Chorizo coconut shepherds pie potatoes (butter potatos or yukon gold) butter coconut milk pepper salt shredded or sliced cheese chorizo diced onions diced mushrooms diced bell pepper I made mashed potatoes with some really small potatoes to give it lots of extra skins. Used coconut milk instead of cream. I fried the onions, mushrooms and peppers for a while before adding the chorizo and cooking that through. Then I just put some of the meat mixture in the bottom of a small glasslock dish, topped with the potatoes and topped…
Read MoreAuthor: Kalin
Broccoli celery slaw
Broccoli celery slaw Broccoli Celery Green pepper Onion (not too much. Don’t overpower the other veggies. Chop small) Or radishes Onion powder? Garlic powder? Italian seasoning? Salt? This started because one day all I had for veggies was broccoli, celery, green pepper and onions. I just chopped it all up into a dry salsa and my roommate went crazy over it. So now we buy broccoli and celery more often. This last time we didn’t have any onions so I added some radishes at the same proportions as I would the…
Read MoreBeans with Bacon and sun dried tomato
Beans with Bacon and sun dried tomato Bacon Sun dried tomato Onion Beans Garlic Pepper Salt I cooked up some bacon to make sandwiches and in some of the leftover grease I fried up garlic and chopped onion. I had some sun dried tomatoes soaking in hot water which I added. Then the beans, salt and pepper. I scraped the pan and added some chopped bacon back in. I probably did too much bacon. Next time I’ll do more tomatoes since I wanted those to be the star of the…
Read MoreSundried tomato, pesto and goat cheese biscuit
Sundried tomato, pesto and goat cheese biscuit 4 cups crusteaz pancake mix 2 eggs 0.6 cup water Melted butter Flavors: Goat cheese Pesto Sun dried tomato Garlic powder Onion powder Followed the basics here, but left out the flavorings and instead used sun dried tomatoes that had been rehydrated in hot water, some pre-made pesto and some Aldi goat cheese. I mixed onion and garlic powder into the melted butter before dribbling onto the biscuits before and after baking. Baked for about 15 minutes at 400. I made sure to…
Read MoreFluffy onion sourdough from breadmaker
Fluffy onion sourdough from breadmaker 1 cup sourdough starter 2 tbsp sugar .75 cup 110 degree water 1 tbsp instant yeast 2.5 cups bread flower 1 egg 2 tbsp oil 1 tbsp butter 2 tsp salt Onion powder Warm water in measuring cup with yeast. Let sit 10 minutes to activate. Stir in starter and sugar. Put in bottom of breadmaker. Add other ingredients on top. Set to 2lb white bread mode. I tried this recipe but it turned out really dense my first time. So I made modifications like…
Read MoreSimple yogurt herb sauce
Simple yogurt herb sauce Whole milk yogurt Cilantro Green onions Dill Salt Garlic powder? Onion powder? Coriander? Lime or lemon juice? Mix all that stuff together. Chop the herbs up well. No sense biting into a big chunk of green onion. Only pick a couple of the optional items so it doesn’t get too complex. I used to try yogurt sauces and they never worked but recently they have been turning out really well. I think it’s because I didn’t used to add salt. Fresh herbs are also important, though I…
Read MoreEasy Mexican Layer Dip
Easy Mexican Layer Dip This is a staple that I frequently make when I have a new guest over. With a version for dairy sensitivities. Mexican spices (taco seasoning, hot sauce, onion powder, chipotle or something like that.)guacamole (I use individually packaged Wholly Guacamole from Costco. I freeze them and pull them out as needed. Guacamole freezes wonderfully and they defrost in minutes under tap water.)refried beanssour cream (or yogurt)shredded cheese (or not)random veggies (like lettuce, cabbage, peppers, onions, kale, jalapenos, radishes, cilantro, scallions, olives etc. Whatever you can find. Even…
Read MoreCowboy Chicken and Beans in Crockpot (Failure)
Cowboy Chicken and Beans in Crockpot (Failure) I thought this was such a great idea but it didn’t turn out as I’d hoped. Flavors:brown sugarfresh ground black pepperfresh minced garlic Also:liquid smoketomato saucetomato paste Stuff:cubed chicken on the bottom of the crock pot mixed with flavorscorn layered on topdiced poblano pepper on top of cornred beans on top of poblanobacon on top of everything elsebacon fat and liquid smoke drizzled on top of everythingmore flavors scattered on top It sounds delicious when I list ingredients but it just didn’t work.…
Read More50 Life Lessons in 5 Minutes
50 Life Lessons in 5 Minutes Just some theories I try to live by. Seek out experiences, not pleasures… but don’t feel guilty about your guilty pleasures. Don’t judge others openly regardless of how horrible they are, but that doesn’t mean you have to trust them or hang out with them. Do what you need to do to get along with people. Or leave. Don’t allow emotional vampires to take advantage of you. Worry about real-world effects rather than emotions… but recognize that your emotions have real-world effects on the people around…
Read MoreThe Officer Did Nothing to Hurt Me
A poem about not police brutality The officer did nothing to hurt me that night. I looked like someone who had stolen a DVD player. It’s easy to argue that I was not harmed, that I’m just being a baby. I should be thankful he realized I was the wrong guy. I should be thankful I’m not black. They have it much worse. I should be thankful I didn’t flinch in fear. I’d probably be dead if I had. The officer did nothing to hurt me. He did not hit…
Read MoreHow a Two-Minute Interaction with the Police Changed Me Forever
Even standard procedures can have consequences I was walking home from a Halloween party. I think it was 2002. I knew it was illegal to ride a bicycle after drinking. I was already terrified of cops and not taking any chances. A cop car pulled up about two car lengths behind me as I walked on the sidewalk, shining the spotlight on me. I looked over my shoulder, but kept walking. The car then followed me at walking pace, about two car-lengths behind me for several blocks, shining the spotlight…
Read MoreRamblings About How I Cured My Depression
Ramblings About How I Cured My Depression I used to be very depressed when I was a kid, to the point where I made plans to kill myself and I think once when I was about twelve I even walked out the door with the intention of following through with it. One day in seventh grade I remember telling half the class that I wished I was dead. Someone told me that wasn’t cool to joke about and I insisted that I was not joking and I genuinely wished I…
Read MoreWhy We Need Friendship and Religion Licenses
Our personal lives are not properly regulated. This was my attempt at satire. Please do not take this seriously. I often hear the argument from libertarians and anarchists that our government should not have authority over our marriages. I think getting laws out of our personal relationships would be a disaster. That legal document means something to many people. The government stamp makes the relationship official. Without that, what reason would people have to stay married? Divorce would skyrocket, but we would have no way of knowing because nothing would…
Read MoreDestroying Lives Based on Time of Day
The rampant discrimination you’ve never heard of. Someone sent this around an email chain today, kind of as a joke about wanting to only work half days. This is an article about “decision fatigue”, the idea that if you make tons of decisions in a day you just kinda get worn out and your brain just doesn’t want to keep going. It’s an interesting idea, but my point has nothing to do with this. Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? — NYTimes.com. The article is talking about a parole board in Israel who…
Read MoreCriminal Justice Extremism
We tell ourselves our system is better but we’re just as cruel. A woman is caned for violating Islamic sharia law outside a mosque. From BBC news. After reading a few articles recently about some extreme acts of criminal justice, I decided I needed to write another post examining the fundamental attitudes that allow humans to feel so justified in bringing others intense suffering. The first is about a 14 year old Bangladeshi girl who was lashed to death for adultery. The next is a story from Ireland about police threating to…
Read MoreWhy Does Pro-Life not Apply to Miscarriages?
The pro-life perspective is so fascinating and difficult for liberals to understand. 15%-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage and 74% of women say that miscarriage was “partly their fault”. Now, I know probably a hundred or more women who have had babies, but can only think of one who has ever had a miscarriage. For comparison I know several who have had abortions. So this leads me to believe, that if that statistic is correct, then there truly is this deep taboo against talking about miscarriages. Granted, I’m not exactly…
Read MoreDangerous Drive-Thrus and Laws Justifying Laws
An example of how laws trick us into letting them multiply and feed on themselves. This image is from a story about a carjacking. I was unable to find an image related to pedestrians being injured in drive-thrus. This is a comment I received on an old story I did where I basically complained about how I had to drive my car to the drive-thru instead of being allowed to walk and pointed out how these rules encourage drunk driving and are discriminatory toward people who don’t own cars. i’m…
Read MoreDo Suicidal People Deserve to be Punished?
Similar psychological issues lead to crime and suicide. Why do we treat them completely differently? I wrote this piece back around 2006 or so I think. I recently visited an old friend who happened to be having some dramatic fights with his girlfriend who was also the mother of his child. At one point she called on the phone and threatened to kill herself, and my friend responded by telling her that she was a horrible bitch, a worthless person, a horrible mother, and called her all sorts of horrible…
Read MoreHow Logic and Reason Help Me Lead a (Relatively) Fear-Free Life
Mysteriously paralyzed, my atheism kept me calm while totally vulnerable. This is the first and only time this has ever happened to me, but a few nights ago I had a very strange occurrence. I woke up at about 4:00 AM, in the near pitch-blackness of my bedroom, and found myself paralyzed. I tried to sit up, but couldn’t. I tried to lift an arm, and could not, so I started trying every little part of my body that I could think of, and somehow, nothing was working. My mind…
Read MoreWhat Do Religious Leaders Really Mean by Faith?
What Do Religious Leaders Really Mean by Faith? Religions could greatly help themselves by clarifying this. I’ve thought for a long time that the majority of churches and preachers don’t truly support people having faith in God. Instead they’re looking for people who put a smile on their faces and say that they have faith. To me, having true faith in God means something like my friend Josh, I remember from long ago who jumped off a bridge because Jesus asked him to prove his faith. No doubt the vast majority…
Read MoreFaith in Government and Law
Since we have a government we can blindly assume everything is safe The other day I was telling a story about a time when I was going to lunch with a bunch of co-workers and we tried to cram too many people into an elevator. As everyone was trying to jam in, I tried to tell them that we were over the weight limit, but everyone insisted it wouldn’t be a problem. When we finally got everyone wedged in, we found that the doors wouldn’t close. This as an example of…
Read MoreBart Simpson, Addicted to Punishments
It happens to so many kids I watched a recent episode of The Simpsons (Postcards from the Wedge, Season 21 episode 14 — spoilers follow) where Marge and Homer decide to let Bart do whatever he wants because otherwise he’s going to drive them crazy with stress. Bart then gets frustrated with his new freedom and talks about it with the bully, Nelson, who tells him that he’s got to up the ante, to do something really awful to get their attention. Bart takes this advice, then writes a note, pretending to be…
Read MoreMy Anarchistic Thoughts on the Gang Murder I Witnessed
This shooter doesn’t appear any worse than police or military officers So I’ve been thinking about the guy I watched get shot in front of my apartment a few weeks ago, and more specifically, about the guy doing the shooting. I’ve been running over what my buddy said about how most people who shoot each other in those situations are being driven by fear… it’s not about hatred or a love of death and killing or even of wanting to look tough (though I believe wanting to look tough is a…
Read MoreOur World View Determines Everything
Our World View Determines Everything Here’s me bragging about how awesome my life is I’ve been watching Ted Talks recently and decided to watch a pro-God video in the interest of being open minded. It’s by Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life which has sold more than 30 million copies. I’m not sure what happened to the video but I’m sure it’s still out there. But I wanted to mention something that he said that I absolutely, %100 agree with: “Your world view though does determine everything else…
Read MoreHow Atheism Can Be Magical
How Atheism Can Be Magical We fall in love with logic and reason as others do with God. Here’s a random comment about atheists that I found interesting and important to address: “One exasperating aspect of reading or watching the atheists’ arguments is that they are so linear, cognitive and left brained. If we were wholly left brained beings, this would make sense but we are not. There is an emotional aspect to us as well as a strong sense of intuition. When we are seriously ill, we do not respond solely…
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