White Cloud Retreat (13 page)
Read White Cloud Retreat Online
Authors: Dianne Harman
There's a surprise following the
recipes.
RICOTTA CAKE
Ingredients
1 box yellow or lemon cake mix
1 ¼ cups water
1/3 cup oil
2 lbs. ricotta cheese
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
¼ cup powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare cake batter according to
package directions mixing together oil, cake mix, water and 3 eggs. Pour into 9
x 13 Pyrex baking dish which has been lightly oiled and floured.
Mix ricotta cheese, sugar and 2 eggs
together and pour mixture on top of prepared cake mix, smoothing it out so it’s
level.
Bake one hour. Remove from oven and
let cool for 45 minutes. When cool sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into
serving size squares. Enjoy!
SAVORY MINI HAM AND EGG MUFFINS
Ingredients
1/4 baguette loaf or other bread
(should be fairly dry) cut/torn into small pieces
4 oz. of a block of cream cheese, cut
crosswise into 12 slices
1 tbsp. olive oil
¼ lb. thinly sliced ham, chopped
(about 1 cup) (A leftover cooked meat may be substituted for the ham, chopped
medium fine)
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 ½ cups half-and-half
6 eggs
1 tsp. thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Using a 12 cup muffin pan, fill each
cup half full with bread pieces. Top each cup with a cream cheese slice.
In a small saucepan, heat olive oil
over medium heat and add ham. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir in half-and-half and
bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, thyme,
and green onions together, then whisk in the warm half-and-half mixture. Add
salt and pepper.
Pour the egg mixture on top of the bread/cheese
in each muffin cup and bake 15 minutes until puffed up and golden brown around
edges. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Run thin knife around edge
of each cup. Remove from muffin pan and serve. Enjoy!
DOC’S OVEN BEEF BURGUNDY (Serves
Six)
Ingredients
3 lbs. beef stew meat, cubed. I use
boneless chuck roast.
2 large onions, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tbsp. soy sauce
¼ tsp. thyme
1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms
3 tbsp. flour
¼ tsp. Tabasco sauce
¼ tsp. marjoram
1 cup red wine
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Blend soy sauce and flour together in
large ovenproof deep baking dish. Add cubed meat, toss, coating all pieces. Add
onions, seasonings and wine to meat mixture. Stir and bake, covered, for one
hour.
Remove from oven and stir. Return to
oven and bake, covered, for another hour.
Remove from oven and stir in
mushrooms. Return to oven and bake, covered, for the last hour. Total cooking
time is three hours.
Serve over Doc’s Buttered Noodles.
Enjoy!
DOC’S NO-FAIL BUTTERED NOODLES
Ingredients
2 chicken bouillon cubes (I use
Wyler’s)
1 ½ cups water
1 stick unsalted butter
8 oz. egg noodles
Directions
In a large saucepan, bring water,
bouillon cubes, and ½ stick of butter to a boil over medium to high heat. Add
egg noodles and cook to desired texture, approx. 6-8 minutes. Divide remaining
½ stick of butter into 3-5 pieces and stir into hot noodles until the butter is
completely melted.
Remove from pan and serve with Doc’s
Oven Beef Burgundy. Enjoy!
CHARLIE’S SAUSAGE GRAVY WITH BISCUITS
Ingredients
16 oz. package of Jimmy Dean sausage
(sage flavor)
2 tbsp. ground sage
2 tbsp. Wondra flour
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 roll of refrigerated biscuits
(large flaky type)
Directions
Bake the biscuits according to the
directions on the package.
While the biscuits are in the oven,
tear the sausage into bite size pieces and place in a large frying pan. The
pieces should nearly cover the bottom of the pan. Shake the ground sage evenly
over the uncooked pieces and fry the sausage over medium high heat, turning the
pieces so each piece is evenly browned - about 5 minutes.
Push the cooked sausage to one side
of the pan and tilt pan to the opposite side, allowing the sausage grease to
collect on the empty side of the pan.
Shake the Wondra flour into the
grease and stir with fork for 1 minute.
Combine the sausage and flour mixture
and slowly add the cream, approximately 1/3 at a time, until all the cream has
been added. Reduce the heat to medium and stir until the mixture becomes a
thick gravy (about 3-5 minutes). Add more flour as needed to make it thicker.
Remove biscuits from oven and break
in half. Spoon the sausage gravy over each biscuit half. Enjoy!
Here's an incredible book
that turned my life upside down, literally.
I wish I'd read it 40 years back. It
would have saved me a lot of heartache and made life so much easier. I've never
come across something this good in recent times, and boy do I read a lot. The
author (
http://www.vivekrajanvivek.com
) has been endorsed by
Brian Tracy and T Harv Eker.
The Best Book on
Money and
Success
That'll Take You to the Top
CHAPTER 3
- Plugging Massive Energy Leaks
CHAPTER 4
- Empty Yourself First
CHAPTER 5
- Resistance Explained
CHAPTER 6
- Sin, a Wretched Invention
CHAPTER
9 - Actionless Action - Act Without Acting
CHAPTER
10 - Mother's Special Recipe for Success (Reader's Favorite)
CHAPTER
11 - The Power behind a Choice or Decision
CHAPTER
12 - Why do some people never get what they want?
CHAPTER
13 - Be Very Selfish & Don't Forget the F Word
CHAPTER
14 - Reverse Engineering your Deepest Fear
CHAPTER
15 - Living in the Now & The Secret of a Billion Bits
A
New Beginning
It was the first week
of March and Spring was just around the corner, eager to burst forth and bless
everyone with life and warmth once more. A beaming sun and blue skies dotted
with white fluffy clouds greeted all those who had assembled. Smiles abounded,
and even those who were grouchy couldn't help flashing their pearly or not so
pearly whites.
The organization
catered to those who needed someone "to listen" to them in their
moment of crises, and in the long run steer them away, tactfully, from
committing suicide. It had been in existence for decades, tucked away in a
quaint house in a leafy neighborhood in the suburbs. What these callers didn't
realize was that
loneliness was killing them, slowly and softly.
Those who called the
helpline came from all walks of life and over the decades the clientele
included shop owners, taxi-drivers, cashiers, celebrities, office clerks, fast
food workers, engineers, nurses, waiters, waitresses, CEO's, customer service
reps, truckers, actors, actresses, loaders, baggage handlers, authors,
directors, producers, janitors, warehouse workers, journalists, secretaries,
bookkeepers, teachers, maids, pilots, maintenance people, lawyers, hoteliers,
government officials, pimps, hookers, bankers, ex-convicts
etc.
Twice a year the
organization would hold a get-together where the Chairman would host a feast
for the volunteers who were educated, compassionate, eclectic, enthusiastic and
inspiring. The Chairman was a wise and generous man revered for his wisdom,
both, from a monetary and spiritual angle. He wanted to share his secrets,
"real secrets of life", with them.
There are principles
and then there are tactics or techniques. Principles are few and far in-between
whereas tactics range in the hundreds or thousands. He wanted to share his
life-transforming principles (and a few techniques), the best of the best, with
these good Samaritans; they deserved it. The possibilities were limitless once
the foundation was laid.
The chairman had a
handsome forehead, deep-set eyes, lush eyebrows, an aquiline nose and a head
covered with silvery-white hair. The volunteers could invite their family and
friends, and the event was always a memorable one.
The post lunch session
was the most precious part of the day. By then everyone had melted into each
other and the gathering resembled one big, complete, happy family. The Q&A
session would begin where they could ask the Chairman absolutely anything. No
topic was deemed inappropriate or juvenile, and they were free to go in any
direction. The volunteers came from all walks of life and despite vast
differences, both economic and social, they all shared a common thirst for
love, money and happiness. Yet, at times, the intensity of that thirst seemed
to get in the way of everything they yearned for.
What
do you want?
“So what's the first
question going to be?” asked the chairman, as he smiled magnanimously.
“How do we make money?
Lots of it?” asked one man.
“Yeah, that's a good
one. We’re not happy living like this," said an older man. "A fat
bank balance is always welcome.”
“Anything else other
than money?” asked the chairman, with a twinkle in his eye.
“Ooh, ooh, and
happiness at all times,” said a young woman.
“Yeah, and a stress
free life,” said an elderly lady.
“All three if
possible,” said one girl.
“That would be asking
for too much, I guess,” said a young guy.
“So money, happiness
and a stress free life are your top three wishes for the year. That’s doable,
although there are far more interesting challenges in life,” said the chairman.
“We’ve had enough
challenges. There's so much pain and suffering even amongst the educated. A few
on top shittin' on the rest of us,” said a man, in a slightly frustrated tone.
“That’s understandable,
so let’s start with money,” said the chairman. "Before we start, wouldn't
it be nice to know the personality traits that the rich possess?"
"We already know
that. They're smart and intelligent and come from rich backgrounds…," an
impetuous young man retorted before he was cut off by an older man.
"We're here to
listen and learn from him. I think there's more to it than meets the eye. Yes,
we'd like to know the personality traits the rich possess," said the old
man, sounding a little irritated.
"They're not
smart, not intelligent, not rich, not lucky, not talented, not beautiful, not
privileged, not confident, not achievers, not the most popular, not likely to
succeed, been laughed at the most and have failed more than most," said
the chairman, much to the astonishment of all those gathered.
"That gives us so
much hope," said a young man. "You just described me perfectly."
"That means you'll
be rich, happy and stress free," a middle aged woman chimed in.
All of a sudden the
mood changed. There might be a chance after all, everyone thought. Something
deep within them stirred. Really? Was it really true that most rich people came
from such wretched backgrounds? Wow, who would have thought?
"If that's the
case then what about the things we see on TV and read in the papers?"
asked a young woman, still not convinced.
"The media gives
people what they want. If they portrayed boring people who wore boring clothes
and drove old, ugly cars and lived in modest homes then no one would watch the
TV or read the papers anymore," said the chairman.
"Makes a lot of
sense," a young woman said. The rest nodded in agreement.
"Moving on, does
anyone know the First Law of the Universe?" asked the chairman. He scanned
everyone's faces, waiting for an answer. When none came forth he replied.