The Rain has to Stop Somewhere

  

It's been raining here. That's an understatement. It's been like build an ark amount of rain. Our sump pump is working overtime. The spot on our lawn where it drains? Let's just say these days it resembles a bird bath. And don't get me started on the subject of my fears that it's become a mosquito breeding ground.

Good news: I don't have to water my outdoor flower pots. Bad news: all those pretty flowers could very well drown.

Every morning, I look out at the skies saying "please don't, please just don't."

Between the rain going on outside and the terrifying political news on the TV inside, it's been tough.

But yesterday was the 4th of July, Independence Day, and we were lucky enough to have a break from the rains. We were able to cook out, eat our ice ceam pie on the front porch hearing the bangs and booms, watching the skies over our neighborhood light up with fireworks.

It was celebratory, but hampered by the fear in the back of my mind that, with the possibility of a dictator taking power and putting a (further) stranglehold on our freedoms, this could be our last celebration of independence, of everything this country was meant to be.

And now, today, well, you know. "Please don't, please just don't."

All of this rain has brought back a memory from when I was little. Something unusual. Unusual to me, at least. 

I was probably around 9 years old and we were visiting my great aunt and uncle in West Palm Beach as we did each winter. I had walked all the way past the fountain and up the long rock driveway to the street. Just as I got there, it had started to rain, a late morning shower. But as I looked to the side, I realized that it wasn't raining. Strange. As far as I could see down one side of the road it was raining. All the way down the other it was dry.

I took a step out of the rain, into the rain, out of the rain. And in that moment, I was visually aware that, of course, the rain has to stop somewhere. I mean it happens all the time when you're in a car driving through the rain, then, if you drive far enough, come out of the storm. But this was different. I was there. Standing in that exact spot where the rain just stopped. 

Under the cloud or out into the sunshine, the choice was mine.

Strawberry Biscoff Ice Cream Pie

So yes, I know that any rain to fall here would eventually stop here. "The sun will come out tomorrow," and all that crap. But I also know that at this moment, somewhere, there is a line. The rain has to stop somewhere. 

And today, boosted by the celebration of Independence Day and all that our freedom means to so many of us, I have hope that wherever that line may be, someone is making the choice to take just one step to the left, out from under that dark cloud and into the sunlight. 

Not just for themself, but for us all. 

Strawberry Biscoff Ice Cream Pie

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

4 TBSP butter

1 TBSP cookie butter

1 package Biscoff cookies (32 cookies)

2 TBSP sugar

4 cups strawberry ice cream

2 strawberries

1 cup heavy cream

2 TBSP powdered sugar

3 TBSP strawberry syrup

OPT: the 3 remaining cookies and/or sliced strawberries for garnish

Directions:

*Melt the butter and cookie butter in the microwave and set aside.

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a deep dish pie plate.

*Crush 25 of the Biscoff cookies into crumbs, then mix with the sugar and melted butter/cookie butter mixture. Press into the bottom and partially up the sides of the pie plate. Bake for 6 minutes, refrigerate to cool completely.

*While the crust is cooling, place the ice cream in a large bowl on the counter for 10 - 15 minutes to soften.

*Chop 4 of the remaining Biscoff cookies into chunks. Hull and chop the strawberries.

*Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and strawberry syrup and beat until stiff peaks hold. Reserve about 1/2 cup in the refrigerator for garnish.

*Mix the chopped cookies and strawberries into the softened ice cream, then fold in the remaining whipped cream. Spread into the crust and freeze for 1/2 hour. 

*Top with the reserved whipped cream. garnish with the remaining cookies and or additional strawberries, if desired. Freeze for at least 2 hours (best if frozen overnight) before serving.

On Our Watch

  

 I wrote a blog post back in March of 2021 when, in the state where I live, Covid shots were limited to those over 65, a requirement I didn't meet. The post was (mostly) baout my quest to het vaccinated. I called it Just Shoot Me. Please.

I should have known better.

The morning the post was to go live, at 6:00 am, I was up changing the title and the graphic. My title had gone from valid to insensitive. Why? The day before, there was a mass shooting (in a covid vaccine line) in a grocery store in Boulder. Where, btw, my son lives.

On October 26th, the 299th day of this year, there was a mass shooting in Maine. The 565th of 2023. That's almost two a day. Over 35,000 people have died of gun violence, that figure includes those who don't fall into the category of being involved in mass shootings, defined as an incident where 4 or more people are killed at once. That's over 100 people a day.

On that day a month ago, I turned the television off. 

There is concern, with these murders now becoming such a daily occurrence, that we as a society could become desensitized, diminishing our response due to the constant exposure. 

Not me. Although it clearly seems to be something that afflicts our politicians.

For me, it's an unbearable emotional assault. So I shut it off. And then I turned it right back on.

Because as painful as it may be, turning away felt wrong to me, as if I was ignoring the cataclysmic fallout experienced by those personally affected by the violent deaths of their families. I can shut my eyes to it when it feels like too much. But they can't.

I don't know how to explain it, but I feel that as long as I live here, as long as this goes on, I almost have an obligation to watch.

Maybe because this is happening on our watch.

So I have decided that from now on, I will bear witness. I will watch. I will honor those who have been slaughtered by being present. I will show my respect to those who have lost loved ones by not walking away from their pain, witnessing their anguish, hearing their stories.

As you sit down this holiday season, enjoy those fancy dinners and decadent desserts with those you love, I ask you to consider doing three things.

Bananas Foster Turnovers

 

Look around the room and, take stock of what, and who, you have to be thankful for. That's pretty much a given this time of year.

But I also ask that you consider this:

Watch. Keep your eyes open. Don't turn away. Read the names of those who are being slaughtered in our country. In our movie theaters and bowling alleys and grocery stores and bars and even our places of worship and our schools. See the pictures of these members of our society who just moments before had lived and loved and prayed and played. Note their ages. Acknowledge that their friends and families will be living a new normal consisting of a perpetual state of senseless grief. Feel their pain.

And third, commit to being proactive. Identify the politicians in your district who have dedicated themselves to being a road block to sensible gun legislation. Register to vote, help humanity by showing them the door. 

Bananas Foster Turnovers         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana

2 TBSP butter, divided

2 TBSP brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 TBSP spiced rum

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 TBSP speculoos (cookie butter)

1 (half of a box) refrigerator pie crust dough

1 tsp sugar

OPT: ice cream and/or caramel sauce to serve

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

*Peel the banana. Cut into about 1/2 in slices, then cut each slice in half.

*In a small skillet, over medium heat, melt 1 TBSP of the butter. Add the banana, brown sugar, cinnamon, and rum.

*Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, it will boil. Add the walnuts, cook and stir another 2 minutes.

*Remove the pan from the heat. Mix in the speculoos and stir until melted. Set aside.

*Unroll the pie crust and fold in the rounded sides about an inch to form a rectangle. Roll out until it's about 10 X 10. Cut into 4 squares, each piece about 5 X 5. Place them on the baking sheet.

*Spoon the banana mixture into the center of the bottom half of each of the squares, leaving room on all sides. Fold the top half down, creating a triangle. Press the sides together with a fork to seal. 

*Cut a couple of small slits into the tops. Melt the remaining butter, brush over the turnovers. Sprinkle with the sugar. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until browned and bubbly.

*Top with vanilla ice cream and/or caramel sauce, if desired.

Nineteen Little Monkeys: Word Counters

 

Counting my words again.

Today my fellow Word Counters and I are sharing our monthly group post. Each month, one group member picks a number between 12 and 50. All participating bloggers are then challenged to write something (or a few somethings, as the case may be) using that exact number of words. Today we share what we all came up with.

 This month's number is 19. 
It was chosen by Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings.

As I've been doing in these Word Counters posts, I've chosen a theme and am using my word count multiple times in keeping with the theme. This month I've chosen to take my cue from the number Mimi chose, 19, and its current significance in this country. 

Nineteen Little Monkeys (The Devils Go Down to Georgia)

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

knew they lost, so tried to cheat,

but Georgia saw red.

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

conspired together to act on the,

lies that they had spread.

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

instead of treason, red. white and blue 

you should have bled.

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

forced to show up in Georgia, take

a picture they'd dread.

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

few afraid of court so took,

a deal. Guilty, they plead.

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head.

Karma is a bitch, they say,

let's talk about what's ahead.

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

no more desserts for you,

soon it'll be gruel and bread.

Caramel Apple Peanut Butter Bars

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

forget those billable hours, you'll

make license plates for pennies instead.

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

especially in the showers best,

be careful how you tread.

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

guess you'll soon be sleeping on,

a hard steel bunk bed.

~ Nineteen little monkeys,

not right in the head,

hope you like your new roommate,

soon you will be wed.

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

Caramel Apple Peanut Butter Bars         
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 stick margarine, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 3/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

6 (about 3.5 oz total) Snickers fun sized candy

1/2 Honeycrisp apple

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

2/3 cup apple or caramel apple flavored breakfast cereal

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 baking dish.

*Cream the margarine and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and peanut butter. Mix in the flour and salt to form a dough. Press into the bottom and about halfway up the sides of the prepared baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, but leave the oven on.

*While the crust is in the oven, cut each candy into 5 slices. Peel, core, and chop the apple into small pieces.

*Sprinkle the chopped candy over the crust, followed by the chopped apple, then the cereal. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the entire top.

*Bake for about 35 minutes, until browned and bubbly. Cool on the counter for 1/2 hour, then refrigerate to cool completely before cutting.

Crucial Countdown

  

Time flies when you're having fun.

But time can drag when you're not.

We're in the final countdown. It is one year until what will probably be the most consequential election in the history of this country. We're there, at our good vs evil, democracy vs autocracy decision. 

The lead up has been a time drag. Little by little autocracy has taken foothold. Not only were there seditionists who attacked our capitol, but there are traitors throughout our system. Some have taken over election offices, some have used their power to remove duly elected officials, others have redistricted the other party out of districts in which they had been the majority. Others have purged voters from the rolls, closed polling places in areas where residents of a specific party reside. 

And, of course, even the supreme court is compromised. 

This next year is crucial. It will both fly by and drag. And when it ends, we will either be able to maintain some semblance of the way of life we'd come to appreciate, or we will be totally and completely inconsequential. 

And if autocracy wins, everything will affect us, nothing will include us, and very little will benefit us.

We may be headed into an environment where enemies are incarcerated, voting is no longer protected, peaceful protest is met with violence, guns are available and affordable, and social welfare programs are decimated. Forcing gas, housing, medicine, higher education, and nutrition beyond the grasp of many of our friends and neighbors.

Chicken Rotini Casserole

 

Chaos, domination, lawlessness, and bigotry would reign. 

Think this is an excessively dark and ugly prediction? 

Underestimating the scope of what's at stake here 

could have dire consequences.

After all, consider what the administration of one con man and the resulting fallout has already been taken from us. Even after he was voted out, enough of his sycophants remain ensconced, continuing to do his bidding. And you can see the signs right out in the open, the writing is all over the social media wall. Through the invasion of subterfuge and manipulation now prominent in all branches of our government, the guardrails put in place to preserve our way of life are already deeply eroding. Rights, privacy, protection, already, maybe mortally, compromised.

We are in danger. Because our government is rotting from within.

We are down to just one year. Will the onslaught towards a dictatorship continue unchecked? Will those who still believe in our constitution finally coalesce on a strategy of defense?

Squandering this next year is to light the ticking time bomb.

365 days, 364, 363 . . .

And then it will be November 5th, 2024, our collective day of reckoning. 

Chicken Rotini Casserole         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

NOTE: this recipe can be made ahead, refrigerated in the baking dish, and cooked the next day. You will need to cook it about 15 minutes longer if you choose this option.

Ingredients:
10 oz vegetable rotini

3 cups clean, uncooked spinach

2 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped OR 1 - 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped

1 TBSP olive oil

3 cloves minced garlic

1/4 orange (or red) pepper, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning blend

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

2 TBSP grated parmesan/romano cheese

Directions:
*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (if not preparing ahead to cook the next day). Grease an 8 X 11 baking dish.

*Cook the rotini per package directions to el dente. Drain, add the spinach, mix, and set aside.

*While the pasta is cooking, Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once it's hot, add the uncooked chicken (if you're using cooked chicken, it will be added later), garlic, chopped pepper, and chopped onion. Cook and stir until the chicken is completely cooked. 
*Add the chicken broth, white wine, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and red pepper to the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

*Add the chicken (if using precooked chicken, if not, it's already in the sauce) and the sauce to the pot with the pasta and spinach. Mix well. Pour into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with the parmesan/romano cheese. Cover with tin foil.

*Either refrigerate for cooking the next day, or bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Mix before serving.

The Dress-Up Dress Down

 

Groceries. You can't live with them and you can't live without them.

Well, more like you can't live with the price of them and you can't live without them.

Potato, Potahto.

Speaking of potato . . .

I learned a lesson in relinquishing control during the height of Covid. I ordered my groceries online for pick up. At first, I ordered most of my staples, but still needed to pick out the meats and fresh vegetables myself. Doing it this way meant still going into the stores, but for much less time.

Then things got worse, vaccinations were just being developed, people around here would not follow social distancing rules and didn't wear masks. I had to order all of my groceries. It was difficult for me, but when balanced with trying to stay alive, a no brainer.

Sometimes the vegetables were very close to what I would have picked out myself. Sometimes, not so much. A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about a sweet potato in my order that would feed a small country. Just after that, fully vaccinated, I went back to shopping just for my produce and meats, I'd gotten too used to the ease of ordering everything else.

Recently, though, I started ordering more and shopping for less. Yes, you guessed it, I ordered sweet potatoes. Two, one for me and one for College Boy. Oh, I got two sweet potatoes, I also got a lesson in perspective. That one I got a few years ago? That was small compared to the two I got this time. I think 50% of my bill was sweet potato. It's a wonder I could lift them. They were the size of pumpkins. I could carve them up, put a candle in them and stick them on the front porch. 

Figuring out what to do with one was a challenge. I cooked it, shared it with College Boy at dinner, but we didn't even put a dent in it. The leftovers provided lots of recipe development inspiration. I made Ginger Snap Sweet Potato Cake, Apple Pecan Sweet Potatoes, and Sweet Potato Blinis.

Sweet Potato Blinis

 

And I still had one left. 

So, working with that whole turn it into a jack-o-lantern vibe, and in honor of today being Halloween, I decided to share. In a Halloween meets politics meets produce. In a Mr. (Sweet) Potato Head kinda way. 

For instance:

I hear Ron DeSantis likes to talk a lot about drag performers and drag shows, seems sort of obsessed, actually. I bet he'd love to be gifted his very own queen.

Or perhaps Greg border-buoy-death-trap-in-the-Rio-Grande Abbott should get a look at what those of us with a moral compass see when we look at him.

And there are at least 19 defendants in Georgia who may be drastically lowering their clothing and barber shop budgets. I could give them a helpful glimpse into their future fashion style options.

Whether you're spending this Halloween partying, giving out candy, or dressing up your vegetables, I hope you're having fun.

Probably not as much fun as I'm having. That is, unless you order your groceries online too.

Sweet Potato Blinis         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
about 2 medium sweet potatoes

2 oz cream cheese

1 packet instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal

1/4 cup quick oats

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup mini marshmallows, halved

3 TBSP butter

maple syrup 

Directions:

*Cook the sweet potatoes in the oven or microwave until fork tender. Discard the skin and refrigerate the rest to cool.

*While the sweet potato is cooling, allow the cream cheese to soften in a medium sized bowl.

*Once the sweet potato has cooled and the cream cheese has softened, measure out 1 1/2 cups of sweet potato and add it to the bowl with the cream cheese. Beat until smooth, then beat in the oatmeal packet, quick oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt. Add the egg and beat again. Mix in the mini marshmallows. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

*Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

*Spray a large skillet with cooking spray, melt 1 TBSP butter over medium heat. Add some of the sweet potato mixture (about 1 heaping TBSP per blini) to the hot pan. Leave space between each blini. Form into about 2 - 2 1/2 inch circles.

*Cook for 2 minutes, then lower the heat to just above low and cook until the bottoms start to brown, about 8 - 10 minutes. Flip over, pressing them down gently, and cook the other side, about another 8 minutes. Repeat this process with additional cooking spray, butter, and sweet potato mixture.

*Place the blinis on the prepared baking sheet and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.

*To serve, drizzle with maple syrup. Provide more maple syrup for dipping.

Political Logorrhea

 

It was a judge who pulled it all together for me. I can't remember now if she is currently a judge, or is a former judge, but it was, ironically, her words that made all of the difference.

 

There are three things I need to mention here. They may or may not seem to be related at first look, but I'll draw the connecting lines for you, I promise.

 

1) When I was young, I heard the term "diarrhea of the mouth." Although it certainly pertains to many people, sometimes even me, I don't use it often because the optics . . . well, let's just say they are nauseating.

 

2) When trump first started running, one very funny/not funny comment about trump was made by a mental health professional on a cable news show. So many people, including mental health workers, had been saying that trump is mentally ill. This person's pointwas that this comparison is an insult . . . to the mentally ill. 

 

3) At about the same time, trump was using the phrase "make America great again." As we all know, it was later shortened to MAGA, and marketed. I was taken aback by the insult to our country. We may have our faults, but to me America was always great (especially given many of the alternatives).

Now, thanks to trump's words, most of which have no basis in fact, often don't go together to make a cohesive sentence, and almost all of which are targeted hate filled rants, America is in need of being made great again.

Well, thanks to trump and his flock of mimicking mynahs.

Back to the judge. She was being interviewed about trump's public rants after having been indicted in Washington, and later hit with an evidentiary protection order. What she said is that in her estimation, his continued incendiary posts and remarks are due to trump having logorrhea.

Wait? What? I've never heard of it. I need to Google that. How do you even spell it?

Logorrhea: constant and often unintelligible, excessive verbosity. It is the pathological inability to stop talking.

The skitters, the runs, the trots, the squirts. Yes, diarrhea of the mouth. It's an actual thing. 

And although it can be classified as a disorder, it is most commonly seen as a symptom of mental illness.

And just like that, the light bulb goes on.

I mean, insulting judges and DOJ officials, lying to taint the potential jury pool, and threatening . . . well . . . everyone. That fits. Publicly, in a town hall, defaming a woman who just days before had won a case against him for defamation. That fits too.

And interestingly enough, although mental illness can run in families, and trump's daughter clearly got the narcissist gene, she seems to have missed out on the family logorrhea gene. Or perhaps it's squashed by self-preservation, or maybe by the lack of style choices in prison clothing.

Now I would never recommend trump take hydroxychloroquine for his condition. Unlike him, I don't pretend to know more than doctors. And I wouldn't tell him to inject himself with bleach either because . . . you know . . . that is just insane. Well, and dangerous.

But I can end with some sound advice.

 

 Apple Pecan Sweet Potatoes

 

Eat a healthy diet, do a little (nonverbal) exercise, listen to your lawyers.

 

And try to understand that perhaps the best way to make America great again, is to make words have meaning again.

Apple Pecan Sweet Potatoes         

                                                                                 ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 medium sweet potatoes

salt and pepper to taste

1 large apple

1 TBSP butter

1 TBSP brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
*Rinse, dry, and pierce sweet potatoes with a fork. Cook in the microwave or oven until soft. Remove the skin and, in a serving bowl, mash with salt and pepper to tast. Keep warm.

*While the sweet potatoes are cooking, core, peel, and chop the apple. Heat the butter in a small skillet. Add the apple, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring now and then, until the apples soften, about 10 minutes.

*Drain the liquid from the apples into the bowl with the sweet potatoes. Mix well. Top with the apples and chopped pecans.