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Fields & Fire BlogTo Be of Service – Monday Menu
This weekend, after a day spent grumpy for no real reason, I was reminded of this phrase:
How can I be of service?
Which was, for me, a needed reminder that our family’s intention truly is to be of service, through our work, our personal lives, and this space as well. We hope that this is a source of inspiration and also information. So many times over our journey, we found that willpower and resources (especially information) were often the stumbling blocks between us and where we wanted to be. These Monday Menus and our Ten Steps posts are not intended to show how gourmet we are, or how much greener than thou. Our intention is absolutely to just share our ideas and experiences. To show that eating whole local foods (even in the winter in New England) can be delicious, or to see how to continue carrying an intention to avoid plastic by planting seeds in potting blocks.
It can be easy to get trapped in our own minds and “needs,” when truly, we all have opportunities to be of service each day. To pay a farmer or laborer fairly for their work instead of focusing on getting the “best deal”; to smile at a stranger walking by; to offer to help a friend, even with words of understanding; to be of service to our good earth by choosing to eat foods without pesticides, or reducing our carbon loads. We have so many chances, and the incredible thing is that we ourselves benefit so much from serving others. When we focus on our own stories, we can become trapped, and feel the need for more and more. When we can begin to turn our gaze outward, we often find our own loads lightening.
So, thank you for being here, friends. This week, I’ve got some fun things planned for you – some tips on organizing your kitchen to make cooking more fantastically fun, a new recipe, and perhaps some more poetry (it is National Poetry Month after all). May they be of service to you. (And by the way, if you have questions, or there’s something you’d like to see here, feel free to ask!)
From last week, I made the sourdough challah again – it’s really yummy! And the Farro (emmer) with Portabellos and Thyme was easy and delicious (we used dried morels, oh my). We all loved the Poulet Mornay from Julia Child, also, which was really simple. Poach a chicken breast, make a roux, add the poaching liquid to the roux, stir in cheese and your chicken pieces, and brown under the broiler. It was still yummy for lunch the next day (always a big bonus in our house).
This week:
* Salade a la d’Argenson (the only beet recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which seems rather odd! It’s Beet Salad with Rice or Potatoes and Herbed Mayonnaise, which sounds amazing. I never would have thought of herbed mayonnaise.)
* Baked Hedgehog Potatoes with Yogurt Mint Dipping Sauce (from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson. I’ve used some great recipes from Heidi’s blog, so I was excited to get her book from the library. A little nervous at first – sometimes cookbooks from California are impossible for a New England locavore to use, but as you’ll see from my list here, there’s lots of goodness inside!)
* Gnocchi all Romana (from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.I’m going to make these with the Roasted Tomato Sauce from Ad Hoc, by Thomas Keller, using one of our two last jars of tomatoes).
* Winter Rainbow Gratin (from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.)
* Lentil Crostini (from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.)
* Crusty and Creamy White Beans with Greens (from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.) * Steak Tartare
And lastly, we’ll be starting off our mornings the next two weeks with green smoothies, as part of Suzanne’s Green Smoothie Challenge. As of last week, I’m not sure I’d ever heard of Green Smoothies before, but I read an interview with Suzanne on Friday at Shivaya Naturals. My curiosity was piqued by her talking about kids loving them. It sounds like a great way to get more dark leafy greens into our diets. This morning, we had baby kale from the garden, blended up with water, blueberries, and strawberries (frozen from last summer), and Ella and I both really enjoyed it! Suzanne has lots of recipes at her blog if you’re interested, and you may even still be able to join the fun. (Sorry this whole end is in italics – wordpress won’t let me unitalicize it!) Hoping this brings some goodness to your table!
You are so right about the call to service and how much we are rewarded by it. Something as simple as stopping if you see someone trip in the parking lot and asking if the person is ok is moving in the right direction. We LOVE Heidi’s recipes. One of our favorites is the Carmelized Tofu with brussel sprouts. It’s a must try!! I’m in on the smoothies too! Cool to be thinking that we’ll be drinking our smoothies together each day…kinda.
Thank you for the reminder that to be of service is one of our highest callings and also happens to be a really good way to get out of one’s own grumpy mood/anxious mind/insert unpleasant self-focused emotion here.
Being perceived as “greener than thou” seems to be an occupational hazard for anyone who is trying to describe living even slightly differently. In some ways, though, it may be an indicator that people recognize that we need to live differently, and it may be a way to displace their own guilt rather than examining where they are lacking information or resources or willpower. I’ve experienced it as a strange phenomenon, both with being on the receiving end (for example, neighbors assuming I want to leave my current community because it’s “not sustainable enough”) and conversely, feeling simultaneously impressed and frustrated with other bloggers (not you) who are continuously running challenges to see who can set their thermostat the lowest, who can report back the most amount of produce preserved for the winter, etc… There is something about the competitive aspect to those challenges that feels really bad to me. I don’t think everyone can necessarily recognize that it can be just as significant for a seriously ill, elderly person to lower their thermostat only a tiny amount, or for someone very poor to have any sort of access to fresh vegetables, let alone preserving them… I guess I wish that everyone could have the same sort of humility to say, “Here’s what I have done, through both hard work and some luck, and it has worked for me, and I hope you can get some inspiration from it, but please do what works for you and is right for you.”
So I guess what I’m saying is just thank you for your service! And thank you for naming your intention.
Love your pictures
And, yay for green smoothies!!! Whoo hoo!
Cheers,
Kristen
Great post! A good reminder to not focus on negative intent or attitudes and perceptions. I too am doing the green smoothie challenge and I’m already feeling better for it! Thanks for the recipe inspiration, I am often made to feel gloomy by other peoples wonderful menus when I am struggling to put things together at all. A good reminder that inspiration is to be enjoyed!
I can’t believe how big those little plants have gotten in only a couple of weeks. My how they grow!
from One Hundred Graces, Mealtime Blessings:
I slept and dreamt
that life was joy,
I awoke and saw
that life was service.
I acted and BEHOLD,
service was joy.
Rabindranath Tagore
1861-1941
Lisa,
How fun to imagine – cheers from me to you!
Best,
Adrie
Powerful thoughts here, Jen. I espeically love your focus that each of us can contribute in our own ways, and that they will all be different. So true.
Thanks Kristen, have a great week.
Emmalina, How fun. It’s been great for me so far, too. Oh dear, please don’t feel gloomy! Hugs to you, and cheers.
Joanna,
It is always amazing – just like our little ones!