A Simple, But GREAT Mexican Dish!

What could have possibly motivated me to blog after such a long absence? Well, how about a great recipe for a home cooked Mexican dish! One of my barbers recently asked me to write this one down for him and since I finally had the chance to do so, I thought I'd share it with a slightly larger audience. This is one of my family's favorites and we either have a side of rice and beans or a green salad along with it. Either way, this is a nice, homey dish for cold, rainy evenings. Also, if you show up with this at a potluck, I promise it'll be a hit! Feel free to comment with any questions or suggestions.

Beef Enchilada Pie

Recipe Note: Measurements are not exact. I typically “wing it” and try to go by taste.

2 lbs. lean ground beef (90% lean or better)

12 – 14 Corn tortillas

4 cups grated Mild or Sharp Cheddar (or Mexican cheese blend)

1 Large white onion (Chopped/Diced)

2 – 3 large cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 can diced tomatoes (drained)

2 cans tomato sauce

1 – 2 tbsp. Olive Oil

Salt (to taste)

Black Pepper (to taste)

1 Tbsp. of Knorr Chicken Bouillon (or 2 small cubes dissolved in very little warm water, if you don’t have the powder form)

Chili powder – approximately 2 or 3 tbsp.

Ground Cumin – approximately ½ tsp.

Crushed Red Pepper (optional and to taste)

In a large skillet or pot, coat the bottom of the pot/pan with the olive oil and put on medium heat. Add the chopped white onion and garlic and allow to cook for a minute or so before adding the ground beef.

When you start browning the ground beef, season it with the Knorr, black pepper, and salt. Take it really easy on the salt to start, because the Knorr is already salty. Also add the ground cumin and chili powder, again taking it easy on the amounts as this is also subject to your own tastes. Remember, you can always add more at the end. Also add the crushed red pepper at this point, if you’ve chosen to include it.

Once the ground beef has really started to brown, add the can of diced tomatoes (drain the liquid from the can first) and 1 can of tomato sauce. Lower the heat to a low to low-medium heat and allow it all to simmer (covered) for about 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. This is a good time to taste and make any spice adjustments.  Also, feel free to add diced green chiles or jalapenos or something else that you think might enhance the dish or that you just like.

As the beef simmers, coat the bottom of a large baking dish/pan (9” x9” or 11” x 7”) with a very thin layer of olive oil or a non-stick cooking spray. In a large or shallow bowl, pour in the other can of tomato sauce and a tiny bit of water (a couple of tbsp. or so). You’re going to dip each corn tortilla in to the tomato sauce for a very light coat of sauce first, then layer the bottom of the pan with the tortillas. It should only take about 6 or 7 tortillas to do this and feel free to tear 1 or 2 in half to make them fit correctly to completely cover the bottom of the baking pan.

Once the ground beef is done (allow to cook uncovered for a few minutes if it’s too saucy), you will then spoon in about half of it in to the baking dish and spread over your first layer of corn tortillas. Next, spread a layer of grated cheese over the layer of ground beef. Repeat this entire process with another layer of corn tortillas, ground beef and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or so.

Enjoy!

Confession

So, last night on my drive home, I switched from the news stations (was getting too depressing....except for the excerpts of Charlie Sheen's latest lunatic ramblings - that's just funny) to XM's "The Boneyard".  For anyone not really familiar with XM radio, this station plays Heavy Metal music from the 70's, 80's and 90's with an occasional newer song (usually from a band that was big back then).  Typically, I don't feel badly about listening to the station as I'm just enjoying the incredible guitar riffs, etc.  But every once in a while, I come across a song that does convict me (because of the overtly sexual or demonic themes, for example) and I'll switch the station.

So, last night, they were playing some awesome songs that were big when I was in high school and college...just great rock music.  Then, a song by W.A.S.P. came on and I immediately recognized it as one of the more vulgar songs I used to listen to way back when.  In fact, the song made the PMRC's "Top 15 Fithiest Songs" list way back when Al Gore and his wife were trying to make names for themselves by going after the music industry.  But, I digress.  So, the song came on and I didn't switch the station - I kept listening and soon found myself singing parts of the song (the ones that were not quite filthy).  I KNEW I should turn it off and didn't feel right listening to it, but in those moments, my new self fell short.  That's the only way I know how to put it.  I failed.

Anyway, I've come to learn that God has an awesome sense of humor and an incredible sense of timing.  And because I exercised my free will to listen to the whole song, God was waiting for me on the other side with a message.  At the end of the last note, the DJ says:

"And that's a song that Blackie Lawless says he will never perform again because of his Christian faith.  A lot of people give him crap (except he didn't say crap) for that decision.  But like Michael Sweet of Stryper puts it - 'Blackie chooses not to play that particular song because of the conviction of his faith. To me, that makes him an honorable person.  You're going to give him a hard time for being honorable? That's something that should be applauded, not attacked.' So there people, you've been b**** slapped by Michael Sweet."

And I too, had been slapped, but by God.  To drive His point home, when I studied my devotional today, this was the key verse: "Therefore, . . . whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31

Next time I open my mouth to sing, it better be to sing something worth singing...that honors HIM, not glorifies sin.

Daddy's Little Girls

Just over 24 hours ago, my lovely bride and I completed a long day of air travel with our two beautiful daughters.  Having had a career that has required a heavy travel schedule, both by car and by air, I can honestly say that I have never experienced anything like what I experienced yesterday.  Traveling as a family with two small children is a UNIQUE experience and my hat’s off to the many families I’ve seen over the years, doing the same thing, and doing it with at least a small measure of calm, patience and a generally good attitude.  I imagine that as we do travel together more and more, it’ll become easier and more routine.  But yesterday, as the MAN of the family, my stress level was off the charts as I looked after my family’s safety and comfort.  I think the closest I can equate it to is one Secret Service guy trying to protect three assets all by himself.  And why do I feel that way?  Well, therein lies the point for today….

Like I said, my bride and I have two daughters that are still very small – a four-and-half-year old (Little One) and a newborn that will be two months soon (Baby).  Little One is not quite yet five, but has such an amazing little personality and brightness to her that it seems more like she’ll be fifteen soon (and from what I hear from other parents, if we blink, she just might be before we know it).  Maybe because we’ve never spoken down to her or simplified our language with her, her vocabulary seems fairly advanced to me and there are times I honestly forget I’m debating a four-year old as I’m trying to explain my position on why the TV has to be turned off (for example).  Unfortunately, more often than not, when I do remember her age, I just fall back on the old favorite, “Because I said so, that’s why!”

Baby, of course, is too young to talk back or do much more than eat, sleep, cry and fuss occasionally.  It’s probably like living with a Hollywood actress with a combination eating and bipolar disorder.  In any case, Baby hasn’t even been in this world for a full two months and is already completely running my life.  Most of our days are centered completely and totally around her needs.  And you know what?  We wouldn’t change a thing for even a second.  Baby is such an amazing blessing to our family and every time I look into her little face, I feel like I’m looking at an angel that decided to visit our world.  The love that I feel for both our girls is something that I would never have truly understood without being blessed as a father.  In the past, whenever I’d see a parent with their children (young or grown), I could appreciate the concept of parental love from a distance, but I didn’t really “get it”.

Call me crazy, but despite Baby being essentially a newborn, we can already see her little personality emerging.  One of the first things we noticed was that when she wants something (wants to be fed, carried, or left alone and given the room to stretch), the little “crying” she does, isn’t really crying.  She tends to rather “grunt” when she’s bothered.  We noticed this during her first week of life and were even a little surprised to see that the little grunts were accompanied by her kicking her feet in rhythm with each grunt.  All this led to Mommy commenting that Baby seemed to have Daddy’s temper.  Ha ha, very funny, Mommy.  But if it’s true, it won’t be so funny when she’s fifteen.  We also noticed during Week One, that she was moving her head around A LOT.  We have to be very careful to support her neck and head, because she seems to have her head on a swivel and wants to constantly look around at her surroundings.  She was also turning her body in different directions very early.  I think we’re really going to have our hands full if this little girl is as bright and headstrong as she already seems to be.  I get the sense Baby isn’t going to be so much Little One’s “sidekick” as she’ll be a “partner-in-crime”.  Please pray for their daddy.

I've also told my wife that my preference would be that the girls don't start dating until they're in their early 30s.  Mommy just smiles her patient smile, probably thinking how cute it is that Daddy is so naive. Well, I'm thinking that when the boys do start coming around to pick up either of the girls, I'll be conveniently cleaning the 12-gauge, wearing a "wife-beater" undershirt with all the tattoos on full display and chomping on a cigar.  I may not even have to say much, even the most thick-headed teenage boy will likely pick up on the subtleties of the message. Like a friend recently said, it seems like a reasonable approach to me.

As beautiful, intelligent and sweet I think our girls are, I know that if and when they grow up to be amazing women that are intelligent, strong, generous, kind and full of a faith in and love for God, a HUGE part of the credit for that will have to go to their mother.  My bride is not only the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, she’s the BEST woman I’ve ever known.  She is all the things that I mentioned above and hope for our daughters.  And I know I’m a very blessed man to have married such a patient and loving bride.  I try not to say this too often, but my bride is so patient and laid-back with me that when she does let me “have it” for something I said or did, it’s almost guaranteed that it was warranted.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, I deserved it.  In fact, here’s a quick example to explain who my wife is:

The other day we had a debate about something (I’m not going to really call it an argument, because we didn’t “argue” in what I consider a typical argument arising over nothing).  There was a situation we didn’t agree on and I really felt I was right.  Now, my philosophy over recent years has been that I’d rather be happy than right, so most things are not worth fighting over (debating, arguing, or spending any time holding on to).  But on this day, I wasn’t quite there yet and as I was trying to make my point, I said to her, “Look, I didn’t do anything wrong here.  Why do I feel like you’re making me out to be the bad guy?”

She said, “I’m not making you out to be the bad guy.  You’re the good guy…which is why I EXPECT MORE FROM YOU.”  Now, what do you say to that?  As you can guess, the air was completely let out of my “argument”.

So, our girls are going to have an amazing mommy to teach them the many life lessons she seems to have learned so well herself and a daddy that’s going to love them unconditionally and do his best to protect them and keep them safe and happy and healthy.

So, why did I feel like a bodyguard on a serious detail yesterday?  When it comes to my family and all three of my girls – my amazing bride and our two little angels, I can’t imagine anything I wouldn’t do to keep them from harm.  On a long and stressful trip like yesterday’s adventure, there are so many little things that could happen to cause one of the girls to get hurt or sick or whatever.  Now, don’t think me paranoid, because I’ve always been a great “take things as they come” kind of traveler when by myself.  But, when you add my family to the equation, that’s a whole other story.

A few weeks ago, I was holding Baby in my arms and watching her sleep.  The love I felt for her in those moments seemed too big for me to contain in my chest.  I felt as if my heart would burst right out of my body.  In that moment, it occurred to me that the Bible talks about how the love an earthly father has for his children pales in comparison to the love God has for His children in all of us.  And it further occurred to me that just as I know I’d gladly give my life to save my children from harm, our Heavenly Father has already done that by coming to the Earth in human form and allowing Himself to be crucified to a cross outside Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago.  In those moments, I felt so grateful and so undeserving of such an incredible sacrifice.  But, because God did give Himself to save my life, while I’m here in this physical life, I will do my best to be the father my little girls deserve and the husband my bride will always be proud of.  So that when I make it to the next life, I can be proud of who I was (for my girls) as I stand in front of my Heavenly Father.

Grow up

My mom and I did something this morning we haven’t done in a really long time.  We argued.  Well, it was actually more like a really heated discussion in which we both got pretty upset.

What set it off (ok, what set me off) was that she was (in my opinion) creating excuses for two members of our family and their behavior.  A father and son – I’ll leave it at that.  See, both of these individuals have a host of issues going on…to the point that their lives and the lives of those around them are seriously affected.  Without going into detail, I can say that both seem to have A LOT of anger and resentment and instead of having dealt with the core issues causing these feelings, they’ve used them as an excuse for their behavior and lack of personal growth.

I know this sounds like simply my opinion, but I’m trying to be as factual as I can possibly be.  Both have expressly shared their anger about past hurts (some real and some imagined) and have pointed to these things as the reasons for the current failures in their lives.  I’m not in any position to say what should or shouldn’t affect someone or how someone should or should not feel, but don’t we all have things in our pasts that we could blame for current problems?

I just think that at some point in our lives we have to GROW UP.  Whether it be through prayer, counseling, professional help of some kind or just open and honest communication with loved ones, we have to work through all the crap that keeps us from being the best we can be and move on.

Obviously, no one has a perfect life.  There’s good and bad to all aspects of our lives.  But, if you focus on the bad, the whole damn thing is gonna look bad.  I remember reading in one of Tony Robbins’ books about an exercise where one takes a bad memory and pictures it in their mind, and slowly starts to shrink it down like a camera zooming way out away from the “scene”.  You do this to the point where the picture of that memory is a little tiny dot way off in one corner of your mind.  Then, you picture a good memory and slowly zoom in and make it really big in your mind like a theater screen…maybe to the point of imagining that it’s on an IMAX screen.  Look, he wasn’t saying that what we should do is ignore our past and bury past hurts, I think he was saying we should acknowledge those issues and minimize the affect they have on our lives, while focusing on the good things around us.

I know it’s not easy to work through resentments and hurt, sometimes it can feel like that’s all there is surrounding us, but again, it’s about where we choose to focus.  I just think that if you’re going to whine about your life and not put in the work to actually make it better, you’re just making excuses to keep doing what you’re doing.

Earlier today, I posted this link to my FaceBook page:

http://www.facebook.com/NickVujicicFans?v=app_138260579550289&ref=mf

Nick was born with no arms and no legs.  Yet, he lives an incredibly fulfilled life that begins with a joy that comes from his faith in God.  I saw Nick speak in 2006 at a church in the San Fernando Valley and was just blown away by his energy, joy and faith.  When I started writing just now, I didn’t even remember that I had posted Nick’s FaceBook link earlier.  His story is a perfect example of choosing to live an incredible life, despite some fairly big challenges.  It was just coincidence that my mom and I had this discussion regarding personal responsibility this morning.  The issue I have with her about all of this is that she continues to make excuses for other’s bad behavior.  I just don’t happen to think that not holding people accountable for their actions, does them any good.   I know she means well and wants the best for everyone, but at what point do we consider someone “grown up”?  When they’re 20? 30? 40?  This entire post may seem to be especially “rambling on”, but I think it was really more of an exercise for me to be able to vent.  I’m not feeling as frustrated as I did a while ago, but still hold my opinion that at some point, we all have to take responsibility for our lives and do our best to be the best we can.  We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our loved ones and, more importantly, we owe it to God.

Faith vs. Fear

In thinking about what I should “blog” about first, I considered introducing some personal facts about myself, discussing my lovely family or sharing my opinion on any number of things….but the truth is that it really only makes sense to first discuss that which comes first in my life (yes, even before my family) and that’s my faith.  Faith in a creator God who exists in 3 forms as the Father God, His son Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Hopefully, over time it’ll become clear why I have made the conscious decision to put Him first in my life and why I can confidently say that my lovely bride is glad that I put God first.  For now, let me just say this – any contractor or architect worth his salt will tell you that without a strong foundation, it doesn’t matter how well you plan or build the rest of your house, it’s eventually gonna come crashing down around your head.  In the Bible, Jesus explains it this way in discussing the value of following His teachings and putting our faith in God:

 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Matthew 7:24-27

In all honesty, I haven’t always heeded these words.  In fact, through much of my adult life, I did what many of us do. I always tried to do things my way.  I would try to will things to turn out how I thought things should go.  In short, my ego was so big, that there was little room for God.  In any case, my point is that I’ve chosen to build my life on the foundation of my faith in God. 

With that said, what was really on my heart to share was the importance of faith during difficult times.  It goes with out saying that there are A LOT of really scary things going on in people’s lives right now.  During any given year, we all deal with illness, loss of a family member, disharmony in our relationships and financial stress.  But the last couple of years, it seems like someone “set the burner to high”.  It’s not even worth listing all the stuff going on in our country right now – we all know.  But, at the same time, there are still amazing blessings in our lives all around us.  We are still the most blessed country and people in the world.  We enjoy things here that others around the world will never have.  I’m reminded of this fact when I get to talking to some of my friends that have come to the U.S. from other countries – some as far away as the middle east, India, and Pakistan and some as close as across the CA border.

Dale Carnegie wrote a book called “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” many, many years ago.  Chapter 15 of that book is still one of the most impactful things I have ever read.  One of the habits I developed from reading that chapter was thanking God each morning for very specific things in my life.  And I mean everything I can think of in the few minutes it takes to do this before getting out of bed – my family, my health, my job, my friends, my church….  By the time I get to…say…the 10^th thing on the list, my mood is so light, grateful and happy that I can’t wait to start the day.  I guarantee you there are always a ton of things on that list and for me, it’s about starting my day with “an attitude of gratitude”.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that even in the face of adversity, if we have put our faith in God, we should have no fear.  Christians can agree that fear is the opposite of faith.  Fear doesn’t give God any room to work.  Like Francis Chan says in his book, “Crazy Love”, when we worry, we’re saying that our problems are bigger than Him.  Really?  Do we honestly believe that our problems and fears are bigger that the creator of Heaven and Earth?

Unfortunately, fear isn’t the only way we don’t leave room for God.  Sometimes we rely too much on ourselves.  Don’t get me wrong – confidence and self-reliance are admirable traits.  But, when we try to do everything ourselves and will (sometimes force) things to go our way, we’re trying to impose our will and not deferring to God’s will.  We don’t always have the answer to our problems and we will never have all the answers.  I’m comforted by the fact that I have a Father God, who (much like an earthly father) has my best interests in mind and knows what’s best for me.

I think this topic has been on my mind for a while, because I am at a point in my life where both amazingly awesome blessings are happening and a couple of interesting challenges are looming on the horizon too.  But, there’s an incredible peace in knowing that if I do my best to create solutions for things that I can control, I can give up to God the things I can’t control and know that they’re in the best hands possible.  I am so grateful for and LOVE my life.  Not because I don’t have problems, but because even problems provide me with an opportunity to draw closer to God and to strive to be more like Jesus.  Because after all, if I call myself a Christian, shouldn’t I be trying to be more Christ-like?

Starting Out

To be clear – this blog is titled “The Rambling Man Today” not because it’s about “rambling along” in the sense of taking a trip or traveling and it definitely has nothing to do with the Allman Brothers (as cool as that song is).  What it does have to do with is the fact that I tend to have random thoughts and ramblings that are probably better suited to a blog than FaceBook, email or talking my poor friend’s and family’s ears off.  Even if no one ever really reads any of this, the mere act of having put it down on “record” will be a healthy exercise for me.  Kinda like keeping a journal  (which I’ve never really done, but have always heard was a great practice).  So, consider it just that.  A public journal, providing a peek into the inner thoughts of a man trying to make his way in today’s world.

Topics will probably be much like my interests – all over the place.  But I can almost guarantee that what I will touch on will include God, family, friendship, travel, food and the occasional thought on “popular” media like movies, TV and music.  The first half of that list are things that are important to me and the second half are things I just tend to like (I’ll let you decide what side of the dividing line food falls on).  In the meantime, knowing that someone other than myself could be reading, I’ll try to keep things informative, interesting and maybe even a little entertaining.