Life » life, laughter and little things

Keeping it Simple Soup

I grew up in a home that used a lot of herbs. We had an overflowing spice cabinet that was used regularly. Sometimes I forget that keeping it simple doesn’t mean it won’t be flavorful. My man reminds me of this, unintentionally, all the time.

I married the easiest man to please when it comes to kitchen creations. Of all the recipes I try, and the yummy ideas I experiment with he is rarely happier than when I fix a big pot of veggie soup and serve it with salad and bread.

Not only that, but when I asked what he wanted for lunches, he suggested that I should fix a big pot of the simplest soup I’ve ever made.

Chopped Vegetables.

Potato
carrot
onion
corn
green beans
I had asparagus this time so that went in too.

Salt.

Drizzle of Olive Oil when it is cooked.

And that’s all.

I’m the one who has to have variety. I’m the one who thinks elaborate meals=a point on the check list of being a good wife.

And yet…if it was up to him, as long as there is plenty of bread and tomatoes, he’d probably live on two or three things indefinitely. How’d I get so lucky? I’m not big on using processed foods very often, and I don’t think cooking can get any more unprocessed than chopping a handful of garden veggies and adding the tiniest touch of salt and oil.

Plus, it is delicious. I can’t wait for supper!

Don’t Count Your Potatoes…

I’m sure there’s got to be a saying out there about not counting your potatoes and green beans before they grow, but I’m having an awfully hard time with that this week.

It seems like every time I look outside, those spuds have put on another inch. The beans look taller and bigger. The squash has more leaves. The tomatoes are shooting up like weeds.

It is probably getting old to everyone who has lived in this land of plenty for a long time, but I am amazed. Every little thing fascinates me, and I run to the window every morning like a little girl, just to look at it again.

It doesn’t matter how many times I plant, my gardens will always speak hope to me. They will always remind me that I serve a God of miracles. A God who makes things new again.

I have no idea if I’ll get a single thing out of the garden. It’s too early to tell what bugs, heat and deer are in store in the days ahead.

But for now, I’m dreaming of fresh garden produce, and delighting in every moment I get to spend watching this garden grow.

[five minute friday] community

April 27, 2011

Today it has been a year since my town began picking up the tornado shattered pieces of their lives and trying to put them back together again. A lot has changed since then, but the land and lives of families from here to Ringgold and beyond will always carry the scars of that night.

Sometimes I’m still in awe of it all. That first day, looking at all the damage, and trying to find a through street that would let us make sure our family was okay, all we could manage was a choked up “Wow.” or two as we saw so much devastation. All we could do was thank God for His protection as realization gripped us as we looked at flattened homes and remnants of someone’s life spread across the fields that this could have been our home, this could have been us. We spent the evening of the storm in the living room, oblivious to what was going on outside until the wind slammed into the house, and everything went dark before the sirens started. God truly had His hand over us.

But more than all the shattered homes, and all the broken trees, the thing that I’ll remember the most about the tornado of 2011 is the community. It was when I saw a tornado stricken home put a tent in their yard, and a sign offering food, water and a place to sit, and saw one tornado victim helping another one to salvage what they could of their possessions and homes that I realized that this tragedy had awakened the bonds of the heart and rallied people together in a way that the beautiful, lazy spring evenings of the past never could.

The tornado may have destroyed homes and taken lives. But it could not destroy the spirit of community. It could not crush out the strength of heart to rise up, and to build again with what was left…together.

It brought tears to my eyes as I saw older couples holding hands and smiling over the ruins of the home of their old age, saying “It’s okay. We’re just thankful we’re here today…together.”

And in the middle of disaster, that is what always matters. Being thankful, not for what you lost, or what was destroyed, but for being together. It is about getting up again, together. It is about rebuilding hopes and dreams and homes, together.

So today, on the one year anniversary of that F4+ tornado, I’m celebrating the progress that’s been made, and the community that’s been built. And I’m thankful, more than ever, that we’re all here together.

written for five minute friday. Photographs are from news articles and do not belong to me.

Real {Fast} Food + a giveaway!

What’s cooking? is a question I’ve heard a lot of over the years.

I’ve always cooked quite a bit, but the day I got married, was the day that I not only took a new last name, and a new role as wife and helpmeet, it was also the day that I became the full time chef in our newly established home.

That first year, I spent time learning what kinds of food my husband and our housemates liked best. I tried out new things and made menu plans and shopping lists like a pro. After all, I’d grown up cooking from scratch and feeding four was suppose to be easier than feeding six or eight! In all actuality, it took a whole year to figure out how to cook small enough portions that we could eat in a reasonable time frame, but I enjoyed it all.

Lately, though, I’ve gotten out of my cooking groove. Somewhere along the way, I stopped planning menus and writing shopping lists and just sort of started cooking on the spur of the moment. I was deep into Chef’s burnout when I finally opened Trina Holden’s eBook, Real {Fast} Food, and began to read.

Trina’s book was fabulous. It started out right with what I needed to hear the most: what makes real food, “fast” food isn’t necessarily the ingredients, but the planning ahead. It reminded me of all the reasons why menu planning is the “stitch in time that saves nine” in the kitchen, and why it will make my life and yours so much easier if we will just take the time to do it.

Trina, in her book, not just told me why menu planning would save me time in the long run, but she made menu planning for an entire month sound so easy, with step-by-step instructions on how to make it work. There’s even printable in the back to write on!

She talked about master shopping lists & buying in bulk. She shared tips for cooking extra for later, and saving time with organizing your day so that you spend less time in the kitchen with greater results. She shares simple recipes and tucked in things that gave me some good food for thought about sprouting and soaking grains more regularly.

Trina used Real {Fast} Food as a way to inspire busy housewives like myself with tips for successfully feeding our families well, and having a life outside of our kitchens and away from washing dishes. And that’s exactly how I felt when I got done reading it— truly inspired.

Scott and I are vegetarians, mostly vegan, in fact, and thus while not every little detail of Real {Fast} Food applies to the way we eat personally, the principles of eating healthfully, and as close to the way God created food as possible, and the methods for planning that Trina shared are all things that I could relate to, and use in my own kitchen. There is no pressure whatsoever that one way of eating is the only way to eat. As a vegan-Vegetarian, whose dietary choices are often misunderstood, it was refreshing to read another perspective without feeling like the main point of the book was to tell me that I was wrong. Instead, Real {Fast} Food is all about sharing, and encouraging all of us to make better choices for the food we put on our tables whenever possible.

(Watch for a post in the near future on how I use the cooking in bulk and other principles that Trina shares to make my Vegetarian and Vegan cooking faster and more simple on a daily basis.)

Planning ahead is a must for every kitchen, no matter what the particulars of your diet and lifestyle are.

If you are looking for inspiration and how-tos for cooking more healthfully, and for feeding your family more real food, you need to read this book.

Available in PDF, Nook & Kindle Formats, you can read it on the go or print it off to pour over in your kitchen. If you have an iPad or smartphone, consider getting the kindle app. It makes it super easy to refer to no matter where you are!

Best of all, you’ll have a chance to get a copy for free!

Trina is giving away a PDF copy of Real {Fast} Food to a reader of life, laughter & little things.

Just leave a comment telling me about one of your favorite “real” foods to enter.
Giveaway ends May 1st at 11:59p.m EST
Enter some of the other giveaways on the Real {Fast} Food Blog Tour for more chances to win this book!

from Gretchen at Little Pink House (ends April 30th!)

from Jessica at Something Simple (ends May 2nd!)

from Laurie at Homemaker’s Challenge (ends April 26th!)

Read more reviews of Real {Fast} Food:

@ the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship

@ Homemaker’s Challenge

@ Dandelion Haven

@ Life in the White House

@ To Live for Him

Be sure to “like” the Real {Fast} Food Facebook Page for all sorts of real food tips and photos.
Buy a copy for yourself or a friend! At only $6, it makes a great, affordable gift!

on Trina’s website (PDF format, and links to nook and kindle versions)

on amazon.com (iPad and smart phone users, don’t forget you can use the kindle app to get this!)

on nook.com

with my affiliate link

there are those days

There are those days when pages fill with ink by the pair and words are still left unsaid, unwritten.

There are those days when the good and the beautiful overwhelm and there aren’t enough songs to sing, days when the rain and the wind of confusion and uncertainty need to be written away.

There are those days, I write because I simply must write, not just because I want to.

But there are those days. With pen and journal in hand, I sit a long time just staring at empty pages. The only words that I write is the date at the top of the page.

Not because the day is hard, but because the day is good.

Not because the heart is too full or too empty, but because it is content.

Not because life is painful, but because in spite of pain, it is beautiful too.

Not because there is nothing to say, but because some times, even words and paper journals just can’t capture life as it really is.

So there are those days when the pages stay blank, and the words stay tucked away in my heart, but the life in those days is lived rich and full.

And those days, even for those who must write, are good days.

The Moments

We do not remember days, we remember moments.”

Cesare Pavese

If it weren’t for the moments, I guess every day would more or less be a blur in memory. I guess that’s why it is so important to live life for the moments, and not for days. To take store of good memories and happy moments and milestones from the not-so-happy so that we can look back and realize how far we’ve really gone, and how much good Time and God can do for pains and hurts.

These are some of the moments I think have shaped my life, directly or indirectly. As an introvert, I find that sometimes the smaller, or perhaps less significant things affect me more than others.

~ My first childish understanding of the Cross the at 4 years old.

~ Moving to Alaska, the beginning of a whole new life, in a way.

~ Learning to read, the beginning of a thirst for knowledge and information that remains unquenched.

~ My first diary. Though embarrassingly detailed in unimportant things and childish in every way, it was the beginning of a love relationship with writing and words.

~ Loosing a friend after they moved far away. It was a loss I felt for years.

~ Making a friend. She’s now my sister in law; we married brothers.

~ My baptism. My public testimony of a choice I’d made years earlier.

~ Graduating from high school. I think I would have panicked a little if I’d known how different life would be from how I thought it was going to be the day I held my diploma and looked forward to college.

~ Starting my blog. I had no idea that 8 years later, I’d still be here.

~ Moving to Colorado. Uprooting is never easy.

~ Tasting heartache in a very personal way. It taught me …so much.

~ Meeting the man I would marry. Never would have believed it if you’d told me that day…

~ Getting my first professional, full time job. 12 hour shifts and a lot of phone calls stacked up in those years.

~ Falling in love. The most scary and beautiful experience of my entire life.

~Engagement. Wedding Planning. First Kisses. Walking down the aisle and then driving away as a married couple. I still get a little thrill when I think of those things.

~ The moments when they put my first nephew in my arms for the first time and looked at his little face and six months later when I held my first niece for the first time. Absolutely priceless.

~ Every moment that I get to spend with Scott. He’s my best friend and we’ve shared a lot of bumps and laughs over the past three years.

These are only a few. Some of the moments I haven’t quite processed yet. Some are just meant for tucking into the heart. Others would just make this list a little too endless. But they are all important, and all very special. What are some of your moments?

Supper’s on the Stove

Tonight it’ll be chickpea a la king over pasta or maybe rice. It is simple, healthy and so very yummy, and I haven’t made it in a very long time.

The chickpeas were grown in the fields around my in-laws home back in Idaho and are absolutely amazing. I can tell you I’ll miss them when I run out. I soaked the beans a few days ago and stored them (drained) in the fridge until I was ready to use them. The peppers and celery needed to be used up and this was a perfect chance. I can’t wait to eat!

P.S Meet my chef companion, Mr. Ko. He needs a better name. Any suggestions for a good Japanese name that would suit him?

[five minute friday] brave

When you feel insignificant and when you feel too small, remember that Courage doesn’t always roar. Remember that God doesn’t give us courage until we need it. Remember that brave isn’t always fighting big battles and facing great odds.

Brave can be a smile, on a day when everything is going wrong.

Brave can be reaching out, and touching a life when it isn’t comfortable.

Brave can be loving again, at the risk of being broken (again).

Brave can be getting up after life makes more bumps than you ever thought possible.

Brave can be forgiving, even when it hurts too much to speak a word.

Brave can be trusting, just trusting, in the middle of a season that makes no sense.

Brave isn’t something we are born to, it is something we become in the moment when we forget who we are and what we’re afraid of and just do what needs to be done. It is when we realize that He has put us here for such a time as this that the fears fall away and we can find the strength to go forward, whether we live or we die.

In the little things, and in the big things. It doesn’t matter. To be brave, no matter what the circumstance or occasion, all starts in the same place: our hearts.

[five minute friday] ache

I know what it means to ache. I know what it is to loose.

We all do, who have lived a day on this old earth.

But it isn’t the loosing, or the aching that defines this life.

It is the getting up and going forward. It is the clinging, and the trusting. It is the way that He fills my life with so much sunshine I can’t began to capture all of it, even when I try.

The aches will always be there along the way in this life. I think that they are a part of growing, learning and a part of becoming the woman that God is making me.

But as long as there are aches, I know there will still be sunshine too.

I’m counting on it.

written as a part of five minute friday

leap day

It is February 29th.

Sometimes I remember leap day when it comes around. A lot of times I don’t. But today, friends were talking about life in terms of leap years. They were sharing about the ways their lives had changed between one leap year to the next.

Well, a lot of life has been lived between February 29, 2008 and today. Some of it has been bad, but most of it has been beautiful and good.

I’ve moved thousands of miles. I got married. In two weeks, we’ll celebrate our third anniversary.

I cried and I laughed and most of the days are a blur behind me as much as the ones ahead are unclear and hazed. One thing I know, my life isn’t what I expected it would be in four years on Feburary 29th of 2008.

But it is infinitely better than I could have hoped for, when I count up all the good things I’ve experienced and been given between then and now.

I am not sure what my life will be like in another four years. Most likely once again nothing like I expect it to be.

Perhaps I’ll move again, and maybe I’ll find my first gray hair by then. Maybe we’ll all be HOME.

I’m kind of hoping it is the latter.

But until then, I’m going to live for the sunshine that every day brings, love the wonderful family and friends I’ve been given, and let God mark out the path and all the unexpected moments of life between now and until then.

What has your four years been like?

Keeping it Simple Soup

Don’t Count Your Potatoes…

[five minute friday] community

Real {Fast} Food + a giveaway!

there are those days

The Moments

Supper’s on the Stove

[five minute friday] brave

[five minute friday] ache

leap day

Forever Love

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