That title is more important to everyday Americans. The regular families. Parents who work both white and blue collar. Children to carry on your families traditions. Growing up our holidays like this were spent with great family, plenty of food, and the pyrotechnics show given in almost every town large and small across the country. Swimming pools and BBQ scents fill the air. Lawn chairs, watermelon, ice cream and red, white, and blue can be seen everywhere.

Laughter, squeals, and firework pops are audible over the playlists of classic rock, Souza marches, and songs of Americana heritage. Any born here should take this opportunity to give thanks for being born here, immigrated, or the men and women of our armed services for protecting our freedoms.

With the advent of social media we are all familiar with the policies swirling through current events. To agree or disagree is not the important question here. Recognizing that we have the right to disagree, we all must learn to get along and live together. All who stand within our shores should be proud to be an American. Our Flag, Government, and our values shape this great place we call home, never let anyone tell you that you are unlucky to be here. With no fear of imprisonments, torture, and many horrors that we see abroad. Is all fair and just here, no but looking around the world you could do worse.

As we Celebrate the founding of this nation on July 4, we remember those who came before. Immigrant, native, man, woman, child. Let us focus on the good and work toward solutions that resolve our arguments. This Wednesday, as we spend time with family and friends, bbq or take-out, enjoy the time and festivities.

If you find yourself in a quiet moment, add a special song to your playlist, wave the flag and proudly display what makes up the best part of our country, We The People.

Please drink responsibly and remember that alcohol and fireworks can be a bad combination.

Okay this has been sadly neglected as i have once again been down sick, So seeing as the new predictions for the 2018 season are makinf the rounds I thought this would be a good time to review the basics as we once again face possible storms. We ue most items gathered here for almost all natural disasters Mother Nature throws our way. All household members should know what to do in case of any kind of emergency, Get a plan for Hurricanes, Tornado, Fire, Flooding, some even recommend for home invasion and terror attacks. We also have a nuclear power facility and chemical plant near by so keeping current on local news is a must.

For Hurricanes we use both our local news tv and radio, as well as alerts from our counties Emergency Management. The Alerts for sevalerts like severe storms, flash flooding, Amber, and security, Active shooters, Police chase or fatal crashes on roadways. They come direct to our phones so at home or on the gowe get the information to keep our family safe.

Click the link to see both an explanation of why and when we worry as well as a great list of items to include in your kit. We rotate the food items out to the pantry throughout the year and always have stock of what we might need. We are adding new things like solar chargers for cell phones and tablets, new flood blocking water dams, new medical devices and recently added the new super bright led flash lights that are super tough and the batteries last much longer than the old incandesenct style.

Keeping this ready the whole year through for us means if there is any major storm headed our way our only preperations include filling our water tanks, gasoline in vehicles and for generator, and get medication refills if needed. Get cash and a quick easy trip to buy any last minute needs, wash any dirty laundry, and make sure the house is clean so Mother Nature can bring it on!

https://jensperspectiveblog.com/2017/09/04/hurricanes- what-you-need-to-know/

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We had this at a popular restaurant  several years ago.  It was new and different and we loved it!  As it turns out it was rotated off the menu so I came home and started my own copy cat recipe.  On a quick trip to a store for something I found a McCormick seasoning for it.  I followed their recipe and after many experiments came up with my own simple, restaurant tasting version.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  This is fabulous any time of year.  Especially Fall/Winter.

McCormick makes a spice blend for it.

Jens’ White Chicken Chili

1 pkg boneless, skinless, Chicken Breast or Thighs about 2 – 3 lbs.

2 Cans Great Northern or Navy Beans do not drain

1 can Diced Green Chili’s

2 pkg McCormick White Chicken Chili Seasoning

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella Cheese + extra for garnish

4 Tablespoons chopped Green Onion (if desired).

In large dutch oven style pan, cook chicken until golden on both sides over medium heat.  Remove from pan.  Cut or shred chicken to bite size pieces approx 1/2 in.  Return Chicken to pan.  Add diced Green Chili’s and beans with liquid.  Mix 2 season pkg with 2 cups heavy cream.  Add to pan.  Simmer on medium low 10 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  add 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.  Once cheese melts serve piping hot, garnish with chopped green onions and extra cheese if desired.  Keeps well in freezer I recommend a double batch.  (One to eat today, one for an easy frozen meal later.)

Available in most stores.

We found this on Pintrest and is a family favorite we normally make a double batch and there are rarely any leftovers.

We love this stuff! have to give credit to the original author. Link can be found on page, or click here.

We’ve all seen the meal prep plans where you prep a bunch of meals, throw it in a freezer bag, put it in the Crockpot and its an easy dinner. Well I’ve looked at quite a few, saved them on my Pintrest, but have been too lazy to do them. Well for those readers who don’t know I had a brain aneurysm about 5 years ago. Complications have landed me back in the hospital several times. So with my physical limitations we, that is my husband and I moved into my mom’s house. After my dad passed, my brothers took turns living there. They have both moved on and are starting families of their own. So we decided that with moms physical limitations and mine it would make a good compromise and save us both some money.

Up to now she does the majority of the cooking since I can not. However, with cataract surgery looming in the immediate future, we have to figure out an easy way to cook meals. She will not be able to bend over or lift more than 10 pounds.

My husband hates being in the kitchen, he’ll help me cook but, he must have step by step instructions and you can’t assume anything. He cannot boil water without the microwave. My sister-in-law now lives across the street and has offered to help out but, they have two small children at home and my brother works out-of-town for weeks at a time.

So an alternative is to try freezer to crockpot meal prep. It’s that or takeout and frankly its too expensive and very unhealthy. So here’s what happened…

After looking at various pins on the subject we decided to do a combination of our favorites and try very few we’ve never had. This required some adoptions of our normal favorite recipes. At the end of 2 days we have about 30 dinners in the freezer, ready to go. So here are the tried and true recipes we used.

1 Month of Dinner Ready to go. Cannot believe we didn’t try this one sooner.

2 Meat loaves Chili Chicken Caprese

Orange Chicken White Chicken Chili 2 Irish Skillet

Beef Stew 2 Moms Homemade Pizza 2 Spaghetti

Pepper Steak Beef tips with Mushrooms Pot Roast with vegetables

Mongolian Beef Broccoli Greek Turkey Burgers Pork Loin Roast

2 Lasagna Beef Stroganoff

Most are ready for a full day in the Crockpot. Some like the Ranch or Korean pork chops, Shrimp Scampi, Bratwurst, Liver and onions, Creamy Tuscan Salmon do not translate well to the freezer and are very easy prep and time to make day you want to enjoy. If you only want freezer to table just skip those. (I included them because they are favorites.) We took our time and since this was first time through. We spent time deciding what to make, how much and grocery list and shopping. With the hard work done, all you have to do is enjoy.

If you have a recipe we should add to our list we are open to new ideas to answer the age old question of “What’s for Dinner”. I hope this makes cooking easier and you get to enjoy the extra time not spent in the kitchen. By the way Mom’s surgery went well with no complications. We had so much fun doing it and seeing the valuable time it saves it will be happening more often in our home. So when you are tired after a busy day this is quick, healthier for your family and economical. A home cooked meal beats a take out burger and fries etc… anytime.

One last note…. My husband and I are both Diabetic so the recipes have been talored for special dietary meals and we must be doing something right since neither of us require drastic medical for the condition. Probably to many burgers and fries that put us here, but that’s my perspective.

More recipe links to come