Sons of Men and Angels Say!

This Sunday is Easter! 

Easter is a big deal around here;  then, again, what's not a big deal around here?  I feel like my job in life is to make sure all the things are big deals. 

Good Friday:  Hot Cross Buns and Prayers at the Church.  We remember in sobriety, grieving our sins, though not grieving his death, because after all, God has already redeemed the Cross.  It may seem difficult theologically - it is a nuance, but I don't think it's especially hard. 
There are two errors into which one can fall.  First, not remembering the crucifixion.  You cannot sing Christ the Lord is Risen Today on Easter if you haven't first remembered from what He rises.  You really cannot put everyone in their best outfits and cook the fatted lamb (more on that later....) if you don't remember the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.  It's so very American, and in all the bad ways, to ignore Good Friday and hunt eggs anyway. 
The other error is to obsess - to lament.  We must remember, but in fact, we are remembering the death of Christ in a context of a redeemed world.  He has died, but He has risen.  We are remembering His death, but we cannot and should not ever be as Mary wailing at the cross.  We can wail for our own sin that put Him on the cross, but we cannot wail for our dead Lord.  He is not dead.  He sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.  Every day - even on Good Friday. 

So, we remember. 

Easter Vigil - or Holy Saturday- is a day of preparation.  The disciples would have been in a prayer vigil.  That's what you do, after all, after someone dies.  You keep a vigil.  You pray.  But, we don't have to do that.  We know what's coming the next day.  And of course, it's not actually coming again.  Nothing is any different about Good Friday or Easter Sunday than any other Friday or Sunday, metaphysically, ontologically, or in any other way.  Christ is just as risen today, tomorrow and Saturday as he will be on Sunday.  It is all about us - our ordination toward Christ and His life.  We are a dumb people - like asses and oxen and goats - and without being forced to remember, we'll (do what we've done and) skip everything but birth and resurrection.  So, we don't keep a vigil to pray for our departed Savior.  Instead, we prepare our hearts for the joy of the resurrection and of course our tables for the accompanying feast. 

And then the trumps sound and we're Eastering!  A day of feasting like no other.  Breaking bread and egg hunting.  Toasting with wine and champagne and wearing our beautiful clothes.  Lilies and tulips and the best of all hymnody. 

So, what of the menu for our feast? 

Well, we're sharing Easter with some dear friends.  They're in charge of meat and I'm in charge of everything else!  They're smoking a lamb (I'm nearly dying with the literary significance) and roasting a beef brisket.  I'm sure it will all be thrilling. 

So, what to round out the table? 

Shrimp and Pineapple wrapped in bacon for appetizer. 

Fresh Corn Casserole, a la Pioneer Woman, who doesn't generally get my culinary vote, but I don't see how this could be bad.  

Three Bean Salad, a favorite at our house, especially for special occasions.  Ada Brooks is in charge of this and will make tomorrow so it will be super yummy by Sunday.  Kidney Beans, Wax Beans, Green Beans, Celery, Onions and Bell Peppers swimming in a vinegary, peppery, sweet dressing.

Deviled Eggs, of course.  Don't know what the devil has to do with it, but they're so damn good, so maybe that's it?

Scalloped Potatoes, because I love my husband.

Scallion Cream Sauce and Bowtie noodles, because I love myself.

Roasted Asparagus, to make us feel better.   I'm so tempted to make it asparagus casserole.  So tempted.  Someone stop me. 

Sister Schuberts, because I'm cheating.  I'm sacrificing making my own bread.  I'd rather have strawberry pie and buy the rolls.  

Buttermilk Chocolate Cake - Easter without chocolate is apparently sacrilege. 

Strawberry Pie - again, because my heart lies in the hands of Paul William Forster.  If the man could eat scalloped potatoes, hamburgers and strawberry pies for the rest of his life, he'd be happy as a clam.  

Plentiful fresh whipped cream for both of them. 



We're going to hunt the fire out of some eggs. 

Now, back to sewing the new outfits and making a grocery list! 

Bread, Wine, Soup

Today is Maundy Thursday.  In the church calendar, we commemorate the Last Supper and Jesus's washing of the disciple's feet.  If you have a phenomenal church community who is very liturgically inclined, you may have a great Maundy Thursday service.  Foot washing, a somber, simple meal of bread, wine and perhaps soup, followed by the stripping of the altar in preparation for the rememberance of Good Friday tomorrow. 

Or, you make do at home - bread, wine and soup, the reading of the gospel sections about the Last Supper, and talking about the significance of foot washing and the various happenings the night before the crucifixion.  I think we'll probably wash feet one day -  what a great picture for our kids - but right now they're just too young to be serious while having their feet in a basin of water.  And that's okay.  But you cannot save all of the somber stuff until they're older.  So, we'll be quiet, have bread and soup and try to give them a picture to make the resurrection celebration in just three days all that more important.

(Of course, we are blessed that we know already that He rose from the dead.  It takes the edge off of the mourning and grief, and by golly, it should.  We don't wail and beat our breasts for our Savior has been crucified.  But, we do humbly remember.  It's a fine line - but worth, like most great things in life - making the effort to strive for the balance.)

There is this soup.  We call it Maundy Thursday soup. And, actually, so do the people who came up with it - the Saints at the Chapel of the Cross in Madison, MS.  I've messed with it a bit.  Shocker, I know.  Of course we have no idea what, if anything, Jesus and the Disciples had at supper with their bread and wine.  It was most likely nothing or something very simple.  So, we try to echo that a bit.

Maundy Thursday Soup, one of my favorites:

1/3 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, whole
1 T minced, fresh rosemary
2 tomatoes, moisture squeezed out, diced
3-4 cups cooked or canned chick peas (2 cans if canned) 
1/4 cup minced, fresh parsley
4 cups chicken broth

Fresh grated Parmesan or Asiago

Heat olive oil over medium low heat until warmed through.  Throw in garlic, still whole.  Brown the cloves, but be very careful not to burn!
Remove garlic, set aside.
Add rosemary, tomatoes.  Stir and simmer until most of the liquid has been evaporated.  Stir in garbanzos.  Add parsley and broth.
Cook over medium heat 30-45 minutes.

Remove and puree and return some of the beans
OR
Immersion blend the whole garlicky lot.

Serve with cheese and parsley on top.  Along side bread and some of the sauteed garlic.

Long Days at Work: Slow Cooker Marinara

I've been more label conscious lately, and as much as I'm pro the occasional easy meal, I'm more and more aware of the unpronouncables on almost every, even seemingly innocent, packaged food. 

I mean, we all know that Velveeta cannot be doing great things for you.   And condensed cream-of-x soups.  But look at Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread.  Or a jar of simple jarred spaghetti sauce.  Multiple ingredients that didn't exist 100 years ago, much less 1000. 

I don't want to be an alarmist, but what I'd like to do is say that we don't know what any of that stuff might be doing to us, so let's try to avoid.  And when I say avoid, I don't mean avoid like yet another germ in the winter of 2012 (we've had stomach bug 1.5 times, flu, strep and probable pneumonia this year).  I mean avoid like stepping in muddy puddles or throwing away plastic rings off of coke cans without cutting them up first. 
Just avoid it when possible, but don't lose sleep or make other people's lives miserable in the process.

All that to say:  I've been looking for a low key pasta sauce that could substitute on those long days at work when I need to boil up a pound of angel hair and call it a night.  If you don't have those nights, then you have it all more under control than I do - or maybe you just live a charmed life. 

A couple versions of this have been floating around Pinterest.  My friend Jessie tried one and remarked that it needed something more.  So, I drew from a few sources and amped them up a bit. 

Paul declared that it doesn't taste so much like jarred spaghetti sauce - but rather like "real marinara - you know - like in a restaurant." 

I'll take that.

So, for posterity and for next time when I cannot remember exactly what I did: 

• 56 ounces crushed tomatoes (2 28 oz cans or 1/2 giant Sam's can.  I happened to need crushed tomatoes for other recipes this week, so I just got out my scale, measured out 1/4 of the giant can for one thing, 1/4 for another, and 1/2 for the crock pot)
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 1/2 - 1 head garlic, minced  
• 1 can tomato paste 
• 3 bay leaves, whole, dried
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons dried basil
• 1 Tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar (Sugar!  But if you don't do it, the tomatoes will be too acidic - and really for the 12 or so servings you're getting out of this, 1 T isn't a deal breaker)
• 1 Tablespoon Parsley
• 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsps salt
• 2 tsp black pepper

Throw it all in a crock pot.  Yes.  I said it.  Throw it in.  Throw it.  Throw it.  Stir until tomato paste seems incorporated.  Cook on low 6-12 hours.

Serve over pasta of choice.

My estimation is that this has about 60% of the sugar that a jar of regular ol' spaghetti sauce has and exactly no fat, unlike most jarred sauces which add oil for flavor  - not that a little fat will kill ya, but wouldn't you rather have it in say...cheese?

Speaking of, Parmesan cheese was not unwelcome piled on top.

We had this and fresh spinach with a little dab'll do ya dressing tonight for dinner.

Paul, Ada Bee, Collins and I gobbled up.  Eason prefers the sweetness brought on by high fructose corn syrup, but he cleaned his plate.  I doubt the promised result of 1/3 of a hershey bar had anything to do with it.  

I have the same amount we ate left over and will freeze in a gallon size bag.

Have I told you lately that I'm thankful for a husband who is happy with a meatless meal. Almost as happy as a meatful meal.

This will be our new marinara, I imagine.  For pizza, all red sauced pasta, as a base for meat sauce and the perfect dip for cheesy focaccia. 

Who needs Velveeta when you've got that jazz?

(Well, me, but only much less often!)  






 

Balsamic Pork Loin

Some months ago, when Pinterest was a new phenomenon in my life, my friend Anna spotted a recipe for what was called Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin.

Well, I have a history with pork loins.  It's not pretty.  It involves me pursuing them with the reckless abandon of a fourteen year old girl who has more than a few daddy issues.  And they never love me back.  They almost always end up dry.  But the problem is that they are healthy, relatively inexpensive, but company appropriate, and not the same ol' same ol' thing. 

So, I saw this recipe, I had my doubts, but I did it, just like the girl who sends the 4th unanswered text message.  More like 44th in this situation. 

And he came through.  Apparently, his phone had been dead the whole time. 

I will say, though, that this ends up falling apart.  A fact that I always think is good, but it often ruins a presentation.  This is much more dinner with white table clothes than styrofoam plates and bad baked beans, but it looks an awful lot like its fattier, tastier, less classy sister of Pulled Pork Shoulder.  You may feel the need to serve it with apology (the explanatory kind, not the sorry kind) - "This is Balsamic Pork Loin.  White meat.  Grown up food.  Button up and khackis, not bathingsuits and fireworks.  I promise."  Or, perhaps, you're more secure than I am sometimes, and you are willing to say, "This tastes good.  I don't care if you do think it beneath the occasion.  Kiss my behind."  If so, kudos to you! 

So, here we go:

1 3 lb pork loin.  (This reminds me.  I grew up in the kitchen.  Cooked all the time.  But I was always cooking with my mother's ingredients, right?  I didn't learn the art of reading a recipe and shopping for it until I stumbled through it as a newlywed.  I can remember reading my mother's brisket recipe which called for a 3.5 lb brisket.  I searched and searched.  All I could find was like a 2.79 lb one and a 3.86 lb one.  No 3.5 lbs to be found.  I gave up, went home, and we ordered out.  I was 22 and a mother and could not figure out that IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW BIG YOUR PIECE OF DEDGUM BRISKET IS, but I'm pitiful like that.) 

Salt
Pepper
Granulated Garlic (this is better than garlic powder - tastes less fake for some reason). 

Sprinkle all over the meat.  Put 1/2 a cup of water and the meat in a slowcooker, thin layer of fat side up, for 5-7 hours on low. 

45 minutes before you want to eat, prepare this in a tinyish saucepan on the stove:

1 cup brown sugar
2 T corn starch
1/2 cup balsamic
1 cup water
4 T soy sauce
2 tsp Tabasco

Boil until it thickens, simmer for a second or two. 

30 minutes before you want to eat it, take the top off.  Pull it apart with two forks.  It should come apart so easily. 
Toss with 2/3 of the balsamic mixture.  You can also toss with all of it.  But if you want something for people to spoon over something, save 1/3 of it, put it in a pretty bowl with a spoon and call it sauce.  Because it is.

This is yummy alone, yummy on sandwiches; yummy on quesadillas and yummy in lasagna. 

It freezes beautifully as well. 

There ya go!  Eat well, do good work and keep in touch. 

Pork Loin Lasagna

So... I like food.  And I love making yummier foods out of simpler, especially leftover, foods.  And for the last month, we've been eating out of the freezer and pantry, which has increased creativity in some ways and limited it in others. 
To make greatest use of leftovers or pieces of frozen meat or bags of frozen veggies, often you also need to run to the store to buy a few supplementary ingredients.  And I've not been able to do that.  I blew my fifty dollar budget at the beginning of the month, so from January 10-31, I spent 7 dollars.
So, this week, I got to buy some food.  And I thought being able to grocery shop would make all the difference.
And then yesterday afternoon I ended up crafting supper from things I already had - didn't buy a one since January 10th - and we all really enjoyed it.

And I need to write it down, because the three Forsters who express such opinions have already asked that it be added to the rotation.
So, here we go.


Pork Loin /Caramelized Onion Lasagna Roll Ups

For the meat stuffs:

2-3 cups leftover balsamic pork loin, pulled into shredded goodness. (See here)
2 good sized yellow onions, sliced
3 T butter
3 T olive oil
1 cup good quality barbecue sauce (either homemade or a good brand name - I had half a jar of  Cherry Republic stuff, but I think it'd be good as long as it wasn't cloying Kraft stuff) 

For the sauce:
4 T butter
4 T flour
2 cups chicken broth (from bullion cubes for me)
2 cups milk (I used 2 percent)
1 cup ricotta (I had this in the fridge) 
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne (or more or less to taste)
2 tsps dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp italian seasoning blend

Additionally:
3-4 cups mozzarella
12 whole wheat lasagna noodles

Caramelize the onions in the butter and oil for about 20-25 minutes, add the shredded meat and bbq sauce, heat through. 

While the onion is cooking, make your sauce.  Make a roux with the butter and flour.  Blend in the broth, stir until it thickens.  Blend in the milk, stirring well.  (Using a whisk (coated if your pot is non stick) will make your life easier).  Add all spices and the ricotta.  Turn to low and let it simmer for a bit until all is melted, well blended, married, melded, all that jazz.

Now, grab a large pan (11 x 14 if you have one) or a 9 x 13 and a small loaf pan to supplement.

Put 12 raw noodles in the pan.  Pour boiling water over it to cover.  Let sit for 10 minutes or so until the noodles are pliable.  

Take 1/3 of the sauce and spread it on the bottom of your pan.  

Now, onto each noodle, place 1/12th of the meat mixture and 2 Tablespoons or so of Mozzarella cheese.  Spread it along each noodle.  Now, roll up the noodle.  Place seam side down in the sauce lined pan.
Continue with all 12 noodles.
Pour remaining sauce over the top.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Cover pan tightly with foil.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.
Remove cover.  Bake 15 more minutes.

You could also add spinach to the pork/onion mixture to get some green veggies going in there.
You could also probably use shredded chicken rather than the pork - just make sure it's thinly shredded and flavorful.
I used whole wheat noodles because I had a package in the pantry.  We normally use white noodles, but these were so well received, I think I'll convert.  
You could also make a traditional lasagna, just layering meat/onions, then cheese, then sauce, then noodles.  You know how to make lasagna, people.

For lasagna, this is actually a very healthy option.  Pork Loin is better for you than ground beef; 2 percent milk and only 1 cup of ricotta makes the sauce not to heavy, and even with the full 4 cups of mozzarella, at 12 servings, that's only 1/3 of a cup per person, which isn't going to win any health awards, but, again, for lasagna, it's pretty darn good.

Anyway, it is yummy and was oohed and aahed by Eason, who is my hardest to happy.


Yay for creativity; yay for austerity; yay for cooking!  I feel like a new woman this morning! 

Strong Enough.

I read an amazing article this morning.  My friend Ginny found it and posted it on facebook.  I just sat in my seat and cried and cried.

Mrs. Fisher has a way with words and a wisdom that comes from birthing, nursing and raising nine young ones.  And her picture doesn't even look tired.

I was simply going to post it and move on, but there were two points I wanted to record here, so I'll remember.

The essay is written by a mother with nine children, but it is written to mothers of one - to mothers of a little one who think, and truly recognize, that life is hard.  It seems that 9 is harder than 1 (or that my three is harder than someone's one), and in many ways, it's true.  More laundry, more food, more fights.  When they're little at least, three makes it harder to escape, and it's harder to find someone who wants to steal three for a few hours than it is to find someone who wants to escape with one.

My baby, at six weeks, almost as tired as her mother was:  With one, the exhaustion is from loneliness and a lack of surety about anything. 

Merry Christmas From the Family!

Front of Christmas Card

 We sent Christmas Cards.  But knowing me, I won't be able to find a copy in years to come...  So, here it is.  The front.  Eason is being silly, and I debated about using it because of that, but, really, when is he not silly?
New Years Resolution Number 1: Make Eason More Serious.  Yeah, right.

I loved it, though, because Ada's smile is genuine and Collins is tickled, which actually are both kind of rare.   Some grandmothers may have been annoyed that Ada Bee is hugging her knees.  Well, I thought that was sweet.
But I can see the objection... Sort of. 

Back of Christmas Card

 This is the back of the Christmas Card.  It was my attempt at an "Update on our Lives" without entering Christmas-letter-that-tells-about-every-gymnastics-lesson territory.  It was hard to keep it short and actually convey information.  I wanted to say much more - like my favorite things I've cooked this year, some quotes from all three children, Paul's school and job status, etc.  But, that's what the blog is for, right?