A rose is a rose, but what about dandelions?!

I love life and I love the balance and beauty of nature. Zooming in to see the intricate details of subtle beauty, as well as the panoramic vistas of the natural world. My introductory "Make-It project" will be a simple dandelion, in its moment of peak bloom. An oft over-looked simple beauty, dandelions were the first flowers I gathered for my mother and the first flowers my children gathered for me, so it has it's own special sentimentality for me.
Often mistaken as a weed, this flower also formed a source of food among the Italian family members I grew up around, as we cooked the new tender greens as a vegetable, or in a salad. We connect through its staple as a spring food among the peasant ancestry from which my famly descended. We connect to our roots through this simple and amazing flower.

To pick dandelions for consumption, we always chose new greens from "undistrubed" areas of the yard or fields. Before the greens get flowers, they are tender and although slightly bitter, become much tougher and more bitter once they have a flower stalk, so we don't use them like that. Steam them (as greens, until tender) and brown some garlic in oil and toss the cooked greens with the oil and add some salt. (the salt takes away the bitterness, but don't overdo it). In a salad, it tasts less bitter than endive. Sharing food ideas helps people to connect the world round, even when the food is discovered right under your own noses!

P.S. I don't know if any of you have ever played these games, but we had games for our dandelions, too. First, there is the "Santa Claus" flower that it becomes, and making a wish before you blow it goes into the wind and it is your hopes that the wishes will come back fulfilled. Second there was the game of putting the dandelion flower under someone's chin and if you see yellow strongly reflected, it was proof that you like butter! Third, if you hold the stem, and snap the flower off with your thumb, the saying that went with it was "Mommy had a baby and her had popped off." It may seem macabre, but no moreso than Ring Around the Rosie (originally: Ring Around the Rosary, a child's game to understand the number of deaths related to the Black Plague).

About the Author: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cultivatingmygarden/

Simple Spaghetti Basil Sauce With Meatballs or Seafood

A simple basil sauce, adding meatballs before serving.

One of the biggest questions about how to come up with this recipe is determining the amount to make, considering that whenever possible, we make enough to have left-overs the next day for lunch! Or to serve as a side dish with something else the next night for dinner. This feeds 4 people well, with enough left over to work into another meal.

Simple Basil Sauce (can be used like this or by adding meat/seafood)

5-8 cloves of garlic peeled
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or a little less if olive oil)
3 cans tomato sauce (29 oz cans)
2 TBLSP basil (dried or fresh)
2 tspn oregano (dried or fresh)
1/4 tspn black pepper
1/4 tspn garlic salt (or garlic powder)
pinch of salt (to taste)
OPTIONAL: May also add a couple of bay leaves, a pinch of rosemary, a pinch of thyme

1. Brown peeled garlic cloves in oil, until a golden brown on all sides. Mash with fork once after browning to expose more surface of garlic to oil, and continue to brown again. DO NOT BURN!
2. Add tomato sauce all at once and stir well. Add basil, oregano, black pepper, garlic salt and salt.
3. Bring to medium boil, stir well and lower heat to low-medium to simmer. Keep covered except while stirring, occasionally (every 10-15 minutes).
4. Cook about an hour, until oil rises to the top of the sauce and IS DARK. If it is still golden, the tomato sauce is NOT cooked yet. When it is cooked enough, it does not taste acidic.
NOTE: It is important that you do not scorch the sauce because it will ruin the taste throughout the pot. It is also important for you to completely stir the sauce, making sure it does not stick on the bottom of the pot.
5. Add the meatballs (see recipe below) and continue to cook 10-20 minutes to allow the meatballs to absorb the sauce flavor. Serve over spaghetti
NOTE: About 1-1 1/2 lbs of spaghetti to go with this amount of sauce. Set 1/3 of the sauce aside to add to the top while serving (especially for left-overs the next day because the spaghetti will absorb its sauce over time). Mix the rest of the sauce in with the spaghetti.
NOTE: SAUCE AMOUNTS vary with the tastes of the individuals and the extra sauce is there to accomodate these differences.
NOTE: If you drain the pasta and run a little cold water on them, they will absorb less of the sauce and your dish will have extra sauce. Hot pasta with sauce immediately added to it after draining will absorb all the sauce you give it.

Meatballs

2 lbs ground beef (I prefer ground chuck but humburger or ground sirloin can be substituted)
1 med-lg egg
1/2 cup Progresso Breadcrumbs (Italian style)
2 tspns garlic salt (or garlic powder)
2 tspns of black pepper
OPTIONAL: Add minced fresh mushrooms and/or minced green onion to meat mixture-to taste ~1/4 cup total added to meat to keep meatballs intact.
OPTIONAL: a small amount of milk (~2 TBSP) may be used in place of the egg.

1. Mix egg and breadcrumbs with ground meat. Make sure it is thoroughly blended, but do not handle the meat any longer than you need to mix it.
2. Pull meat into your hand, bringing your fingers down to your palm and removing the meat that squeezes out. Use this as your measuring method as you "match" about the same amount of meat in your hand for each meatball. They do not HAVE to be exact, but they cook much better if they are roughly the same size. 
3. Place meatballs on a cookie sheet or other oven pan, close together but NOT touching. Cover with foil and place in pre-heated oven set to 350°F for about 40 minutes. (a little longer for bigger meatballs, a little shorter for smaller meatballs). Cut one meatball to make sure that it is cooked through before adding to sauce, ready to serve.
4. Drain and add to sauce. Let the meatballs cook about 10-20 minutes longer to absorb the sauce flavor.

ALTERNATIVES: Basil Sauce Base --used to make Seafood Sauce

CLAMS:
You may make the basil sauce as described above, but instead of adding meatballs, you may INSTEAD add 2 cans baby clams (10 oz each). You would open and drain the juice of the clams into the sauce while it is cooking right after adding it to the garlic oil. DO NOT ADD the clams until the sauce is DONE cooking. The clams do not have to be in the sauce more than 5 minutes to be cooked. Overcooking the clams makes them rubbery! Seafood flavored sauce is BEST over Angelhair spaghetti because the sauce is thinner and holds on better to the thinner spaghetti.
OPTIONS: We have used fresh clams by dropping them into boiling water. Once open, pull the clams out of the shell and scoop together and add to sauce once the basil sauce is cooked. 5 minutes is all you need to completely cook the clams. Overcooking makes them rubbery.

ANCHOVIES:
Even if you do not like the taste of anchovies on your pizza, the taste of anchovies added to your sauce is mild and very tasty. For anchovies, we typically use one can of anchovies to one can of sauce. The anchovies are added to the already cooked basil sauce and cooks for another 15 minutes. During that time, the anchovies completely dissolve into the sauce and this mild sauce is ready to eat. One pound of spaghetti will go with one can of sauce/one can of anchovies. Inexpensive and easy to make.

Family Cooking - Part 3 - Pasta Fagioli Soup & Cream of Asparagus Soup

Nancy's Pasta Fagioli Soup

Ingredients

1 large can of tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
1 pig's foot - split in half
1 Tblsp oil to fry 4-5 pieces garlic
1 can red kidney beans (dark beans better, but can use the light beans)
1/2 lb ditalini (can substitute "soup mac" pastina)
salt and pepper to taste
1-3 stalks celery
basil and oregano to taste

Boil pig's foot for 10 minutes and drain (to clean)

Fry garlic in oil (do not burn). Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, parsley, and celery. Let cook about 1/2 hour.

Add pig's foot and cook about one hour.

Add beans and 2 cups water. Cook another 1/2 hour until pig's foot is tender.

Cook ditalini, drain and add to the pot. Be sure it is soupy...add a little water if it isn't.

NOTE 1: Ham hocks or neck bones can be used by those squimish about pigs feet, although the pigs feet works the best for seasoning. (I have made pasta figioli for guests cooked with pig's feet and withheld serving any of the actual pigs feet if they were uncomfortable about using pigs feet.)

NOTE 2: Suggest it be served with a tossed salad, fresh garlic bread and red wine.

Makes about 4-5 servings


Paul's Rich Asparagus Soup

1/4 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large yellow onions, coarsely chopped
4 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 quarts rich chicken stock
3 pounds asparagus
1 cup packed, chopped fresh parsley
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
8 large fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1 large ripe tomato, seeded and cut into fine dice

In large heavy saucepan or soup pot, melt butter, add onions and garlic and cook over low heat until wilted but not browned, about 20 minutes. Add chicken stock and heat to boiling.

Trim woody ends from asparagus and cut stalks into 1-inch pieces. Reserve tips. Add asparagus stalk pieces, parsley, carrots, basil, tarragon, salt, pepper and cayenne to boiling stock. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 50 minutes.

Remove soup from heat and cool slightly. Process or blend (food processor with steel blades or electric blender) until smooth; strain through medium-sized sieve to remove woody fibers.

Return soup to pot and reheat. Add reserved asparagus tips and simmer until tips are tender, about 10 minutes. Ladle into soup bowls, top with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with diced tomato.

Makes about 8 servings.

NOTE 1: Buy asparagus that are thinner, if possible, because there is less of a woody end and they tend to cook faster as well. To clean hold woody end between 2 fingers and hold with other hand about in the middle and gently bend. Where it snaps shows you how to eliminate most of the woody ends before cooking.

NOTE 2: Serve with garlic toast and white wine.

Family Cooking - PT 2 - Cream of Broccoli Soup and Homemade Chicken Soup

Uncle Paul's Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
• 1 can evaporated milk (or half-n-half)
• 1/4 lb bacon
• 1/4 lb shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1 large (or 2 small) heads of broccoli
• 1/4 cup choped onlion
• dash of nutmeg
• 1/4 cup flour

Fry bacon until crisp. Leave drippings and remove bacon and set aside. Add broccoli and 1/2 up of chicken broth. Cook until softened.

Remove broccoli and cut off all florets into small pieces (approx. 1") and set aside.

Chop stems into small pieces and place in cuisinart/or blender. Add bacon, flour, onion, cheese and enough chicken broth to be able to work it. Turn on and off until completely blended.

Add to pot with all the rest of the broth and cook. Keep it at a simmer and add the cream of celery soup to mixture. WHen it is completely mixed in, add the evaporated milk (or 1/2 and 1/2) and the reserved broccoli. Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste and it is ready to surve.

NOTE 1: If you use one large head broccoli, peel the stems before cooking it otherwise it will make the soup stringy.

NOTE 2: Some people find the smell of the broccoli cooking unpleasant until cooked completely. The soup will NOT taste like the broccoli smells while cooking. Very mild, smooth and creamy.

NOTE 3: Serves well with warm Italian bread, fresh or toasted.

NOTE 4: Although this is Uncle Paul's recipe, my mother used to make it for us and several family holiday meals. Very good soup. This receipe "went lost" for about 5 years and then resurfaced. I would like to spread it around so the recipe is never lost. Good eating.


Nancy's Homemade Chicken Soup

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
1 large whole onion, peeled with ends cut off and surface scored with sharp knife
1/2 stalk of celery (especially the inner, leafy stalks. Wash and cut off and discard ends
3-4 large carrots, peeled with ends cut off and discarded
1-2 fresh tomatoes
1 Tblsp oil
Salt to taste
1 fresh lemon

Wash whole chicken inside and out and completely coat inside and out with salt. Let sit for about 10 minutes then rince salt completely off. (this breaks down the fat and leaves a cleaner chicken for the broth)

Put oil in large pot and place chicken (whole or cut-up) and brown chicken lightly, turning occassionally to make sure all parts have been done.

Add enough water to cover the chicken, add whole onion, celery, carrots, tomatoes, season lightly with soup. (We had a house rule that we under-salt the soup while cooking and allow people to salt their own individual bowls to taste. Some of us liked our saltier than others and this is the only fair way to accommodate everyone's pallet individually)


Bring water to a boil and simmer for 2-3 hours. When done, remove all food ingredients with slated spoon. Debone/deskin chicken and cut up into bite-sized pieces. Chop vegetables and return all to the pot and reheat. Squeeze lemon juice into the broth and stir.

NOTE 1: Sometimes we cut up the vegetables ahead of time while cooking, depending on whether you want the more work to occur before it cooks, or after it cooks before serving.

NOTE 2: This soup may be served in a bowl with cooked rice, pastina (tiny pasta such as orzo, acini de pepe). If you serve with rice, you can add alittle more lemon juice to taste for each bowl. If you serve with pastina, you may sprinkle parmasea cheese over it. Please do not try both the extra lemon AND the parmasea cheese and it does not taste as good like that.

NOTE 3: If you decide to cook the soup with select parts of chicken instead of the whole, please use the thighs, legs, and/or back as they make the best broth. If you cook the chicken soup with only the breast, the broth will be clear and thin. Not recommended.

NOTE 4: If a whole chicken seems like too much meat for your taste in the soup. hold out part of the chicken and use it to make chicken salad. (Chicken Salad: chop chicken and place in a bowl. Add miracle whip and a couple of squirts of ranch dressing, salt and pepper to taste).

NOTE 5: I consider celery to be the most necessary ingredient next to the chicken. If you would like, you may substitute a soup-sized can of V-8 juice in place of the other vegetables to give the broth a more vegetable taste.

White House Recognizes a Nation of Immigrants--Call for Family Stories

President Obama has called for Americans to share our Immigration Stories in order to further a sense of immigration solidarity among a nation of immigrants. Here is the information about the White House Effort and below it is our submission.

Hi, everyone -- This is the start of a national debate. Across the country, we're having a serious discussion about how we can build a fair and effective immigration system that lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. And we need your help to make sure that genuine, personal perspectives are part of the conversation. The truth is, that if we go back far enough, nearly every American story begins somewhere else -- so often with ancestors setting out in search of a different life, carving out a future for their children in this place that all of us now call home. We want to make sure that idea isn't far from the minds of policymakers here in Washington as we work to reach an agreement to reform immigration. To kick things off, one of the President's senior advisors sat down to share his story with you. Watch David Simas tell his American story, then tell us yours. When Americans from all over the country -- each with different backgrounds, each from different circumstances -- all speak out with the same voice, it's powerful in a way that's hard to ignore. We've seen it again and again, in debate after debate. And this is the kind of issue where putting a face on the push for reform takes an abstract concept and makes it real. So share your American stories with us, and we'll put them to use. We'll publish them on the White House website. We'll share them on Facebook and Twitter. We'll do everything we can to make sure they're part of the debate around immigration reform. Get started here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration/stories Thanks, Cecilia Cecilia Muñoz Director, Domestic Policy Council The White House The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111 Our Sabatini Submission

My name is Nancy J. Bell and my maternal grandfather immigrated to America in 1922 from Abruzzi Italy, and while my maternal grandmother was born in America, her parents and older sister were immigrants from Calabria Italy. They raised their children, including my mother, with a strong emphasis on both good citizenship responsibilities and educational opportunities which would lead us to become contributors to society, as well as good role models for our family.

     In addition to good citizenship and education, our family has always been strong supporters of the American Armed Forces and all of my uncles, my father, my husband and my son-in-law all served in the military in either the army, navy or marines, including my father being on the first nuclear sub to the North Pole, and one of my uncle’s service in the Vietnam War.

     We believe Americans must contribute to the country's defense and the preservation of American freedoms, the beacon of which drew my family to American shores to start a life here. Hopes and dreams of having access to opportunities under a set of Laws that promises freedom, upward mobility, and active paths to act on behalf our communities.

     My mother was recognized by the United States Congress after years of volunteer service in our neighborhood from just after the Detroit '67 riots through the early 1980s, being a member of community organizations that sought and gained Federal Funds for several non-profit organizations that included such services as caring for our shut-in elderly people, such Meals-on-Wheels, and low-income housing repair, a teen drop-in center to combat idleness that could lead to gang activities, drug use or violence by developing a strong sense community unity. A community newsletter ran for several years identifying and sharing information of local events and identified problems to address together. We also participated in tutoring, a drug-rehabilitation program, and providing for help new immigrants to assimilate into the American system by educating them about our laws, school systems, and tolerance.

     I have been a civil rights activist since I was 8 years old and not only was active in Peaceful Integration of the schools, but also served as a Student Ambassador for Peace to Israel in 1978. We believe that our role as Americans is to further peace efforts whenever possible, both domestically and internationally.

     We love America and although we see America as an ongoing work in progress towards the ideals upon which our country was founded, we know the work will never be done. The dynamics of growth and positive change is hard-wired into our thinking, our beliefs and our actions as a family and as members of society.

Leader Teachers - Are You One?

Leader Teachers-Are You One?

"The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become."
__W.E.B. DuBois

As a life-long political activist and teacher, trainer and leader, I know first-hand that my education includes an unusual upbringing, over four decades of community work, and the culmination of three successful university degrees. In Northeast Detroit, I took part in intense teachings and trainings by my community's pro-active leaders following the 1967 race riots through the 1970's. This education became a necessary means to freedom's better ends. What the schools didn't teach us, our leaders taught us. What the textbooks didn't teach us, our leaders taught us. What we didn't know ourselves, our leaders taught us. Our leaders were many teachers of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as individuals who lead politically aware lives. One of my early teachers used to tell us that she had a "Ph.D. in Life" and she did. She was and is wise, celebrating now 84 years young.

Detroit, during these turbulent times, imposed the controversial STRESS (Stop the Robberies and Enjoy Safe Streets) program, especially prominent in use among Black males, Vietnam War protestors, and community people who began activating to address local social, economic and educational issues. Keeping good people out of trouble became a major concern for our community. In efforts to organize and unify community people towards better ends, we were taught by the leaders of a newly developed non-profit community organization. North End Concerned Citizens Community Council (NEC4). They provided us with free lectures, seminars, retreats and other functions intended to uplift people's hopes and realizations. They offered conversations and sharing of experiences, applied to our local community, our nation, and the Civil Rights Movement. Their intentions were to educate and activate positive change. Irrespective of race, we took part in strategies to offset the unfair limitations that were imposed through a wide variety of racist and prejudiced systems. Self-education became part of the lexicon of our plans to create change, allowing us to believe we can gather knowledge and exercise wisdom, giving us the power to break our economic, educational and self-imposed bonds.

A lot of students didn't finish school in my neighborhood. The paths of formal education dwindled over time, especially among the schools serving the impoverished people of color. The majority of young people often fell into only a couple of categories. They 1) joined the military, 2) went to jail, 3) moved away, and/or went to college, or 4) died, often violently. It was necessary for community leaders to stem the tide of failure and help us recognize our real potential as young people who took part in our own life decisions. All too often, there were others that decided for us that we were "locked in a poverty cycle." Poverty and civil rights issues have been around for a long time, but we have to ask ourselves, and answer ourselves, whether or not we can do better than to embrace the limiting ways of poverty's traps, racial traps, gang and violence traps, drug traps, or any other crooked roads laid before us. As young adults, we were taught to become aware and informed, and to step out of the suppressions, oppressions, and depressions we faced. We were taught to recognize the limitations and learned how to define ourselves as capable, and our goals as attainable.

Education comes from schools, yes. But it also comes from parents, mentors, from community leaders and church leaders, and volunteers whose work furthers community goals. We all can learn from books, from essays and poems, from experience and from others' experiences. We can learn from President Barack Obama whose community organizing skills LEAD our nation, in more ways than one. As a nation, we continue to learn from each other in our continued walk towards full citizenship, endowed with full citizenship rights and responsibilities.

During the Civil Rights Movement, I benefitted from the teachings of my community leaders, my community teachers, who taught us that we could advance ourselves by following effective strategies, to develop an understanding of “self-awareness, self-determination and self-respect to attain self-sufficiency.” These became the goals that we were taught—to offset the limitations imposed and perpetuated by racism and classism in America. We learned that we do not let others keep us ignorant, define us, or convince us to lower our opinions of ourselves, no matter the race, or culture, or religion, or creed. What I came to realize is that the beautiful individuals that our youth are can only lay down all the arguments against success—by growing success anyway. Education plays a key part of success’ growth.

Educating our communities can be accomplished by efforts of leaders and teachers, by reading, thinking and communicating, witnessing and steering yourself toward worthy goals. It is important to come together in unity and strength when creating strategies for positive and effective change. Self-education can be improved by each one assuming the responsibility of being their own first teachers. It can be improved by taking counsel from those who came before us, and are with us still, that share valuable lessons learned. Literacy allows the book learning necessary for us to prevent mistakes made from happening again, by not repeating them. Historical and future reference points can be constructed through knowledge gained. Ask yourself, “What has your solid education showed you that are worth sharing?” We automatically become teachers when we have learned, hopefully helping each other to achieve and practice self-awareness, self-determination, self respect and attaining self-sufficiency.

Although education does not guarantee absolute success, not learning takes you nowhere and keeps you there. Learn and learn how to lead, and you will become a leader who is a teacher.

“Ignorance is a cure for nothing.”
W.E.B. DuBois

About the Author: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-bell/30/231/855

Fight for Freedom

It starts as a feeling
That something's not right
Then walks in your mind
While you're up late at night.
The problems are many,
The solvers too few,
So the work that needs doing
Starts pointing at you.

You ask, "Who am I
Who can bring about change?
I've my own things to do
And this world is so strange..."
Then you think of the faces
And hurdles you'll greet
As you work to solve problems--
All the hate you will meet.

And you just have to wonder
If it's worth all the pains,
When by closing your eyes
You won't see freedom's stains.
But you know you can't do it
There is no way at all
'Cause once you have seen them
You've heard Justice call.

The song starts out softly
And travels so slow...
But along come the others
And soon you will know
That many are willing
To work through the day
And lift up their voices
When FREEDOM's held sway

There can be no more silence
When hate comes to stand
In the midst of a people
Who share the same land.
Come together to heal!
And grow strong in what's true!
Join the voices of others
Who love justice, too.

Hate can't breed us out
And it can't hold us down
And it won't stop the voices
That rise from the ground
'Cause the land still remembers
All my brothers who bled
To fight for our freedom--
The struggle's not dead.

When you first have the feeling
That something's not right,
Don't just look away,
Take courage and fight!
'Cause the hangman keeps coming
To cloud what is true
If you don't fight for freedom,,
Who'll fight to save YOU?

Teach your children to love,
Help the poor not to drown
In the sea of oppression
That keeps people down.
Keep freedom alive
And continue the Call
'Til the day we say truly
"There is Justice for ALL."

--N.J. Bell
----------------------------
The AWESOME story, The Hangman, by Maurice Ogden, inspired me as a child (see link below). In the Civil Rights era of the 70's, we were watching this film on reel-to reel-projectors, but the truth of it still stands. They say that freedom is renewed by the blood of patriots, but it also renews by the breath and deeds of free people. Don't give up the fight!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZSS3yxpnFU

About the Author: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-bell/30/231/855