In winter time it is hard to imagine anything better than an nice hot bowl of soup. This is a great recipe that can be made in advance and eaten for as long as you still have a hankering for it. This started out as a recipe I found online. It had WAY too much thyme and not nearly enough other good things. So I had to improvise. This is the result. I hope you enjoy it. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb leek (3-4 large). You can also use celery. Use about 1/2 the amount of the leeks.

• 2 lb baking potato, do no peel, just get the eyes out, and leave the rest of the skin. Cut into small chunks (6-8 medium total potatoes)

• 2 Tsp. salt

• 2 tsp. Fresh oregano (is best). But you can use dry oregano if needed. It takes about 2x as much dry as fresh 

• 1/2 Tsp dried thyme

• 1/2 Tsp ground black pepper

• 1 clove garlic

• 2 bay leafs

• 1/2 cup onion

• 3 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 Tbls butter

• 2 Tsp soy sauce

• 1 quart home made chicken broth

• 1 quart half-and-half 

• 2 tablespoons green onions (thinly sliced, green part only)

• Fried Onions

• Ham (optional)

Directions

1. Remove the roots, and cut off the dark green part of leek. Basically if it is tough, remove it. Cut it into small slices for stir frying. Be sure to remove any dirt.

2. In large saucepan, combine potatoes, salt, oregano, thyme, pepper, bay leaf, half of leeks, and 3 cups water; cover and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 until potatoes are very tender – your going to have blend them up, so you will want them very soft. Discard bay leaf when it is all done.

3. Once you get the potatoes and such boiling start on step 2. Heat the oil and butter. Then stir fry the other half of the leeks, garlic and onion in the oil until soft and starting to brown. Then add the soy sauce. Once these are done, and the potatoes are soft – add them together. 

4. If you have a hand blender use that to puree the potato mixture in the soup pot. 

5. Stir in half-and-half. Heat soup over low heat just until heated through, stirring occasionally (do not boil). Sprinkle soup with sliced green onion to serve.

6. Sprinkle with the green onions and fried onions. ENJOY!

   BE HAPPY – ENJOY LIFE!

Matthew Stearmer

This last week with Thanksgiving was quite nice. We had some family over. Took a nice break from work, and enjoyed a lot of really good food. I worked out every day, sometimes 2-3 times a day just to keep up with the calories I was going to eat. Now, I hope you do not take it wrong. I really do not watch what I eat very much. I just know that if I’m going to be eating more, that I should exercise more. It seems like a nice compromise. I do not give up anything that I love, and I get to be healthy all at the same time. Anyway, I’ve heard it said that people will gain 5-10 lbs over the Holidays. I supposes that is through Dec. So it is not much of a comparison yet, but I know that I will lose at least that much and more over the next several weeks. I certainly did not gain any this week and let me tell you – I ate very well:) Point is we can enjoy life and still be healthy. I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving. Be Healthy – Enjoy Life! Matthew Stearmer

I’ve decided to write down some of my thoughts on religion each Sunday. I have volumes of thoughts, discussions, sermons and symposia. Most of them are filed in some random fashion in my office and this is going to be one of my means of organizing them.

A dear friend and colleague of mine has often mused over scriptures like Job 38:7 where the hosts of heaven looked at how the world was going to be organized and turn out, when the scriptures record “…The sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7) and wondered if in these instances did they really just mean that the men rejoiced, and not the women as well, at what they saw would happen in the world below.

When the women of heaven looked at their station in life they must have been deeply troubled. Not even in this, the most modern of times, are women treated with the respect and veneration that they deserve. Most of the world is organized against them.

I’m sure that both men and women saw joy in the plan, but it does seem that women are asked to bear an enormously large burden in this life. They must have seen the reward in it truest light in order to be convinced to accept the plan. Only by understanding the whole plan would it have seemed enticing to them I think.

But despite the evil that can happen in the world there are glimpses of hope.

I was pondering this condition when I read in 4 Nephi the following passages.

  1 And it came to pass that the thirty and fourth year passed away, and also the thirty and fifth, and behold the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about. And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost.
  2 And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. 
  3 And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.
 
  10 And now, behold, it came to pass that the people of Nephi did wax strong, and did multiply exceedingly fast, and became an exceedingly fair and delightsome people.
  11 And they were married, and given in marriage, and were blessed according to the multitude of the promises which the Lord had made unto them.
  12 And they did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses; but they did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord and their God, continuing in fasting and prayer, and in meeting together oft both to pray and to hear the word of the Lord.
  13 And it came to pass that there was no contention among all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus.
 
  15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.
  16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.
  17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.
  18 And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and prospered until an *hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and there was no contention in all the land.
 

I was so pleased to reread this passage, because it was a great remind of how men and women are seen in the eyes of the Lord and what he expects from us in our relationships at home, and the implications of these familiar relationships on society at large.

Here is what I take home from these verses.

1)    There was no fighting. They had learned to air their differences in a way that did not disrupt the peace. I imagine this is because they had put away their pride and could discuss topic based on their merit an not on the emotional connection to one idea or another.
2)    All things were common between them. Regardless of being a man, woman, child, divorced, sick, widowed etc. ALL things were equal before them. How they managed to do it id not explained, but the result was peace. One person did not put himself or herself above another. They did not think they deserved more. In sharing and in equality they were all free.
3)    Marriage was central to the peace. But these were not your average marriages. For one they were established among people that were absolutely equal in every way. Based on that foundation – and then learning to keep the commandments as a couple ensured that there was no contention in the land.
4)    This love of God, which started in the individual, moved to the family, and then spread to the nation can and should permeate the heart and mind of all those who desire to be disciples of Jesus Christ. If and when it does will be the beginning of peaceful days, for us as individuals, couples and eventually nations.
5)    Then in 16 and 17 many crimes that had been seen in the past were mentioned. What is striking is that the crimes mentioned are those most concerning to women. Arguing, whoredom, lying, personal violence, unfaithful husbands, all of these crimes deeply touch women. And these are the ones specifically mentioned here in the scriptures. A Zion society is one that women would truly rejoice to be a part of. It will not just be good for one sex, but for both.

The final assessment was that there could not have been a happier people on the face of the planet.

Now, I cannot make Zion come any faster. I cannot make Christ come any faster. And given the conditions we believe will be present before we see these events transpire, I doubt anyone will confuse the world with a peaceful place that we all want to be a part of. It is going to be a tumultuous time.

BUT, I can become more Christ like personally and in my marriage. If I will first concentrate on fixing myself. And then learning to keep the commandments with my wife then I can be assured inner peace and peace as a couple.

I know that this Zion society in the home is possible. Janille and I have modified our behaviors to such a degree that we have never fought with each other ever. No arguing, no backbiting, no bitterness. Our marriage has been such a bed rock to us. It is the most wonderful gift from God.

Now least anyone think that we might get translated any time soon, let me assure you that this same peace as a couple is not extended to our children 100% of the time. We still have a long ways to go before being a perfect family. But I can tell you how nice it is to parent together. I know that I can trust Janille to not undermine – or me her – as we raise the kids. And we are both in the house practically 24/7 so we can do most of our parenting together to begin with.

Anyway, my point is that we can achieve at least 2 out of the 3 levels of peace. And in this world 2 out of 3 ain’t bad as they say. And if we can get these first two levels fixed, who knows what influence we might have on the world.

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life,

Matthew Stearmer

In bad times we grasp at straws. The question is – is this one of them? I would like to consider from both a constitutional perspective and a moral perspective what rights and obligations our national government has during this financial crisis.

Constitutional Arguments.
I think there has been a whole lot of hullabaloo over the differences between conservatives and liberals over spending. The former claims to be “fiscally conservative”, where the later claims – well, they actually make no claims that I am aware of.

Historically the last time we had a fiscally conservative president was Eisenhower. He did not believe in going to war without raising taxes and did a fairly good job keeping the government reigned in during his administration. Since that time we have let the federal budget balloon out of control. Both parties are guilty of that.

But that is not what this is about really. That is a spending policy and I think that both parties are wacked – to put it nicely. I really do not care about their spending interests per se, at least not in this scenario. I want to talk about whether it should even be an option or not given the laws of our land.

For all the talk about fiscal conservatism vs. spending programs that we have I think that there is a general feeling created that spending programs are somehow unconstitutional. That is a concern that needs to be addressed before we move forward to whether it is necessary or not let a lone if it is moral or not.

It may be instructive to go over the specific powers of congress. I will emphasis the ones that I believe are most important for this discussion.

Now, before going forward, I want to be clear that I’m not talking about taxes here. I know that there is a fair amount of concern of the proper means of taxing. We can deal with that another day. I know some of you other political junkies like me will want to cite section 9 and will want to discuss the tax system. Let’s just leave that for now, and let it be sufficient to agree that the United States government does have authority to tax.

So, now into the meat of the discussion.

The main points for me are “general Welfare of the United States”…. “regulate the Value thereof” [money]….” promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors”

In these three areas I find that congress certainly has the authority look out for the welfare of the nation and those citizens who comprise our nation, to follow polices that will stabilize our monetary system and enhance our economy, and to even at times pay for/invest in technology and science in general.

Free commerce promoters may find that a little distressing that the constitution gives the government power to do these things. It is true that it could be quite invasive into the free market system. On the investment side, if there were not a “limited time” clause it might even look like the government was nationalizing resources and turning communist.

I personally do not see that happening, but you could probably make an argument to the affirmative and I think that would be good honestly. It is the very fact that there are those who voice their worries that will prevent it from happening to a large extent.

I am certainly not an expert on all the jurisprudence that has been established in the ensuing years, but the point is that I believe the government is well within it’s constitutional rights and even within it obligation to intervene in the economy at this time.

Now the question is should they, and if so in what way.

I personally believe that the government should intervene. To not intervene in a time of depression economics would be even more disastrous.

Yes, this will increase the national debt.
No it will not be possible to balance the budget for the next several years.
Yes, taxes will need to be raised.

No one really like any of these effects, but if you look at the bubble bust cycles of the past there are good things that can come from this. But right now we are not shaping up to well.

In past bubble busts we ended with more roads than we needed, more dams than we needed, more telephone lines, more internet infrastructure etc. These booms created a litany of resources that would not have been built as quickly in regular investment cycles and even though some companies do not survive they do leave a healthy legacy that future generations can build on.

This bust is not the same.

What is left behind is overvalued homes, empty lots, and excessive personal debt. None of which is particular useful to build a new economy from. This is where intervention can be critically important.

Let’s look at the auto industry. Yes, the Big 3 have made monumentally disastrous   decisions. In my opinion they have been wholly unfit for their office. But to let the companies completely fail at this point would be prodigiously more catastrophic.

It is estimated that there are over a million jobs connected to the auto industry. Now, it would take a larger crisis than we see now to make them all go away – but to risk it would be very foolish.

To let the auto industry remain as it is would be equally foolhardy. One of the major reasons the we are in the mess we are in now is because of the power of the auto industry lobby that has ensured their crack addiction continued to be supplied.

The US congress should act now to break that addiction and move into new technologies. This would be both a constitutionally legal investment to make and a very prudent investment on our behalf.

There will be layoffs during this retooling. Make no mistake, moving to “green” technology is going to be a major shock to the system. But if the government will then also use its authority to invest in good infrastructure projects then we can move any of the displaced into other projects of national importance. By investing in this industry for a time the government will help create an asset where little to none existed before.

Also by taking this step the government will ensure that it is not just keeping people off the dole. To make no moves into the economy will ensure that tens of thousands, if not into the hundreds of thousands, will be unemployed. Through no fault of their own the economy in the short term will not be able to absorb them. They did not set the policies. They did not have a voice in the lobby. They are stuck in many many ways. Yes, over time they can get a new education. They could have chosen a different path to begin with, but it is not their fault that the companies are failing now. Morally I feel we are obligated to assist in a way that will give them an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the economy. To use their skills which do have value still. And to help protect these families from the glut that has been the American auto industry.

All of this these moves in my opinion are both constitutionally legal, financially viable, and morally responsible.

Be Healthy – Enjoy life

Matthew Stearmer
 

I had a few really weird dreams last night. One of them was about solving Rubik’s cubes. I was watching a competition where people were solving the mind bending puzzle in just a few seconds. After the competition the competitors were showing the audience how they did it. The problem most people had solving the puzzle was learning that you had to break down your success in order to move forward.

 Too bad the other 5 sides are a complete mess. But who cares we got the green and the yellow down!

In order to really solve the puzzle you have to let one area of success break down in order to move forward. We cannot obsess over one side not being completely done all of the time. In fact some areas might even get a little more chaotic before they get better. But we are not focused on just the completion of 1 or 2 sides. That cannot be our goal. We need to have a complete life, and if the goal is a complete life, a complete cube we need to focus on that and not on just one side.

I’ve been writing a lot this week on this topic, and I’m doing that because I think that it is extremely important to get into our brains. We have to focus on the whole.
 

I’m not talking about giving up on a side. That is not solving the puzzle either. If we get the gree right, and then destroy it in order to get the blue right, did we really accomplish anything? Not at all.

Life has to be solved in tandum.

I found this video on the net as well about how to solve the cube. Sorry I cannot embed it. He had disabled that feature. He says he is going to help you solve the cube problem in less than 3 seconds. He does so by throwing the cube away. Not exactly a solution, but that is what some of us do about life as well. If we cannot solve it all. Or be happy with only a few sides solve then they just throw it away.

The other thing about the cube is it always seems to get messed up again. No matter how many times you solve it – one of your kids will come around and goof it up again, or your boss, or life in general. But if we learned to solve the whole puzzle once we can do it again and we will do it faster this time. We get better and better at handling all the circumstances life throws at us.

My ecncouragement to you today is to not throw it away. Nor to focus on just one side. But to live a whole life so that in the end we are complete and get better and better at solving the messes life can throw at us.

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

I so relate to Bob Incredible! I remember back in the good old days when I used to take on the evil forces in the universe and stop their sinister plans to take over the earth. Those were the days. /sigh.
 

Once we find our purpose we can move from the Really Strong Fat Man mode to one of health and wellness. We will have a reason to be healthy and continue in a lifestyle that will bring us a complete life. Not one just focused on one thing at a time.

One thing that I really like about Bob is that his end result was not what he looked like in his glory days. He was different, but still looked good. There was a maturity about him that was different.

As I work on transforming my body I realize more and more that I will never by 18 again. On some level that used to bother me. But now, I think that I have a better self image in mind. First off, I’m working on being healthy, not just skinny. And second, because of a focus on health, I am free to let my body become its best self right now. I know that I have matured. I will look different, but I still intend to look really good:)

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life

Matthew Stearmer

I just found a neat tool online that will tell you on average, how long your family lives. Based on genealogical archives the database automatically calculates the average life expectancy of your family compared to all others and then graphs it over a 30 year time frame.

Over the last 30 years my family has about a 10 year longer lifespan than average.

I guess that is comforting. But then I remembered a story a friend of mine told. A friend of his was hitting middle age and decided he wanted to create a 100 year plan. He wanted to live 100 year – and enjoy it. So he went to his doctor to help him develop this 100 year plan. They consulted, ran tests and then evaluated.

The doctor said all of your test came back perfect. Your cholesterol is great. Blood pressure is great. Triglycerides are normal…. And your obese.

What?

The man protested, but I workout ever day. I can bench press twice my weight. Doesn’t that make a difference?

The doctor then went to his whiteboard and wrote "Really Strong – FAT MAN"

The point, there is more to health than just strength, or being skinny, etc. health and living well is much more than that. And if we want to not only live a long time, but really enjoy it we need to be healthy, not just strong, or good in a health measure or two. A real 100 year plan will not just rely on the genes, but will integrate exercise, proper eating, sleep, stress reduction – the whole gamut. When we focus on the whole, not just one piece, then we can have a real 100 year plan that we will want to be around for.

So Be Healthy – Enjoy Life

Matthew Stearmer

The last two weeks have been something else. I’ve barely been able to get a few miles in a week and that is way down from my regular goals. Basically my workour progress has just been a joke the last 2 weeks.

Now, I’m quite please with my diet all things considered. I have continued to eat smaller portions and that has helped. I’ve not gained back any weight, but I certainly have not made any progress. Oh well. I’ll have to be thankful for small blessing.

So now that I finally got back on the elliptical again it felt so good!

I don’t know why, when I need to exercise the most, I tend to do it the least. When I am stressed exercise is the best remedee for me. When I am tried, exercise helps me get back to better sleeping. When I am feeling overworked, exercise helps me to organize better. I know all of that, but for some reason I lose track of that when I am in the heat of the moment as it were.

So, with most of that behind me now Ill be moving on.

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

I’ve always been a fan of being able to enjoy life. So even though I’m much more careful about what I eat now I certainly enjoy just about all the food options there are out there – just in moderation.

If you’ve been reading my recipe post for long you’ll know that I do not deny myself much. There is not point to losing weight if you cannot do it on a diet that wil be sustainable for life.

So here is one that just tastes good, is only moderately unhealthy – as far as that goes – and when eater in moderation and with continual exercise can just be enjoyed and not feared.

I have to give credit to Laurie Stearmer for the original recipe on this. Although I think that mine tastes better I did pilfer the original specs from her and modified from there. So thanks Laurie!

½ lb crab meat (imitation meat fine – although I did learn that some people with sugar issues should not eat the imitation meat. It has sugars embedded in it that can give diabetic a hard time)

½ lb salad shrimp meat
 2-3 cloves  of garlic (less or more depending on your taste for it)
2 (8oz) pkg cream cheese (let it set out at least a half hour to soften)
1 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 tsp dry mustard
2 green onion, chopped
Fine shredded Cheddar cheese to taste
Mix together and chill 3-4 hours. Serve with favorite crackers (they should be sturdy crackers as this is a thick dip)

 Add chopped olives, red peppers, etc., for color and variety. Adding a little milk makes it a touch smoother and creamier.
 

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

Really – just go and vote!

Be Health – Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer