Asharae – Page 17

Simple Vegetable Soup

November 11, 2014 by Asharae 1 Comment

In an effort to save space, I titled this post “Simple Vegetable Soup.” What I actually scribbled down on the scrap of paper as I made the soup was – “Use-What-You-Have-In-Your-Pantry-Veggie-Soup.” I personally like that name a lot better. It’s a much better description of the story of this recipe.

Tim and I have been traveling a lot lately – between our three week road trip to three different weddings, several other short weekend trips away for weddings here in NC, and a roommate reunion with my college friends, we’ve put a lot of miles on the road lately. This means that our eating has been less than stellar. And the state of our fridge is abysmal at times. For being a go-with-the-flow kinda gal, I really love to have my meals planned out. I like shopping the menu to save money and save space in our fridge too. I’m the kind of person that wakes up thinking about dinner, and I love being able to look forward to something I know will be delicious. I think the last time we had that sort of routine was back in the summer. Or maybe late spring. It’s been a busy one.

All that being said, the other night Tim and I were wrapping up our editing for the day and looking towards dinner. It was one of those stare-at-the-fridge-hoping-something-will-appear nights. I scrounged around a bit and found we had enough ingredients in the fridge and few staples in the pantry to whip up a batch of soup. (Sidenote – I highly recommend keeping cans of beans and veggies, and a couple cartons of vegetable or chicken broth in your pantry for just such an occasion.)

Nights are getting chillier here in NC and the sun is setting unreasonably early, so a bowl of warm soup is the perfect antidote to the dark and cold outside. And I rejoiced at how this seemingly thrown-together soup turned out – it’s hearty and delicious with just the right amount of spice. We served ours with grilled cheese on the side – so good.

This soup has a little kick to it – you’re more than welcome to leave out the jalapeños and can of green chilies if you don’t like spicy food. I recommend adapting this recipe to whatever you have on hand. I’m sure it would be great with a can of corn, some potatoes, perhaps some celery. Feel free to add more vegetable or chicken broth (or water) if you like your soup to have more broth than veggies, just adjust your salt and pepper accordingly.

Simple Vegetable Soup

Asharae Kroll

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 40 mins

Total Time 50 mins

Servings 4

Ingredients

1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs olive oil
1 yellow onion diced
4 medium carrots sliced
2 jalapeños diced and seeds removed
1/2 bell pepper diced (use a yellow one if you're looking to make this soup pretty)
3 cloves garlic minced
1 7 oz can green chilies
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1 32 oz carton of chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 lb pasta we used elbow pasta
1/4 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Garnish with parsley

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Add 1 Tbs olive oil, stir, and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, heat oil and butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add carrots and peppers, cook about 3 minutes. Add onion, green chilies, and jalapeños, and cook about 5 more minutes or until tender. Add garlic, cook for one minute.
Add broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes. Add oregano, and salt and pepper to taste.
Place noodles in bowls, ladle soup over the top, and serve. Garnish with parsley if you wish (or if you have leftovers in your fridge like me!)
I store leftover soup and noodles separately so the noodles don't get too soggy in the fridge.

Flour sack towel from The High Fiber – check out more of her gorgeous work at her Etsy shop!

Faithfulness of our Labor

October 9, 2014 by Asharae 4 Comments

A friend of mine shared this article by John Piper a few weeks ago and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Throughout the past several weeks I’ve felt the pendulum swing back and forth – from feeling like I’m exactly where I should be, doing exactly what I should be doing to then feeling discouraged, as if all the hard work we do each day is for nothing.

It’s easy to get so bogged down by other people’s opinions and the things we feel like we’re supposed to be doing to fit in or be successful.

After a particularly frustrating bout of discouragement the other week, I grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote a quote from Piper’s article to post over my computer – “The Lord measures the faithfulness of our labor, not our success.” (Go read Piper’s article, especially if that quote doesn’t make much sense to you.)

It doesn’t matter to God how many clients we have lined up for next year. It doesn’t matter how many Instagram or Pinterest followers we have. It doesn’t matter if we respond to emails in two minutes or two hours or two days if we must. God’s not keeping tabs on these things and labeling us as “successful” human beings if we meet a certain standard.

Instead, he “measures the faithfulness of our labor.” Are you doing what you do with care and creativity and a willing heart, whether you receive recognition or not? Or are you begrudgingly taking the next step, wishing you could just “be there already” – wishing “success” would just be handed to you? More often than not, I find myself in the latter category. I start complaining and whining that nobody else “gets it” – that they don’t see the hours of work we pour into the things we love (I’m writing this post at 1 in the morning, if you’d really like to know.) But when I get anxious and concerned about what people think, I lose sight of the goal. I lose sight of the Lord.

What if each day, instead of immediately opening my inbox to see what clients I need to answer to, I instead take a deep breath and say – Lord, what would you have me do today? How can these seemingly meaningless, mindless tasks of editing photos, answering emails, sorting receipts, and uploading files bring you glory? How can these things change from meaningless and mindless to meaningful and life-giving, both to me and to the clients we serve?

I ask this question over and over. I’m one of those people who believes at the depth of my soul that the lives we live should be meaningful. We shouldn’t while away our days wishing for something better. It’s hard. And most days I do it very poorly. But one day, one hour, one minute at a time I want to aim to be more mindful. I want to consider not “how can I be more successful?” but “how can I be more faithful in my labor?” How can I be more present with my friends, my family, our clients, with Tim? How can I use this place, this time, and the gifts that I have to honor and glorify and point back to the Lord, through each of my hesitant, faltering steps.

Photos are from our trip to visit friends in Arizona this summer – I’ll be blogging more of those here soon. That is, once I surface from the piles and piles of editing currently on my plate 😉

Thai Nachos

October 1, 2014 by Asharae 3 Comments

This recipe was inspired by my brother. He worked with a summer program through UNCC this past July and they took their group of high school kids down to Wilmington for a week of fossil hunting and rock finding. One night my brother Christian texted me from the fabled Flaming Amy’s Burrito Barn – a restaurant known for…. you guessed it – burritos! Somehow in all our trips to Wilmington, I’ve never been – someone tell me – is it worth all the hype?

Christian sent me a photo of the dinner he had ordered – any guesses? Don’t get too far ahead of yourself – it wasn’t a burrito. I know, I know. That’s probably sacrilegious or something. But he’s always one to think outside the box when it comes to food. Instead of a burrito he ordered Thai Nachos. THAI NACHOS. Cue heavenly music. My response was pretty much – WHAT. Tell me everything! Tim and I hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so when he texted back with a list of all the toppings, we obviously dropped everything and made our own version of these nachos for our dinner.

I was tempted to keep this recipe to myself – perhaps to break out at our next Superbowl party or something. But no. That would be cruel. Cruel to serve you so many veggies at a Superbowl party and also cruel to keep this recipe to myself. You really must try these nachos for yourself.

Thai Nachos

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 25 mins

Servings 2 -3

Ingredients

Dressing

1 clove garlic minced
1.5 tsp fresh ginger minced
2 Tbs tahini can substitute peanut butter - heat for a few seconds in the microwave to soften
1.5 tsp soy sauce
1.5 tsp fish sauce find this in the Asian food section of your grocery store
1.5 Tbs sweet chili sauce
Zest and juice of 1 lime

Nachos

Tortilla Chips
Cheese shredded
1 Bell Pepper cut into bite-size slices
1/4 of a Red Onion cut into thin slices
Edamame find in the frozen veggies section - purchase the pre-shelled edamame
2 Carrots peeled and grated

Garnish

Cilantro
Green onions

Instructions

Whisk dressing ingredients together, set aside.
Heat a large pan with a drizzle of olive oil. Add red onions and bell peppers and sauté till slightly tender, about 4-5 min. Set aside when finished.
While sautéing the veggies, heat a pot of water and cook the edamame according to the package directions (usually 4-5 minutes, or until tender). When finished, drain and run under cold water for a few seconds to stop the cooking.
Assemble nachos on a large rimmed baking sheet (not pictured). Cover the pan with chips, sprinkle half the cheese on top, add bell pepper, red onion, grated carrots, and edamame. Add the rest of the cheese and bake at 400 for about two minutes, or until cheese begins to melt. Turn the broiler on and broil for about one minute, till cheese is melted and begins to bubble.
Garnish with cilantro, green onions, and drizzle the dressing on top. Enjoy immediately.

Notes

Feel free to add other veggies to this dish or even add cooked shredded chicken for a little more protein.

On Community

September 23, 2014 by Asharae 1 Comment

Over Labor Day weekend we drove up to Maryland to visit Tim’s family. They live toward the mountains in a gorgeous area of the country, surrounded by green rolling hills and pastures and farmland. Their area has a fairly high Amish and Mennonite population, and one evening we attended an event at a local Amish family’s farm. This family was hosting a fundraiser for their neighbor who had fallen off the roof of his barn back in the spring and has major medical bills to pay off.

Aside from the beauty of their farm with a gorgeous old barn nestled into rolling hills, and the warm evening light as the sun dipped behind the trees, the outpouring of support for this family was incredible. When we arrived, we waited in line on this narrow country road as they directed each car and tractor to park in the pasture across the street. There were huge gentle horses hooked up to wagons to give hay rides, and men roasting ears of corn by the dozens over an open fire. There was roasted chicken and potatoes and cole slaw, homemade ice cream and huge pans of brownies and chocolate chip cookie bars, cheese curds and tiny handmade pies. Even the kids were helping out – dressed in their flowery shift dresses or their little navy slacks – each helping carry buckets of corn or potatoes, or restocking the cheese curds.

We figured our way through the line to fill our plates and then settled into one of the many tables that were lined up inside the barn. It looked as if they’d cleared out the barn and decorated it, just for this purpose. As we were finishing up our dinner, a few Amish men got up on the makeshift stage (a pile of hay bales), and after a short introduction began to sing hymns. They let everyone know they didn’t want to be seen as performers – this, for them, was an act of worship. I was surprised that most of the hymns were familiar to me – the words at least were familiar from the hymnal in the church where I grew up. But the tunes were different. The melodies sounded older, more melancholy, as if they were steeped in history, and this family, and all the generations before them, had been singing the same tune. It was beautiful. And hard to put into words. But somehow I felt like God was smiling down on this little farm on a country road in Maryland – smiling on his people acting out what community is supposed to look like.

I wish we’d taken more photos, but here are just a few that don’t really do it justice. You can imagine the rest. Or see one more photo I took that day over on my Instagram of course.