Monday, October 13, 2014

Use Leftover Pilaf Rice to Stuff Bell Peppers



Mixed bell peppers by Adamophoto. freerangestock.com

I love finding ways to reduce waste and, accordingly, to turn letovers into new, yummy concoctions. Recently I had some Greek pilaf rice leftover from a Greek dinner I prepared for a friend and myself. Then inspiriation hit: Stuffed Bell Peppers!

Though the pilaf was lemon-chicken flavored, it mixed well with some browned ground turkey and tomato sauce. I cleaned four giant red and green bell peppers from a local fresh fruit & veg stand. I then cut off the tops in such a way there was room to stuff them, as well. I cored/seeded the peppers (tops, too) and then proceeded to stuff them with the cooked rice mix.

Once the tops were stuffed, I carefully placed them on top of the stuffed peppers. I placed them all in a shallow baking dish with about an inch or so of water. I baked them for about an hour and a half at 350 degrees. I know that seems a little longer than the usual cooking time, but these were GIANT peppers! They were still very raw in places at the hour mark.

You can tell they are done when you can poke them with a fork at the thickest part and it slides right in. The peppers may darken or look a little browned/burned in spots, but that is ok. It adds a great smoky flavor without the burned crunch/dryness.

The end result of my experiment was a tasy, keeper-recipe and gave new life to the leftover rice.

You can also stuff bell peppers with leftover meatloaf or other leftover rice dishes. Some people like to add cheese to their stuffed bell peppers.

What creative things do you do with your leftovers?


Thursday, October 9, 2014

The Beautiful and Messy Great American Melting Pot of Diversity


Image by Chance Agrella, freerangestock.com


Growing up, I loved the Schoolhouse Rock educational shorts that ran on the Saturday mornings with the regular cartoon schedule. The catchy tunes helped me on more than one occasion through my educational pursuits. To this day, I can recite the Preamble to the United States Constitution because I learned the Schoolhouse Rock song for it.

One of the great songs from that time was about the Great American Melting Pot. I loved the song because it stressed how 'we' come from all corners of the world and here, in this great country, become one new, stronger people. We are built upon the principles our Founders and Framers instituted, with the freedom and encouragement to add the great spices of a plethora of viewpoints, religions, races, cultures and more into the mix. It is because we embrace this melting pot style that we are free.

Unlike multiculturalism, which is based in divisiveness and special treatment for special classes, the melting pot promotes unity and tolerance. Ever heard "United we stand; divided we fall"? The melting pot unites us and makes us strong.

When you look at the multicultural messes abroad you will see divisiveness, special classes and nations committing suicide by slowing killing themselves from within by going from being one nation to a mini united nations. They have essentially ceded their soil to many other nations and cultures -and not even a single shot was ever fired.

Under the melting pot framework, we learn to live together in relative, messy harmony not as a collection of different people, but as a group of one. What are Americans? We are Catholics, Jews and Hindus. We are white, black and brown. We are short, tall, skinny, fat, blonde, brunette, red-head and bald. We are young, old and middle-aged. We are male and female. We are as diverse as the planets in the universe but we are still one people. We are one family.

Like every family, we have the crazy uncle, the nagging aunt and the trouble maker cousin. We have our squabbles, but you mess with us and ours, as in 9/11, and you watch how fast we unite to help one another and kick yer butt!

This melting pot design demands we show true tolerance for one another. It requires us to learn to recognize other viewpoints than our own and to join our voices together into one harmonious choir of support for the preservation of our freedoms from those in power who would strip us of them. I read something from Glenn Beck that I think really says it nicely, “Let’s stop dividing ourselves and let’s start being intellectually curious and accepting the fact that other people are going to go in a different direction. And stop trying to win and start trying to understand each other.”

We don't have to think alike to be one nation. It is because we have so many different ideas that we can find and use the best. Its how in our short time as a nation we became a world leader and powerful force in the international front. If we all thought the same, if only one opinion was allowed, we wouldn't accomplish much at all. We'd die from the lack of progress and evolution as a people and as a nation.

We will never have the 'utopia' pictured in film, "The Giver", but as illustrated so well in the movie, that is not the kind of utopia most of us would wish for, any way. Messy and difficult as it is, our diversity and resulting freedoms are the key to our peace and our joy.

Most of us hate war, hate violence, hate crime and hate negativity in general. We want to see poverty end and we want all to get the care and assistance they need when ill or in special circumstances. Our differences come from what to do about those issues but that gets taken to a whole other-worldly level when politicos and talking heads amp it all up for their own gain. They divide us to use us for their own aims and gains. We can change that.

Our messy diversity is beautiful and it is liberty embodied. It is worth protecting and worth fighting for at town hall meetings, in letters to the editor, in messages to our elected and at the ballot box.

It is within our rainbow of colors, ideas, backgrounds and beliefs that we find our strength, our wisdom, our freedom and our peace. It is our greatest asset and the chink in our amour when others turn it against us.

Like this post? Stay tuned for more in Kara's upcoming book "Beautiful, Dangerous Liberty: The True Path to Peace."






Natural Weed Killer: Quick, Easy, Cheap and Effective


image by Kevin Tietz, freerangestock.com


I'll start of by saying I know its a little late in the season for this post, but if you are like me and want one final shot at eradicating weeds before the season ends, you might find this helpful.

At the beginning of the season I tried two applications of a "weed and feed" type product on my lawn, to no avail. I live next to other properties that are either abandoned or have a weed issue, so my property becomes a haven for the weed seeds that fly around in our canyon wind exposure.

I read about a natural solution to the problem and decided to try it. I love it! It acutally works, and long-term, too. It didn't completely eradicate all the weeds-one particular type is a nightmare to get rid of, particularly when many around me are plagued with it, too. However, this natural weed killer got rid of all the other weeds and over the long-term. I went from battling weeds on a weekly basis to only tackling the worst one and a few sprouts of other kinds twice for the rest of the season.

What is this miracle weed killer? Vinegar. Yup, plain white vinegar. I read it works best to add some dish soap to it, so it will 'stick' on the weed leaves, so I tried that variation and was pleased.

On a hot, sunny day, spray or soak your weeds with a solution of 1 gallon vinegar mixed with one ounce of any dish soap. Over the following several hours you will see them brown and shrivel. It seems to continue to work until the weed is killed, on most types of weeds. Once they are dried up and brown, you can rub them with your foot and watch them crumble and disappear. Most of my thus-attacked weeds did not return.

Now, bear in mind, this natural weed killer will kill any green life it lands on-it is not selective. If you get it on your grass or flowers, it will kill them, too. So, apply with care. I used a Powerade bottle and sqeezed the solution onto the weeds to really soak them and to control the aim better than with a sprayer. My method of application uses a lot of the solution to cover a small area, so you may need more than one gallon of vinegar to attack all of your weeds. I did.

The natual weed killer worked so well for me, others asked what I did and have been using it now, as well. It has been working for my neighbors, too. Maybe betweent the lot of us using it, we can mimize the overall weed exposure we all have.

In my area, one gallon of vinegar runs for around $3 and you can get a bottle of dish soap for $1 at the dollar store or on sale/with coupons.

If you try this, please be sure to let us know how it worked for you and any tips or tricks you discovered.