Recipes for Erin

PALEO-CORRECT MEAT LOAF

2 lb extra-lean ground beef
2 red onions, finely chopped
4 garlic gloves
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 c fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 c fresh parsley,chopped
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper
3 omega 3 enriched eggs, beaten
2 T olive oil

Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Spread mixture evenly in an 81/ x 11 inch baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees  for 45 minutes or until well cooked. Serves 8.

ALMOND CHICKEN SALAD

1 cup cooked, diced chicken breast meat
1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
1 cup shredded butter leaf lettuce
1/2 cup chopped red cabbage
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup chopped Medjool dates
1-2 Tablespoons flaxseed oil
1-2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Combine all ingredients except liquids in a large service bowl. Toss with flaxseed oil and orange juice. Serves 2.

Fish Tacos with Quick Pickled Cabbage

2 cups red cabbage and 1 cup carrots shredded in food processor
3/4 white vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon kosher salt - for dressing
1 Lb fresh or frozen tilapia - or really any white fish
1/2 cup bottled lime vinaigrette dressing - marinade for fish
salt and pepper to taste
flour tortillas - 6-7 inch
avocado, very thinly sliced
fresh jalapeno - seeded and very thinly sliced
cilantro

prepare the cabbage and carrots. Bring vinegar to boil, add salt and sugar - mix with slaw and refrigerate an hour - Thaw fish and add vinaigrette - put back in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Coat broiler pan with cooking spray. In preheated broiler, broil for 6-8 minutes 4-5 inches from flame or until flakes easily with fork - salt and pepper the fish to taste. Break fish apart in large chunks.

Put fish on flour tortillas with slaw, avocado, jalapeno and cilantro.

About 420 calories per taco

Based on recipe in Publix Family Style magazine

Chattahoochee Bike Ride

Sunday bike ride after church. It was a beautiful day. The bike trail is along the Chattahoochee River in the Atlanta area. There were a lot of people out enjoying the day. I enjoyed watching a little one learn to rid without training wheels I took a few shots along the way. I hope you enjoy them.

Green moss
 and something white

Bike Trail Bridge

Fortress?

Bark shredding

Canadian Geese

Looking Up

The Pond

The Lesson of the Moth - Don Marquis

i was talking to a moth the other evening he was trying to break into an electric light bulb and fry himself on the wires why do you fellows pull this stunt i asked him because it is the conventional thing for moths or why if that had been an uncovered candle instead of an electric light bulb you would now be a small unsightly cinder have you no sense plenty of it he answered but at times we get tired of using it we get bored with the routine and crave beauty and excitement fire is beautiful and we know that if we get too close it will kill us but what does that matter it is better to be happy for a moment and be burned up with beauty than to live a long time and be bored all the while so we wad all our life up into one little roll and then we shoot the roll that is what life is for it is better to be a part of beauty for one instant and then cease to exist than to exist forever and never be a part of beauty our attitude toward life is come easy go easy we are like human beings used to be before they became too civilized to enjoy themselves and before i could argue him out of his philosophy he went and immolated himself on a patent cigar lighter i do not agree with him myself i would rather have half the happiness and twice the longevity but at the same time i wish there was something i wanted as badly as he wanted to fry himself

the tree - her

the tree has
nowhere to hide
stripped bare
against a winter's sky
...pausing
   ...waiting
       ...undone.

fingers extended reaching
every which way - perhaps stretching
to the sun

who holds her clothing.

Understanding All The Heart

Trust in the Lord with all your heart...

ALL my heart? Really? What does that even mean? And so my quest to attempt clarity on this section of Proverbs 3 -

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight".


I have a need for straight paths. Even if I had more desire for straight paths then for trusting God with all my heart, it appears that the way to straight paths is trust, and so I am very interested in understanding what it means to trust with all your heart. I have been wondering that for the last few weeks, ALL YOUR HEART, trust. How can you know that you are doing that or how can you know you are not?

I am a watcher. It is both a good and bad trait - but one result of the good traits is that I have observed a lot of religious people over the years who would have done well to read The Emperor's New Clothes along with their bibles. This observance has caused me to seriously question myself when I start to think that I really understand a spiritual principal. So I approached this particular quest with a bit of frustration wondering if I could really understand what ALL MY HEART meant. I'm still not sure I can, but I think I started to get a clue when I ran across this scripture,

As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "Truly I tell you," he said. "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put all she had to live on."  Luke 21:1-4                
"but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on"

Reading this scripture passage I wondered about this woman and what she might have been thinking when she put her money in. I wondered why she did it. She gave out of her lack of supply. The rich were giving out of their supply and most likely not very challenged in their trust to do so. If I have $100,000. 00 in the bank and I give the church $1,000.00, that wouldn't stretch my faith at all as to how giving that amount might affect me and my personal circumstances. But if I only had $20.00 and I gave $20.00 to God's purposes, that would certainly put myself squarely in the hands of God to take care of me after that donation was done.

I also wondered about the life the widow lived contrasted with the lives the rich lived. I can imagine that she had seen her share of stress and want and as the definition of poverty defines, her share of lack of supply. Stress, want and lack of supply. These are all not very desirable conditions, yet it seems that they may have been the very thing that caused this widow to be able to make such a donation, and they are also the very things that caused Jesus to notice her and praise her act. And I'm wondering, am I getting close to understanding what it means to trust the Lord with all my heart?

Walking in Woodstock

Went for a short bike ride and a walk at Olde Rope Mill Park in Woodstock, Georgia today. It was a cloudy day, the weather just a bit cool and really just perfect for looking. To me it is easier to see colors and variations of textures on a cloudy day. I took some photographs of some of what caught my eye. Being winter still it's a challenge to find something of interest to shoot and there are just a few below but I hope you enjoy them. Check out the link at bottom also about the park.

Link :   Olde Rope Mill Park, Woodstock, Georgia