It’s very interesting how personal trauma works.   The dictionary reports trauma to be this:

“A deeply distressing or disturbing experience.”   Adding “personal injury” as definition number 2.

I came face to face today with an individual that I can say caused both definitions to my life. The pain this person caused me and those around me because of it, is actual trauma. The impact this human had on me is hard to describe and took almost a solid year to not actively hate.  Hate doesn’t hurt anyone except yourself.  When you feel that type of anger it is harming you, not the object of that emotion. They do not care.  So, there they were.  Smiling at me, and asking how I am.  Really.  Smiling at me, and asking the pleasant question of how I am.  I felt kind of sick to my stomach, a wave a nausea. This person is a successful businessperson.  Well respected in the area where I live. Folks enjoy name dropping their name because it makes them feel important or “In the know.”

So, there they were.  Even added a “Nice to see you.”  What?  Ok. 

In my mind I have had a different conversation with this person.  In the active hate stage of my healing, I had a lot to say. Truth is it took me a second to recognize them.  I think I blocked out the face completely.  When the second it took expired, I did have the wave of nausea, that quickly disappeared, and to that pleasant question, I answered, “I am great!”  When the “Nice to see you,” followed up, I said “Yes.”  Because I am certain it IS nice to see me, and it is not nice for me to see them, so I was not going to reciprocate the sentiment.

After the walk away, I realized that I am not completely healed. Professionals call this a “trauma response.”  I had a wave of anger because they do not have anything to heal from. They wounded me.  I did not wound them.  I have had to pull myself basically out of bed because of what happened.  I have had to reintroduce light into a dark place directly because of their actions.  They seemingly bounce through their respected professional life, with a smile, and “nice to see you” as they go.

We cannot deny the responses we have to those that have wounded us or harmed us in whatever way.  Do not let anyone tell you they did not cause that, because they do not dictate what your responses are to their actions.  Do not live in that active hate.  It harms you.  They do not care. That is a very hard thing to do, but you are worthy of that healing. That freedom. 

Feeling all the emotions and facing the responses, and seeing things for exactly what they are, can all be a part of the healing that only we can do.

It was interesting the thought the occurred to me.  I used to see this person as very tall in stature.  As if towering over those around them.  Today though, as I walked away, I thought to myself, “Is that person shorter?” 

The answer to that question is yes.

There is always a path to healing. We are all different. Check out some resources below, and ALWAYS talk to the medical professionals in your life. We are not alone in our journey though this life.

https://www.betterhelp.com/

https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression

Don’t you just love Summer?  This has not been the same kind of Summer though.  The summer garden became a refuge, and a source of peace during these uncertain days.  What is certain, seeds in the dirt producing food. 

Bringing garden fresh goodness to your table is the joy of it.  One of the best things is SALAD!  You can make a boring salad, not so boring with this easy, and impressive dressing.  I put this in a Mason Jar, strictly for style points.   

Here is the recipe:

2 cups sour cream

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded, tops removed

Tsp onion powder

Tsp garlic powder

Tsp black pepper

Good bunch of Cilantro leaves, at least a cup.  (Leaves only)

Juice of 1 lime

What to do:

Add all to blender.  Blend until smooth.  Store in refrigerator.  Should last a few weeks.  I doubt you will have it that long though.  It has been hard to go back to commercial dressing after this fresh and easy to accomplish taste.

There really is nothing quite like a juicy red, ripe tomato right off the vine. It can turn a simple BLT, into a chef’s special! 

Below is a quick and easy sandwich spread, that just makes sandwich night a little more somethin-somethin. 

Here’s what to do:

1 cup of Miracle whip

2 tbl ketchup

1 tsp onion power

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Italian seasoning

Black pepper to taste

½ cup chopped sweet *onion (optional)

Mix, and spread on your favorite sandwich.

Note: You can double/triple this, for a BBQ.  It is especially good on hamburgers. Make the ordinary, extraordinary!

*added our garden onion to this.  The onion adds a unique flavor but is totally optional.

Fall is on its way.  Sometimes you can almost feel it in the air.  Enjoy these lazy days of summer, while they last.

Clicky stuff:

Flavor God Seasonings

Rebel Gardens on Facebook

BeYOUtiful Life Bio  

💕

After the winter, there is always Spring.  I like that.  Especially during this time of uncertainty, there is still the hope that this season of the four brings.

One thing for sure, there is nothing better that sprucing up your spaces with the vibrant colors of this time of year.  Greenery and blooming color to signify the change of season around your home.  Dusting off the outdoor areas a bit, getting out those chairs for your sitting and conversation to enjoy and make your own.

I found these adorable throw pillow covers, and it opened up endless possibility to refresh for the seasons.  Linked here , cute patterns that add that little touch that can be incorporated into anyone’s style.

Throughout the outdoor spaces small touches from your style and personality, can bring a charm that is welcoming and comfortable.  Bring who you are into your decorating. deigning with your own sense of creativity.

I added this very simple to make egg wreath to the front door.  Made with more muted color plastic eggs, a grapevine wreath, and some hot glue.  Supplies linked here  with the grapevine wreath you can find here. You could use any color or size plastic eggs, and make that any size too!  Even though this says Easter, I feel most of April it is in season too.

Came across this old stove top, and snagged it right up!  I had a time deciding how to use it, and how to incorporate it into the home.  Once I did, it has become a focal point for adding touches of each season in a rather unique way.  Placing more muted color faux flowers here as well, to keep the more primitive theme tied together.

OOneof my favorite little items I recently came across was this delightful bird, wearing a crown.  The shop I found it in, VC Wares, located in Wheeling, WV, I will link here.  Her shop in gorgeous, and so is her online shop!

Some plastic eggs from Dollar General, Jute rope from any craft store, and hot glue, worked together to make these primitive looking eggs.  It ties the theme  throughout, and was so easy!  I added some embellishments from old jewelry, buttons, and greenery.

The promise of Spring.  The hope.  Bring that feeling to your spaces.  Express your individual style.  Even the most tiny thing, can be an expression of who you are.  After all, Home really isn’t a place.  Home is wherever YOU are.

May all the blessings of this season, be yours. Be well!

How about an Egg Muffin?

This is a very easy take on an a breakfast or brunch recipe.  Grab those muffin tins and get crackin’.  This recipe made 6 muffins, however you can easily adjust to make as many as you want.

You’ll need:

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Honey ham (or ham of choice)

1 green bell pepper,  chopped

About a quarter of sweet onion, chopped

2-3 sliced baby bella mushrooms

About 1/4 cup shredded cheese of choice

Salt, pepper, dried basil, pinch red pepper flakes, or seasonings of choice.

Olive oil, enough for saute.

What I did:

– “Grease” pan with olive oil, Pam, or butter. I used Smart Balance.

– Arrange ham in each section as your holder.

– Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a small saute pan, add chopped peppers, onion, and sliced mushrooms to pan , add salt and pepper to taste, and cook until softened.

– Fill cooked veggies to each section of muffin tin with ham “cups.”

– Whisk together eggs, milk, and seasonings and pour into each section as evenly as your eyeballs can do. Top with your cheese of choice.

– Bake in 400 oven for 25 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

Done!! Enjoy.

These also are great to make ahead, and have on hand for a quick on the run breakfast.

Clicky stuff:

Smart Balance

Buying Local

Oscar Mayer Online

It is my belief that women should help one another. That, my ladies is what I am here to do.
🙋‍♀️
You shall be the Queen of the summer BBQ, the Diva at the next get together, Royalty at your church’s pot luck, the Ruler of your home, with this recipe. Tell all your low carb friends to sit down, because you – YOU – have arrived.
💪👩‍🍳👸

DRESSING:

3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup raw honey
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Salad:
4 cups small broccoli florets, diced
4 cups small cauliflower florets, diced
12 slices thick cut bacon, cooked and diced
8 ounces Colby Jack cheese, small cubed
1/2 medium red onion, chopped and rinsed

Instructions:
Whisk all dressing ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl.
Cover and chill.
In a large salad bowl, toss all salad ingredients.
Pour dressing over salad and toss to evenly coat.
Top with additional bacon and serve immediately.

Rule. 🙋‍♀️

Tips:
I added fresh Parsley because it’s like a song one must sing.🎶
Try best you can to use local produce from a farm market, it just is better. Your grocery produce will do just fine though. It’s just the style points to discuss with your subjects how fresh your salad is.💁‍♀️

Now go. Be strong and mighty. Get your power back, be the *Queen you were born to be.

👸

Some clicky things:

Chobani Online

Salt, Pepper, and Herb Grinder

Kroger Simple Truth online

*can be for Kings as well. Be Royal.

Let’s all not be afraid of the Spaghetti Squash. So beautiful,  and rather easy to prepare -except maybe you need to be a cross fit superstar to cut this bad boy, I can tell ya that.

The pay off though, is oh so worth it.

Here is what I do.  Thing is, this won’t be perfectly measured,  and you can sub out a lot of this with what you have on hand. I’ll explain as we go. Trying to keep it brief. I cook like I talk. So it’s a story.  Hang in there, the end is always better than the middle, much like all of life.

The best way to pick out a good spagetti squash is just to buy it.  Just pick one up, place in your cart, and walk on. I do find that speciality produce markets have the best ones.  Your local grocery store has produce that is every bit as good. I enjoy when the sign says, “Locally Grown.” We can’t support our local farmers enough, so whenever possible,  buy local.

Next, you gotta cut that thing in half.  A great way to start that is place it in the microwave,  5 minutes on high. Using oven mitts, remove it after that. Let it rest about 2 minutes, and somehow this works easily.  If you are feeling mighty,  just cut right into it.

With this round, I had a small accident,  and the other half cracked in half. No big deal.  You see how it all came together.

Clean out the seeds. Much like a pumpkin! Save the seeds though.  They are delicious roasted.  I roasted them right along with this squash,  and I keep munching on them.  Which I’ll show ya!

Once the seeds are all out, line a sheet pan with foil.

In a mixing bowl add:

1/2 olive oil

3 sprigs fresh oregano leaves, chopped

1 bunch fresh Thyme leaves

2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste.

**you do not need fresh. Jarred minced garlic, dried oregano and thyme are just as good!**

Brush the oil combo all through the cavity.

Place flesh down on sheet pan.  Then, in the same bowl you mixed up the oil mixture, add seeds, a little more salt,  and coat seeds.  Add them around on the sheet pan. You can see the cracked one here,  no big problem.  I felt like a super hero cutting this thing anyway. A crack is not gonna stop me.

Roast in a 425 oven, for 50 minutes. After that time, run a knife through the skin, if it’s easy, you are done.

Flake with a fork, and you have delicious spaghetti.  SQUASH.

Makes a great side, can serve with homemade sauce, chicken alfredo – really anywhere you would use pasta, use this!

And these seeds? A crunchy little yummy snack.  No more squash fear. Easy,  fun, healthy,  clean meal.

Stuff:

Delallo Olive Oil

Spices at Penzeys

Sea Salt from Kroger

Public Market – Wheeling, WV

There is most likely not going to be any other adventures in the blog posting.  It really is just about sauce.   I am not an Italian cook.  I will be completely honest, that up until a few years ago, I bought jarred or canned – store bought spaghetti sauce. What happened was I watched one of those Facebook videos that we all get caught up in, about a little tiny Italian lady, in a little tiny kitchen making sauce. The very next day I made sauce, and I have not turned back.  Last summer I froze and jarred sauce from our garden tomatoes.  Fresh as the day we picked them, made the winter seem less dark and tasteless.

Let’s get to the sauce of it all.  Be a little saucy!   Let’s build a sauce.

Here is what you need:

1 small Vidalia onion, chopped (about a cup and ½)

2 tablespoons EVOO

3 cloves garlic, minced or 3 tablespoons of jarred minced garlic.

1 tablespoon or to taste, Italian blend seasoning.

2 cups chicken broth

28 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 small carrots, shredded

Pinch red pepper flakes

6 oz can tomato paste

1 tablespoon sugar

salt and pepper to taste

1 whole nutmeg, grated

*Fresh chopped basil and Oregano (options)

1 good size green bell pepper, chopped

This is how you build these flavors to all mesh together.  It is much like laying a framework for a home.  You lay the foundation, build the house, and inside are the people you love.  That’s this sauce.

Add your olive oil to large frying pan and heat on medium high.  Add chopped onion.  Sauté until tender.  Add green pepper.  Sauté until tender.  Add mined garlic, sauté until brown, Add grated carrot, sauté until tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Sauté some more.  Add tomato paste to pan.  Coating all the veggies.  Sauté.  Add Crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, more salt and pepper to taste, cook about 5 minutes.  Stir in chicken broth, cook 5 more minutes.   Each layer is building flavor as you go.  Now add grated nutmeg and stir.  Add sugar, stir and turn your heat to simmer – cover pan, and simmer all the day long.  At least 4 hours.  The longer the better.  Now all these flavors work together.  Blend together for a delicious fresh sauce.  Also, double or triple this and freeze it in bags for fresh sauce on hand anytime!

*Add your fresh basil and oregano to the sauce shortly before you serve it.  If you add these fresh herbs to the simmering sauce, they lose the aromas and sweetness, and can become bitter.

This is terrific over regular pasta!  Baked with lasagna.  As a base for meat sauce.

I baked with **stuffed banana peppers recently.

**Filling and directions for Stuffed Banana Peppers:

1 lb sweet Italian sausage, or turkey sausage

2 eggs

1 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs.

2 cups shredded cheese of choice

5-6 sweet banana peppers in varying sizes

Do this:

Place a 4 quart pot on stove with water to boil

Add meat, egg, breadcrumbs, 1 cup sauce to large bowl and combine well.

Cut a slit from top of pepper to end, creating a pocket.  Clean our seeds. Leave tops on, because it’s kinda cute. Place peppers in boiling water for about 5 minutes till tender, yet still firm.  Odd choice of words but you want the crunch out.  5 minutes should do that.

Add about a cup of sauce to bottom of 13×9 baking dish.  Add meat mixture into the “pockets” you created in the peppers, add to baking dish. Top with more sauce.  Cover and bake in a 350 oven for 1 hour.  Uncover, top with cheese, and place back in oven until the cheese is a nice melty goodness.  About 15 minutes.

I guess there were a few adventures in there! ❤

Some Stuff to Click:🌠🍅

Kroger Online

Spice Hunter Spices

Spice World Garlic

Rebel Gardens on Amazon

Cento Products Online

Garden Goodness.

Summer has the advantage of fresh from your backyard  produce.  There is nothing like right off the vine peppers and tomatoes. Fresh and light recipes for hot summer days are also part of those joys. Grilling or roasting fresh vegetables has become a staple in my meal plans.

This year we tried our hand at planting Zucchini.  We eat so much of it all year round, why not plant a few plants and see how it goes!  So far, so good!  Also tried a different pepper.  The Shishito Pepper!

This is a very mild, small green pepper.  So delish! I picked a few to taste, and decided to “grill” those in a cast iron grill pan, after marinating in this very simple veggie *marinate: 

1/2/ cup Olive Oil

1 teas. Garlic powder

1 teas Onion Power

1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning blend

Pinch red pepper flakes

Add vegetable of choice to bowl, add this marinate, and stir to coat all.  Let sit for 15-30 minutes.  For the Shishito Peppers – Heat a little olive oil in a wide sauté pan until it is good and hot but not smoking. Add the peppers and cook them over medium, tossing and turning them frequently until they blister. They shouldn’t char except in places. Don’t rush.

I used the cast iron grill pan. These can also can be added to your outdoor grill, using the same turning often, and medium heat.

*some notes on the marinate – This can be used for any vegetable. Roasting veggies in oven, grilling outdoors, even salad.  Olive oil brings out the flavor, and the spices just add depth. I add fresh herbs to this from time to time also.  Rosemary and Thyme are perfectly paired here.

Zucchini is indeed one of my favs! Another easy and healthy recipe to use up these garden goodies is Turkey Stuffed Zuke Boats! 

**You will need:

1 lb ground turkey

½ onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 tbl Italian Seasoning ( or more, to your taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

12 oz. can crushed tomatoes

2 cups shredded cheese of choice.

And your Zukes!  (1 large, or however many you desire to make!)

few sprigs of fresh parsley leaves, chopped, as garnish if ya want.

What you do:

Add a little olive oil to a sauté pan, heat up, and add onion, bell pepper,  and garlic, heating until sweating.  Add ground turkey, brown until no longer pink, add crushed tomatoes and rest of ingredients.  Let simmer for about 15 minutes, to merge all the flavors together. While the simmering is a simmering, slice the Zukes length wise, and clean out the insides to make boats, leaving enough on the sides to have a nice firm “wall.”  Squeeze out excess water from the meat of the zucchini using a kitchen towel or paper towel.  Add “meat” to cutting board and give it all a little chop, and add it the sauté pan with your ground turkey mixture, simmering 15 minutes more. During that 15 minutes, bring a few quarts of water to boil, add you zuke boats – *boil about 5 minutes, to make them a little softer.

*You do not have to do this, if you like your zucchini a little al dente

Line your baking pan with the boasts, and add filling to each boat. Fill pretty full, but not over flowing.  Bake in a 375 oven for 30 minutes.  Take out and add cheese to top, and bake about 15 minutes more, or until cheese is bubbly. Garnish with some fresh parsley for effect!!

**some notes on this filling.  This is a great base for a whole host of things.  Spaghetti sauce, mixed in with eggs, soft taco filling, and even stuffed peppers.  I usually will make 5 lbs or more of this at the beginning of the week, modifying the other ingredients to taste.  I then will save the rest in a plastic container for quick meals for the week ahead.  Again, adding fresh herbs to this is just a bonus.  Try Oregano, thyme, and parsley.

A light and easy summer lunch.

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”

― John Steinbeck

Stuff:

Click for what is up with this Shishito Pepper?

Kroger Online

Olive Oil from DeLallo

Penzeys

Bonnie Plants

Riesbeck’s Online