Diana the Huntress Serves Dinner

Photo courtesy Henrik Wann Jensen

People.  I am on a culinary roll.  Since the hottest day in L.A. in recorded history, your everyday domestic goddess has improved the venison meatloaf menu.  Here it is for you to enjoy.

Serves 4.

Sweet & Tangy Venison Meatloaf
Ingredients:

• 12 oz. venison breakfast sausage/ground venison (or ground beef, for all you mortals)
• 3/4 cup onions , finely chopped
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/8 cup peach preserves
• 2 eggs , lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper Ingredients

Position baking stone on a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350ºF for 20 minutes (or just 5, if not using a baking stone). Lightly grease a 9x5-inch (or smaller) loaf pan.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and knead mixture with your hands until everything is well blended but not overmixed.

Pour meat mixture into loaf pan and bake on baking stone until the meat is firm to the touch and has shrunk away from the sides of the pan or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf reads 160ºF, 30-40 minutes.

Pour off excess fat and let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Note: This makes a mini or short loaf. Recipe can be doubled; every ingredient is doubled except eggs--use three large.  Increase baking time.


Meatloaf "Gravy" for the Table
My three-year-old loves this!  Mix equal parts

• BBQ sauce
• ketchup, and 
• peach preserves.

Ginger Mashed Twice-Cooked Potatoes
With a rack placed in the middle of the oven, preheat to 400º F.

Steam until soft when pierced with a fork, approximately 5 minutes:

•  4 lbs. potatoes, chopped into chunks for quick cooking

(Leave the skin on! The skin has most of the nutrients and it adds a wonderful texture and flavor.) 

Mash potatoes together with

• 1-2 T fresh ginger, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T butter or Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread (vegan)
• salt and pepper to taste

Lightly grease a casserole pan with

• vegetable oil

Pour potato mixture into pan and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.



Zingy Peach Rocket Salad

Flash fry on a dry skillet over high heat until beginning to wilt and brown:

• 1/2 cup red onion , sliced into rings

Let cool.

To make the dressing, combine and wisk or shake in a tightly sealed container:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 1/8 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon  salt (or to taste)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayanne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

Toss

• 6 cups rocket lettuce (a.k.a., arugla)
• 2-3 organic peaches, ripe and chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 3/4 cup pecan pieces

with onions and enough dressing to moisten. Distribute to serving plates and serve as the starter. . . . Zing!

From Jean M. Zimmermann | New York private art dealer & fine arts appraiser on artregister.com

Frittata!

Until a few months ago, I had never made a frittata. In fact, I think I had only eaten it once, maybe twice, before in my life. But, now. Now it is a household staple, a weekly menu item. And one of my almost-four-year-old's favorites. It's also pretty easy and quick to make.

Spinach Frittata*
Heat in large skillet over medium heat:

• 2 T olive oil

Add and cook, stirring, until lightly browned:

• 1 C chopped onion

Add and cook until heated through and wilted:

• 2 C frozen chopped spinach

Season with

• 1/4 t salt
• 1/8 t freshly ground black pepper
• 2 t lemon juice
• 1 T fresh snipped basil (or 1 t dried)
• 1 T fresh dill (or 1 t dried)

Stir to combine. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Preheat the broiler.
Meanwhile, beat together until smooth:

• 5 eggs
• 1/2 t salt
• pinch of ground black pepper

Add the onion-spinach mixture.
Heat in a large, ovenproof skillet over medium heat:

• 2 T olive oil or butter or Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread (vegan)

When just hot (before butter begins to bubble or brown) pour in egg mixture. Reduce heat and cook until bottom is set (about 3 to 5 minutes).  Place skillet under the broiler for 30 to 60 seconds to finish cooking; do not brown. Loosen with a spatula and slide onto a plate.

Serve in wedges with organic red grapes and french country potatoes. (I use Trader Joe's "Country Potatoes with Haricots Verts & Wild Mushrooms" from the frozen section.)

Serves 4.


*This recipe is inspired by/adapted from the Zucchini Frittata recipe in The Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition.  Also delicious!

Domestic Goddess? Check.

We've been having a cricket problem at our place.  Crickets? A problem?  Well, we thought the first one was cute and harmless.  Then we got acquainted the rest of her family . . . her sisters, brothers, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, first cousins, second cousins, BABIES, third cousins, etc.  Then we observed the cricket cuisine: fallen Cheerios, phone ear plug cushions, the bite valve of my sports bottle. . .  Um. No more Mr. Nice-Guy.

So, today I prepped rooms for insect spraying, packed separate bags for the children, took out the trash, vacated the home for said spraying and drying/airing, turned in paper work at the housing office, napped baby at a friend's place, returned home, put daughter down for nap and—all while juggling baby and keeping him away from pesticides and disinfectants—vacuumed, swept, mopped, wiped down the baseboards in every room with disinfectant, put the rooms back together, and took a cool shower to recover.  I must have vacuumed up over a dozen crickets in the living room, most of them still alive and hopping.

And yes, it was 107 degrees today in my neighborhood. And, no, we don't have central air.

Then I nursed the baby down for another nap, read the daughter a story, made venison meatloaf from scratch with an original brand-new recipe (which we all loved), wiped and polished bookcases and shelves, served dinner and got children down for bed.

Oh, and the venison?  Hunted in the wild and made into sausage at home . . . by my uncle (a master bowman), not me.  But still.

Today I feel like Diana, goddess of the hunt. Beware my vacuum wand, O leaping green stags of the carpet!

So, yes; I am a domestic goddess. One that comes replete with your common household goddess attributes such as rage, ire, and fury, unrealistic demands, fickleness, vanity, and general unpredictability. 

There are three things for which I am grateful, three for which I give thanks:
(1) I am grateful for a most patient, accommodating husband.
(2) I am grateful that my children will not remember every moment of their time with me in childhood.
(3) And most importantly, I am grateful for the fact that I am not God.  (And so are a lot of other people.)

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like You, glorified in holiness,

Marvelous in praises, doing wonders?

-Ex 15:11

Tomatillo Chicken: Entrée Evolution

When mothering small children it is hard to balance the all responsibilities of maid, nanny, and cook.  One way I stay sane is by cooking double (or triple) for leftovers.  I don't have the time or patience for cooking from scratch every day of the week. 

Here's a recent success building multiple menus using leftovers:


Day 1: Chicken Verde Tacos
Sprinkle

• 2.5 lbs. boneless chicken breasts (thawed if using from freezer)

with

• Salt and 
• Freshly ground black pepper.

Add to slow cooker along with

• 1.5 C tomatillo salsa verde (I use Trader Joe's)
• 1-3 t chopped or crushed garlic.

Cook for 2 to 3 hours on low or until chicken is cooked through but still moist.

Shred chicken using two forks and serve in warmed corn tortillas with shredded lettuce, salsa, pico de gallo, and lime wedges.  (Store remaining chicken in the cooking sauce to prevent dry out, and retain all the sauce for day 3 recipe.)

In our house two to 2.5 shredded chicken breasts serves two adults and one preschooler.


Day 2: Chicken Taco Salad
For each adult, toss the following together in a serving bowl: (measurements are approximate)

• 2-3 handfuls lettuce
• 1-2 handfuls tortilla chips, crushed
• 1/2 C leftover shredded chicken verde
• 1/4 C red kidney beans
• 1/4 C grated raw zucchini
• 2 T sliced black olives
• Corn salsa to taste (optional)
• Pico de gallo (optional)
• Shredded cheese (optional)
• Salsa verde (or other salsa of your choice)
• Ranch dressing or homemade dressing (see below).

Simple Homemade Taco Salad Dressing
Shake together in a tightly sealed jar

• 1/2 C Mayonnaise
• 1/4 C lime juice
• 1 T finely chopped cilantro
• 1 t crushed garlic (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Day 3: Tomatillo Chicken-Potato Casserole & Corn Bread
Combine in slow-cooker

• all remaining leftover shredded chicken verde and sauce
• 1/2 lb fingerling potatoes, cut in half or smaller for bite-size pieces

Cook on high for two to three hours or until potatoes are tender.
For the last hour, add to the crock

• 1 zucchini, grated
• 2-3 oz. sliced black olives 

If the sauce is too runny, put a towel across the top of the crock pot, under the lid, and replace the lid slightly ajar.  This will allow steam to be released/absorbed making the sauce thicker.
For the last 20 minutes of cooking, sprinkle on top

• .5 to 1 C shredded Monterrey Jack cheese.

When all the vegetables are cooked and the cheese is melted, serve with hot sauce and molasses corn bread muffins (see below).

Serves three.  (If you want to serve more or have eaters with heartier appetites, add more potatoes, zucchini, olives, and cheese.)


Molasses Corn Bread Muffins
Follow the recipe on the back of your corn meal box making the following substitutions:

• Use white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose.
• Replace 2 T of the sugar with 2 T molasses.
• In our house, we also replace the milk with almond milk.

The artistry does not compare, but I like to think of this kind of menu planning as similar to a classical musician's "variations."  When I do have the energy and/or a creative streak, it is joy to make beautiful, healthy, innovative meals.

The Innovation of Christ with Regard to the Dignity & Equality of Women

Some of my favorite passages of summary from Pope John Paul II's Papal Encyclical "On the Dignity and Vocation of Women":

Christ's attitude to women confirms and clarifies, in the Holy Spirit, the truth about the equality of man and woman. One must speak of an essential "equality", since both of them - the woman as much as the man - are created in the image and likeness of God. Both of them are equally capable of receiving the outpouring of divine truth and love in the Holy Spirit. Both receive his salvific and sanctifying "visits".
 
The fact of being a man or a woman involves no limitation here, just as the salvific and sanctifying action of the Spirit in man is in no way limited by the fact that one is a Jew or a Greek, slave or free, according to the well-known words of Saint Paul: "For you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28).

[. . .]

The "innovation" of Christ is a fact: it constitutes the unambiguous content of the evangelical message and is the result of the Redemption. However, the awareness that in marriage there is mutual "subjection of the spouses out of reverence for Christ", and not just that of the wife to the husband, must gradually establish itself in hearts, consciences, behaviour and customs. This is a call which from that time onwards, does not cease to challenge succeeding generations; it is a call which people have to accept ever anew. Saint Paul not only wrote: "In Christ Jesus... there is no more man or woman", but also wrote: "There is no more slave or freeman". Yet how many generations were needed for such a principle to be realized in the history of humanity through the abolition of slavery! And what is one to say of the many forms of slavery to which individuals and peoples are subjected, which have not yet disappeared from history?

But the challenge presented by the "ethos" of the Redemption is clear and definitive. All the reasons in favour of the "subjection" of woman to man in marriage must be understood in the sense of a "mutual subjection" of both "out of reverence for Christ".

For a full treatment of the biblical and traditional Christian teaching regarding the dignity of women see the rest of the Encyclical.

Books to Help Quiet and Heal the Soul

for E. A. O.




Sleeping with Bread is a great place to begin a soul quieting; it very simply and accessibly guides individuals and groups in contemplative prayer and self-knowledge.  The authors base their simplified approach on the classic examen of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. 











In the quiet place of our soul, we can steep ourselves in the overwhelming love of God.  Anchoress Dame Julian's work is a classic which simply yet profoundly heightens awareness of God's all-permeating love.  Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot, and so many others pull the famous phrase from Julian: "All shall be well . . .  All manner of thing shall be well." 











In The Art of Prayer anthology, we learn that there is nothing more important than prayer in the life of faith.  Many short passages from various church fathers elucidate the nature, methods, ends, and benefits of prayer.











From a prayerful place we can let the healing trickle from the spirit to the psyche.  Dr. Barrs, a Nazi concentration camp survivor, combines Thomistic theology with a Christian view of psychology to teach us how to understand and integrate our feelings. 








A conversation of Saint Seraphim of Sarov with N.A. Motovilov: A wonderful revelation to the world is a another book centering the soul in the heart of God.  Saint Seraphim gives instruction on how to acquire the Holy Spirit, a daunting and mystical topic to be sure!

Dear Mormon Missionaries (A Third Question)

[Note: Like the previous two letters in this series, a draft of the following was written between my first and second meetings with the LDS missionaries.  I wrote the three letters because writing helps me to get clarity about what I'm thinking and also because I hope to inspire good conversation.  My intention is to gain greater understanding by raising sincere questions about things that don't make sense to me in a way that is respectful and not bashing.  I hope I have succeeded in maintaining such an attitude here.]

Dear Mormon Missionaries,

When we met the first time a few weeks ago, I asked the two of you how you make sense of LDS incongruities with historic Christianity as well as apparent inconsistencies within LDS history.

Given these apparent incongruities and inconsistencies, I asked, how did you come to believe that Mormonism is the true faith?

At the time, you gave a very interesting answer: Elder B said he prayed and had a supernatural experience that seemed to confirm the Mormon faith to him.  This is an answer I have heard on several occasions from LDS representatives.

And after your experience, I wanted to know, did you also come to answers or explanations of the doctrinal incongruities.  Neither of you had come to nor were able to give answers or explanations at the time for the incongruities I described. 

I asked if that bothered either of you that there were significant incongruities within and without for which you could give no account.

Elder A explained that Latter Day Saints teachings are a matter primarily of faith and not of reasoning.

If it’s a matter of a personal faith experience, I wondered, how do you adjudicate the contradictory claims of such subjective religious experience?  For example, I pointed out that individuals of various faiths have personal mystical experiences that, in their minds, confirm the validity of their respective religions.

How would you recommend the Mormon faith to me when others could recommend faiths as diverse as Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism to me each on the same basis of their own personal faith experiences?   We also factored in my own religious experiences that seem to confirm for me the faith that I currently hold. 

Why should I accept Mormonism on the basis of your experience?

Of course, you didn't want me to accept it on the basis of your experience; you wanted me to read the book of Mormon myself and pray and ask God to show me if it were true.

I wanted to know why should I spend time reading the Book of Mormon, when I currently have little reason for thinking that it is true and several reasons to suspect that it is false including my own religious experiences within my current faith tradition?  

We agreed that neither you nor I felt compelled to read the Koran and pray and ask God if it were true in order to rule out the Muslim faith for ourselves.  Is this a double standard?

I suggested that it would be reasonable to expect you to first provide me some reasons to think that Mormonism is true such that I would be motivated to continue to investigate.  You agreed.

Christianity, after all, is the religion of evidence, firmly and inextricably rooted in the history of time and place.  The Gospels tell us that Jesus was born in the days of “Caesar Augustus . . . while Quirinius was governor of Syria,” and that he was crucified under Pontius Pilate.  The names, the times, the places are all independently verifiable historical facts.

In this vein, Saint Paul makes it clear that Christian belief is based on the historical evidence of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Saint Paul makes reference to more than 500 eyewitnesses, contemporary with his original epistolary audience, to corroborate the veracity of the resurrection and concludes that, if the evidence is faulty and the history inaccurate,

if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, [. . .] and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. [. . .] If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:3-19, esp. vs. 14-19)

I find what Saint Paul says as interesting as what he does not say.  Why does he not simply urge his readers to pray and ask God to reveal to them whether Christianity is true and whether Jesus rose from the dead (or remind them of such personal experience that they may have had at conversion)?  Certainly God has the power to give direct special revelation to whomever he chooses.  So why would God's chosen apostle Paul—who himself had received a powerful direct revelation of the resurrected Christ—present an argument from eyewitness testimony/historical evidence? 

This is the same Paul who draws on the sacred and secular traditions of his various audiences in order to present sophisticated and compelling arguments for the faith. For example, in Acts 15, Saint Paul uses different apologetic approaches with different groups.  First he goes to the Jewish synagogues in Thessalonica and Berea and "reasoned with them out of the scriptures [the Old Testament Law and Prophets], opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead" (Acts 15:2b-3a).  In Athens, in contrast, Saint Paul "disputed [. . .] daily with them that met with him" (15:17), eventually presenting a philosophical argument in Mars' hill wherein he cited the Greeks' own religious and literary traditions in order to make his case (15:22-31).

In light of an apparent apostolic tradition of missionary work that unites both reasoning and faith, why do Mormon missionaries seem to emphasize the latter in contrast with the former?

When I met with you for the second time (by appointment) and third time (by happenstance), you maintained a position of faith on the basis of your personal religious experiences and the claims of Joseph Smith and did not have any further explanations for the incongruities I had wondered about.  Since it is the claims of Joseph Smith that are under consideration, it would be rather circular for me to believe that his testimony and revelations are true because he says they are.   So that leaves subjective religious experience as the recommended basis for belief.

You explained that, as missionaries, you are trained to lead people in the process of pondering and praying and that you are not equipped to provide (or perhaps even interested in providing) other evidences or answers to questions such as mine.  (I also note that you do not have access to the Internet during your mission and therefore cannot do any independent research on questions that are raised in your conversations.  Why is this?)  I expressed sincere sadness that your missionary training and approach would be what seems to me, rather one-sided.

The God I know from Scriptures, from Christian tradition, and from my own experience, is a God who created and values all my various capacities, who invites me to engage with him fully, completely, and holistically with all that I am.  Faith and reason are not at odds with each other in God’s orderly cosmos.  It seems to me, then, that subjective religious experience is a necessary but not a sufficient ground for faith and belief.

I expressed that, while God is ultimately a mystery and faith is essential to our relationship with him, I am uncomfortable with any religion that asks me to leave my mind or “logic” at the door.

At the end of our first meeting, I told you honestly that your appeal to pray and ask God if Mormonism were true felt somewhat manipulative to me; although I am sure that was not your intention.  For me to pray that prayer would seem to me to be insulting God by second-guessing the natural and supernatural revelations he has already made plan to me. 

If I perceive significant objections to Mormonism and I currently experience God in my present faith while also having good reasons for believing as I do, why would I ask God if something contradictory is true?  Wouldn’t that be akin to asking God to reveal to me whether 2 + 2 equals 5?  He has already revealed to me through the natural revelation of reason that 2 + 2 equals 4, and that, therefore, it does not equal 5. 

Why don’t Mormon missionaries simply pray that God would grant us wisdom and guide us into all truth?  Why aren’t Mormon missionaries trained and equipped to provide corroborating evidence that LDS claims are true?

In any other area of life, wouldn't I be considered imprudent if I formed beliefs on the basis of personal phenomenology to the exclusion of other evidence?  Why would we think that our process of belief formation in the area of religion would be fundamentally different from how we form beliefs in the rest of life?  Using reason seems one important way we are to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1).

When I ask for corroborating external evidence, I am perplexed when no such evidence is provided.  I am doubly perplexed when I am then cautioned against over-relying on reason or logic or being “carnally minded.”  Surely you would not say that Saint Paul was being carnally minded when he presented arguments and evidence that his audiences would understand and find compelling? 

If I discover reasons to suppose that my current beliefs are false or inadequate and that the LDS church offers a truer picture, I will pursue it. 

So I continue to ask my third and final question: What corroborating evidence or reasons are there, besides personal experience, for thinking that the Mormon faith is true?  For example, are there corroborating reasons to suspect the early Church experienced apostasy?  Is there any archeological, historical, or DNA evidence to support the historicity of the stories recorded in the Book of Mormon?  Is there external (non-LDS) corroborating evidence to show that the “reformed Egyptian” manuscript Joseph Smith used as his source for the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price is correctly translated? Etc.  If my current beliefs are false, I want to change them and conform myself to the truth.

I want to be quick to reiterate what I have said a few times during our discussions: while I have questions and doubts about the LDS faith, I am not attacking any LDS members personally.  I deeply sympathize with where you are at and respect the good will and zeal that motivates you to serve God and practice the faith that you've been taught.  Every Mormon believer I know is warm, generous, and friendly.  I am fortunate to have several Mormon neighbors who make living where I do very pleasant.  I am grateful to be able to share many familial and social/civic values with the LDS community and am glad to work together on matters of mutual concern politically and around the neighborhood.

As we ended our third conversation, Elder A said that he loved the Book of Mormon, and I believe that love is real and sincere.  As I said when we parted, if you truly believe that Jesus is there in his fullness in the Mormon faith, that is where you should be. 

I cannot know to what degree your belief is honest and well-founded, but I am sure that what it means to have well-founded belief changes as we mature and age and encounter new evidences for and against our beliefs.  A child is certainly justified in believing what his parents teach him simply on the basis of it coming from them.  Adult belief, in contrast, requires further justification. 

I believed you when you said that you were on a journey and that you intend to learn more and more about what you believe and why.  Such an attitude is commendable, and I hope that I, and everyone who reads this letter, will embrace the same in our own lives.

I do enjoy debating and sparing, but our conversation is not about that; it's about what is true.  It is a discussion worth having because what is at stake is, well, everything of value in this world and the next.

Yours in Christ,

Jen