Otis the Quat

'Yes, large bespeckled one, I HAVE earned my fourth nap this morning.'

Recipe #19 - Chicken Enchiladas

I don't know really what enchilada means. These turned out so good, though, that I really don't care, and I kinda wanted to share. Thanks to Sister Carolyn for another great one!


Ingredients

2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 garlic cloves minced
1 medium onion diced
2 small sweet orange peppers diced
2 chicken breasts chopped into cubes
1 can of red beans

couple shakes of chili powder
1/2 cup of sour cream
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup divided
1/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese (I used Kroger Queso - actually more like two cups :-)
4 12-inch flour tortillas

Directions
 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Start your saute pan on medium heat; let the EVOO get hot, and add garlic, onion, pepper, and chicken. Cook until chicken is cooked through, or almost cooked through as the dish will bake for another half hour.
3. Add the seasoning, sour cream, beans, and two thirds of the can of soup. Stir to combine, and let this simmer for a bit.
4. Spray your favorite baking dish with a light coating of canola. Fill each tortilla with 1/4 of the chicken mix and roll it up like you have been taught. Place in the baking dish seam side down.
5. In a saucepan, add the remaining soup, milk, and cheese, and stir until the cheese melts and the whole mixture is hot. Pour this over the enchiladas, and throw it in the oven uncovered for 30 minutes.

I let it sit for about ten minutes before serving, and the middle pieces were still mouth-burning hot, so be careful. Enjoy with a crisp lettuce, tomato, egg, cheese, Ranch dressing and crouton salad for a fantastic Friday night high-carb meal.


May you find peace in the risen Christ!

Eucharisto! - I give thanks!

Let us give thanks to the Lord, it is right and just.

Recited as part of the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer amongst the community of believers since the 3rd century, this is translated from the Latin from:

• Priest: Dominus vobiscum.
• People: Et cum spiritu tuo.
• Priest: Sursum corda.
• People: Habemus ad Dominum.
• Priest: Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.
• People: Dignum et iustum est.

The Lord be with you.
-And with your spirit.
Lift up your hearts.
-We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
-It is right and just. (Or, as we Missouri Synod Lutherans used to reply: 'It is meet and right.')

How Great Thou Art!

On entering a church, or in passing before the altar, kneel down all the way without haste or hurry, putting your heart into what you do, and let your whole attitude say, 'Thou art the great God.' It is an act of humility, an act of truth, and every time you kneel it will do your soul good.

~ Fr Romano Guardini

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

 

“We are at Jesus’ disposal. If he wants you to be sick in bed, if he wants you to proclaim His work in the street, if he wants you to clean the toilets all day, that’s all right, everything is all right. We must say, 'I belong to you. You can do whatever you like.' And this is our strength. This is the joy of the Lord.”

Cesar Chavez

“It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.”

Friday Prayer

Lord, I lay it ALL at Your feet this morning.... bills, relationships, my propensity for sin, my overwhelming desire to shove food in my mouth, our vehicles, our jobs, the home of our dreams, my selfish heart, our family, our beloved Tigers ... all our concerns and worries and fears we give to You this morning. 

Thank You.

Blessed be God forever!
 

Blessed Mother Teresa

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Mother Angelica

If it weren't for people, we could all be holy.

4th Sunday of Easter

Beautiful - wish all could experience this

As much as the joy of worshiping God together with brothers and sisters each week, as much as partaking of the body and blood of our Lord Christ, I find that the liturgical music is a huge part of the Mass experience.

And as much as I loath most of the Marty Haugen songs, this one - our responsorial Psalm to-day - is beautiful.

(Heed also the Picardy Third.)

And as our opening hymn, I was reminded of Bible camp decades ago via Rutter's beautiful harmonies in this old hymn:

BLESSED BE GOD FOREVER!

Gibson hits one out of Tiger Stadium

A Prayer of Trust

I received this yestreday in my inbox, from the good folks at flocknote.com.

Please pray with me:

O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel 

our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of 

Your presence, Your love, and Your strength. 

Help us to have perfect trust 

in Your protecting love and strengthening power, 

so that nothing may frighten or worry us, for, 

living close to You, we shall see 

Your hand, Your purpose, Your will through all things. 

 

 

 

 

 ~  St. Ignatius of Loyola, 1491-1556

The Triangle Song

If you're working on triangles with your kids, then this video is a can't-miss hit with all!

Sing along at 5:11 :-)

Survivor Wednesday

In what came to be known as an unfficial date night for my bride and I last night, our Tigers provided 11 innings of drama in their first contest of 2016.

Heading into the bottom of the ninth, and with The Closer entering in a save situation, I thought it was over. But alas, the fat lady had not sung yet.

An early lead due to our big bats, a blown lead by the bullpen, then a small lead late, and a save for Shane Greene.
Drew VerHagen got the win - good for him!
Justin Verlander got the first opening day Tiger pitcher hit since Micky Lolich in 1971 - good for him!
Ian Kinsler had a three-run home and four RBI, including the go-ahead knock in the 11th - good for him!
Anthony Gose and Victor Martinez homered back to back in the 9th, bringing the grand total of Tiger homers to three, which allows me to present a printed box score to the nice folks at Arbys for a free curly fries - nyuk nyuk nyuk for me!

Transforming Tuesday

Father, so much garbage I hold on to...
Lord, have mercy
for the times when I fall...
Christ, have mercy
forgive me...
Lord, have mercy


May I be the one to offer encouragement to-day.
May I be the one to walk rightly with You; with piety, patriotism, veracity, liberality, obedience, patience, chastity, humility.
And may this day be the first of many victories for our Detroit Tigers - leading to a championship for Mr. I.

All praise and honor and glory are Yours almighty Father!
 

Make a Difference Monday

Mother Mary Angelica told me that God never tires of forgiving.

Jesus tells me to forgive non-stop.

St Maria Faustina told me that if I know how to forgive, I am preparing myself for many graces from God.

St John tells me if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We pray every day that God would forgive our sins AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US.


So not only is God's forgiveness important, ours is too.

I see.

I see.


Lord, let me get it. Pound it home into my dense noggin. Don't give up on me.

All praise to You, eternal Father!

Birds

The robins this morning were all out in the street - snow has covered all the grass in our neck of the woods!

Big, wet flakes fell for most of the afternoon yestreday, then the temps dropped into the teens overnight so the vehicle windows were covered good and hard. Several chickadees and sparrows took shelter in our dappled willows right off the deck during the snowfall.
Moni worked late last night and said the drive home from Brighton was pretty crummy. She has gone to visit her parents to-day leaving Otis and I to fend for ourselves. I will be fine tuning my fantasy MLB lineup prior to the Cards-Pirates opener at 1:05.


The Prancing Pony in Bree featured Barliman Butterbur's renown ale, which helped loosen the tongues of the hobbits - up to now traveling incognito; so Frodo was persuaded to share a song from the Shire when he was quite certain he shouldn't be drawing attention to himself or his company. He climbed up onto a table, and sang a song well-known in the Shire, but became careless in his dancing and fell, allowing the ring to slip onto his finger as he landed. This event caused more havoc than he could have ever imagined, but it confirmed to Aragorn son of Arathorn that these were indeed the hobbits whom Mithrandir had told him about, and he quickly intervened to offer his sword to Frodo and his companions.

Ball Park Franks are so good I eat them right out of the package. I can also put one into a bun and eat it cold with no dressing. So, look and see what the Tigers are offering us newly this year at Comerica Park:

http://www.mlive.com/sports/2016/03/eat_your_hearts_out_tigers_fans.html#0#incart_social_feature


Rooting for the 10 car at Martinsville to-day, and for my MLB #fantasy lineup this week:

Russell Martin, C
Logan Forsythe, 1B
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Elvis Andrus, SS
Adrian Beltre, 3B (how'd i nab the Ranger left side??)
Mookie Betts, OF
Hanley Ramirez, OF (and the Sox duo??)
Carlos Gomez, OF

and the rotation:
Felix Hernandez
Hisashi Iwakuma
Jeff Smardzija
Dallas Keuchel
Shelby Miller

and relievers
Houston Street and
Casilla Santiago.

Divine Mercy Sunday

 

For the sake of Christ's sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace; grant that I may not so much seek to be understood, as to understand, to be loved as to love.
Break our hearts of stone, and let Your Spirit guide us in all love. Transform, mend, heal, love through us.
Praying for our grade school principal Lloyd N. Schultz, who passed several years ago, and who influenced each of us in different ways. 
Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
 

 

Easter Saturday

From the nice folks at MyCatholic.life:

Is it better to do great works, or small sacrifices?  It's easy to conclude that some great work for God is far better than any small sacrifice.  But is it?  That all depends upon the Will of God.  Sometimes we take on some "great work" for God but, in the end, it's not part of His plan.  A work is great only when it is done because God inspired it and remains the one leading it.  Conversely, if God inspires a very small sacrifice on your part and you accept it and live it, then you can be assured that this small sacrifice will do more good for the salvation of souls than any other sacrifice you could ever dream up on your own.  In fact, trying to force the Will of God to conform to your own will, inevitably, does more damage for the Kingdom of God than good, even if your idea seems holy.

What is it that God is inspiring you to do?  How are you called to serve His holy Will?  Look for His inspiration in the smallest of things.  It may be a kind word spoken to another, or a small hidden sacrifice that only you are aware of.  And if He is calling you to do something "great" that others will notice, do not be afraid of this, but do not be overly proud of it either.  Do all things, great or small, in accord with the Will of God and you will find that all things you do are truly great!

Thank You, Lord, for speaking so clearly to me this morning.
Thank You for the Downy, the Robin, the Sparrow, the Crow, the Red-wing Blackbird, the Starling, the Dove, the Norther Flicker, the Red-headed Woodpecker, and the Cardinal. 
May Your precious Body and Blood strengthen and nourish us; may we be entirely sold out for You, and Your people, my neighbors.
Help me remember that a small sacrifice is good even if no one notices - and forgive me for wanting to be so noticed...
Help me to move beyond the excuses that have come so easily for most of my life - may Your Name be praised always!

Blessed be God forever! 
 

Easter Friday

Praying to-day

http://hopeafterabortion.com

CHRIST IS RISEN!

HE IS RISEN, INDEED!!