Cathy Burnham Martin's Blog, page 24

Wear Red for Awareness

Wearing red on Fridays can signify various things, including paying tribute to all military veterans. However, the first Friday of February is also National Wear Red Day for a very different reason. This date signifies the annual campaign to raise awareness about heart disease in women. Even one century ago, little was known about heart disease and even less about how it affected women. Considered a man’s disease, even the American Heart Association hosted a conference in the 1960s theme, “How Can I Help My Husband Cope with Heart Disease?” Women were mistakenly believed to have some natural protection from heart disease until their hormone levels dropped during menopause.

In the mid-1980s, studies found that the oversight was due to women being overlooked in studies, which focused primarily on middle-aged men. Further studies found signs of heart attack issues and stroke symptoms did not match the earlier assumptions of what constituted cardiovascular risk. By the turn of the century, researchers realized that while women tended to develop heart disease about 10 years later than men, more women were dying form it. And women under age 65 were twice as likely to die from a heart attack as their male peers.

In 2004, the Heart Truth campaign launched, unveiling the red dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease. The message? Breast cancer is not women’s biggest health worry because one out of 3 women will die of heart disease. Significant recent research also links menopause symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats with an increased risk for high blood pressure, a major risk factor in cardiovascular disease. Women are increasingly encouraged to get involved in their own good health through regular physical activity and healthier eating habits much earlier in life. Good advice for all of us, I believe. An easy reminder is to wear red for awareness.

Ahhhhh, Politics

“Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, and are right.”

— H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
American journalist & essayist

So, There!

“Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense.”

— Mark Twain (1835-1910)
19th Century American author and humorist
(pen name for Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

Stew on This!

 

Celebrate National Homemade Soup Day with a bountiful bowl of soup that soothes your very soul. For my hubby, Sir Ronald, something thick and beefy fills the bill. No need to open a canned soup when scrumptious is this easy to make on your own stove.
 

 

Souper Simple Beef Stew
6 T butter, divided
3 lbs diced and/or strips of steak
2 large, sweet onions, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
14-oz frozen pearl onions, thawed
1 env dried onion soup mix
2 (6-8 oz each) pkgs sliced mushrooms (shiitake & baby bella)
1 tsp Mrs. Dash (or other) garlic & herb blend
1 tsp thyme
Salt & pepper, to suit your taste
32 oz beef bone broth
2 c hot water whisked with 2 tsp Better Than Bouillon beef
½ c red wine
1 or 2 (14½ oz cans) petite diced tomatoes & juices
2 c raw baby carrots

Melt 2 T butter in large skillet over med high heat. Quickly brown beef, stirring; transfer with slotted spoon into a slow cooker on high heat. Add 2 T butter to the skillet and the chopped onions and celery. Let cook 5 minutes, stirring a couple of times; transfer to the slow cooker. Add remaining butter to the skillet along with the mushrooms. Let cook 5-6 min, stirring once or twice. Meanwhile, stir the pearl onions and onion soup mix into the slow cooker mixture, along with the seasonings. Gradually whisk 1 c bone broth into the cornstarch or flour till smooth. Then stir into the mushrooms in the skillet. Pour in remaining bone broth and the bouillon mixture. Let cook till bubbly and thickened. Transfer to the slow cooker. Stir the wine into the skillet to deglaze the pan, releasing any cooked on particles. Transfer to the slow cooker, along with the tomatoes and baby carrots. Cover the slow cooker and let cook 45 minutes.

KISS Tip: This is great served with some crusty, cheesy garlic bread.

National Day the Music Died

The Winter Dance Party Tour scheduled 24 concerts in 24 days visiting 24 mid-western cities. Though it started on January 23rd, it ended abruptly on February 3, 1959, when wintery weather caused a plane to crash shortly after take-off into a cornfield outside Clear Lake, Iowa.

 

 

Along with pilot Roger Peterson, everyone else on board died in that crash, including rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.

 

 

Don McLean named the day in the lyrics to his 1971 song “American Pie.” Not originally scheduled to be on the flight, the 28-year-old Big Bopper, who was suffering from a cold, hoped to skip the long cold bus ride to their next stop in Minnesota and traded places with Buddy Holly’s bass player, Waylon Jennings.

 

 

And Ritchie Valens, considered a pioneer in Chicano Rock, was just 17 when he snagged his seat on the plane with Buddy Holly by winning a coin toss with one of the other band members, Tommy Allsup.

 

 

 

Buddy Holly, inducted into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, was 22. An annual memorial concert is held at Clear Lake’s Surf Ballroom, which hosted the artists’ last performances.

Ahhhhhh…..

“Be gentle with yourself, learn to love yourself and forgive yourself, for only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we have the right attitude toward others.”

— Wilferd A. Peterson (1900 – 1995)
American author

National Freedom Day

We all know that freedom is not free, for there remain people with ideologies who would take it from us. For National Freedom Day, I look at comments from two people who worked hard to protect and preserve our freedoms. Our deepest gratitude to all who have served our nation.

 

“History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.”

— Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969)
34th President of the United States
Five-star US Army General
World War II Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force

 

“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he is vigilant in its preservation.”

— Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
United States General of the Army
Served in WWI, WWII, and Korean Conflict
Headed the United Nations Command in Korea

No Polls Hold Sway

Photo by Mark Thomas

 

 

We need not all like a person’s personality in order to recognize his courage, especially when the nation and world needs it most dearly.

 

 

“Abraham Lincoln did not go to Gettysburg having commissioned a poll to find out what would sell in Gettysburg. There were no people with percentages for him, cautioning him about this group or that group or what they found in exit polls a year earlier. When will we have the courage of Lincoln?”

— Robert Coles (1929 – )
American author, child psychologist, and Harvard University Professor Emeritus

 

Be Done with Evil

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

— Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
German-born theoretical physicist; developed the theory of relativity

National Corn Chip Day

 

If you are of a certain age, you may well recall tuna casseroles topped with potato chips. For National Corn Chip Day, we suggest topping your dish with Fritos… regular or scoop-style, or any other chip made from corn meal, such as tortilla chips.

Or whip up a Super Simple Taco Pie with ground beef or shredded rotisserie chicken! Yummy comfort food on a cold winter’s day.

 

 

Super Simple Taco Pie
This is one scrumptious comfort food on a cold winter’s day!

1 lb lean ground beef
1 large (or 2-3 small) sweet onion, chopped
1 pkg dry taco seasoning mix
10 oz red enchilada or taco sauce (medium spiciness)
10-oz can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes & chilies, & juices
1 c corn (fresh or frozen)
15 oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
10 oz bag Fritos (scoop-style), divided
3 c shredded Monterey Jack or pepperjack cheese or Mexican combo
1 or 2 slim green onions (green parts only), thinly sliced
Garnishes & toppings such as sour cream, guacamole, chopped avocado, salsa, additional Fritos scoop chips, sliced black olives, hot sauce, crispy bacon bits, hot or mild banana pepper rings, pickled jalapeño rings, or finely diced sweet pepper

Brown beef in large skillet over med heat, along with the onions, stirring to crumble the beef. Stir in taco seasoning mix and sauce. Then add the Ro-Tel, corn, and beans. Bring to a simmer and let cook, stirring often for 4-5 minutes.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, spread 4 c Fritos in bottom of olive oil-sprayed 13×9” baking dish, turning open sides of scoops to face upwards. Sprinkle 1½ c cheese over the chips before spreading evenly with meat mixture. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top, sprinkle with green onions, and bake at 350°F for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, crumble 1 c of remaining Frito chips. Sprinkle them over the melted cheese and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Serve with your choice of garnishes & toppings on the side. Makes 4-6 servings.

KISS Tips: Do not freeze this dish before or after baking as the chips will turn to mush. Serve on its own or with a green salad on the side. You can also replace the beef with shredded rotisserie chicken or browned ground turkey or chicken or other protein of your choosing. Make your own taco seasoning mix by combining 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp salt, ¼ tsp each: smoked paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper (or cayenne, if you like it hot).

KISS Variation: Turn this into Super Simple Taco Dip by omitting the Fritos chips in the mixture and bake this as a dip, including as much or as little cheese as you prefer, and serving with the scoop-style Fritos on the side as dippers.