Where I stand: Freedom

There are lots of opinions on everything nowadays. Sometimes I feel like one side dominates over the other, even to the point of silencing arguments. Fear runs rampant, and people are cared to voice their differing views in case they are ridiculed. Well, I say enough.
Right here, I'm going to voice what I have to say. I know people will disagree, but I hope those who agree but feel down trodden know they aren't alone.
To start with, I don't believe in being Liberal or Conservative. I don't believe in following one party or another. I believe by claiming one side or another, we cause division and contention. Both sides have good points and bad. All politicians are human, thus making them a combination of liars and honest. No one is perfect. Everyone does their best, some better than others, yes, but I believe in our society people are trying their best to follow what they believe to be right.
In the western world, we are blessed to have many freedoms. Freedoms often won through blood, sweat, and tears. How often do we pause to give thanks that we can voice our opinions freely because of the sacrifice of others? Or do we forget that we have this privilege due to wars and sacrifice? Shouldn't this then mean we should let others around us feel differently and also voice their views and feelings?
Freedom was not born in America, neither is it exclusive to America. Democracy was born in Ancient Greece, and developed throughout the centuries. In England, we see the rise of freedom through the Magna Carta, a charter which the Founding Fathers used to help the build the American Constitution. Thus, we see a trail showing freedom as we know it as a western society trait.
But what is freedom?
Freedom is the right, no, I should say, the privilege to choose our own path, our own destiny. I say it's a privilege rather than a right because rights are things that are essential for living. Things like clean food and water, shelter from the elements, and a safe place to rest. There are many countries out there where people do not have these rights, places like Burma, that are so often forgotten as we whine about our own lack of "rights". The point is, anything outside of these living conditions is a privilege bought and paid for in blood. This gives us the freedom to choose our careers, our social circles, our religions, our sexuality, who leads our nations, and just about everything in our day to day lives. Because of this freedom, we can say things in ignorance or through solid study and not be ridiculed for it... technically.
Let's remember freedom is for everyone, not just the people who agree with you. Freedom gives everyone the ability to say "I agree" or "I disagree" without it breeding fear, hate, and intolerance. Freedom is for everyone who will embrace it. Let's not stifle it by silencing our opposition.

My First Ever Cheesecake

With MLK day yesterday, I had time to work on making my first cheesecake. I know cheesecakes can be really hard, so I really wanted to focus on this.

So the raspberry sauce and the filling came together pretty easily. I will admit, I couldn't find what I needed for the crust, so I just bought a premade crust. But the difficult part is the cooking. While filling the pie crust, I soon realized I had too much filling, so I cooked the rest afterward in a small corning ware container:

It came out perfectly, but the main cheesecake ended up looking a little funky because... I burned the top! LOL! I think this happened because I overfilled the pie.

Oh man these photos suck... Anyway, It's hard to see, but it's brown on top. Luckily the raspberry sauce hides it a bit. But it tastes spot on, and the texture is perfect, too. I am quite pleased with the results for my first attempt at something so difficult, and you can even see where Landon stole a few chunks.

Sunday Breakfast: Eggs & Bacon Quesadillas

Sunday Breakfasts are proving to be a lot of fun, mostly because it forces Landon out of bed before 10 a.m.
So, this Sunday I made these:

So it turned out I only had 3 tortillas left, so I couldn't layer them so I folded them instead. This is basically what it says, bacon and eggs as a quesadillas! But you can't really go wrong with bacon and eggs, so with juice on the side, and the left over filling split between us, we had a yummy breakfast together.

Italian Sausage Skillet

It's been a few days since I last posted, not that I haven't been cooking! Quite the opposite actually, which you will see with the next few posts.
Over the few days we went to other people's houses for dinner and I remade some recipes to use up the ingredients before they went bad. But I did make this dinner.

The great thing about this book is how simple the meals are. They use only a few ingredients and usually they are thing I usually have in the house anyway or are inexpensive. This came together very quickly, I think the thing that took the longest was slicing the veg.

I did add some "Italian" spices to give it some extra flavor, ad Landon thinks a can of tomato paste to thicken the juice would be great next time too. But all in all, it was a hit! Landon loved it, Missy Moo ate about half her bowl, so yay!

Day Seven: Potato-Leek Soup with Ham

So my poor husband has been sick all day. This made up my mind about making this today. Something gentle and warm for his stomach.

One thing though; always check your ingredients haven't gone bad before you start cooking. I went to open our cream and found it sour and moldy. Seriously, ew. So I had Landon watch the soup while I rushed up to the store to get fresh cream.

What I liked about the recipe instructions was the detailed way it told me how to prepare leeks. I've always noticed the dirt that gets in it, and struggled with separating the rings. But this says cut the length-ways first, then slice normally, then rinse in cold water. It's so simple I couldn't believe I didn't think of it before.

This soup was quick and very easy, also very flavorful. Landon loved it. I'm thinking with Missy Moo soups are a great way to get her to eat veg. This one, like the other soup, she devoured every last bite.

We had a leftover baguette from Sunday's family dinner, so to avoid wasting it, we sliced it up and made garlic bread to go with the soup. Fabulous winter dinner!

Day Six: Key West Burgers

So, I've been a bit slack the last few days. I did make this one, but I've found we have a build up of left overs. Since I really don't want to waste food, I will be remaking recipes with the left over ingredients to avoid throwing money in the trash. So, if you don't see something pop up, that's what's happened: Leftover/repeat night. If my repeat turns out better, I'll post about it!

Anyway, onto business!

I actually made this on Friday. Very quick and easy, I think the "hardest" part was the sauce for it. Although, I put it all together in about 30 minutes.

I liked the lime taste to it, but I don't think it will join the family favorites list.

Looking at these pictures, I've decided we need new counter tops. Seriously, whoever installed these didn't have great taste... or it was the 80's.

Sunday Breakfast #1: Oatmeal

We have 1pm church this year, which works great with my cooking goals because it gives me time to make Sunday morning breakfasts! As I said last week, I couldn't make this due to fast Sunday, so here it is now.

This is the only winter breakfast recipe in this book. Oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfasts, so I love it. Very simple, you mix the dry ingredients together, oats, brown sugar, baking powder... and in another bowl mix the dry ingredients, then combine, then bake.

I wasn't sure if Landon would eat this as he's not an oatmeal fan, but he did! Whoo! Lilly is really good about eating breakfast, so she devoured hers. I thought it was delicious, and skipped lunch because it was so filling. A great winter Sunday morning meal.