Asian Inspired Quesadillas

 

Asian Inspired Quesadillas 

Ingredients 

2 cups leftover cooked meat chopped (pork, chicken, beef or ham)

2 cups shredded cheese (any kind)

1 cup sliced green onions 

1 cup hoisin sauce

4 8-inch flour tortillas 

Instructions 

Add the meat, cheese, green onions and 1/2 to 3/4 cup of hoisin sauce into a skillet and mix. Then heat through. 

Cool the meat mixture. 

Place a piece of tortilla on a plate.  Using a brush, spread some of the set aside hoisin sauce on the tortilla.  

Place one fourth of the meat mixture onto half of the tortilla.  Place the other half of the tortilla over this filled part.

Heat some oil on a skillet or griddle.  Place the quesadilla on the heated grill or skillet till one side is brown.  Flip and brown the other side  

Pray share chat 5/31/2023 focus on Joy

1  Meditation 

 https://youtu.be/qQ4vD5FdOKM

2.  Song

https://youtu.be/iJOj9umiMjs

3.  Narrative 

Joy
Sunday, June 11, 2017

Despite many legitimate reasons for discouragement, Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was known as a man of deep and abiding joy. He knew that after all was done and undone, he was still “the herald of the Great King.” Francis told his friars that it was their vocation as God’s minstrels “to move people’s hearts and lift them up to spiritual joy.” [1] They needed no other justification for their life or ministry.

To illustrate what he meant by joy, Francis shared this dialogue with Brother Leo:

One winter day when he and Brother Leo were walking along the road to Assisi from Perugia, Francis called out to Leo in the bitter cold five times, each time telling him what perfect joy was not: “Brother Leo, even if a Friar Minor gives sight to the blind, heals the paralyzed, drives out devils, gives hearing back to the deaf, makes the lame walk, and restores speech to the dumb, and what is more brings back to life a man who has been dead four days, write that perfect joy is not in that.” And so he continued with different enumerations of success and even spiritual enjoyment. And when he had been talking this way for a distance of two miles, Brother Leo in great amazement asked him: “Father, I beg you in God’s name to tell me where perfect joy is then to be found?”

And Francis replied: “When we come to the Portiuncula, soaked by the rain and frozen by the cold, all soiled with mud and suffering from hunger, and we ring at the gate of our friary and the brother porter comes and says angrily: ‘Who are you?’ and we say: ‘We are two of your brothers.’ And he contradicts us, saying, ‘You are not telling the truth. Rather you are two rascals who go around deceiving people and stealing what they give to the poor. Go away!’ and he does not open for us, but makes us stand outside in the snow and rain, cold and hungry until night falls—then if we endure all of those insults and cruel rebuffs patiently, without being troubled and without complaining, and if we reflect humbly and lovingly that the porter really knows us. Oh, Brother Leo, write that perfect joy is to be found there!

“And if we continue to knock and the porter comes out in anger, and drives us away with curses and hard blows saying ‘Get away from here! Who do you think you are?’ and if we bear it patiently and take the insults with joy and love in our hearts. Oh, Brother Leo, write down that this is perfect joy! . . . And now hear the conclusion: Above all the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ gives to his friends is that of conquering oneself and willingly enduring sufferings, insults, humiliations, and hardships for the love of Christ.” [2]

Now that is an alternative universe! Here we see a truly nonviolent and liberated man. Clearly this is a different kind of “I” that is speaking here, an “I” hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). Rediscovering this joyous and free True Self is the goal of all transformation and journeys toward holiness.

Gateway to Silence:
Help me do what is mine to do.

References:
[1] The Assisi Compilation, chapter 83. See Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol. 2 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2000), 186.
[2] The Little Flowers of St. Francis,chapter 8. See St. Francis of Assisi: Omnibus of the Sources, ed. Marion A. Habig (Franciscan Herald Press: 1973), 1318-1320.

Adapted from Richard Rohr with John Feister, Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety (St. Anthony Messenger Press: 2001), 118-119  

4.  Prayer

5.  Meditation 

https://youtu.be/GnlK9iaJAe0

6.  Song

https://youtu.be/_LFpy9tRTw8

Pray Share Chat 5/24/2023 Focus on Mother Mary

Focus on Mother Mary'

1. Meditation
 https://youtu.be/nIlfw9EC9_w

2.Song

https://youtu.be/66zUY8UZn4M

3.  Narrative

Our Blessed Mother — Center for Action and Contemplation (cac.org)

Our Blessed Mother
Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Clarissa Pinkola Estés has spent many years gathering and sharing stories of the Divine Feminine across cultures and religions. In her book Untie the Strong Woman she helps us connect with the Holy Mother’s comfort, guidance, and vision. Read Estés’ words through your heart center more than your rational mind:

In a world that is often heart-stopping in horror and breath-taking in beauty, but too often scraped down to the bone by those who leak scorn with such soul-sick pride, it is the Blessed Mother, who is so unspeakably gracious with brilliant inspirations that pour into us—if we listen, if we watch for them.

Thus, there is such blessed reason to seek out and remain near this great teaching force known worldwide as Our Lady, La Nuestra Señora, and most especially called with loyalty and love, Our Mother, Our Holy Mother. Our very own.

She is known by many names and many images, and has appeared in different epochs of time, to people across the world, in exactly the shapes and images the soul would most readily understand her, apprehend her, be able to embrace her and be embraced by her.

She wears a thousand names, thousands of skin tones, thousands of costumes to represent her being patroness of deserts, mountains, stars, streams, and oceans. If there are more than six billion people on earth, then thereby she comes to us in literally billions of images. Yet at her center is only one great Immaculate Heart. . . .

In blessed Mother’s view, all are lovable; all souls are accepted, all carry a sweetness of heart, are beautiful to the eyes; worthy of consciousness, of being inspired, being helped, being comforted and protected—even if other mere humans believe foolishly or blindly to the contrary.

If, following the pathways laid down in the stories of the “old believers,” if after the old God . . . who seemed to spend inordinate time creating and destroying, thence came to us in huge contrast, the God of Love—then Our Blessed Mother is the ultimate Mother Who Gave Birth to Love.

She is the Mother who ascended whole, the Mother who has lived through wars, conquests, conscriptions. The Mother who has been outlawed, done outrage to, squelched, carpet bombed, hidden, stabbed, stripped, burnt, plasticized, and dismissed.

Yet she survived—in us and for us—no matter who raised a hand against her or attempted to undermine her endless reach. She is writ into every sacred book, every document of the mysteries, every parchment that details her as Wind, Fire, Warrior, Heart of Gold, La que sabe, the One Who Knows, and more.

And most of all, she is writ into our very souls. Our longings for her, our desires to know her, to be changed by her, to follow her ways of acute insight, her sheltering ways, her trust in goodness—these are the evidences that she exists, that she continues to live as a huge, not always invisible but palpably felt, force in our world right now.

Reference:
Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul (Sounds True: 2011), 1-3.

4.  Prayer

Prayer to Our Lady of Czestochowa

O Mother of God, Immaculate Mary, to thee do I dedicate my body and soul, all my prayers and deeds, my joys and sufferings, all that I am an all that I have. With a joyful heart I surrender myself to thy love. To thee will I devote my services of my own free will for the salvation of mankind, and for the help of the Holy Church whose Mother thou art.
From now on my only desire is to do all things with thee, through thee, and for thee. I know I can accomplish nothing by my own strength, whereas thou can do everything that is the will of thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Thou are always victorious. Grant, therefore, O Helper of the Faithful, that my family, my parish, and my country might become in truth the Kingdom where thou reignest in the glorious presence God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. 
Amen.

5.  Meditation

https://youtu.be/vxy-KWrxVUY

6.  Song

https://youtu.be/n88EHf_ocoQ

Paula's Meeting 5/10/2023

 

Song:  All is Gift

            Kathy Sherman

 

 https://youtu.be/_GJ-YrP9eBE

 

Lord, my God,
When Your love spilled over
Into creation
You thought of me.
I am from Love,
Of Love,
For Love.
Let my heart, O God,
Always recognize, cherish
And enjoy Your goodness in
All creation.
 
Direct all that is me
Toward Your praise.
Teach me reverence
For every person, all things
Energize me in
Your service.
 
Lord God, may nothing
Ever distract me from
Your love…
Neither health nor sickness
Wealth nor poverty
Honor nor dishonor
Long life nor short life.
 
May I never seek nor
Choose to be other than
You intend or wish.  Amen
 
 
 

Pray Share Chat 5/3/2023 Goodness of God and Creation

 

1.  Meditation

https://youtu.be/0FR0r0yaG6s

2.  Song

https://youtu.be/70JD5YTemJc

3.  Narrative

Practice: Mindful Living

John Dear invites us into a peaceful, nonviolent way of living with creation:

To grow in deeper, loving awareness of our sisters and brothers, the beautiful creatures, and wonders of creation, we practice the art of mindfulness. That means we try not to live in the past or stew over the future. We give ourselves to the present moment of peace and return to the gentleness of our breath as a way to return to the present moment, the eternal now. The Buddhists teach mindful living, mindful eating, mindful walking, mindful working. Every moment becomes an opportunity to step into the present moment of peace.

“We are speaking of an attitude of the heart,” Pope Francis writes, “one which approaches life with serene attentiveness, which is capable of being fully present to someone without thinking of what comes next, which accepts each moment as a gift from God to be lived to the full. Jesus taught us this attitude when he invited us to contemplate the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, or when seeing the rich young man and knowing his restlessness, ‘he looked at him with love’ (Mk 10:21). He was completely present to everyone and to everything, and in this way, he showed us the way to overcome that unhealthy anxiety which makes us superficial, aggressive and compulsive consumers.” [1]

Putting on the mind of the nonviolent Christ and practicing his nonviolence, we learn to contemplate the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. When he rose from the dead, he gave his friends the gift of resurrection peace, breathed on them, and said receive the Holy Spirit. He sent them on a global mission of peace and nonviolence. We try to follow Jesus by welcoming that gift of resurrection peace, breathing in his Holy Spirit, and walking in his footsteps in his kingdom of nonviolence. In that mindfulness, everyone shines like the sun.

We recognize every human being as a sister and brother, every creature as a gift from God, and Mother Earth as a treasure to be honored and cared for. We too learn to walk mindfully on earth in the present moment of peace. As we do, we not only non-cooperate with injustice and environmental destruction, model gospel nonviolence, and seek justice and peace for everyone, we help everyone step into the present moment of peace, the kingdom of God. Along the way, we discover that we have already entered eternal life. Eternity has begun. We are here, on earth, in the peaceful presence of the Creator.

References:
[1] Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 226, w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

John Dear, They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change (Orbis Books: 2018), 123-124.

For Further Study:

John Dear, They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change (Orbis Books: 2018)

Richard Rohr, A New Cosmology: Nature as the First Bible (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2009), CD, MP3 download

Richard Rohr and Bill Plotkin, Soul Centering through Nature: Becoming a True Human Adult (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2011), CD, MP3 download

Richard Rohr, The Soul, the Natural World, and What Is (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2009), MP3 download

4. Prayers

 Merciful One,

give me grace to be mindful today
of your constant, loving presence.
Give me wisdom to listen for your voice.
Open my heart to your glory in everything,
your light in everyone,
even those who do not see it.
Remind me everyone I meet is struggling.
Help me to see with clear eyes,
without judging or reacting.
Help me to be patient with weakness
and forgiving of myself and others.
Nudge me to learn from every mistake,
to be courageous in the face of fear,
to seize every chance to show love.
Ever-present Love, keep me mindful this day
of your mysterious grace,
your goodness and mercy that shadow me
all of my day and through the night.
Amen.

5.  Meditation 

https://youtu.be/hoKWHs2CSx8

6.  Song

https://youtu.be/9sE5kEnitqE

No-Fry Curry Fried Rice

 

This was inspired by a Youtube episode of Yeung Man Cooking.  I skipped the chili oil and instead just used vegetable broth.  I also used coleslaw in a bag and also have used powder forms of garlic and ginger.  This is satisfying despite being a no-fry or oil free recipe.  Enjoy.

No-Fry Curry Fried Rice

Inspired by Yeung Man Cooking See https://youtu.be/1JVO1FMfyzg

and No-Fry Fried Rice - Forks Over Knives

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup water or vegetable broth
• 3 pieces garlic, minced or 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2- inch fresh ginger, chopped or 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1-2 cups coleslaw or mixed vegetables
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 cup leftover rice
• 1-2 tsp curry powder
• 200g extra firm tofu or 1/2 block, crumbled or cut coarsely
• green onions for garnish

Add vegetable broth in sauté pan and add the garlic, ginger, onions, vegetables or coleslaw and heat at medium heat till the aromatics are cooked. Add the cooked rice and more water or broth if needed and add the soy sauce and curry powder.  Stir the mixture.  Add the crumbled tofu.  Stir the tofu, rice vegetable mixture.  At the end add the green onions.  Adjust the seasonings if needed.

Balance perfection and enoughness.

 

When to say stop. Done. 

Enough. Perfection a curse. 

Be happy. Move on. 

See  the following link to book on enough-ness

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/when-is-enough-enough-what-you-can-do-if-you-never-feel-satisfied_laurie-ashner/443562/item/3703260/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pmax_high_vol_frontlist_under_%2410&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3a2iBhCFARIsAD4jQB1Gj-FERBbjTAeCqvDqffIrkZEXbqgvkKVCmXb1lUpb7dfrkJpH8OYaAljFEALw_wcB#idiq=3703260&edition=2312216

Bread of Life

 

When memories turn

to bread of life. Lifting a

spirit. Full. Yet light. 

Note:  Trish Galatin, the daughter of my late friend, Margaret Soboslay, recently gave me her Mom’s spring figure shown in the photo above. This gift triggered warm memories. I used to give communion to Margaret and another late friend Rose Capone and now the memories of their indomitable spirit and friendship are feeding me. 

Pray Share Chat 4/26/2023 Rohr on Weeping Mode

1.  meditation

https://youtu.be/pU80BEm43JM

2.  song

https://youtu.be/wMmmbJlWhtk

3.  narrative

Please see the other entries on lamentation

The Transforming Power of Love

April 16–April 21, 2023

 

Sunday 
The prophets warn us, and too few listen; when the inevitable consequences come, the prophets invite us not to let our opportunity pass by without being named, mourned, and lamented. —Brian McLaren 

Monday 
Lamentation prayer is when we sit and speak out to God and one another—stunned, sad, and silenced by the tragedy and absurdity of human events. It might actually be the most honest form of prayer. —Richard Rohr 

Tuesday
Jesus wept, / and in his weeping, / he joined himself forever / to those who mourn.... / He stands with the mourners, / for his name is God-with-us.
—Ann Weems 

Wednesday 
Lament is not despair. It is not whining. It is not a cry into a void. Lament is a cry directed to God. It is the cry of those who see the truth of the world’s deep wounds and the cost of seeking peace.
—Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice 

Thursday
When we go to the place of tears, it’s an inner attitude where when I can’t fix it, when I can’t explain it, when I can’t control it, when I can’t even understand it, I can only forgive it. Let go of it, weep over it. It’s a different mode of being.
—Richard Rohr 

Friday 
Therein lies the power of lament: to speak the truth that all is not well. Lament is prophetic speech. It bears faithful witness to all that is not right with the world and to all that is not right with ourselves. —Andi Lloyd 

 

 

 

Week Sixteen Practice

Weep for the World

 

We invite readers to listen and lament with the song Weep for the World, written and performed by Brian McLaren to express our human desire to both grieve and heal from the harm we have caused.  

Let us weep for the world 
being broken apart 
by humans,  
foolish humans. 
Let us grieve the desecration  
of forest and stream, 
of glacier and ocean and humans,  
like us.  

Let us be mindful of the children,  
being born today,  
in a world torn apart 
by humans.  
Let us show our children  
a more excellent way  
to walk on the earth and be human,  
truly human.  

Let us love this world  
we’ve been breaking apart  
and let our love bring wholeness.  
And let us love one another  
with a compassionate heart  
for it is love that makes us human, human. 

Let us weep for the world  
We are breaking apart,  
so we can love it back  
to wholeness.  
Let our hearts be stretched  
by great sorrow and love,  
so they will never contract  
to being less than human.

The Weeping Mode

Thursday, April 20th, 2023

Through studying Francis of Assisi, Richard Rohr learned that weeping is a mode of being that relinquishes any need to be in control: 

When I was a Franciscan novice in 1961, I only went to my novice master once with a complaint. Every month, we had been encouraged to read another life of Saint Francis. I kept reading about Francis going off into a cave and crying. These books said he spent whole days in tears, weeping. Frankly, this made no sense to me, so I went to my novice master. I said, “What’s he crying about all the time? I don’t get it. I don’t know if I want to be a Franciscan.” My educated, rational mind already resisted that kind of losing, weakness, vulnerability. My novice master told me, “You won’t understand it now, but I promise you will later.” 

The mode of weeping, of crying, is different than the mode of fixing. It’s different than understanding. That’s why we often cry when we forgive. I’ve given up trying to make rhyme or reason or blame or who’s right or who’s wrong. The dualistic mind just goes back and forth seeking justification, seeking the right reason to hate or reject another person. We never find home base. Now I understand why Francis wept so much. When we go to the place of tears, and I don’t mean necessarily literally—I still don’t cry very easily myself, I’m sad to say—it’s an inner attitude where when I can’t fix it, when I can’t explain it, when I can’t control it, when I can’t even understand it, I can only forgive it. Let go of it, weep over it. It’s a different mode of being. [1] 

After her father’s death, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie captures the embodied experience of “the weeping mode,” in which no attempts to “fix” or “move on” will do: 

Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn how glib condolences can feel. You learn how much grief is about language, the failure of language and the grasping for language. Why are my sides so sore and achy? It’s from crying, I’m told. I did not know that we cry with our muscles. The pain is not surprising, but its physicality is: my tongue is unbearably bitter, as though I ate a loathed meal and forgot to clean my teeth; on my chest, a heavy, awful weight; and inside my body, a sensation of eternal dissolving. My heart—my actual, physical heart, nothing figurative here—is running away from me, has become its own separate thing, beating too fast, its rhythms at odds with mine. This is an affliction not merely of the spirit but of the body, of aches and lagging strength. Flesh, muscles, organs are all compromised. No physical position is comfortable. For weeks, my stomach is in turmoil, tense and tight with foreboding, the ever-present certainty that somebody else will die, that more will be lost. [2] 

References:  

[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of Saint Francis (Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2010). Available as CD. 

[2] Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Notes on Grief (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2021), 6–7. 

4.  Prayer

A Prayer of Lament:

Lord, I know that you are faithful over all things, even the hard, dark times of my life. Help me not back away from you in my time of grief. Help me instead to lean into you and trust you, even when I do not understand your ways. Please keep my head above the waters of anguish and my feet from slipping off the ground of truth. Help me see you in these hard moments and glorify you in my response. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

A Prayer of Lament (crosswalk.com)

5.  Meditation

https://youtu.be/_kT38XB1YHo

6.  Song

https://youtu.be/Fo3DudOzV4k

Ear of Your Heart

POV differs.

Open mind.  Horizontal

listening with heart.

Four Ingredient Blueberry Cookies

 

I am into blueberries especially upon learning that they are good for the brain especially the memory . https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/maximize-memory-function-with-a-nutrient-rich-diet   I try to put them in everything from sweets to savory dishes.  Here is an easy cookie recipe to prepare and healthy without eggs, added sugar and oil.  No added sweetener was added since I used very ripe bananas.

I was pleasantly surprised this was the ones chosen in the dessert table by members of the International Womens Club East during our monthly April meeting.  My husband loved them.  

Four Ingredient Blueberry Cookies

        Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups oats 
• ▢ 2 large very ripe bananas, mashed
• ▢ 1/2 cup peanut butter 
• ▢ 1/4 cup frozen or fresh blueberries (I used frozen)

Instructions

Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix first three ingredients in a bowl till well combined.  Add the blueberries to the mixture and mix.  

Using an ice cream scoop transfer the batter to a cookie sheet.  I did not flatten and left them as mounds.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Makes 12 cookies.

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories	134
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 6.4g	8%
Saturated Fat 1.3g	7%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 50mg	2%
Total Carbohydrate 16.3g	6%
Dietary Fiber 2.6g	9%
Total Sugars 3.9g
Protein 4.7g
Vitamin D 0mcg	0%
Calcium 8mg	1%
Iron 2mg	9%
Potassium 192mg	4%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet.2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Recipe analyzed by