Warm thoughts

Beloved:

Every year, usually in November, I remember a lyric by singer Cheryl Wheeler about how winter is really the warmest season. I remembered it this morning when the heat came on to make my house smell toasty wonderful. Tazo Earl Grey tea is my current favorite morning drink.  I love being back in socks and sweaters, and I keep wanting to eat soup.  I love the squash one at Panera, and I made one at home that’s also good (see recipe below).  

Warm is the measure for so many things we consider necessary. 
Warmer, safer, drier is the goal of Appalachian Service Project, my husband’s yearly summer mission trip with the Methodists in town. 
Warm relations between countries, warm conversation, warm receptions, warm puppies, warm glow, warm colors, warm bread, warm cookies. . . warm is almost always better than not.  Too hot is terrible, of course, and too cold is not good either.  Warm is what we are after, and I think I maybe might know why.  

I had an uncle who teased his wife she was the only cook who could burn things by cooking them on low forever -- because she loved to visit more than she liked to cook.  She’d turn down the stove to go gossip with her sisters, then run back to the kitchen in the nick of time.

Warm takes slow and steady tending from the beginning to the end, in recipes, relationships, and warmer, safer, drier houses too.  Making soup is a good practice at tending.  And prayer.  Definitely prayer, going back and back and back again to that same relationship for everything we need to tend everything else that needs our hands and hearts these days.  

May the day find you tending things that matter.  
​
~ peace & prayers, pastor annette

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Creamy Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
I used frozen garden tomatoes and basil for both and it still worked. Thaw frozen tomatoes and squeeze out most of the water before roasting for best effect. Also I didn’t strain my soup so it was seedy and a bit pithy, which I chose to think of asrustic. In the broiler I made cheesy bread from leftover hamburger buns with grated parmesan and sundried tomato/oregano herb on top. It was yummy. Good on pasta too, I bet.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg | 2 1/2 lbs. Roma tomatoes , halved lengthwise
• 600 g | 1 1/4 lbs. Grape (or Cherry) tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 8 whole cloves garlic , peeled and smashed with the back of a knife
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large onion , diced
• 1 red bell pepper (capsicum), deseeded and diced
• 1 potato (100 g | 3 oz.), diced
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves , roughly torn

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 430°F | 220°C. Place tomatoes on a baking tray with the garlic cloves. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast for about 25 minutes, or until soft and charred on the tops. (Mine took closer to an hour to char.)
2. While tomatoes are roasting, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium-sized pot/saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, peppers (capsicum) and potato; cook while occasionally stirring, until the onion is transparent and the potato begin to crisp on the outer edges (about 6-7 minutes). Stir the tomato paste through the potatoes and onion; pour in the broth/stock; season with extra salt; cover and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low; simmer for about 15 minutes or until potato is just tender when tested with a fork. Add the tomatoes, garlic and basil to the broth (save 2 tablespoons of basil to use as garnish if you wish); continue to simmer until the basil is just soft (about 2 minutes). Blend soup using a stick blender until smooth.
4. Optional: Pour the soup through a strainer or colander to remove any skins and thick tomato pieces, for a textured smoother soup.
5. Sprinkle with extra basil, shaved parmesan cheese, and serve with cheesy, crusty bread.