A Lenten Commitment

March 12, 2019

Beloved:
   
        For Lent I’ve given up grazing, gorging, and eating on the fly.  I don’t do it all the time, just in phases, and lately.  I hate it.  I don’t graze healthily.  Is “healthily” a word?  It tastes like a made-up word.  Of course Lent isn’t so much giving up as taking up and, in this case, simply resuming grateful habits.

        Grazing, gorging, eating on the fly are habits of entitlement and privilege, access to food requiring no forethought nor planning, only money and mobility.  To that end, my Lenten commitment is to eat what is already in the pantry and freezer, buying what will round it out to meals.  I can make three whole meals on Monday, my day off, and we all eat well for a week. 
Turns out the time spent planning, shopping, cooking was way more fun than feeling guilty about getting takeout again.  It was also way cheaper (go figure) and healthier all around.

       I wish I could say some spiritual motivation started me down this path, but Netflix is closer to the truth. Next time you wonder what to watch, find The Chef’s Table.*  Stories of people feeding people and the healing that happens there, healing for the feeder and the fed.  Every time we feed someone else, somehow we also feed ourselves.  (Grammatically I really hate that sentence, yet it’s exactly what I want to say.)

        As usual at Lent, giving something up we find we have more than we thought we did.  One of the meals I found at the Campbell’s soup website.  I jazzed it a bit to use more of what I had.  I only had to buy pork chops and mushrooms.  It is yum-O!

~ peace & prayers,
pastor annette

*The recent episode about Asma Khan is one of my favorites.
 
Chili Lime Ranch Pork Chops & Cilantro Vegetable Rice
Ingredients

• 3 cups water
• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, any
• 1 envelope (1 ounce) ranch dressing mix
• 1 ½ cups white or brown rice
• 2 pounds boneless pork chops, ¾ in thick
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 10.5 oz can condensed, cream of mushroom soup (cream of anything will work)
• ¾ cup milk
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves ( I use more)
• 1 avocado, peeled and diced

Directions
1.  Heat the water, frozen vegetables and 1/2 package dressing mix in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil.  Stir in the rice.  Reduce the heat to low.  Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.

2. While the rice is cooking, season the pork with the chili powder.  Whisk together the milk, soup and remaining ranch dressing mix.  Heat half the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion, mushroom and garlic.  Sauté until translucent and starting to soften.  Take out of skillet and set aside.

3.  Add rest of oil to skillet and heat, then add the pork and cook until browned on both sides (make sure the skillet and oil are hot before adding the pork to prevent sticking).  Stir the soup/milk mixture in the skillet, return onion/mushroom/garlic to skillet and heat to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low.  Cover and cook for 10-12 minutes or until the pork is cooked through.

4.   Stir the cilantro into the hot cooked rice.  Top the pork with the avocado and additional chopped cilantro, if desired.  Serve the pork and sauce with the rice.