Inspirational Sunday - Accept, Let Go, Have Faith

I think this stands on its own. It spoke to me today as I struggle with another bout of Meniere's Disease.

Recipe Thursday - Butternut Squash Lasagna Rolls

Sorry this is a day late - family wake and funeral to attend! Butternut Squash Filled Lasagna Rolls Ingredients: 2 pounds butternut squash 8 lasagna noodles ( make my own so they are gluten free but you can store buy them too) 1 1/3 cups grated Parmesan cheese 1 large egg 1/4 cup natural (unblanched) almonds, finely ground 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs (there is a gluten free brand at Whole Foods or Mariano's) 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard 2 teaspoons light brown sugar 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage or 1/2 teaspoon dried 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3/4 cup heavy cream Directions: Preheat the oven to 400F. Halve the squash crosswise, separating the narrow neck from the bulbous bottom. Cut them both in half lengthwise; scoop out and discard the seeds. Place the squash on a rimmed baking sheet, cut side down, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes, or until the squash is tender. (Leave the oven on.) Scoop out the flesh of the squash and mash. Measure out 11/2 cups and freeze the remainder for another use. Grease a 9-inch square baking dish. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain and run under cold water. In a medium bowl, stir together the squash puree, 2/3 cup of the Parmesan, the egg, almonds, panko, mustard, brown sugar, sage, salt, and pepper. Place the lasagna noodles on a work surface with the short ends facing you. Spread the squash mixture over each noodle. Roll the noodles up into compact bundles and place them, seam side down, in the baking dish. Pour the cream over the noodles and sprinkle the remaining 2/3 cup Parmesan over the top. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cream is bubbling and the top of the dish is lightly browned. The above picture shows this same recipe but I added chopped spinach to the filling.

Former Toxic Employees

A good friend of mine blogged on employee issues for her practice management business. In it, she states that an employer should not put off an employee issue and they should be addressed in a timely fashion or take the risk of having them create a mountain out of a molehill.

I do believe in the above. HOWEVER, I also believe the employee has an obligation to do their job and not 'take their misplaced anger out on their employer'. I also know there are toxic employees. I sure wish I had foresight.

I have been doing an audit of our business. I have found so many many many mistakes that correspond to the date another toxic employee was fired. I actually didn't fire her but was blamed for it. I will admit that I didn't want anything to do with it because the year was 2010. I had just lost my mother suddenly and was coping with that. I had fallen and tore my meniscus and had to have knee surgery to repair that. I had 3 other ankle surgeries that year where I was non-weight bearing for up to 3 months at a time. My husband had purchased another office from a friend who we had learned had 6 months to live. We based our purchase price of said office on the information the sick friend's employee gave us. That said employee was also my employee but part time. We grossly overpaid for the office. We purchased the office within 2 weeks at the beginning of the summer. By the end of the summer we knew the figures given to us were grossly wrong and the business never warranted the price we paid. We hired that employee because she had a track record with me. How wrong we were. She was a cold bitter toxic woman who was no longer a doctor's wife and angry. She lied about the income of the business we purchased. She lied about her salary. She wasn't worth it. She started doing anything she could to work overtime to make more money. The other buyer had enough and fired her. I actually didn't want anything to do with that office purchase so I was the last one told this girl was being fired.

So this girl was terminated which caused a ripple effect in my own offices plus I was non-weight bearing and was brought into this 4th office to run it. I knew about the ripple effect but didn't believe it was that bad, after all the other employees had worked for me for over 8 years and thought they knew me by then and knew I would never have done what I was accused of my the toxic employee. And I thought I had convinced everyone I didn't have anything to do with the other girl being fired. No one believed me - they believed her. So the ripple effect was not doing anything they were supposed to do for me. Nothing was balanced. Nothing was checked. All accounts are wrong.

I have been doing nothing but going painstakingly through the years back to 2007 and doing an audit on the practice. Things were written off that should never have been. Things were not done that should have been. If those employees were still working for me, they would have been told to hit the door. Unfortunately I don't get to have that satisfaction. I believe in karma. They will pay for what they did to me.

So when I read about how I am supposed to suck it up and listen to my employee's whining. I refuse to. This is also why I will never hire another employee again. It is much easier to just do it myself. No drama.

Inspirational Sunday - Gratitude

I thought I would let the above saying stand on its own today. I know every night before I start the rosary, I give thanks for everything I am grateful for, but especially to our Lord for what blessings he has bestowed on me. My life is not perfect in any way shape or form but it doesn't matter. I am just grateful for all He has given me. And that is enough.

Recipe Thursday - Paleo Almond Chicken

I ran across this recipe over 3 years ago and wrote it down but didn't keep the website it came from so if this is your recipe, please let me know and I will give you credit for it.

Ingredients:
2 pounds chicken breast tenderloins
3 eggs
1 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste (I use Kosher salt)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 9x13 baking pan with foil. Grease the foil (I use a spritzer and spritz olive oil all over the foil).

Mix all dry ingredients on a large platter/plate. Beat eggs in a shallow bowl or dish. Dip the chicken in egg then dredge in the dry ingredients. Place coated chicken into the baking dish. Bake for 12 minutes then turn over and bake another 12 minutes.


I usually serve with either green beans with almond slivers or steamed broccoli and a salad. The chicken is great cold the next day too so I always make sure I make enough for leftovers!

Pet Peeve - Words With Friends

This has been a large pet peeve of mine. I play Words With Friends almost daily. I have from 5-10 games going on any one day. My max number of games per day is 10 different people though because I just don't have the time to play more than once a day and I am not going to spend all of my free time playing games.

BUT.....I think everyone has ONE of THOSE friends. You know the ones - they are barely high school educated and post words that in scrabble, I would challenge in a heart beat. These are not the type of people whose vocabulary includes words such as exequy, or readd, or fuzed (this reminds me of the Fonz for some reason), or dexie (is it some type of doxie?, or dona (as in prima donna but less of one which is why it only has one n), or gating (yeah I am gating the door so I don't allow uneducated people in), or novae (relating to astronomy?), or taces (I am in kindergarten and I can't trace so they call it tacing because I am missing the trace concept?).

I mean come on........really? And these same people question me when I let them win and don't start another game. And the attitudes of these people toward me? I am incompetent because I don't know the words but when I question them, they have absolutely no idea what they are either.

I hate cheaters.

Inspirational Sunday - Everything Happens for a Reason

I have been struggling today with a perfect inspirational quote for today. None were 'talking' to me. I have been recuperating from a sinus infection, ear infection, and the antibiotics are really kicking in so finding something was hard. I was having a major pity party because I didn't feel good.

Then one of my cousins called and told me that another cousin had a seizure while driving his car and was in another bad car accident. This time he broke his spine in 2 places. When I first got the news I was worried that this time he would be paralyzed. It wasn't his first accident and one 2 years ago left him with a traumatic brain injury. He actually had just gotten his license back. My cousin will be okay. I pray he finds what that means in light of today's accident.

This quote I went on a search for because this is perfect for today.

Recipe Thursday - Creme Brulee French Toast

First off, pardon my borrowed picture. I tried to pick one that looked the closest to the recipe. The picture shows the recipe in a 9x13 pan which you can also use, it just makes less. I have made this quite a few times but keep forgetting to take a picture of the finished product since I am more into the eating of it :)

I am a very picky person about my French toast and the preparation. However, I love creme brulee and OMG this is a melt in your mouth deliciousness! I made mine gluten free and from what I have been told, the gluten free recipe is no different in taste than the one made with the Texas toast.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
1 loaf Texas toast bread (For Gluten Free: I use thick gluten free bread from Mariano's)
5 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups half and half cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of cinnamon

Note: You can also use a French bread loaf and slice it into thick slices.

Instructions:
In a small saucepan melt the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup and stir over medium heat until smooth, stirring constantly.

Pour mixture in large greased jelly roll pan (18x13x1). Spread evenly to cover surface.

Place 12 slices of the thick bread in a single layer (may need more) making sure to cover the bottom of the pan.

Mix together the eggs, cream. salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Spoon mixture over each slice of bread.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, uncover and bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.

Remove from pan and serve.

Note: if not serving immediately, turn bread over to prevent bread from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Some people like maple syrup with it. Personally I don't as I love the taste of the creme brulee.

There is a Tampon in My Ear!

I last had this in September of 2009 and posted about it (September 28, 2009 post). I was really hoping it was not going to happen again. But alas........

I have a tampon in my right ear again. This time I not only have Otitis Externa but Interna too and the eardrum was bulging. My ENT doctor lanced my eardrum and put the tampon in to help drain it. I call it a tampon because seriously, take a look at the picture above and tell me that doesn't look like a tampon!

I am finally out of pain. But to start my day I had to go for my yearly checkup with the GYN doctor. So it made for an interesting day. Once again, I hid by bra under my clothes like the doctor might never guess I wear one (I say he doesn't need to see it). I got a clean bill of health so picked off the pieces of paper that had stuck to me from hot flashing and got dressed to head to the ENT.

Inspirational Sunday - The Tongue Has the Power of Life and Death

Today's inspiration comes from a post I saw that was an incredible teaching tool. I have always believed in making sure concepts taught are concepts understood which makes them applicable to all other parts of life.

A teacher gave each child in the class a different product (toothpaste, shampoo, etc) and were told to squeeze out all the contents. Of course all the students thought this was a fun game never realizing what they would soon learn. Once the teacher noticed that everything was out of each product, the students were asked to now put all the contents back into the container they were in. Of course as hard as the students tried, they just couldn't do it. The teacher then stated: "Today's lesson is in a moment of time, you were so consumed with what you were doing that you didn't realize the mess you were making. So after it was so quickly and easily poured or squeezed out, you soon realized that it was impossible to to put it all back in. Remember this for the rest of your lives when it comes to words that come out of your mouth."

What a great lesson! How true it is. How often do we react spontaneously with words but know as soon as they come out of our mouth, we regret everything we just said? We all do! We are not perfect human beings. But what a great lesson this was.

Recipe Thursday - Bread and Butter Pickles

This is a recipe handed down from my grandmother. It is great for those of us who plant cucumbers that seem to multiply by more than one person can eat. I usually pick them when they are smaller because I like the taste of them better for pickles. But I have been known to use the larger ones too. For those of you who purchase their cucumbers to make the recipe, look for farmers markets where the cucumbers are fresher and have not been sitting who knows how long in grocery stores, etc. The fresher the cucumber, the better tasting the pickle will be.

Ingredients:
4 pounds of cucumbers, sliced
4 onions, sliced (you can use more onions- I cut the original recipe in half since I don't like onions)
1/2 cup canning salt
5 cups sugar
4 cups white vinegar
2 tablespoons mustard SEED
2 teaspoons celery SEED
1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

In a large glass container, combine the cucumbers, onions, and salt. Cover with crushed ice and mix well. Let stand for 3 hours. Drain. Rinse then drain again. (I used a plastic Tupperware Fix'n'Mix once and never again as the plastic retained a funky smell and the cucumbers picked up a plastic taste.)

In a large pot (I use my soup pot), combine the sugar, vinegar, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Add the cucumber mixture and return to a boil. Remove from heat.

Carefully ladle the hot mixture into hot Mason canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch space at the top. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims well and adjust lids for the canning and sealing process. Process for 15 minutes in a boiling water canner (I also will use a super large sized pan filled with boiling water).

Remove from water. Cool. You can store these jars in a cool cupboard for up to 6 months.

Makes about 7 pints

Inspirational Sunday - St Francis Prayer

Instead of writing a post today for Inspirational Sunday, I decided to post this prayer. I love it.