Sausage-Apple-Butternut Squash Casserole

Inspired by "The Joy of Cooking" Sausage, Sweet Potato and Fruit Casserole (1975 printing)

Preheat oven to 350 deg F

Crumble and brown 1 lb breakfast sausage (I used Gimme Lean substitute, browned 2T canola oil). Stir in minced onion or shallot (1 small) until soft and fragrant. Take off heat and add diced tart apples (2 med). Add additional sage, thyme (dried is fine, about 1-2 t each), salt, pepper and about 2T of maple syrup.

Prepare 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray, oil or butter.

Halve, scoop out seeds, peel a butternut squash and cut portion above the seed cavity into thin slices. (Diced and reserve the rest of the squash for other use - I tossed with a little olive oil and roasted for 20-25 min at 425 after the casserole came out of the oven to puree for soup with cashew-cream. You can toss the seeds, washed and dried, with oil in a cake pan and toast at the same time, about 5-10 min).

Layer half the slices in the bottom of the dish. Spread the sausage mixture on top. Layer the remaining slices on top. Lightly coat with cooking spray, sprinkle with a little more fresh ground pepper and coarse salt, cover tightly with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and contuine baking for another 10 mins then turn oven to broil for the last 5 minutes to get a little brown and carmelized on top.

Served over collard greens (spinach or chard would also work well) chopped into thin ribbon and sauteéd with butter, minced shallot and dried thyme.

DIA - Its not what you're thinking

Bet you thought I am posting from the Denver airport, but instead I've had a great afternoon at the Detroit Institute of Art. A very diverse collection including the Diego Rivera murals in the Great Hall. One of the nicest amenities are the many padded benches with seat backs in many of the galleries. Those and engaging commentary invite one to be in front of a work long enough to see the subtleties of composition, color, light and often enough comedy. Well done DIA!

Received my Crown

Dr. Resnick, aka "Super Res", my childhood dentist dubbed me "Queen Jenéne." It gave me great delight that he deemed my sister Shelly a mere Princess. 8 weeks ago I made a trip to see Dr. Chang, for what was the first of a 4-visit root canal, and which I suspect was the trigger for the shingles. Today she crowned me with a new porcelain molar on a gold post. One more visit next week for final adjustments and a general cleaning and at least the dental phase of my unanticpated journey this summer will be over.

The shingles look to be a longer haul. I've been back at work, but balancing pain management with my ability to focus on the tasks at hand has been a challenge. In general the nerve pain has lessened, but is not gone. I know it won't last forever, but boy, for those of you eligible, get that vaccine!

This coming weekend I'm looking forward to a visit from Cincinnati friends Joan & Don. We have booked a lovely Gold Coast hotel and have plans for fine dining, a concert and sightseeing. A most welcome diversion. I'll be back on the road in earnest beginning August 15th with orientation visits to a few of the ministries I will be supporting in Detroit and Cleveland. After a very quick turn around in Chicago, I head for a weekend in Vail with my mom and dad, enroute to a national meeting of retreat house and spirituality program directors at Sacred Heart Jesuit Retreat House in Sedalia, southwest of Denver. A new smartphone is in the works and I hope to get back into a groove of posts from the road.

Can you say "shingles"?

Shingles (herpes zoster) is a viral infection of the nerve roots.

"The NERVE of that guy!" "Of all the NERVE!" "That really touched a NERVE" An outbreak of shingles has given me a new depth of meaning to those old saws.

It seems hard to believe that it has been over 3 months since my last posting. In brief, I started a new, and as it turned out evolving, role with the Chicago Province Jesuits. In addition to the responsibilities for the Piazza Project, effective July 1 I was named the "Provincial's Assistant for Pastoral Ministries." Translated from Jesuit-jargon, I am the Provincial/CEO's liaison and delegate, a Vice-President if you will, for the retreat houses, spirituality programs, parishes and the men in these and other pastoral ministries in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. As you can imagine, I will be on the road a lot starting in earnest in August. So, if there was any good time for shingles to strike, this was it.

"On a scale of zero to ten, with zero being no pain at all, and ten being the worst pain you've ever experienced, how would you rate the pain you are experiencing right now?" My primary care doctor had recommended I head to the ER after not being able to keep the pain medication, or anything at all, down that day. I don't know whether it was the poet in me, or the engineer, but that question was like being asked to compare apples and oranges.

Was this the WORST pain I've ever experienced? Was this worse that the most recent trauma which I suspect of activating herpes zostar? Three excruciating attempts to complete a root canal during the first three weeks of Juneended finally with a referral from my dentist to an endodontist with the mildly offensive comment that I "have a really low pain threshold". Really, as a former chemical engineer, better living through chemistry is my motto and the endodontist did a fine job.

Was this worse that the time I severely burned my hand on a skillet, forgetting my frittata had recently been under the broiler? Or was it worse that the virtual knife stabbed in my heart many years ago when the man I had marriend declared he didn't love me and wasn't sure he ever had? Or the headache signalling meningitis that landed me in the hospital for a month after the divorce was final? No, these shingles were not the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life, but the scale is not linear.

This outbreak of shingles appeared around my midriff on the right side. As a colleagues said, the pain is insidious, pinching and burning on the inside, itchy on the outside, but shift instantly to fiery if actually scratched. All I wanted was for the pain to stop. I'd had an adverse drug reaction to a vicodan based drug leaving me dehydrated, nauseous and in the Top-5 of painful experiences which was the best I could do to answer the rating question. I just wanted the pain to stop. After a liter of fluid, anti-nausea and pain medication, as the nurse commented, I looked and felt a lot more human.

I went home with a prescription for a medication specifically for nerve pain which has helped tremdously, and keeping me sleepy and quiet this week. Some, but not all of the welts have crusted over, a sign that the virus is running its course, but taking its time working its way through my system. But they are, and like others in my Top-5, this too shall pass. I hope/plan on being back to work on Monday.