Meatless Meal of the Week {no. 2}

{Photo from here.}

Right now I am really into Heidi Swanson of www.101cookbooks.com. This week one of our meatless meals will be Green Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter. It's from her cookbook, and it looks amazing. The recipe is featured here.

I try to cook with lentils regularly, but I don't particularly care for their texture or flavor. I think this recipe has lots of potential because the ingredients are pureed. Also, it calls for ingredients such as curry powder and coconut milk, which should hide that distinctly lentil flavor.

I plan to serve this soup with fresh corn on the cob. For last week's meatless meal, check out this post.

Pretty Stamps

My husband came home from the post office with a page of pretty bird stamps. He said he bought them because he knew I would like them. He was right. Apparently the Nature of America series was made up of twelve different panes of stamps featuring scenes of different ecosystems in the United States. The Rainforest of Hawaii is the final pane in the series.

The Basics to Starting a Square Foot Garden

As I mentioned at the end of this post, I am attempting to grow a square foot garden this spring. I’ve had vegetable gardens before, but I always felt intimidated by square foot gardening. I would see other bloggers post pictures of their gardens, and I assumed it was super difficult and that I would have to buy lots of book to learn how to grow a square foot garden.

I am sure some books wouldn’t hurt, but I was surprised to find everything I needed to know on www.squarefootgardening.org. This website is maintained by Mel Bartholomew, the inventor of square foot gardening. Here are some of the important benefits and features of SFG...

• Square foot gardening requires less work than conventional gardening. You don’t need any heavy tools to loosen the soil because the soil is never compacted. Also, square foot gardening requires very little weeding because of the loose soil and raised beds.
• The size is an important feature of the square foot garden bed. Since you won’t walk on your garden, the garden must not be wider than 4 feet. Any wider makes it too difficult to reach across and tend to the plants. Mel recommends making 4’x4’ garden beds, although you could do something like 4’x6’ or 4’x8’.
• Fill the garden box with a mixture of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 coarse vermiculite. No dirt is needed! It's best to make your own compost from many ingredients so that the plants receive all the nutrients they need. The peat moss and vermiculite help hold moisture and keep the soil loose.
• A 4’x4’ square foot garden will produce more than a normal 8x10 foot garden! The grid is the unique feature that makes the whole system work so well. It is very difficult to organize and manage a 4’x4’ space unless it’s divided up into squares. Without the grid, you will be tempted to plant in rows, which is a poor use of space.
• The grid divides a 4’x4’ garden bed into 16 easy-to-manage spaces. You can up to 16 plants in one of the 1’x1’ spaces! You can grow 1, 4, 9, or 16 equally spaced plants per square foot. If the seed packet recommends to plant the seeds 12 inches apart, then plant one seed per square foot. If 6 inch spacing; 4 per square foot. If 4 inch spacing; 9 per square foot. If 3 inch spacing; 16 per square foot.

If you’re interested, go here to check out Mel’s "three basics" and his "ten steps."  I decided that I should start small this summer. So I am using one 4’x4’ box. This is my planting grid...

While on the subject of gardening, check out this post from the archives. I love writer Wendell Berry's seven tips on how to eat responsibly.


Meatless Meal of the Week {no. 1}

I usually cook a few meatless meals during the week (see some good ones here and here), and when I do include meat, it's never the main focus of the meal.  I want to begin a series featuring one meatless meal every week. For dinner tonight, we will be eating...

Brown Rice and Spinach Casserole
This surprisingly good recipe is from a A Continual Feast: A cookbook to celebrate the joys of family and faith throughout the Christian year. I love its title. It draws from 1 Corinthians 5:8, but liturgical Christians will also recognize that it draws from the Eucharistic prayer (“Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast.”).

Carrot Ginger Soup
Once I had a delicious carrot and ginger soup at a local restaurant, and I was inspired to create my own. To make this soup, puree several cooked carrots with a few cups vegetable broth. Then add salt, pepper, onion powder, and ginger to taste. Serve the soup hot and enjoy the lovely orange color!

Homemade Wheat and Flaxseed Bread
The good thing about this recipe is that it makes two loaves!

Homemade Bread for Mother’s Day

I haven’t baked very much since giving birth to our twins in January, and I am starting to miss it! This bread recipe was passed on to me by a friend, and it is delicious. It will make the perfect little something to give my mom on Mother’s Day.

Wheat and Flaxseed Bread
Ingredients 
4 1/2 tsp yeast (2 packets)

2 cups warm water (around 110 degrees)

2 tsp salt

2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup canola oil

2 1/2 cups wheat flour
1 cup freshly ground flax seeds
2 1/2 to 3 cups white flour

Directions
Dissolve yeast in warm water and add the rest of the ingredients. Start kneading as you add the ingredients. Stop adding the last cup of white flour when the dough pulls away cleanly from the side of the bowl. Total kneading time should be 5-7 minutes. Let rise in bowl until about double or for about 45 minutes. Punch down and place in two greased medium bread pans. Let sit for 10-15 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Seven Quick Takes Friday

{Image from here.}

Tonight I'm joining Jennifer by posting seven quick takes...

1. Is it true that Easter Sunday was nearly two weeks ago? I don’t know where the time has gone! I think our household has finally recovered from Holy Week. Perhaps now I will find the time and energy to resume blogging. My break was unplanned!


2. Before this topic is totally outdated, I have a Lenten thought: It occurred to me that Lent is the appropriate season for one to go through his or her belongings in order to give things away. Yes, I believe that even spring cleaning can become part of living the church year! We have so much excess and so much that we don’t need . Lent calls us to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. As we prayerfully ask the Lord to meet our needs, we can learn to abstain from hoarding and greed, and we can give our belongings to the poor.


3. Doesn’t this sound so fresh and delicious? I think I will try walnuts, oranges, and cranberry juice.


4. "I wonder what percent of the population of adoptive parents are Christians?" my husband mused last week. Coincidentally, on Sunday our priest referenced this very idea. He told a story of an adoption class where every single couple in attendance happened to be Christians. I find this to be a very strong argument for the Christian ethic and for how Christians improve society.


5. Our new house doesn’t have a front door, which makes it challenging to landscape the front yard. Based on all my Google searches, it seems that no one else has ever struggled with this dilemma! Last weekend my husband used our minivan to pull out the unattractive shrubs that dwarfed our house. Now we just need to figure out what should take their place!


6. I stumbled upon this cookbook the other day (and the blogger behind it).  It has been added to my Amazon wishlist, to say the least! 


7. I love the letterpress designs of Dutch Door Press. I have purchased some of their cards over the years, and now I have been eyeing their state bird prints. Wouldn’t a set of three look so pretty framed on a wall? 

Easter Bells for the Great Noise

Our twins are going to be baptized at the Easter Vigil, so we will have family attending the service with us this evening. I want to make sure everyone is well-equipped with bells for the Great Noise. I stopped by Goodwill, and here’s what I found...

I didn’t want the colored bells to look too Christmasy, so I gave them a quick coat of spray paint. I sprayed the larger bells while I was it...those oldfashioned bells are sweet, but they aren’t really my thing. My apologies to anyone who collects them. Then I attached the small bells to some sticks, and here is my finished project...

Much better. And much more fun than cleaning the kitchen while everyone is napping!

Some Brief Anglican Reflections on Holy Week

A few days ago my husband said, “I saw someone with a ‘He Is Risen’ sign on their door already.” I realize this person is not in the minority. I also grew up celebrating Easter in the weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, rather than the weeks following Easter Sunday. But resurrection can’t come unless it is preceded by death. And the Church must enter into the sorrow of death in order to appreciate the joy of resurrection.

For this reason, the Church observes Lent. On Sundays during Lent, we refrain from saying “Alleluia” at the usual spots during the service. This is because we are waiting for the Great Alleluia, after which the congregation is encouraged to ring the bells they have brought for the Great Noise.

How often do we want to skip the sorrow and head straight to the joy? We want to get to the good stuff as fast as we can. But we must wait. We must join Thomas in saying, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16). Because with Jesus, death is always followed by resurrection.

Quick, Easy Easter Craft

This little Easter project is perfect for kids or adults! These eggs will look lovely displayed on Easter morning on a bed of moss or in a pretty dish.

Our Easter Menu

I’m getting excited already! We’ll be having...

• Martha’s marmalade glazed ham
• Asparagus
• Sweet potatoes
• Ina Garten’s popovers
• Martha’s chocolate eggs dessert
• A lamb cake