Ash Wednesday . . . May You “Be Called A Repairer of the Breach”

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Returned earlier this evening from the Ash Wednesday service at Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN. A lovely service ending with a favorite hymn: Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling . . . (“Come Home . . . Come Home . . . Ye who are weary, come home!”)

Most people (okay, people who think about it at all), probably think of Ash Wednesday in terms of ashes and repentance and “what are you giving up for Lent this year” . . . and indeed the service contains those elements . . . from the opening “lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness” through “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” to the Litany of Penitence (more on that soon).

Yet, despite these familiar notions of Ash Wednesday and Lent, the Bible lessons for the day are cautionary tales about resisting the urge to wave our fasting in front of the world and think that God will be pleased. We are reminded, first by Isaiah, then by Matthew, of a different path through Lent.

Isaiah 58 asks

“⁶Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”

By following this path, according to Isaiah,

“¹². . . you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.” [NRSV]

Similarly, Matthew 6 cautions against “performing” before God and others:

“⁴When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively.”

and recommends

⁶“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense [God’s] grace.” [The Message]

My “favorite” part of the Ash Wednesday service is the Litany of Penitence, a longer form of the “Confession”. Tonight, the youth of Saint Mary’s added pictures to each of the sections to illustrate the presence of these “sins” in all of our lives. May this list provide a sort of “TO DO” list of things to think about and try to remedy during Lent. [emphases in bold are mine]

Litany of Penitence
[from The Book of Common Prayer, 1979]

Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit. Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives, We confess to you, Lord. Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people, We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves, We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work, We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us, We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty, Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us, Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us, Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

May praying on the above “list” allow each of us to become, to paraphrase the words of Isaiah, repairers of the breach and restorers of streets to live in.

Thanks to St. Mary’s Rev. LeeAnn Watkins for emphasizing this verse in her sermon tonight.

Fat Tuesday

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Happy Shrove Tuesday everyone!!

In honor of “Fat Tuesday” I planned a GF Pancake Dinner of Cranberry-Walnut GF Pancakes, bacon, and pan-fried potatoes (cooked in the bacon grease, of course 🙂

Well, at least the bacon and the potatoes were YUMMO!!

Unfortunately, I tried a new recipe for the pancakes. And I should have followed my instincts when I saw the 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum AND 1/2 teaspoon of guar gum. I checked the recipe I had tried previously (which was good, but bland) and saw that it used NO gums at all. Then I checked another recipe and it used gum, but much less than 2-1/2 tsp (for less than 2 cups of flour). Even so, I decided to try the recipe “as written” (which is usually recommended the first time you try a recipe). Afterall, this recipe was from a popular cookbook by a popular GF blogger, not just some random recipe off the internet. BIG MISTAKE!! The batter was so thick that it didn’t spread at all when it went in the pan. I thought it was because I used walnuts and cranberries (instead of the recommended fruit compote), so I added some liquid. But I ended up needing several CUPS of liquid (far more than should have been necessary to compensate for the fruit difference) before it was of a “normal” pancake batter consistency (and I like my pancake batter rather thick!). I’m certain the problem was that the gums kept binding the batter together, despite the liquids.

I managed to cook three pancakes that were edible, but still rather gummy. I tried making a few more pancakes to freeze, but decided it wasn’t worth the time and energy, so threw out the rest of the batter . . . what a waste of ingredients . . . at least it didn’t use lots of expensive flours (mostly tapioca flour) . . . but I went through most of a quart of soy milk trying to thin out the batter!

But, like I said, at least the bacon and potatoes were good!

And tomorrow Lent begins, which for me means trying to stick to more grains, fruits, and veggies . . . I’m thinking there may be lots of quinoa in my Lent this year 🙂

Blessings!

Lightening the Load for Lent—UNSUBSCRIBE

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Today’s effort at lightening the load (of distractions and things demanding my attention) for Lent was to UNSUBSCRIBE from the sources of much of my daily email . . . mostly businesses and activist mailings. I kept the mailings from local theaters, arts organizations, and churches . . . but unsubscribed from almost THIRTY other mailing lists . . . WOW! I feel lighter already!

On feeling trapped . . .

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Every day I receive a “Daily Truth” email from the folks at bravegirlsclub.com

This morning it was this:

These emails are meant to be inspiring, but this one just made me sad.

I’m so tired of feeling trapped . . . by a body that no longer functions . . . in a house that has felt toxic to me from the moment I moved in and which I can no longer afford to maintain and/or leave . . . in a life that feels more miserable each day. I can no longer even imagine what the “freedom” in the above message might be, no less how to get there.

What I do know is that as my energy continues to diminish, I must find ways of cutting out some of the things that drain it. Right now that means my time on the interwebs: Facebook, email, google news, even blogging . . . . All are restorative in the right amounts, but I find myself starting the day already behind on what needs to be done because I’ve been sucked into the interweb trap.

Lent starts in a few days. It is my habit to go on “Facebook Hiatus” during Lent. This year I’m going to try something different . . . rather than just give up Facebook, I’m going to try leaving the computer off until later in the day, after I’ve spent some quality time praying and thinking about what options I have (if any).

Please pray for me (or wish me luck, or think good thoughts) . . .

xo L

P.S. As an example, I wasted 45 minutes earlier today trying unsuccessfully to share the above mentioned BGC post via Facebook . . . no matter what link I typed in, the wrong information appeared. This was much quicker.

Thai Food Feast

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Highly Sensitive Girl

Continuing the Around the Gluten-Free World Tour with my favorite Thai dishes. I’ve been making these for years . . . not realizing that part of why they are so satisfying is that they contain no ingredients that my body considers toxic—no gluten, wheat, corn, or dairy.*

Both of these recipes originated in Keo’s Thai Cuisine (1986) but I’ve modified them enough (and provide annotations) to feel comfortable sharing them here.

Evil Jungle Prince with Chicken
adapted from Keo’s Thai Cuisine (1986)
Makes 3-4 servings
Ingredients

1/2 – 1 pound boneless chicken breast
3/4 c. to 1-1/2 c. coconut milk* [buy a 15 oz. can]
2 to 6 small red chili peppers
1/2 stalk fresh lemon grass
2 kaffir lime leaves
10 to 15 sweet basil leaves, cleaned, dried, and (if large) gently torn into 1″ pieces
1 to 4 Tbls. fish sauce*
2-3 T. oil

Thai Sweet Sticky Rice [Look for it in an Asian Grocery. You can substitute regular rice or a bed of chopped cabbage, but the sauce this dish makes is simply delicious with sweet sticky rice.] Your rice should be all cooked and ready to eat before you start cooking the chicken.

Directions

Cut chicken into thin strips. Pour about 1/3 c. coconut milk over the chicken and allow it to marinate while you get everything else ready.

Grind together red chili peppers, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves in a food processor or mini-chopper until the lemon grass is in fine strands. [It helps to chop the lemon grass into 1 inch lengths before processing.]

Heat oil to medium-high and saute the pepper/lemon grass/lime leaves mixture for 2 minutes. You want it to soften and release its flavors, but not burn or brown too much. Add about 1/4 c. coconut milk and stir to blend, about 1 minute.

Add chicken in its coconut milk marinade. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add in a bit more coconut milk (if desired). Stir in fish sauce and basil leaves.

Serve over Thai Sweet Sticky Rice.

Notes

My local Asian grocery often runs out of Thai Basil before I can get there, so whenever I am lucky enough to get a bunch (which is usually much more than I need for a recipe) I make “Thai Basil Cubes” with any extra: clean and stem the basil leaves, combine with a little water in a food processor, pulse/chop, spoon into ice cube trays, freeze, transfer to a ziploc bag. Most of the pictures above are from yesterday, when I had to thaw a handful of basil cubes, strain, and add the leaves to the dish.

If you don’t have a food processor or mini-chopper to mince the lemon grass/lime leaves/chilis as finely as shown in the recipe, I recommend leaving them whole and removing them from the sauce before serving . . . the flavors will be more subtle, but there’s nothing worse than chewing on tough lemon grass. Here’s the mini-chopper I use (not sure they even still make these):

Most of the pictures above are of a double-batch of the recipe (enough to feed 6-8). The recipe as written is what I usually make; I get four meals out of it when combined with the recipe below for Eggplant & Bok Choy.

Thai Eggplant with Bok Choy
adapted from “Eggplant with Chicken” in Keo’s Thai Cuisine (1986)

2-3 Chinese/Japanese eggplants (the thin kind, not the fat Mediterranean kind) or 1 pound of Thai eggplants (small round green eggplants)
4-5 baby bok choy (or 1 small bunch broccoli)
6 Tbls oil
1-2 tsp chili paste with garlic*
10-15 Thai basil leaves
1-3 Tbls yellow bean sauce* (or 4-5 Tablesppons of homemade Black Bean Sauce)
Thai Sweet Sticky Rice

Slice unpeeled eggplant crosswise into thin slices (1/4-3/8 inch thick). Remove the end, then separate and rinse the leaves of the bok choi. Chop into bite-sized pieces. (If using broccoli instead, separate broccoli into flowerettes and/or spears. Peel and chop the tender part of the broccoli stalk if desired.)

Heat oil over medium-high heat in wok. Add chili paste with garlic. (Careful, it will splatter.) Add eggplant and cook for 3-4 minutes, getting all the slices coated with the oil/chili paste.

Add bok choy or broccoli, stir to coat.

Cover and cook/steam for 5-7 minutes. Add yellow bean sauce, stir to coat. Just before serving (when all the vegetables are cooked) add basil leaves.

Serve immediately over Thai Sweet Sticky Rice.

Makes 3-4 servings.

Notes

The original version of this dish used 1/3 pound boneless chicken breast, thinly sliced, cooked with the eggplant (rather than the broccoli). It also used crushed garlic and red chili peppers instead of chili paste, but it was difficult to avoid burning the garlic, thus my substitution of chili paste with garlic.
This dish works well with Evil Jungle Prince with Chicken.

* Do be certain to read the ingredients on any of the Asian sauces used in these recipes to verify that they are gluten-free/corn-free/dairy-free as you require . . . I’ve been able to find brands that seem “safe enough” for me, but none of them are labeled “gluten-free” (and no one is required to even acknowledge when their ingredients are “derived from corn”) . . . use your own judgment and substitute where necessary. Feel free to post substitution questions and comments in the comments below.

Update: I now make my own Chili Garlic Paste and Bean Sauce (Black rather than Yellow Bean). You can find my recipes here.