First Lesson in the Grand Cooking School

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my venture, The Grand Aggregation, composed of a book club, cooking school, and spa.  It's a very exclusive, private club.  It consists of myself, as the Grandmother, and my various grandchildren.  No one else is allowed in, unless invited. 

Tomorrow, the first lesson in the Grand Cooking School is to take place.  Actually, I will let you in on a secret.  The purpose of the Grand Cooking School is to teach my grandchild how to read and measure.  Besides learning fractions, she will learn how to follow directions.  Oh yeah, she'll learn how to cook, too.  If I remember correctly, children love to cook because they see the results of their work, immediately.  That's the hook--immediate reward.

Our first exericse is how to make lasagna.  Here is the recipe: 

Lasagna

INGREDIENTS

·         1 jar (26-28 ounces) spaghetti sauce

·         1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes (do not drain)

·         1/2 cup water

·         1 ounce parmesan cheese, or  (1/4 cup)

·         1Tablespoon parsley

·         1 egg

·         1 carton (8 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese

·         12 uncooked lasagna noodles

·         3- 4 cups (12 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS

1.      Preheat oven to 400°F.  Combine spaghetti sauce, undrained tomatoes and water and set aside.

2.      Mix parmesan cheese and parsley in a small, deep bowl.

3.      In a small bowl, mix egg with a whisk.  Add ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and parsley to the egg and mix well with scraper.

4.      To assemble lasagna, spread the sauce over bottom of a lasagna pan.

5.      Arrange the noodles in single layer over sauce by placing noodles lengthwise to cover the bottom of the pan. (Break off and discard ends of noodles, if necessary, so that noodles will fit flat in the pan.) Press noodles into sauce. 

6.      Spread all of the ricotta cheese mixture over noodles. Sprinkle with half of the mozzarella cheese.

7.      Top with the sauce and remaining noodles, breaking noodles to fit. Press noodles into sauce. Spread the remaining sauce over noodles. Cover with aluminum foil. (At this point, lasagna can be refrigerated for several hours or overnight.) 

8.      Bake 45 minutes (55 minutes if lasagna was refrigerated) or until noodles are tender. Uncover carefully and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Cover loosely with foil; let stand 15 minutes. Cut into serving size pieces.

Because I'm the Mommy That's Why

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The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Lectio

SIR 3:2-6, 12-14

God sets a father in honor over his children; 
a mother's authority he confirms over her sons.
Whoever honors his father atones for sins,
and preserves himself from them.
When he prays, he is heard;
he stores up riches who reveres his mother.
Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children,
and, when he prays, is heard.
Whoever reveres his father will live a long life;
he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.

My son, take care of your father when he is old;
grieve him not as long as he lives.
Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him;
revile him not all the days of his life;
kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
firmly planted against the debt of your sins
—a house raised in justice to you.

Studium

Sirach is also known as the Wisdom of Sirach or the Book of Ecclesiasticus.   The Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures did include this book making it popular among the Jewish Christians.  But when the Jews rewrote their canon it was not included.  It can be found in Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican versions of the Bible.

It is believed to have been written in 190 BC by Jesus ben Sirach.  It is referred to as 'Sirach'.  Since it was read in the church it was sometimes given the Latin name of 'Ecclesiasticus'.

Meditation

No wonder the early Christians, and the Jews too, read and quoted this book.  It asserts the father as head of the household.  It puts in order who's who and what their responsibilities are.  

Feminists may not like the patriarchal tone of the Book, but you can't judge an era before Christ with today's eyes.  I maintain the familial order by asserting "because I'm the Mommy, that's why."

The older I get I also appreciate Sirach's admonitions to care for the elderly. Adult children caring for their parents is a relevant today as it was in Sirach's time.

Oratio

Lord, may children love their parents and grandparents.  May they honor their wisdom and care for their parents as they get older.

Contemplatio

God does not forget how you treat others.

"Cloistered" Pizza

One of my "cloistered brothers" makes the most delicious pizza.  Here is his recipe.  It makes about 6 large pizzas.

Crust

1 -  2-pound bag of flour
1/2  of a box of pancake mix
4 teaspoons of oregano
3 ounces of sugar
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of onion powder
2 teaspoons of black pepper

Mix and let it sit for about six hours.  This makes it easier to roll out and handle.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare your toppings:

Toppings

3 jars of any pizza sauce
2 tubs of your favorite cheese
5 bars of provolone cheese
2-3 whole onions
2-3 green peppers
pepperoni and hard salami

Prepare the crust: roll into pan size, handle and stretch to fit the pan.  Butter the pans well.  Butter the bottom of the crust, too.  Butter the top of the crust.  Bake the crust for 10 minutes.  Butter the top and bottom, again. Add your toppings.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes.  Enjoy.

There is No Rest with Vengeance

"I'm sorry to tell this, girls," says she, but there is no rest with
vengeance.  It doesn't make you feel any better, it doesn't
relieve the pain. There is only the slight satisfaction of retribution..."

These words were spoken by Molly McGill, who knows what she is talking about, for she killed her husband, who had killed their daughter.  There wasn't sweet revenge.  There was no satisfaction to speak.  The hurt remained.  The emptiness continued to dig deeper into her soul.  And for killing her husband, she was sentenced to Sing Sing Prison for life. 

That was Molly McGill's life until she was offered to be part of a government program.  "The Brides for Indians Program," in 1873, offered one thousand white women in exchange for three hundred horses.  Molly McGill jumped at the chance.  She wasn't alone.  There were other women who saw this program as a chance to freedom and adventure.  The Vengeance of Mothers by Jim Fergus is a book about the consequences of this program.  It is told through the diaries of two of the women.  Molly, I already introduced. The other lady is Margaret Kelly.  Margaret Kelly and her twin sister, Susie, are major characters in this book.  Margaret Kelly's diary speaks for the two of them. Together, the two diaries speak for all the white women.

These women may have come from unfortunate circumstances and their lives with the Cheyenne may have seemed worse, but their lives were now what they chose.  They had loved both their Cheyenne husbands and the Indian life.  They were willing to fight and kill for their new lives.

That's the basic storyline. The author, Jim Fergus, cleverly wove the two diaries together to tell the continuum story.  He tells an interesting tale.  I might say, a page-turner.  I know I stayed up too late many a night thinking I'd stop at the end of the chapter, but couldn't. 

The Vengeance of Mothers is actually a sequel to another book.  Jim Fergus also wrote One Thousand White Women.  I enjoyed The Vengeance of Mothers so much I plan on purchasing One Thousand White Women.

Celebrating God's Sanctifying Grace

God uses all kinds of means to let us know that He's omnipresent.  Whenever we see someone helped or something happen just in the nick of time, that's His work.  I believe that's what we're celebrating on religious holidays.  Yesterday, was Christmas day.  I saw God bring my husband back to me.  I saw God helping neighbors shovel snow from the morning's snow.  I saw God give presents to express human love.

I believe these and more are evidence of God's grace working in human lives.  My feelings were confirmed when I read Brother Hyacinth Grubb, O.P. article in Dominicana.  His topic was the Puritans banning the celebration of Christmas.  The Puritans were correct in recognizing Christmas as an important holy day.  But they did not see the working of God's sacramental grace in the birth of Jesus.  Maybe they did but did not believe in celebrating it.  I guess; how could you not rejoice that your Savior was born?  Anyway, the Puritans banned celebrating Christmas.

 In the words of one preacher: “the feast of Christ’s nativity is spent in reveling, dicing, carding, masking, and in all licentious liberty. . .by mad mirth, by long eating, by hard drinking, by lewd gaming, by rude reveling!” 

Thank God I'm Catholic.

Christmas Consternation

I'll begin with a few facts.  Today is Christmas.  Hubby's persona is the strong and silent man.  Now here's the story.  I woke up this Christmas morning alone.  Does hubby have a surprise for me?

Yes, he certainly did, but not a nice one.  He was gone.  He left a note which said.  My heart is beating too fast, I drove to the hospital.

He had an A-fib episode.  This is the second one in a couple of years.  A-fib is short for Atrial fibrillation, which is an abnormal heart rhythm. And this is the second time he has sneaked off to the hospital, alone.  The first was a gallbladder attack.  I hate when he does this because I want to hear what the doctor tells him.  You really need two people talking to the doctor to remember and ask questions, never mind support.

While I was trying to decide what to do, he texted me saying that he was OK, but they wanted him to stay in the hospital for four hours.

That was a relief.

Did I mention the weather?  There was a little snow storm outside.  It wasn't bad, maybe three inches, but I shoveled it all.  And when I was just about done shoveling, hubby drove in the driveway. 

So Christmas ended good, after all.

Picky Eaters

Yes, I admit I was a picky eater.  When I was a child I didn't like eating and I hated meal times.  My parents were always after me to eat.  I swore that when I was a parent I would leave my child alone.  For the most part, I did.  They didn't have to eat what they didn't want BUT they couldn't have dessert.  I hope I made my kids' mealtimes pleasant.

Getty Image

Today, I was sorting through some old magazines to see which ones to keep and which ones to toss.  In allrecipes, February/March 2014 edition, an article on "Why kids are picky eaters (and why it's no big whoop) caught my attention.  The author attests that nature makes young children be picky about what they eat.  Afterall, in caveman days fear of different food was necessary or children would be eating poisonous berries and other dangerous things. 

My three kids from age 2-5 subsisted basically on one food:

the oldest was cottage cheese (plain!)

the middle hardly ate at all

the youngest only ate Cambell's cream of potato soup (and I always had a hard time finding it)

My grandchildren's favorite is McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.

One more story about myself.  As a child, I wouldn't eat asparagus for all the tea in China.  Once when I was a teenager, I was eating supper at my friend's house.  The green beans they served were different.  They were kind of mushy and tasted different, but they were good.  I complimented the cooking and said "I particularly liked the green beans.  They were tasty."

Everybody burst out laughing--at me!

You guessed it.  They were asparagus, not green beans.  As the article stated, "Children become more adventurous eaters at their own pace."