My grandson loves synchronicity. He is 11 years old, a computer genius and a lovely young man. When he sees it, he has to tell his mother all about it. I am merely the lucky bystander who can give loving compliments. I am neither the recipient of his observations, nor an originator of his ideas.
I have always thought of synchronicity as a psychic connection between two people at any given time. That’s me not believing in coincidence, but rather believing in our ability (conscious or not) to connect with each other over great distances. So this is how my grandson Jaxsun shared this concept with me over Christmas and I experienced it with his cousin, my granddaughter. The synchronicity was all around us.
I was super excited about making the first chili of the cold season. We just don’t have very much cold here in Florida. I had refined the chili recipe down to all of the elements that hubby and I like. First I have to complain about how supermarkets sell meat – there is always too much in a package of meat. Because of this, I had half of a chuck roast in the freezer, about 1.5 pounds. I went to the grocery store for a green bell pepper and mild Italian sausage. In spite of reducing ingredients, we ate chili and I had a huge amount of chili leftover. I put most of it in the freezer and enough in the fridge for another dinner and a lunch. Really almost might have to throw some of it out.
And then…
My granddaughter, recently married, texted me: “Are you going to be home tonight, I am here”. I was so excited, the last time I saw her, was February and even that was a lucky break. She lives in Pennsylvania and we live in Florida. It turns out that in order to gain national certification in her profession, she had to take exams here, close to our home town.
She is quite a beautiful woman, as is her mother and sister.
Before I could say “God Bless You” I had talked her, her husband and her husband’s cousin into coming over for dinner. And guess what? We have no more chili, I took it out of the freezer and the refrigerator and it was a perfect amount for our surprise guests. Synchronicity.
Hubby and I are incredibly lucky because we are alike, we agree. One of the things that we agree on is that our time is valuable when it is spent with our family – NO MATTER WHAT. We don’t need to plan or have elegant invitations; we just need to know that you want to spend time with us. We will feed you, refresh you, make you comfortable and enjoy. I believe the psychic part was my granddaughter breaking through her reservations to text us. She said to me that she kept thinking about it and just wasn’t sure.
Our value system is simple, we love you. Spend time with us. We had a lovely dinner with our granddaughter, her husband and his cousin and fiance’ and listened to them well into the night. It made our entire week worthwhile. I know that my granddaughter will not have any more reservations, we have established our acceptance.
The light is on, we are home, come on over.
Johanna’s Chili
2 tablespoons canola oil
1.5 pounds of chuck roast, trimmed and cubed
.5 pounds of mild Italian sausage
.5 of large onion, chopped
1 whole bell pepper, diced
8 oz. tomato sauce
28oz can of diced tomatoes
1 can 14-16 oz of white navy beans, undrained
1 can 14-16 oz of red kidney beans, undrained
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic
1 tablespoon salt
Slow Cooker
Cast iron Dutch oven
1. Brown beef in canola oil in Dutch oven until pink is gone, remove with a slotted spoon.
2. Brown sausage in Dutch oven, again until pink is gone, remove with a slotted spoon.
3. After dicing and chopping the bell pepper and onion, place in pan, ensuring that there is ample canola oil for saute’ing these vegetables.
4. Place these ingredients into slow cooker, add sauce, diced tomatoes and all other ingredients.
5. Stir well to ensure that spices are blended.
6. Cook in slow cooker on low for 6 – 8 hours or 4 hours on high. Measure doneness by checking beef to ensure it is tender.
Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and crackers.