Serve and indulge

French Rhubarb Pie

1 unbaked pie shell (recipe in previous blog - January 11, 2011 "Never Fail Pie Dough")

1 egg 

1 cup unrefined sugar

1 TBSP flour

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups diced rhubarb 

3/4 cups flour 

1/3 cup butter 

1/2 cup brown sugar

       Whole living demands a few indulgences. This pie is one of them Rhubarb is plentiful right now, so in staying with recipes from the season, here is a wonderful, custardy, tart, dessert.  It is perfect for the summer.  

     Combine the egg, sugar, flour, and vanilla.  Fold in the diced rhubarb.  Spoon into the unbaked pie shell.  Combine the 3/4 cups flour, butter and brown sugar.  Crumble with your fingers.  Spread over the rhubarb mixture.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and cook for 40 minutes.  

So now, from this mad passion

Which made me take art for an idol and a king

I have learnt the burden of error that it bore

And what misfortune springs from man's desire...

The world's frivolities have robbed me of the time

That I was given for reflecting upon God.

- Michelangelo

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones

among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found

how to serve.

-   Albert Schweitzer

Everything has significance

Barbecue your salad!



Prepared polenta (as mentioned in previous recipes)
Whisk:  2 TBSP whole grain mustard
             2 TBSP red wine vinegar
             1/4 tsp minced shallot
             1/4 cup olive oil
One head of romaine lettuce, halved

Cut the chilled polenta into thick slices. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Grill until lightly charred, about two minutes on each side.   Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.  Grill the lettuce, cut sides down, until wilted slightly, about one minute.  Cube the polenta and arrange over the romaine.  Drizzle the whisked dressing over the salad and enjoy!





     Every ant knows the formula of its ant-hill,
     every bee knows the formula of its beehive.
They know it in their own way, not in our way.
     Only humankind does not know its formula.

                               Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Do not forget that the value and interest of life in not so much to do
conspicuous things... as to do ordinary things with the perception of their
enormous value.
                               Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

"I was brought up in a Christian environment where, because God had to
be given pre-eminence, nothing else was allowed to be important.  I have
broken through to the position that because God exists, everything has
significance."
                               Evangeline Paterson

Walking up a flight of stairs

Vegetarian Potato Puffs

2 large sweet potatoes, or potatoes of any color other than white
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup flour (whole wheat or other)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

     Peel and slice the potatoes, then boil them for 15-20 minutes, or until tender.  Mash the potatoes until smooth, then add the rest of the ingredients.  This mixture can be placed in the refrigerator for as long as you want, but must be chilled for at least one hour.

     Heat 2 inches of oil to 350 degrees.  Rolling the mixture into small balls resembling about 1 inch around, roll through flour and then drop into the oil and heat until crispy and golden on the outside.  I tried these in the oven as well (450 degrees) and found that they did not turn out as crispy but were still very good.  My kids loved dipping potato puffs in homemade dressing or hot sauce.

Wedged

by Hal Sirowitz

You were the one who followed me
into the elevator & asked
for my phone number, she said.
I didn't lead you on.  In fact,
I tried discouraging you.
I told you I had lots of problems.
I was used to being alone.  But now
that you've wedged yourself into my life,
don't think leaving me will be as smooth
as our first elevator ride.  It'll be
like walking up a flight of stairs.


 

Happiness revealed

Fiddlehead Fern and Potato Hash

Course salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound small organic potatoes, scrubbed and halved
1/2 pound fiddlehead ferns, cleaned and trimmed
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot or ramp,  thinly sliced

     In a medium pot, boil enough water to cover the potatoes and cook them for eight minutes.  Add the fiddleheads and cook until bright green, about one minute.  Drain and set aside.
     Heat the oil in a medium skillet and add the shallots.  Cook until golden.  Add the fiddleheads and potatoes and continue cooking until golden brown, stirring frequently.  Season with salt and pepper.  

A walk in the woods this morning to pick the fiddlehead ferns.

 This is an amazing video about the gift of life!  Please check out this link:

Happiness Revealed

Deserve what has already been given to us

Polenta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup polenta (corn grits)
2-4 TBSP olive oil
2 white onions, sliced and caramelized
3 red peppers, roasted and peeled
1 cup coconut milk
2 TBSP red curry sauce
1 TBSP fresh cilantro, minced
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

     Boil the vegetable broth and then slowly add the polenta, while stirring to prevent clumping.  Cook for five minutes, then sit for five minutes.  Pour into a loaf pan and chill in the refrigerator. When firm, slice the polenta into 1/2 inch slices and then fry on each side in a small amount of oil.   Place all of the other ingredients in a blender or a food processor and puree until smooth.  Serve on a plate with the fried polenta topped with the red sauce.  My husband made this for me on Mother's Day and it was amazing!


    Love in the Country

We live like this: no one but
some of the owls awake, and of them
only near ones really awake.

In the rain yesterday, puddles
on the walk to the barn sounded their
quick little drinks.

The edge of the haymow, all
soaked in moonlight,
dreams out there like silver music.

Are there farms like this where
no one likes to live?
And the sky going everywhere?

While the earth breaks the soft horizon
eastward, we study how to deserve
what has already been given us.

               - William Stafford

How would it be?

In Northern Michigan, during the spring, sugar maples are tapped
to make syrup. These jars are examples of different grades of maple syrup.  

Beet, Avocado, and Greens
I have eaten this every day for lunch for the last week and love it more each day I eat it.  Make sure you prepare the beet slaw ahead of time, then add to your salad each day!

Beet slaw (combine together):
   4 pickled beets, thinly sliced
   4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
   1 cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced
   2 scallion greens, thinly sliced

Each salad:
   1 cup packed greens (arugula, spinach, romaine, or escarole)
   2 TBSP olive oil
   2 TBSP lemon juice
   Coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper
   1/2 avocado, diced
   3 TBSP sunflower seeds, toasted

Prepare the greens, then toss with 1/2 cup slaw.  Enjoy!



     "Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square.... The majority of great reformers in American history.... were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause."
                                                                                      - President Barack Obama


     How would it be 
     if just for today
     we thought less about contests and rivalries,
     profits and politics,
     winners and sinners,
     and more about 
     helping and giving,
     mending and blending,
     reaching out 
     and pitching in?


     How would it be?
               
                  -Anonymous

Simplicity

Vegan Cream of Celery Soup

2 cups chopped celery, divided
2 cups chopped carrots, divided
4 TBSP oil
2 cups diced red onion
3 TBSP flour
6 cups hot vegetable broth (preferably homemade), divided
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup soy milk (or cream for the vegetarians)

     In a small saucepan add 1 cup celery, 1 cup carrots, and 1 cup vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil and cook until just tender, about 4 minutes.  Drain and reserve both the vegetable broth and the cooked veggies.
     In a large saucepan, over medium high heat, warm the oil.  Add the onions and saute until clear.  Whisking, add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, making sure the flour does not brown.  Add 5 cups vegetable broth and whisk until the mixture boils, making sure you scrape the bottom of the pan.  Add the 1 cup uncooked celery and 1 cup uncooked carrots.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat, simmering for 30 minutes.  When the vegetables are soft, strain the soup through a sieve and puree the vegetables in a blender with the reserved vegetable broth until creamy.  Stir the puree into the liquid.  Stir in the soy milk or cream and heat slowly.  Serve with the reserved vegetables spooned into each bowl.
My kids absolutely loved this soup!  My daughter, who does not prefer soup said, "I finally like a soup!"

     " If they answer not your call, walk alone, walk alone."
                                                                 - Gandhi

     " Gandhi pursued simplicity not out of guilt but rather out of necessity,
        for the sake of his own spiritual health."
                                                                  - Philip Yancey

     " How carefully do I attend to Jesus' warning against the danger of gaining the
       whole world and losing one's soul?  Jesus' lifestyle, I must admit,
       had much more in common with Gandhi than with mine."
                                                                  - P.Y.

     "So the last will be first and the first will be last."
                                                                   - Jesus, Matthew 20:16
                       

A Kind Appeal

Old Fashioned Red Bean Stew
1 pound veggie sausage
1 yellow cooking onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 quart tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups precooked red beans
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper


     In a large dutch oven, brown the sausage in a little olive oil.  Add the onion, tomatoes, salt, bay leaf, black pepper, garlic, thyme, and diced potatoes and cook until the vegetables are soft.  Add the beans and simmer to blend the flavors, about 10 minutes.  Fold in the chopped green peppers.  Serve immediately.  This is delicious with cornbread and served on a cold, rainy day.

Speak not in anger.  Little children feel

A million times more keenly than you guess;

You gain more quickly through a kind appeal,

And win to greater goals with a caress;

Ask not that babes shall understand each word-

The land from which they come is very still;

You, too, were years in learning what you heard,

And even now you err in good and ill.

                                         - Grace E. Hall             

As long as this exists...

Cashew Banana Ice-Cream

3 cups frozen sliced bananas (4-5 overripe bananas)
1/2 cup cashew butter
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 - 1/3 cup pure maple syrup (or agave nectar)

     In a food processor, process the bananas until they are roughly chopped.  Add the cashew butter, the salt, and syrup.  I only add a bit of syrup at a time and taste test until desired.  Puree until very smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Serve sprinkled with semi-sweet chocolate chips.

As long as this exists...

by Anne Frank

"As long as this exists," I thought, "and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts, I cannot be unhappy."  The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God.  Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of  nature.  As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be.  And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.