Sheepish Confessions

So a dear friend comments to me -- not on my blog, mind you, but to my face -- "Why do you give out all these dessert recipes if you're a diabetic?"

My answer: "There are reasons I am diabetic. My pancreas is tired. And I have a treasure trove of wee tasties that deserve to be passed on to the benefit of all mankind." (...most of which happen to be very sinful...)

While I have diabetes, it does not have me. These days, with a little juggling, I can eat almost anything as long as I starve myself of proper food, have plenty of advance notice, and ingest said tasty treats in miniscule portions. Life isn't perfect, but as the great Spencer Tracy would say, "It may not be much, but what's there is churce."

To prove I actually eat something besides cookie bars, here's a recipe for some proper food -- it's what people at my church call a perfect food storage recipe. It's simple, it's a one-pot meal, and I actually won a prize for this at Preparedness Night.

CHICKEN TACO STEW

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 (16-oz.)can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (16-oz.)can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (16-oz.)can corn, drained

1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce

1 (28-oz.) can tomatoes

1 (7-oz.) can diced green chilies

1 packet taco seasoning

1 teaspoon cumin

2 or 3 cans chicken breast(I know! but you have to use it in SOMETHING!)

chopped cilantro, optional

Heat oil in a dutch oven and add onion; stir until the onions are translucent (for those educated in California, that means "see-through"). Add black beans, kidney beans, corn, tomato sauce, tomatoes, green chilies, taco seasoning, and cumin and stir with a really big spoon. Drain canned chicken and add in the last five minutes of cooking. Spoon into bowls and garnish with a healthy dusting of chopped cilantro.

I got extra points for including the cilantro out of my garden. If I had a cow and could make my own sour cream, I might have run away with the big prize of the night, a huge wheat grinder that looked like it came out of the opening credits of Kate and Leopold (in unison now, girls: sigh for Leo...!) I was thrilled with the cookbook, however, because I never win anything, except, of course, the love of Mr. Adams and the young lad and lass, which makes life ginger-peachy and so worth whatever I have to do to keep on living.

Health Care Nightmare

I think I've solved our health care dilemma! I've got it all figured out.

If uninsured people wish to be covered, we expand Medicaid, which was created to insure those who can't afford insurance. They can have Medicaid!

Except of course, that the uninsured would rather have NOTHING than have Medicaid, because, of course, Medicaid SUCKS. THAT'S off the table!

And it's going bankrupt, too, because it's a government-run program and they ruin everything they touch. To quote The Great Barack Obama, "It's not UPS and Fedex that have problems; it's the Post Office with all the troubles."

But if Medicaid is already in financial trouble insuring 39 million people, and the coverage stinks, how are they going to insure 320 million people well for less money so the new program WON'T go bankrupt?

Do you think they might scale back on people's treatment? Preposterous! That wouldn't be fair to people who already like their medical care -- there are about 280 million of them.

But we all know life isn't fair. I remember a story about a woman in Canada who went into labor -- her local hospital had a full maternity ward and didn't have to take another pregnant woman and refused her admittance. As a matter of fact, every maternity ward in the province of Manitoba was full. Thank goodness there was a bed available a thousand miles away in British Columbia. She was flown there while in labor and had a successful delivery. And they paid for her flight!...It's a really good system.

And the lottery system -- you see, available physicians in Canada are concentrated in the cities, where the need is greatest, so there are shortages of doctors in outlying towns. One town has a lottery -- all the families needing to see a doctor put their names into the hat, and when a doctor becomes available, a name is drawn and a secretary from the mayor's office calls you to give you the happy news that you CAN see a doctor now! I'll bet there's a lot of celebrating in those families...you know, the ones that get the care.

Okay -- I don't have a fix for health care, and I guarantee you that no one else does, either, least of all the geniuses in Washington. So let's stop calling it an emergency that has to be done by July 30 -- what?! we missed the President's emergency deadline and we're still alive??!! -- and listen to the people and really discuss it and do so honestly, because I'm not prepared to hand the sovereignty of my body to the state. (I'm kidding about the "honest" discussion, of course! How can you tell a politician is lying? HIS LIPS ARE MOVING!)

Did someone say rationing? No? Well, ration THIS, Congress.

GERMAN CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE

1 chocolate cake mix (18.25 ounces)

1 tub of Coconut Pecan frosting

1 cup water

1/3 cup softened butter

3 large eggs

Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend on low for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of mixer and beat two minutes more on medium speed. Pour the very thick batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake 50 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched lightly with your forefinger. Cool for 30 minutes, then loosen sides and turn out onto a cake plate.

(Loving coconut pecan frosting just slightly less than my own flesh and blood, I thin out a second tub of frosting -- by microwaving it for 25 seconds -- and drizzle it over the cake, just to add to the ridiculous decadence of this tasty little treat.)