#TastyTuesday - Gumbo Sloppy Joes

The weather is Michigan is... well... unpredictable these days. One day it's 40 and kids are throwing a football in the street. The next it's 30 & we're plowing out from 6" of snow that fell in the night. My friend Lisa has a yummy recipe that's perfect to feed a crew after shoveling snow all day or the family after a long day of work and school.

Gumbo Sloppy joes

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)  1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Chicken Gumbo Soup  1 tablespoon yellow mustard  2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon yellow mustard 1 1/4 cups water salt to taste ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In large skillet over medium heat, brown meat. Drain any grease from pan.
2.	Stir in soup, ketchup, yellow mustard, water, salt and pepper. Turn heat to medium-low; simmer uncovered for about 1 hour until liquid is absorbed and mixture is thickened. Serve on buns.

*Place in a crock-pot for all day cooking. 
*Top with cheese.

#MindfullMomentMonday - Love

Today's tea is a mind relaxing blend of chamomile & lavender. Take a moment to enjoy the meaningful tea tag message with me.

"Everlasting impact 

with compassion and kindness 

is called LOVE."

Wednesday's Writing Prompt - How are you?

Well... it's Wednesday. Here's today's Writing Prompt to help train your mind to write, to exercise your brain, to encourage you keep a journal. Use these prompts to break a writer's block if needed.


IN THIS MOMENT part 2

Sit comfortably with your notebook and pen. Write for 10 -15 minutes.

 Describe yourself, how you are sitting, your mood, feelings, preoccupations, the thoughts that come into your head.

Technical Tip: Always remember to write in a way that is comfortable to you. During small exercises, don't get hung up on grammar, punctuation and such. These are meant to help you get thoughts down on paper as quickly and efficiently  possible. If you wish, keep a second journal to "edit" your work. Voice of experience, keeping the raw/rough draft can be inspiring sometimes years later. It's much like keeping your child's kindergarten painting years after your child grown. Have you ever looked at school items your parent saved from your younger days? How did you feel? Maybe write about it.

#TastyTuesday - Super Easy & Quick Banana Bread

When you are cleaning the kitchen don't throw those brown bananas away!

I found a super easy banana bread recipe.

Heat oven to 350'. Grease 9"x5" loaf pan.
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups Jiffy or any baking mix
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2-3 medium)
1/3 cup chopped nuts - optional

Cream shortening and sugar. Combine remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake about 55 minutes. Cool on a rack before slicing.

While cleaning the kitchen this morning, I found several bananas left over from last weekend's camping trip. Ewe! I don't like throwing food away and this is a great recipe to use. It's simple and my family loves it. For fun I add a little nutmeg and brown sugar on the top before placing it into the oven.

I like to use farm fresh eggs. Visit your local Farmers' Market or watch for signs along country roads. They run about $2 a dozen.

#MindfullMomentMonday - Respect

I love tea and several tea companies such as Yogi and Traditional Medicinals put wonderful little inspirational quotes on the tea tags. After I've enjoyed the tea, I pop the tags and collect them in a jar. On Monday, I pull a tag out to inspire me for the week. Hopefully, these little thoughts brighten your day or move you to improvement.

"You must have self-respect; 

only then 

can you respect somebody."