CREAMY ZUCCHINI BASIL SOUP

You might think I am having a bumper crop of zucchini this year with still another soup with the green veggie. Not so. I am garden free but I do have a nice farmer's market close that I stock up on fresh produce bi-weekly. Last week we went to a Vietnamese restaurant in St. George (in Washington behind Roadhouse Steaks). I had the chicken soup and it had such a wonderful basil broth it made me think about making my zucchini soup again with a basil flare. I love this soup! I could have eaten the entire pot on Saturday when I made it. Zucchini is not very exciting but it lends itself to interesting additions.

In a dutch oven size pan put:
1 T. olive oil

1/2 medium onion chopped or 2 T dried flakes
3-4 cloves of garlic grated
Stir fry until it begins to brown. Add 6 cups of water and:

1 ½ lbs. of sliced zucchini (about 3 medium)
½ stalk of celery grated
1 medium carrot grated
1 peeled cubed medium potato
½ Cup of loosely packed fresh basil or
1 T. dry basil (taste as you are cooking it might need more. I used the fresh)
2 tsp. Salt to start
¼ - ½ tsp. Fresh grated pepper to taste
Simmer for 20 minutes. Add 2 large peeled chopped fresh tomatoes.

Blend with a hand blender or in batches in a regular blender.
Add ¼ C. whipping cream
Serve with crusty French Bread. Pass Parmesan cheese.

4-6 servings

WHY I LOVED "JULIE AND JULIA" THE MOVIE

Mike and I spent last week with his brothers and sisters in St. George for our yearly get-together. Mike's brother Kent lives in Florida and so we all make an effort to spend time together in September when Kent comes to Utah. It has been a very bonding time. The guys play a lot of golf and watch football. The women try to keep themselves entertained. One afternoon we went to the movie Julie and Julia, together. It was a joy. I smiled through the entire movie.

My new office closet has an entire wall of book shelves. Since seeing the movie I couldn't wait to get home and find my old copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," by Julia Child. I have had it for 25 years or so. It was given to me by my friend Cheryl Johnston when she moved out of our neighborhood, many years ago, as she was moving to Australia and had to minimize her stuff. I have looked at it a few times but it definitely wasn't one of my recipe book staples--French cooking and kids? I don't thinks so. I was very disappointed to find that it wasn't there. I must have chucked it when we moved 2 years ago. I remember holding it in my hand and wondering if I should keep it. In my mind I did but it is nowhere in the shelves. I made a second cut of books when they all didn't fit and it must have gone then.

I checked http://fetchbook.info/ for a used copy. $15 plus shipping is cheaper than I expected but I doubt I will get it again.

The story is about 30 year old Julie who spends a year cooking every recipe in the book and blogging about her experiences. Because I blog, cook and am tall this story made me feel connected. Meryl Streep couldn't have been a better Julia Child. I was amazed at how tall they made her look. I know Julia Child was over 6 feet. Amy Adams as Julie was so fresh and charming you couldn't help but adore her. There is a very gratuitous "F" word and I am not sure why they included a negative comment that Julia Child was to have said about Julie's blog at the end. It left a little question in me.

I will never feel the same about butter and I am anxious to see this another time (with Mike, I think he will like it. He can handle chick flicks) and I may want my own copy so when I need to smile I can watch it again.

NOURISH

This is a Christmas dinner with my family. My brother Jack is on the left next to my mother and his wife Jeannine, me, Cliff, Andy and my dad must be taking the picture.

"Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul." D&C 59: 18-19

 Yes, food does enliven the soul. ( Unfortunately most of it needs it be prepared.) Is it any wonder that physical nourishment is so often symbolic of love and care in the scriptures? The father of the Prodigal Son killed the fatted calf to celebrate the return of his wayward son. Today I ate a piece of bread and drank a cup of water symbolic of the atonement and Christ’s love for me.

Lehi went to the tree of life in the Book of Mormon and ate a piece of fruit that was pure and sweet above anything he had ever eaten but his joy was not complete until he could share the sweetness with his family.

 Recently my grandson Michael was baptized and I cooked all week preparing a celebration feast for the people I love. "...how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you. " (3 Nephi 10:4) I feel akin to God in my desire to nourish. I believe He wanted us to make this connection.

 Feeding people is the plight and joy of women. It does get old and tiresome but we nourish with food knowing that the body must be fed before the spirit can be taught. We do it because nothing is more loving than a nourishing, tasty meal set before a hungry family or friends. We do it because nothing feels quite like the joy of making someone’s favorite dessert.

Men also have a part in the nourishment process as they provide the means for obtaining the food. I have watched my husband keep a job that never really excited him for years, because it was the best way to feed our family. I saw my dad come home from the coal mine every day with black around his eyes because the paycheck bought bread. And of course there are the men who cook, like my brother Jack. Feeding people, wonderful food, is his greatest joy. And often when others are enjoying the party Jack is in the kitchen.


About a year ago I was asked to be the compassionate service leader in our Ward. I worried about asking women to bring meals to those in need. Would it be difficult? Would they respond? Would I end up doing a lot of cooking myself because I couldn’t find anyone? I have been pleased and impressed with the women in my Ward and their willingness to serve each other. I thank heaven for e-mail, which has made my job easier. We have fed some families during my time for several months at a time--one who had severe morning sickness and couldn’t cook. Then again when she was threatening to miscarry her baby. We fed another sister who was inactive. Her husband was having some problems and she had to go back to work. I silently questioned the number of meals we took to her. One sister fed this family every Monday for several months. Then one Sunday several months later a sister I didn’t recognize sat by us in church. It was this sister who had come back to activity and has been at church weekly since. We fed her family and she couldn’t resist our love.
There are mornings when I send out an e-mail requesting meals and by noon I have 10 or more offers to cook and deliver one. Recently I passed around a sign up sheet in Relief Society for two weeks of meals and every day was filled by the end of the meeting. Surely the sisters in my ward have taken the scripture to heart: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my (sisters) ye have done it unto me."
When we moved into our Fruit Heights home 2 years ago the Relief Society presidency brought dinner. At the time I thought, "They can’t do this for everyone who moves in." We are in a new area with people moving in every week. But they did. Dozens of meals, I know. Food cooked by someone else always tastes so good. Home cooked food waiting in the refrigerator is very comforting.
I had foot surgery this year and my visiting teacher brought a beautiful dinner. I felt guilty. It is easy to give but not always so easy to receive.
Today I am in awe of all the women who nourish with home cooked food. I couldn’t resist telling the sisters in testimony meeting that they are amazing.
 "And whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food... " D&C 42: 43　 　 　

The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Society - Book Review

This is the most charming book I have read in a long time. Masterpiece Theatre had a mini-series a few years ago about the German take over of the Guernsey Islands off the coast of Britain. It was a tragic and difficult event in so many ways. The author Mary Ann Schafer has taken a very serious topic and crafted a story with fun human elements that help people get through difficult times together. All but a few diary entries at the end are written as letters, which I thought might be tedious, but they make the story unique and charming. The ending wrapped up a little too quickly for me but it turns out that the author died before the book was completed and her young niece finished the story. Costco has this for about $8

The following description comes from Goodreads which is a great place to go for book reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb.

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island--boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.