Yes, Virginia, I do celebrate Christmas clear up until the day of Epiphany. A week ago I thought of sharing two soup recipes on this day (a broth and a soup to be specific), and I remembered I had two Advent words I never addressed: belief and trust. Therefore, this is a 2-in-1 post. The recipes for the broth and soup follow at the end. (Any responses ought to be interesting. The last time I posted on a soup Zuppa Toscana and Play , I received a strange comment from someone trying to sell me mushrooms. After that, I put my comment section on "check with me first" status.)
First, a picture of Chicken Bone Broth in the making. If you're vegetarian, you can also make this without the chicken bone, or in this case, turkey bone. In the freezer section of my local grocery store, I can buy organic turkey breast on the bone. So, my family and I have a meal of the turkey breast, and then I use the bones to make this broth.
The pictures that follow were the Minestrone soup I made with the Chicken/Turkey broth. Excuse the quality of the photographs, please. Food photography is not one of my skills. As it turns out, my husband likes this Minestrone soup best when made with beef bone broth or vegetarian broth, but I like it any way I cook it. It is much tastier than soup in a can.
The first of these three shows the cut up vegetables, the second the broth (where I realized I had not added the cut up tomatoes yet), and the third is the finished soup.
What does this have to do with words? The words I did not post on during Advent Word 2017 were belief and trust. Here is my connection: last night a random thought came into my head that life was not as easy to control as the making of soup. Then, another thought came to me. I started musing on whether in belief, I have more control than in trust.
The best definitions I have ever read about belief and trust come from Dallas Willard and from Elane O'Rourke in her compilation book A Dallas Willard Dictionary.
"We tend to think of belief as a lesser form of knowledge. Where knowledge is an idea that is true or could be proven true, belief seems to be something we hope (or fear) is true without having proof. That is, in common usage a 'belief' is just an idea we do not know to be true.
"In Dallas's work, belief is a different type of idea than knowledge. Beliefs may turn out to be true or false, but what matters about them is that they motivate our actions. Beliefs have a connection to the will -- to our actions and behavior -- that knowledge does not. You can know something and take no action on your knowledge. If you actually believe something, you are prepared to act on that belief. When beliefs are founded in knowledge, they are reliable guides to behavior. When they are founded on emotion or falsehoods, they may be true, but are not consistently reliable.
"What makes this trickier is that we are not always aware of our real beliefs; in fact, most of what we believe we never even think about. And, judging by our actions, we often believe ideas that, if asked, we would say were false!" (O'Rourke 21)
Still pondering here...this is why when many of my friends who would not call themselves Christians wonder at the behavior of someone who states that he or she is a Christian, it could be that the Christian's real beliefs are ones that he or she categorically identifies as false. Or, the person believes about Jesus but not in Jesus.
AND, the connection to Christ this Christmas: "We are often encouraged to believe something about Jesus...However, believing in Jesus is about trusting him, and being ready with our whole person to act as if what he says is so" (O'Rourke 22).
"We might distinguish between trusting that and trusting in. There's a qualitative difference between trusting that our children will be home by 10 [o'clock] and trusting in our children. Trusting that is more like assenting that a certain statement is highly likely to be true: 'I trust that my child will be home by 10' may say very little about our relationship with the child, but a lot about her chaperone, or the bus she's on, or the training we have given her. But 'I trust (in) my child' suggests an interactive relationship based on knowledge and past experience.
"In this deeper sense, trust has an element of entrusting -- a giving over of a treasure for safekeeping -- or surrender. When you trust your child, you are surrendering your powers of approval and interference.
"Trusting Jesus, therefore, is different than trusting that Jesus did thus and so. When you trust (in) him, you are entrusting your treasures to him, including your treasured willful self-determination" (ibid 287).
From Dallas's book Knowing Christ Today: "But to know Christ in the kingdom of God we must abandon ourselves to a total transformation of who we are on the inside, to taking on the character of Christ through living with him day by day by day and hour by hour. Only that is trust in Christ" (152).
As I close out one year and enter a new year, I want to not only eat well but also to live well.
The recipes:
Bone Broth
I rinse all of my vegetables well but I do not peel them. Then, I chunk them. Also, I will give amounts, but basically, whatever I have available goes into the stock pot which can apparently be ready to use in 4 hours although I simmer it overnight.
Place in a large stockpot (my small crockpot boils over but a large one might do):
1 organic chicken or turkey carcass (I also have used organic chicken wings)
6 unpeeled carrots
2 unpeeled yellow onions
2 leeks (we are probably going to stop using leeks as we are fond of the flavor)
1 bunch of celery (use the heart, leaves, etc.)
4 unpeeled red potatoes (I use all colors, whatever I have)
2-3 sweet potatoes
8 unpeeled cloves garlic, halved (yeah, it sounds strange to keep the peels, but you will be straining this broth)
1 bunch of parsley, if you like (I tend to forget the parsley)
12 black peppercorns
4 allspice or juniper berries (I don't usually have)
2 bay leaves (when I remember)
Make sure the water covers everything in the pot and isn't too close to the top (or be prepared to keep cleaning up the stove and counter).
Skim off the fat that rises to the top (you may not be able to get it all). After you have simmered it at least 4 hours, strain the broth through a large sieve. I push on the vegetables and bones to get all the good stuff out (gives a real visual of squeezing the "marrow out of life" as one squeezes the marrow out of the bones).
Stir in about 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Refrigeration will allow you to skim more fat off of the top. I've read that it can keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or the freezer for 3 months. One one hand it seems to make a lot. On the other hand, if you're using it regularly, it seems to go fast. I use it in making...
Minestrone Soup
Heat 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a big soup pot.
Add 1 cup finely diced yellow onion (this time without the peels!)
Add a pinch of sea salt and sauté until the onion is golden.
Add the following vegetables (peeled where necessary):
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced zucchini (I have not liked the looks of the zucchini this winter, but we have some organic vegetables from our local university. The Delicata squash has been great! It has been a first for me in using delicata squash.)
Add the following spices:
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed (um, yeah, you should see me trying to crush fennel seeds)
Add 1/4 teaspoon sea salt and sauté for another 4-5 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of vegetable or bone broth and cook until it is reduced by about half (not very long).
Add 7 and 1/2 cups of broth (making a total of 8 cups -- see that's where all your broth goes). Add 1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (which I know this is going to sound like heresy for making Minestrone Soup, but I think we are going to leave out next time because I do believe -- and, thus, I am taking action on it -- that I am allergic to tomatoes). Add 1 (15 ounce) can of red kidney beans. I made it with red kidney beans the first time, but accidentally grabbed the cannellini beans (white kidney) the second time.
Cook for about 20 minutes.
Stir in 4 ounces of pasta, and cook the amount of time stated on the pasta box. Because I am gluten-free (thanks to my dad who genetically passed on Celiac's to me), I use a gluten-free spiral noodle and break them in half so that my husband won't complain about them.
Enjoy!
First, a picture of Chicken Bone Broth in the making. If you're vegetarian, you can also make this without the chicken bone, or in this case, turkey bone. In the freezer section of my local grocery store, I can buy organic turkey breast on the bone. So, my family and I have a meal of the turkey breast, and then I use the bones to make this broth.
The pictures that follow were the Minestrone soup I made with the Chicken/Turkey broth. Excuse the quality of the photographs, please. Food photography is not one of my skills. As it turns out, my husband likes this Minestrone soup best when made with beef bone broth or vegetarian broth, but I like it any way I cook it. It is much tastier than soup in a can.
The first of these three shows the cut up vegetables, the second the broth (where I realized I had not added the cut up tomatoes yet), and the third is the finished soup.
What does this have to do with words? The words I did not post on during Advent Word 2017 were belief and trust. Here is my connection: last night a random thought came into my head that life was not as easy to control as the making of soup. Then, another thought came to me. I started musing on whether in belief, I have more control than in trust.
The best definitions I have ever read about belief and trust come from Dallas Willard and from Elane O'Rourke in her compilation book A Dallas Willard Dictionary.
"We tend to think of belief as a lesser form of knowledge. Where knowledge is an idea that is true or could be proven true, belief seems to be something we hope (or fear) is true without having proof. That is, in common usage a 'belief' is just an idea we do not know to be true.
"In Dallas's work, belief is a different type of idea than knowledge. Beliefs may turn out to be true or false, but what matters about them is that they motivate our actions. Beliefs have a connection to the will -- to our actions and behavior -- that knowledge does not. You can know something and take no action on your knowledge. If you actually believe something, you are prepared to act on that belief. When beliefs are founded in knowledge, they are reliable guides to behavior. When they are founded on emotion or falsehoods, they may be true, but are not consistently reliable.
"What makes this trickier is that we are not always aware of our real beliefs; in fact, most of what we believe we never even think about. And, judging by our actions, we often believe ideas that, if asked, we would say were false!" (O'Rourke 21)
Still pondering here...this is why when many of my friends who would not call themselves Christians wonder at the behavior of someone who states that he or she is a Christian, it could be that the Christian's real beliefs are ones that he or she categorically identifies as false. Or, the person believes about Jesus but not in Jesus.
AND, the connection to Christ this Christmas: "We are often encouraged to believe something about Jesus...However, believing in Jesus is about trusting him, and being ready with our whole person to act as if what he says is so" (O'Rourke 22).
"We might distinguish between trusting that and trusting in. There's a qualitative difference between trusting that our children will be home by 10 [o'clock] and trusting in our children. Trusting that is more like assenting that a certain statement is highly likely to be true: 'I trust that my child will be home by 10' may say very little about our relationship with the child, but a lot about her chaperone, or the bus she's on, or the training we have given her. But 'I trust (in) my child' suggests an interactive relationship based on knowledge and past experience.
"In this deeper sense, trust has an element of entrusting -- a giving over of a treasure for safekeeping -- or surrender. When you trust your child, you are surrendering your powers of approval and interference.
"Trusting Jesus, therefore, is different than trusting that Jesus did thus and so. When you trust (in) him, you are entrusting your treasures to him, including your treasured willful self-determination" (ibid 287).
From Dallas's book Knowing Christ Today: "But to know Christ in the kingdom of God we must abandon ourselves to a total transformation of who we are on the inside, to taking on the character of Christ through living with him day by day by day and hour by hour. Only that is trust in Christ" (152).
As I close out one year and enter a new year, I want to not only eat well but also to live well.
The recipes:
Bone Broth
I rinse all of my vegetables well but I do not peel them. Then, I chunk them. Also, I will give amounts, but basically, whatever I have available goes into the stock pot which can apparently be ready to use in 4 hours although I simmer it overnight.
Place in a large stockpot (my small crockpot boils over but a large one might do):
1 organic chicken or turkey carcass (I also have used organic chicken wings)
6 unpeeled carrots
2 unpeeled yellow onions
2 leeks (we are probably going to stop using leeks as we are fond of the flavor)
1 bunch of celery (use the heart, leaves, etc.)
4 unpeeled red potatoes (I use all colors, whatever I have)
2-3 sweet potatoes
8 unpeeled cloves garlic, halved (yeah, it sounds strange to keep the peels, but you will be straining this broth)
1 bunch of parsley, if you like (I tend to forget the parsley)
12 black peppercorns
4 allspice or juniper berries (I don't usually have)
2 bay leaves (when I remember)
Make sure the water covers everything in the pot and isn't too close to the top (or be prepared to keep cleaning up the stove and counter).
Skim off the fat that rises to the top (you may not be able to get it all). After you have simmered it at least 4 hours, strain the broth through a large sieve. I push on the vegetables and bones to get all the good stuff out (gives a real visual of squeezing the "marrow out of life" as one squeezes the marrow out of the bones).
Stir in about 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Refrigeration will allow you to skim more fat off of the top. I've read that it can keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or the freezer for 3 months. One one hand it seems to make a lot. On the other hand, if you're using it regularly, it seems to go fast. I use it in making...
Minestrone Soup
Heat 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a big soup pot.
Add 1 cup finely diced yellow onion (this time without the peels!)
Add a pinch of sea salt and sauté until the onion is golden.
Add the following vegetables (peeled where necessary):
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced zucchini (I have not liked the looks of the zucchini this winter, but we have some organic vegetables from our local university. The Delicata squash has been great! It has been a first for me in using delicata squash.)
Add the following spices:
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed (um, yeah, you should see me trying to crush fennel seeds)
Add 1/4 teaspoon sea salt and sauté for another 4-5 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of vegetable or bone broth and cook until it is reduced by about half (not very long).
Add 7 and 1/2 cups of broth (making a total of 8 cups -- see that's where all your broth goes). Add 1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (which I know this is going to sound like heresy for making Minestrone Soup, but I think we are going to leave out next time because I do believe -- and, thus, I am taking action on it -- that I am allergic to tomatoes). Add 1 (15 ounce) can of red kidney beans. I made it with red kidney beans the first time, but accidentally grabbed the cannellini beans (white kidney) the second time.
Cook for about 20 minutes.
Stir in 4 ounces of pasta, and cook the amount of time stated on the pasta box. Because I am gluten-free (thanks to my dad who genetically passed on Celiac's to me), I use a gluten-free spiral noodle and break them in half so that my husband won't complain about them.
Enjoy!
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