Tofu

     Although this recipe isn’t from the More-with-Less cookbook, it's in keeping with the spirit of the book’s low cost and international flavors. The recipe itself is from a slow cooker cookbook and one that I had wanted to try for several weeks. We used it on a meatless Monday. I know you are thinking, "Is chorizo meatless?" It is if you use Trader Joe’s Soy (Tofu) Chorizo. (This tofu chorizo is very close to the pork chorizo we use in our breakfast burritos). The recipe was fantastic, with just the right amount of spicy flavor. We paired it with a homemade bread.

        Split Peas with Chorizo Soup

 

1 pound of split peas

8 cups liquid (water or chicken broth)

12 oz soy chorizo

1 and ½ cups diced carrots

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped celery

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Remove bay leaves; season with salt and pepper. (From the foodnetwork.com)

            If you are familiar with tofu, you have probably heard people say it takes on the flavor of the ingredients it's cooked with. I suppose that may be true to a certain degree, but I don’t usually find that to be the case.

            This Saturday I will host a new member orientation. The participants will come, each bringing his or her faith journey from a variety of places in the United States and even from Africa. Some will be familiar with United Methodism; others less so. I always try to help new members get an understanding of who we are as United Methodists. I think I’ll say we are the tofu of denominations we take on certain flavors around us but do have some distinctive characteristics. Do you have a better food metaphor or image in mind for who we United Methodists are?

Mess of Pottage

This title may be recognized by some of you as coming from the story of Esau selling his birthright to his brother, Jacob. Esau sold his birthright for a ‘mess of pottage.’ That language comes from the 15^th century, so it is more than a little dated.  Pottage is an older English word for 'stew.' The story is recounted in Genesis 25:27-34. In this case, the Bible tells us the stew was red lentils. Now I would be reluctant to say the Baked Lentil and Cheese dish I made would be worth trading away an inheritance for, but it was good. I didn’t expect too much from baked lentils, but the recipe was actually flavorful, and like most recipes in the book, it is inexpensive and healthy.

I have reprinted the recipe "Baked Lentils and Cheese" in the photo to the right.  One thing I truly love about More-with-Less is that the way a meal is prepared is just as simple as the ingredients and the dish itself. It is nice that everything is mixed and cooked right in the baking dish. After making this dish, I had three things to wash–a wooden spoon, a cutting board, and a knife--no mixing bowls or pots or pans. We served the dish with applesauce. I’d be hard pressed to think of a wine to pair with this dish, and it would hardly be in keeping with the spirit of Lent. (No pun intended.) We substituted some mozzarella cheese for some of the cheddar. The spirit of the cookbook is to use what is on hand and adapt to your taste. I did both.  This recipe is for six good-sized servings. I suspect it could successfully be cut in half. This is a great meatless dish for vegetarians and those of us keeping a meatless day during the week. A last suggestion is to use it as a filling for a vegetarian burrito.

A final word about lentils: in Jewish mourning tradition, lentils are traditional as food for mourners, together with hard-boiled eggs because their round shape symbolizes the life cycle from birth to death. And isn’t this a good beginning point for us in our Lenten reflections as we consider the life, death and resurrection of Jesus?

From More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre. Copyright © 1976, 2000, 2011 by Herald Press, Harrisonburg, VA 22802. Used by permission.

More-with-Less

During Lent I will be blogging about a favorite cookbook: The More-with-Less Cookbook. My plan is to create each week a few of the recipes from the book, one or two of which I will share. Bethyl and I are going for a Meatless Monday each of the seven weeks, and the cookbook has several meatless recipes. I’ll post pictures of the dishes, reprint the recipes, and use a few slow-cooker recipes that are in keeping with the spirit of the book.

I was in my first appointment when introduced to the cookbook by the senior pastor’s wife, Jenella Smith. When first published in 1976, The More-with-Less Cookbook, by Doris Janzen Longacre, struck a nerve with its call for every household to help solve the world food crisis. Now with more than 850,000 copies around the globe, it has become the favorite cookbook of many families. Full of recipes from hundreds of contributors, mostly Mennonites, The More-with-Less Cookbook offers suggestions "on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources."  The subtitle of the book is “Live simply, so that others might simply live.”

The More-with-Less Cookbook includes a number of unique features. Interspersed throughout the text are inspirational inserts and interesting personal remarks about certain recipes. The introduction itself offers great reading material for Lent. The one-third of the book not devoted to recipes contains a lot of valuable information. Useful tables detail daily food requirements, the nutritive content of commonly used foods, and the comparative costs of foods.

            I read not too long ago in the Arizona Republic that the use of recipes is on the rise and likewise the sales of cookbooks. According to the article, one motivation is to “eat well for a lot less money.” I’m expecting to have delicious, simple, and wholesome meals, and I invite you to cook along with me. As you cook, you might want to put a recording of Aaron Copeland’s “Appalachian Spring” on the stereo and recall the words of “Simple Gifts”:

            “Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.”

Mike Pearson