ArcaMax

The Framed Quote

There is a quote that hangs in a frame in my office. It’s done in a beautiful, script calligraphy, surrounded by a dusty-rose matting and framed in black and silver wooden frame. It’s been hanging in my various offices for over 30 years now.

It’s not big; only about 15 by 12 inches. Some people don't notice it when they are in my office. I think the other art pieces draw more of their attention. I don’t even see it every day myself, although it hangs right in my line of site. When I’m on the phone I’m usually facing it, yet I don’t notice it every day.

I have the quote memorized. I don’t really need to see it. The few times I have been asked what my favorite quote is I can rattle it right off from memory. That happened again just a few months ago.

As we embark on a new year I got to thinking about that quote again. I’m going to share it with you and make a few personal observations. Here we go...

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they don’t find them they make them," George Bernard Shaw once said.

I have come to the realization that over time that quote has meant different things to me. The different things are all a result of the circumstances I have been in at the time. The usefulness of that quote in my life keeps changing.

When I was in my 20s, the number of women working in executive positions was just starting to grow. I was fortunate to be one of the few women in a lot of meetings; often the only one. Many women blamed the corporate glass ceiling for their inability to move up the corporate ladder. I didn’t blame my circumstances. I took the attitude that if you’re going to play the “boys game” -- play by their rules and you can stay in the game. Blame your circumstances and you’ll never excel. That helped me advance my career much faster.

When I decided to become an entrepreneur, this quote continued to inspire me. It helped guide me in good times and bad. The circumstances I was involved in might be as varied as developing new products for our company or coping as a business leader in a recession. I just looked for the circumstances I wanted and if I didn’t find them, I made my own way.

It’s come full circle again. When I most recently thought about this quote it became very personal, yet again. I realized that I had spent decades of my life blaming my circumstances for being overweight. I had done so many diets the way the diet industry taught me to do, only to be just temporarily successful and gain the weight back each time -- only to blame my circumstances once again, and mostly blame myself.

But what I did this time was to look for the circumstances I wanted and didn’t find them, so I made my own. That’s why I developed Plan Z by Zola. I had to make my own circumstances. I had to design my own diet.

Plan Z has helped thousands get control of their own circumstances and lose weight. They are learning how to keep it off this time too. I haven’t lost all the weight I want to yet, but for the first time I’m not gaining it back either. I have control of my own personal circumstances and have shared my way with others. I have received more amazingly touching thank you notes than I could possibly share.

I hope you can find a way for this quote to inspire you too. Rather than make resolutions this New Year’s maybe you could look for the circumstances you want in your own life, and if you don’t find them, make them.

And one more quote from George Bernard Shaw to sort of sum it all up.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. It’s about creating yourself.”

Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers

Makes 32 for a party or cut the recipe in half for fewer people.

2 pounds of loose sausage. (I used mild Italian but I can see you being able to use many types of sausage. You could use chorizo for a Mexican appeal and even more spicy heat. Or Andouille for the Cajun slant. Or I even thought about using breakfast sausage that has a bit of maple in it for a sweet-hot version. If the sausage you choose is in casing, just cut the casing and take it out. In most cases it comes out very easily)
1-1/2 packages of cream cheese. 12 oz. Softened.
1-1/2 cups of shredded cheese. (I used the 5 cheese Italian blend but yet again, I can see all kinds of options. You can use cheddar, pepper jack, some parmesan, blue cheese crumbles, or others. I do suggest one of the cheeses you choose be a creamy one so the peppers will have some gooey texture, so if you use parmesan include a gooey one from the list above to go with it)
16 large, fresh jalapenos, halved length-wise and seeded*
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put the sausage in a sauté pan and begin browning it on medium high. I constantly cut up the sausage while it cooks because I want brown edges all around and I want to make sure I have teeny bits rather than chunks. While the sausage is cooking you can begin the work on seeding your jalapenos. Just stir the sausage regularly and keep breaking it up. Cook until there is no pink left in the sausage bits.

When the meat is cooked and broken up add the cream cheese and the other cheese(s) of choice. Stir to get it fully mixed.

Then here’s another trick. Rather than stuffing the peppers right away, I put the mixture in the refrigerator and chill it. When the mixture gets cold it hardens up and makes it easier to work with to stuff the peppers. Just use a spoon to take out a mound of it, form the mound with your hands into a cigar shaped piece and pop it into the jalapeno shell and set them on the cookie sheet. They can go into the oven now or go back in the refrigerator to bake them later. When you are prepping for a party this is very handy. You can prep them the day before and cover them, put them back in the refrigerator and bake them during the party.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the peppers are roasted and the filling is warmed through and gooey but not running out of the pepper shells.

Serve hot from the oven.

Depending on the size of your peppers you might have filling left over. You can keep this for later. It will make a lovely stuffing for an omelet.

*Hints: Be very careful when you seed jalapenos. Use rubber gloves or be careful not to get any jalapeno juice in your eyes. The easy way to seed them, once cut, is to take a small knife and cut around the vein edges and then use the small side of a melon baller to slide out the guts. This makes fast work of seeding. The pepper juice will be invisible and on your fingers so before you get some in your eyes, wash your hands thoroughly.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola