c

Air Fryer Mushroom Bowls with Spinach Pesto

  

I am excited to share this oil free recipe for a rice bowl I adapted from the Pinch of Yum website .  I almost devoured the whole thing in one seating.  The marinade for the mushroom is key  to the addictive nature of the dish. The website's choice of vegetable and fruit to complete the dish also helps but I can see other possibilities.  The  same is true with the pesto. The vegetable you choose can be any greens or herbs. What matters is that there is garlic, lemon and any nuts.

I used my air fryer which has the capacity of cooking three trays of food at one time with rotation but you can use a regular oven to roast the mushrooms, the vegetable and fruit at the same time in separate pans.  

Air Fryer Mushroom Bowls with Spinach Pesto

Adapted from the Pinch of Yum

Marinade

• 1/4 cup maple syrup or date syrup
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and black pepper to taste

Bowls

• 16 ounces fresh mushrooms, washed and cut into thick slices
• 2 cups fresh pineapple chunks or canned pineapple chunks, drained
• 2 bell peppers, any color or mixed
• rice, cooked
• spinach pesto (recipe below)

• 
  

Instructions

Spray the air fryer trays with cooking spray and set aside.  

Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl until well blended.

Add the mushrooms to the marinade and let them sit in it  for at least a half hour.

Meantime you can cut your bell pepper into slices and prepare the pesto (recipe below),

Drain the marinated mushrooms and distribute them on the spayed air fryer tray with spaces in between.  You will need to roast them in two batches.

Distribute the pepper slices and pineapple chunks in separate sprayed trays.

Place the mushroom tray in the highest rung and the other two in the lower rungs.  Air fry for 20 minutes at  400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Rotate the pans half way through 

To prepare the bowl, place the cooked rice at the bottom of the bowl and distribute the mushrooms, pepper and pineapple on top. Place the pesto in the middle of all the yummy goodness.

Spinach Pesto

• 1/2 cup walnuts or other types
• juice of one lemon
• 2 cups spinach leaves
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp water
• salt and pepper to taste

Place all the ingredients in a blender and pulse till well mixed 

---

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   

is it not enough

 we have the sun, the

 stars, the trees, the flowers, the 

gamut of ups and downs in life

the joy, the sorrow, the love, the 

anger, the awe, the wonder.

to show there is a God

who always loves us.

do we have to rationalize

a mystery. justify what we

cannot explain. complicate

simple truths before our eyes.

beliefs, ideologies. that divide

us. we are all one with Him

from the beginning. let nature

be our book. that should be

enough.  we can add but let us not

overthink it.

i had a tension headache

 then i remember 

to be grateful and slowly

the ache lifted. ahh.

paula's prayer meeting 3/10/ 2021

 

1.  Song

Ashes to Ashes - Dan Schutte | SAB Virtual Choir with Lyrics Cover - YouTube

2.  Handout

Lent

Give Thanks for Everything

Give thanks for everything you have,

For everything you receive,

And for everything you are going to receive.

Never cease to give thanks,

For this positive attitude towards life –

The very act of giving thanks –

Draws the best out of you,

Helps to keep your heart and mind open;

Helps to keep you awareness expanding.

The more blessings you count,

The more they increase.

(Adapted from a poem by Eileen Caddy)

 

                The season of deliverance has come; the time of salvation is at hand.

 

Turn to me with all your heart, says our God.

 

                                    Believing in God’s strength and mercy, let us be fortified with patience.    

                        

3.  Happy birthday Chris Didio

the mystery of beyondness

 which through dreams, stories 

memories our ancestors

reach out now. always.

note: Inspired by Richard Rohr's daily meditation 3/9/2021

pray share chat 3/3/2021 meeting focus on love

 

1.  breathing meditation

https://m.youtube.com/watch/SEfs5TJZ6Nk

2. 

meditative music to go with narrative

Relaxing Sleep Music • Deep Sleeping Music, Relaxing Music, Stress Relief, Meditation Music (Flying) - YouTube

3.  narrative

Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation

From the Center for Action and Contemplation

 

 

Week Eight: Wisdom

 

A Seminary of Life

 

 

 

To understand the world knowledge is not enough, you must see it, touch it, live in its presence. —Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe

Suppose a superstar of knowledge moves into your house as a boarder. With three PhDs after his name, he sits at your supper table each evening dispensing information about nuclear physics, cyberspace, and psychoneuroimmunology, giving ultimate answers to every question you ask. He doesn’t lead you through his thinking process, however, or even involve you in it; he simply states the conclusions he has reached.

We might find his conclusions interesting and even helpful, but the way he relates to us will not set us free, empower us, or make us feel good about ourselves. His wisdom will not liberate us, it will not invite us to growth and life; indeed, it will in the end make us feel inferior and dependent. That’s exactly how we have treated Jesus. We have treated him like a person with three PhDs coming to tell us his conclusions.

This is not the path to wisdom nor is it how Jesus shared his wisdom with those who wanted to learn from him. Rather Jesus teaches his disciples through his lifestyle, a kind of “seminary of life.” He takes them with him (Mark 1:16–20) and watching him, they learn the cycle and rhythm of his life, as he moves from prayer and solitude to teaching and service in community. As Cynthia Bourgeault explains in her book The Wisdom Jesus, he taught as a moshel moshelim, or a teacher of wisdom. [1] He doesn’t teach his disciples mere conceptual information as we do in our seminaries. Rather, he introduces them to a lifestyle and the only way he can do that is to invite them to live with him. He invites us to do the same (see John 1:39).

“But the crowds got to know where he had gone and they went after him. He made them welcome and he talked to them about the kingdom of God and he cured those who were in need of healing” (Luke 9:11). Can’t you just see the apostles standing at Jesus’ side, watching him, noticing how he does things: how he talks to people, how he waits, how he listens, how he’s patient, how he depends upon God, how he takes time for prayer, how he doesn’t respond cynically or bitterly, but trustfully and yet truthfully? Can you imagine a more powerful way to learn?

Luke tells us that Jesus walked the journey of faith just as you and I do. That’s the compelling message of the various dramas where Jesus needed faith—during his temptation in the desert, during his debates with his adversaries, in the garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross. We like to imagine that Jesus did not doubt or ever question his Father’s love. The much greater message is that in his humanity, he did flinch, did ask questions, did have doubts—and still remained faithful. This is the path of wisdom.

 

 

[1] Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind—A New Perspective on Christ and His Message (Shambhala: 2008), 23. 

Adapted from Richard Rohr, What the Mystics Know: Seven Pathways to Your Deeper Self (Crossroad Publishing: 2015), 14, 108, 118.

 

4.  discussion

No one had to die for our sins | U.S. Catholic

5.  peace song

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Waitmz6C100

Vegan Blueberry Cookies from a Cake Mix

 

I gave up chocolate for Lent. Chocolate in any shape or form. But not dessert. So this is one of my go to goodie for this time of the year. I am surprised it came out delicious.  My picky taster, my carnivore husband, gave these cookies two thumbs up.

Its preparation is made easy using a cake mix.  To save money and for your convenience, I gave a recipe for a big batch of homemade cake mix equivalent to four boxes.  I also gave a homemade recipe for one box.  You can adjust the sugar amount and kind according to your taste and health needs. 

Vegan Blueberry Cookies from A Cake Mix

• 1 box yellow cake mix or 3 3/4 cups of a big batch of homemade cake mix (recipe below)
• 2 tbsp flax meal plus 6 tbsp water in a small bowl and set aside for 5 minutes
• 1/2 cup applesauce 
• 1 cup frozen blueberries 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Line two cookie pans with parchment paper and spray the paper with Pam. 

Mix  all ingredients in a bowl..

Take two tbsp of the mixture and place two inches apart on the parchment paper lined pan. 

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12- 15 min.

Homemade Yellow Cake Mix (equivalent to 4 boxes of store bought yellow cake mix)

(Adapted from the I Am Baker)

Ingredients:

• 9 cups flour
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 3 cups Splenda sugar substitute
• 4 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 4 tsp salt

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients in a large jar using a spoon. Shake the jar to
ensure all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.   Use 3 3/4 cups to equal 1 box yellow cake mix called for in a recipe

Homemade Yellow Cake Mix (one box)

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar (or 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 sugar substitute)
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and use like you would a box of cake mix.