We took a bit of a break there to travel, to shop, to wrap, to bake, to party, to sing, and to shovel the snow (and to grade the last papers, but those aren't worth mentioning).
But now we're in the midst of both the secular and liturgical feast, eating and laughing and eating and playing and eating and sleeping and eating a little bit more.
Our days leading up to the Christmas feast proper are always filled and hectic, with lots of joy--but also lots of schedules. What this means when we're visiting is that sometimes the meals before the holiday itself can become a bit haphazard.
As our preparation, we have settled on a few accidental traditions in order to accommodate both the preparation and the feast. One of the annual parties my parents host calls for Taco Soup--origin indeterminate--that's a casual but always anticipated meal to share. And our Christmas Eve celebration settled years ago on Eggs Benedict after the late service, so our supper beforehand is usually a simple soup that calls for cleaning out the fridge of the last leftovers before we open up the ham on the day itself.
Along the way, the snacks roll in the door (we're visiting fruit country, so we have wonderful pears and apples aplenty along with my seasonal favorites, Satsuma oranges), and we fill in the cracks with fruit and cheese, Dorothy Carr's lefse, krumkakke, and other cookies.
---
Perhaps none of these meals is remarkable in itself, but the point of the feast is the preparation, anticipation, and the extension. A feast is not a momentary celebration but goes on for days (liturgically, the twelve days of Christmas have only just begun; Easter goes on for fifty!): feasting is about dwelling in celebration for a length of time, not simply a day. It's fitting that this first major feast of the church year is, in fact, the Feast of the Incarnation. We celebrate, first of all, the divine entrance into human life that transforms the whole understanding of what it means to be human. So we eat.
And we sing and we laugh and we give and we play and we sleep and we eat. And as we dwell with one another in the best of our humanness, we think of the Word become flesh, who dwelt among us.
Merry Christmas! Have something to eat.
---
Taco Soup
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 onion, diced and sauteed
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, rinsed and drained (or about 1 C. frozen corn kernels)
1 can diced or crushed tomatoes
1 can diced green chiles (or repace tomatoes and chiles with a jar of salsa)
1 package taco seasoning
Enough water or chicken broth to cover
Salt and pepper to taste
Simmer on the stove or crock pot as long as you need. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips.
---
Clean-Out-the-Fridge Christmas Eve Soup
(This year it was Chicken-Mushroom-Brown Rice)
6 C. cooking liquid (either all chicken broth or up to 2 cups of dry white wine with chicken broth)
1 C. leftover cooked chicken
3 C. sauteed mushrooms
1/2 onion, minced and sauteed
1 clove of garlic, minced and sauteed
1-2 tsp. poultry seasoning or Mural of Flavor
1 C. brown rice (pearl barley or wild rice or some combination would also be nice)
salt and pepper to taste
Simmer for 1-2 hours; finish with 4 oz. cream cheese, stirred in; serve with grated parmesan cheese.
(Last year it was Minestrone)
6 C. cooking liquid
1/2 onion, diced and sauteed
2 cloves garlic
2 carrots, chopped and sauteed
1 zucchini, diced and sauteed
1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 large can crushed tomatoes (or tomato sauce, in a pinch)
1 C. small pasta (elbow macaroni-sized)
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried rosemary (crushed)
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. hot sauce (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
Simmer all ingredients except pasta for 20 minutes; add pasta and cook until tender. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.
Showing posts with label Soups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soups. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
On the Eve of Gaudete Sunday, 2012
On weeks such as this one, I wonder about this little writing project of mine. Cookies? Really?
But while cookies (or, rather, food in general) are the surface feature of what I'm working out here, the underpinnings are at the same time far more complex and far simpler.
Human beings suffer and die. Innocent. Guilty. Beloved. Forgotten. Reviled.
---
On Thursday, as a culminating class event, we hosted a round-table discussion of leaders in our community who are committed to combatting hunger in many and various ways. We were confronted with staggering statistics--many about children--and an overwhelming sense of need. Along with that also came an overwhelming fear, confusion, and grief about what to do in the face of such need. And along with that came the excitement in sharing community, passion, and purpose with others who are joyfully doing God's work in feeding the hungry.
---
On Friday, we ended the class officially with a simple soup and bread lunch, wrestling with what we had heard the night before. I overheard one student say, "This was the best meal I've had in months." I'm sure it wasn't, but I think the fact that two teachers would make homemade soup and homemade cookies for college students just before finals week changed the ordinariness of the offering into something special.
---
Today I made peppermint bark and cardamom toast, preparing to send Christmas packages on Monday. Trying to send a bit of ourselves to those beloved far away who are suffering and rejoicing in their own ways.
---
The Third Sunday of Advent is celebrated as Gaudete Sunday, when we are called in the midst of the solemn season to rejoice. The joy we are called to is not the joy of the revelation of Christmas but is the anticipation. This is the joy we are called to in the midst of the darkest time. This is the joy of the very-nearly-but-not-yet. This is the joy of the hope of both Christ's first coming and his second.
---
As complicated as my feelings are about being called together to rejoice in this moment, somehow the summons is fitting. Joy doesn't wait around for us to find circumstances fitted to it. Joy doesn't expect that the evils of the world will cease in order for it to be marked. Joy cannot wait--even until the end of Advent--for us to make the world a safe place for all of God's children. The joy is in our hope in God's redemption that comes precisely because of all that is wrong with the world. The joy is in the promise of God With Us, precisely at the world's darkest moment.
---
As I write this, again I wonder how simple it all sounds and how impossible it all is. Cookies? They're not enough. Never. And I would be the last person to suggest that somehow I could take the restoration of the world into my own buttered hands. But this project pulls me back to joy in the ways I might be able to recognize it in my own life and bring it, bite by bite, into others'. That this joy takes tangible form is my witness to the incarnation, to God With Us. Washing. Eating. Drinking. Living with one another in hope only because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Rejoice.
---
Sausage, Potato, and Kale Soup
(the students scraped the crock pot clean)
1 lb. Bulk Turkey Italian Sausage, browned
1/2 sweet onion, diced and sauteed
2 cloves of garlic, minced and sauteed
6 C. chicken broth (or Better than Bullion and water)
1 1/2-2 lbs. potatoes, diced (I used Baby Yukon Golds this week, but any potato will do)
4 large leaves of kale, stems removed and chopped
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. fennel seed, crushed
Simmer all together until the potatoes are tender. Add 4 oz. light cream cheese and stir until dissolved. Add salt and pepper to taste.
But while cookies (or, rather, food in general) are the surface feature of what I'm working out here, the underpinnings are at the same time far more complex and far simpler.
Human beings suffer and die. Innocent. Guilty. Beloved. Forgotten. Reviled.
---
On Thursday, as a culminating class event, we hosted a round-table discussion of leaders in our community who are committed to combatting hunger in many and various ways. We were confronted with staggering statistics--many about children--and an overwhelming sense of need. Along with that also came an overwhelming fear, confusion, and grief about what to do in the face of such need. And along with that came the excitement in sharing community, passion, and purpose with others who are joyfully doing God's work in feeding the hungry.
---
On Friday, we ended the class officially with a simple soup and bread lunch, wrestling with what we had heard the night before. I overheard one student say, "This was the best meal I've had in months." I'm sure it wasn't, but I think the fact that two teachers would make homemade soup and homemade cookies for college students just before finals week changed the ordinariness of the offering into something special.
---
Today I made peppermint bark and cardamom toast, preparing to send Christmas packages on Monday. Trying to send a bit of ourselves to those beloved far away who are suffering and rejoicing in their own ways.
---
The Third Sunday of Advent is celebrated as Gaudete Sunday, when we are called in the midst of the solemn season to rejoice. The joy we are called to is not the joy of the revelation of Christmas but is the anticipation. This is the joy we are called to in the midst of the darkest time. This is the joy of the very-nearly-but-not-yet. This is the joy of the hope of both Christ's first coming and his second.
---
As complicated as my feelings are about being called together to rejoice in this moment, somehow the summons is fitting. Joy doesn't wait around for us to find circumstances fitted to it. Joy doesn't expect that the evils of the world will cease in order for it to be marked. Joy cannot wait--even until the end of Advent--for us to make the world a safe place for all of God's children. The joy is in our hope in God's redemption that comes precisely because of all that is wrong with the world. The joy is in the promise of God With Us, precisely at the world's darkest moment.
---
As I write this, again I wonder how simple it all sounds and how impossible it all is. Cookies? They're not enough. Never. And I would be the last person to suggest that somehow I could take the restoration of the world into my own buttered hands. But this project pulls me back to joy in the ways I might be able to recognize it in my own life and bring it, bite by bite, into others'. That this joy takes tangible form is my witness to the incarnation, to God With Us. Washing. Eating. Drinking. Living with one another in hope only because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Rejoice.
---
Sausage, Potato, and Kale Soup
(the students scraped the crock pot clean)
1 lb. Bulk Turkey Italian Sausage, browned
1/2 sweet onion, diced and sauteed
2 cloves of garlic, minced and sauteed
6 C. chicken broth (or Better than Bullion and water)
1 1/2-2 lbs. potatoes, diced (I used Baby Yukon Golds this week, but any potato will do)
4 large leaves of kale, stems removed and chopped
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. fennel seed, crushed
Simmer all together until the potatoes are tender. Add 4 oz. light cream cheese and stir until dissolved. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Friday, October 26, 2012
The Feast to Come
This week has been better than last, though I think in the recovery from last week, we're still feeling embattled. There's hope that the new year will be better, but it may be a bit of a slog until then.
Part of the recovery efforts have been food, of course. Over fall break I didn't bake cookies, but I did try this recipe with some squash we got from the CSA. We've also had lasagna cupcakes again (thanks to Auntie Mary for the idea!) and Asian Chicken Soup. Last night was turkey bratwurst with sweet and sour cabbage and roasted turnips, sweet potatoes, and red potatoes. I don't know what the plan is for tonight (Going out? Taking in? Something that won't dirty up the kitchen again?), but I know it helps--even heals--me to be able to sit around the table with my family and be well fed.
It's a shadowy glimpse some days, but I'm convinced nonetheless that it is a glimpse of the feast to come.
---
Asian Chicken Soup
6 C. water and appropriate amount of "Better than Bullion" or 6 C. chicken broth
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
1 tsp. powdered or 1 Tb. fresh grated ginger
1-2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 C. cooked chicken (or diced and poached in the broth)
1 package rice vermicelli
Combine and simmer together until chicken is cooked, carrots are tender, and noodles are cooked.
Garnish with lime juice (fresh would be great, but I rarely have it), hot sauce (Frank's Red Hot is the sauce of choice at our house) and fresh cilantro.
---
Sweet and Sour Cabbage
Simmer together 1/4-1/2 C. cider vinegar, 3-4 Tb. sugar, 2 tsp. salt, and 1/3 C. water
add
1 head of purple cabbage, chopped (green works as well, but purple is prettier)
1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
Cook until cabbage is tender or until the rest of the dinner is ready (as little as 15 or 20 minutes and as much as an hour or more).
Part of the recovery efforts have been food, of course. Over fall break I didn't bake cookies, but I did try this recipe with some squash we got from the CSA. We've also had lasagna cupcakes again (thanks to Auntie Mary for the idea!) and Asian Chicken Soup. Last night was turkey bratwurst with sweet and sour cabbage and roasted turnips, sweet potatoes, and red potatoes. I don't know what the plan is for tonight (Going out? Taking in? Something that won't dirty up the kitchen again?), but I know it helps--even heals--me to be able to sit around the table with my family and be well fed.
It's a shadowy glimpse some days, but I'm convinced nonetheless that it is a glimpse of the feast to come.
---
Asian Chicken Soup
6 C. water and appropriate amount of "Better than Bullion" or 6 C. chicken broth
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
1 tsp. powdered or 1 Tb. fresh grated ginger
1-2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 C. cooked chicken (or diced and poached in the broth)
1 package rice vermicelli
Combine and simmer together until chicken is cooked, carrots are tender, and noodles are cooked.
Garnish with lime juice (fresh would be great, but I rarely have it), hot sauce (Frank's Red Hot is the sauce of choice at our house) and fresh cilantro.
---
Sweet and Sour Cabbage
Simmer together 1/4-1/2 C. cider vinegar, 3-4 Tb. sugar, 2 tsp. salt, and 1/3 C. water
add
1 head of purple cabbage, chopped (green works as well, but purple is prettier)
1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
Cook until cabbage is tender or until the rest of the dinner is ready (as little as 15 or 20 minutes and as much as an hour or more).
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