What's a nice Jewish girl like me doing with a recipe for Empenadas?

My daughter had an assignment in school to do research on a country in the Mediterranean. She and her friend picked Spain.
For the Final assignment, everyone was supposed to pick a dish from the country of choice, prepare it and bring it to school. I didn't feel like Spanish rice, so since I am the head chef around our house, I found empanadas.

Classic empanadas are filled with chopped beef, but since the school did not want meat brought into the classroom we made potato. You can fill it with anything, though I have never seen an empanada with cheese.

They are pretty simple to make. The hard part is rolling out the dough.

Empenadas: (Amount is according to the size of the circle, if you make a small circle will have more)

4 cups flour
1 Tbsp. salt
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water

Mix all the dough ingredients well. Form a ball and let sit in cool place for 15 minutes (not fridge)

Filllings: (Choose one)
Mashed potatoes
Chopped meat (Browned and spiced)
Chopped chicken (either leftovers or ground chicken that has been browned and spiced)
Chick peas (ground and spiced)
Corn.


To assemble- roll out dough thin (about 1/4 inch). Make circles. In each circle put small amount of filling on one end and pinch it in half. Brush with egg yolk and bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

What I Learned from a Tom "Big Al" Schrieter workshop

Have you ever ate an entire pint of your favorite ice cream and were total gorged? Would you eat some more if someone offered to you? (probably, it was that good)

That's how I felt at the end of the workshop.

For anyone who isn't familiar with Tom Schrieter, he has been in network marketing for 40 years. He has built teams of 100,000 before the days of the internet. He is very successful in network marketing. Tom's mission in life is to go all around the world teaching people the skills they need to do network marketing the right way. 

We were privileged in Israel to have Tom do an all day workshop. We were in the workshop from 8:30am till 6:00pm (occassional breaks for bathroom and nourishment).

My bottom ached from so much sitting and I needed toothpicks to keep my eyes open, But if someone would have asked if I wanted more, I would have said DEFINITELY!

I realized a few things- the most important one - that to be successful in network marketing you need SKILLS. If your upline is telling you "make a dream board", what's your "Why", those are NOT skills that will get people to buy into your opportunity. If you are using 80's techniques in the 2000's you are going to get antiquated results. learn the skills.

We spent in the workshop a few hours learning how just to talk to the subconious mind, the proper sequence of words. And that was only one of the 25 skills you need. 

So LEARN THE SKILLS. That's what I am doing now. 

See you at the top!

What team Catalyst means to me

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Why am I up at 1:00am talking to "Team Catalyst"? Most normal people are asleep at that hour of the night and here I am talking to people from all over the US and Canada about building my business and learning skills that will improve my business.

Here are some of the reasons, the main one, anyone in the business of network marketing –can't do it alone. Here I am, living thousands of miles from anyone in my business, feeling very alone, so it is helpful to have someone to "cheer" me on and help me through the rough times. I need someone experienced to help me call people who have expressed an interest in my business and tell me what I am saying right (or wrong). I get feedback and give feedback to the other people on the call. I need someone who has "been there, done that" who can help me, a novice network marketer.

By having a team, I have someone whom I accountable to, since without accountability, I won't know how I am doing, and in this type of business they won't know what I am accomplishing. My team makes sure I keep the momentum going since if I do well it is good for the entire team.

Another reason is "to have more you have to become more" – the "Daily Dose" by Team Catalyst is the perfect dose of personal development that I need for myself. I can go back and listen to the archived calls anytime I need a "dose" of personal development or to review what has been said on the call. 15-18 minutes is just the right amount of time to listen to something while I am doing a chore around the house  (such as washing my dishes).

Since I want to be successful in network marketing, I need to be around people who are successful in network marketing. "Team Catalyst" are these people. They are where I want to be with my business. They are building a business and building it right.

Sarah Thompson, as our leader of  "Team Catalyst" is brilliant and has so much knowledge and experience that she shares with the team selflessly. I am proud to be a member of Team Catalyst.  The other team leaders (Henrie, Judy, Marilyn) who have stepped up to the plate while Sarah has been sick are also very inspiring- they took the task and are doing a wonderful job- Sarah should be proud!

I love muffins part 2

Muffins are a great way to hide healthy stuff in them bran, fiber, whole wheat anything that you want, your kids won't know the difference.

Size- The less you put in the muffin tin, the more muffins you will make. You don't want to look stingy by putting a tiny amount but if  you put in too much they might be hard to get out. There are different size pans (mini, small, medium, large) so that is also a determining factor as to how many will come out. If you are portion conscious, you will prefer a smaller muffin.

Spice- personal taste, there are those who love lots of ginger in their muffins, others who will freak out with it. I put those that in the recipe, play with flavors and ask your family if they like your efforts. You can make the same recipe each batch with different spice or combination of spices. Then vote on your favorites. Don't forget to keep track.

I love muffins part 1

I love to make muffins! The best thing about muffins is unlike cake, nobody argues that they have a bigger or smaller piece, since they are all the same size.  They are also very easy to freeze and take out as needed. You will be very popular with your kids and your kids friends if you always have a stock in the freezer.

Muffins can be made quickly, in most cases, once you have all the ingredients set up, you mix and have it in the oven in 5 minutes. They also bake faster than cake. Muffins are a perfect solution if you have unexpected guests and you need to serve them something tasty.

The best recipes are the ones that you mix by hand, no beating egg whites or using a mixer. It makes cleanup a lot easier also.

Many of my recipes do not use milk or butter, sour cream or any other dairy products,  I will have a separate section on Dairy muffins. You can switch the non-dairy creamer or margarine with milk or butter it will give it a different flavor.

The best way to prepare muffins is to have all the ingredients ready in front of you and mix as needed. This avoids running around the kitchen saying "where is the vanilla?" while waving a dirty mixing spoon. Which is what happened to my daughter one time.

It's also a good idea to have one large bowl and one small/medium bowl available if you have to mix ingredients before adding to the mixture. Also  have a clean tablespoon available to help push the muffin mixture into the tray otherwise you will be licking your finger many times which is both unsanitary and fattening.

The recipes in this collection are muffins that I have made over the years. They are adaptable to your personal needs, such as, if your child is unfortunately, allergic to chocolate, change the chocolate to carob. The only way to get any recipe perfect is to tweak it to your liking. I do have a section on "sugar free" muffins where I use honey or applesauce to sweeten. Since I don't use them, if you want to use Splenda or other sugar substitute, you will have to practice making the muffins till you get a flavor to your liking. I'm sure your kids won't mind-trying your efforts.

When I say "Preheat your oven", I usually mean to turn it on for 15 minutes before you put the muffins in. Usually turn on the oven before you start organizing the ingredients, so by the time you are finished mixing, the oven will be hot enough.  Baking is not an exact science, every oven is different. Please check your muffins at half time to see how they are doing. Over baking will make them hard, under baking will make them, well, under baked. Don't blame me. The tops should be baked and not wet looking, that's a good sign you need a couple of more minutes in the oven.

Leadership-are you a head without a body?

There is a famous story by the Jewish writer Shalom Aleichem. In the 1880's, there was a small town in Russia (Hessen) that heard rumors of an impending pogrom by some imported hooligans. They went to the chief of police, (and after paying a small fee), he assured them that he will ask the army to send some soldiers to protect the Jewish citizens.  Now the citizens of the town were concerned, who would come first, the hooligans coming by train from Zhmeronko or the soldiers coming by horse from Tolchin. Common sense was the hooligans by train. But when the train pulled into the station there was a happy surprise- the locomotive train pulled in without any cars attached!

The citizens of Hessen learned that the "hand picked" hooligans when reaching their last destination before Hessen, were in such good spirits on the impeding action, they invited the crew to have a drink with them before they left. The crew in their merriment forgot to couple the cars to the back of the locomotive and when the conductor blew the whistle, he didn't care and left without the cars.

Now everyone blamed everyone else. The conductor blamed the crew, the crew blamed the hooligans, and the hooligans blamed everyone.

I liked this story for its message to leaders. Leaders need to look behind them every once in a while and see, if anyone is following them. They cannot declare " Hi! I am a leader" without making themselves worthy of leadership because then they will be a head without a body. Those who are following the leader, have to look that the leader hasn't left without them.  A leader cannot lead without followers and followers are looking for someone to lead them.  For those who are followers, don't blame the leader for not waiting for you. And for those who are Leaders, don't blame your followers for not following you if you go too fast.

Overnight success?

Have you ever started a job or gone into a new profession without being trained? Did you go down to your local discount store and order a kit to be a lawyer, a doctor, or an engineer? Would you trust a lawyer who took a "correspondence course"? Of course not - to enter those professions, you need specialized knowledge.

What about when you started a job? Did you just walk in off the street and tell them you knew all there was to know about the job and no training would be necessary? I don't think so. According to most Fortune 500 companies, it takes 6 months of being on the job before the company starts to make any money from an employee. Did you read that closely ñ 6 months?

Now why is it that people who join a program to earn extra income from home give up in less than 90 days? Could they be missing an important point in life?   If just learning a job takes around 6 months to be good at it, then maybe you can start to see why things haven't worked out for you in the past. 


If you see people claiming "overnight success" you can be assured that they will "crash and burn" just as quickly. 
The real overnight success people are those who have spend the last few years working hard at what they do and eventually all their hard work exponentiated into success. 

Making Little things count #1

How much does a piece of paper way- almost nothing. It flies away in the wind. But what about 500 pieces of paper? That can weigh a few pounds.

That is the power of "little things count". People do not stumble over mountains they stumble over the rocks that are on the ground. When we have an important major decision to make, one carefully weighs all the possibilities and researches the topic,  consider the consequences of the decision. But what about the small day to day decisions? What to eat? Who to talk to? What time to get up? How to spend your free time?

Do we realize the consequences of that extra chocolate chip cookie (my personal weakness)?  Do we consider what the repercussions are if you yell at your kids "hurry up!" every morning or can you have your morning schedule on a calm basis using timers and clocks? 

If you focus on the small decisions, the large decisions will be much easier.

Supermarket-be a super shopper

Have you ever gone to the supermarket and see "deals" BUY 4 GET 2 FREE or 5 PACKAGES FOR $10 –cost per unit $2.99?   The problem is you really want only to buy one package but feel guilty spend the extra dollar. My suggestion- don't think you are spending the extra dollar, think you are saving seven dollars. The supermarkets want you to buy things in large quantities, they make money anyway you look at it, but when they offer things in bulk, they get rid of their stock faster. These things add up.   No matter how you look at it, even with the best bulk deals each time you buy something in "bulk" you are spending more money.

Another facet to this, in most cases whatever you buy gets eaten (hopefully).   The supermarkets usually aren't offering these deals on healthy stuff, like fruits and vegetables.   They usually offer them on candies, cookies, sugared cereals, snacks- stuff that you don't know you shouldn't eat and really want your kids and to eat at a minimum..   If they are offering food that is healthy or what you use on a regular basis (pastas, canned vegetables, whole grain products), then you should consider buying it in bulk. 

When buying in bulk, be sure that you really consume such quantities. If your children don't like tomato juice, then don't buy 10 cans of it just because it is on sale (unless of course you are planning to make bloody mary's!). If you are not sure that you will finish the package before it goes stale/bad then also maybe it is smarter to buy just one or two packages or a smaller version. New foods that your children have never tried, should also be purchased in small quantities until the market research at home has been given positive feedback.  

There are some other important things to think about when shopping in your supermarket.

Budget- Hopefully you know how much money you plan on spending on each item or in total. If the specific breakfast cereal that your children like is too expensive, it's important to teach them that you won't buy it this time, but maybe next. Or you can tell them if they buy this expensive cereal then they can't buy the snack that they want.

Self control- Many of the foods sold in the supermarket are presented in a colorful, appealing way. Children love to say "can we buy" for many items while shopping. It is essential that some guidelines be followed when shopping otherwise you will end up with three different flavor ice cream, 5 bags of snacks and 2 packages of gum. My children know that I will buy plain or lightly sweetened yogurts but not sugar-filled puddings so they know not to ask. I will buy them sugar free gum, so that they will ask to buy. NEVER GO SHOPPING WITH HUNGRY CHILDREN – you are asking for trouble!!!

Organization- Most people agree, that the right way to shop in the supermarket is to bring a shopping list. The shopping list, on the one hand, prevents you from buying too many packages of mushrooms, but on the other hand, you remember to buy the pickles. Without the list as a guideline, shopping can get out of control.

In conclusion, it's a nice past-time to go out shopping with your children.   It can teach them many life skills but it is up to you to realize the skills that can be taught and properly demonstrate them. 

Are you drunk?

Have you ever gotten drunk? Most people when they have had too much to drink can no longer think clearly and loses their ability to understand and to control their body. When someone is drunk can you ask them "where is your common sense?" . A person who is drunk does things that are foolish, demeaning and sometimes even dangerous; things he would never do under normal circumstances with a clear head. Although the amount of alcohol needed to become drunk differs from person to person, the basic rule of nature is the same-you drink too much alcohol, you get drunk.

Imagine a person saying that because he is rich or has blue eyes the laws of alcohol do not apply  to him. Nonsense.

What about fighting? Do you lose control? Fighting clouds a person's ability to function as well.  Most people when they get involved in a heated argument will lose their ability to think clearly. How many people have done or said stupid things "in the heat of an argument" that have regretted it for many years to come.  If you try to ask someone- "where's your common sense?" What were you thinking then?" they will never come up with an adequate excuse.

So getting drunk and getting into a fight are basically the same things- losing control. Neither is an admirable behavior. So if you find yourself getting into fights too often, you need to realize that it is a negative behavior that needs to be changed into a positive behavior. 

Bread the staple of life

Bread is considered the staple of life. It's a basic food of all cultures- rich, poor, America, Africa, and Europe.  All countries have their traditional breads. All breads have basic ingredients- flour, water, salt, oil, yeast (rising agent). But there is a philosophical side to 
bread as well.

Flour-Without the flour, the bread is meaningless.  Someone needs
 to plant the seeds, sees that it gets enough water, harvest and grind the grain for you to be able to have the flour. If something is missing in this process, you won’t have your flour. A different person can do each stage, but each stage must get done. There are different floursfor different breads, but all of them end up as bread.

Plant, cultivate, harvest. That is the natural course of life, if we try to skip a step, it doesn't develop properly. If we try to speed things up we will get a poor crop. Same thing with business, we have to plant, cultivate, and harvest at the right pace otherwise we get "burnt out". There is no such thing as "get rich quick". If you get rich quick-you lose it quickly.

Water-The simplest liquid to put in the bread is water. You can put any liquid (milk, juice, wine, beer) but water is the most abundant and is found anywhere in the world.  The water must  be clean, otherwise we will  become sick.  It is the same thing with our thoughts. Our thoughts have to be clean of negativity for us to be truly content in life.  If water should be constantly flowing otherwise it will back up and when they are finally released cause a flood. Water is also our boundaries.  Water is a liquid and therefore needs a container to retain it.   We need boundaries  in our business otherwise we will get distracted on the objective at hand,  spread ourselves too thin and not be successful.    We need boundaries in our life otherwise we will make stupid choices (food, partner for life, spending).   It is the boundaries which show the world what we are made up.

Salt- Salt is what gives some flavor to the bread. Too much will make the bread inedible. The salt is the discipline we put on ourselves.  Too little discipline is not good but too much is also strangulating. Salt is also the challenges that life sends us (salt of tears). The challenges are what make us grow and develop into the person we want to be. In making bread the salt enhances the flavor of the sugar and makes whatever you are baking sweeter.

Oil – Oil is an extra ingredient that one can put in his bread. Usually the oil is olive oil, but it can be butter or animal fat. It makes the bread a little richer and more special.  Oil on a philosophical level is light. Light removes darkness from one's life. Most living things need light to grow.  We need to remove the darkness from our lives so that we can grow and become a better person.

Rising Agent- Most of the time yeast is used, but before yeast was cultured, a small part of a previous dough was used. Yeast is our ability to rise above the situation, to develop and become wiser with time. We need to take the knowledge that we have and cultivate it so that we can grow and use it for our benefit. We take the challenges from a previous situation (the dough starter) and use it to help us with the challenges facing us today.

Sugar- sugar is also an extra ingredient often used in breads. Sugar metaphorically is, the sweetness of life, that we are sweet and nice to everyone around us.  But just like the salt, too much is not good either.  Sugar is the things we enjoy doing. We must remember to make time for ourselves and do things that we enjoy doing so that life is sweet for us as well and not just doing all the time for others.