In her Lenten reflection book, Christine Valters Paintner invites us to fast from “speed and rushing in order to embrace slowness and pausing.”  In our Western culture, our minds and hands seem to move at a fast pace.  One place to slow down is in the kitchen.  A simple recipe for “Slow Cooker Stew” invites us to pause to savor a hearty meal.  Check out the "Slow Food" movement.

Would you buy vegetable stock, stew or tomato sauce made from good farm surplus produce and fresh-cut veggie remnants?  Matriark Foods sells delicious, healthy, low sodium foods to retail stores, schools, hospitals, food banks and food service outlets saving tons of fresh food from the landfill.  Learn more about Matriark and “upcycled” foods that help the environment, support farmers and feed the hungry.  Make Kitchen Scrap Vegetable or Meat Stock to reduce food waste.

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The maple sap has been running very early this year with the record rise in temperatures.  You are invited to St. Joseph Ridge’s FSPA land for the boil down on March 4 and 5.  Celebrate the wisdom of the trees and the Indigenous people’s art of syrup making with Maple Blueberry Wild Rice Coffee Cake. 

Root vegetables have a sweet, earthy flavor that seems made for roasting.  Beets, sweet potatoes, rutabagas and onions in any combination you like are a savory treat this time of year and you can make extra to freeze for a side dish or creamy soup!  They exemplify the invitation to eat seasonally in winter.  Storing them for lasting flavor is wisdom from the past.

Texas-style Shrimp and Grits might have been served for supper to President LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson by their personal chef Zephyr Wright.  As an African American woman from the south, she used her voice to share experiences and opinions with the President and he listened.  Let’s ask ourselves as progressive white women and men, how do we use our voices to speak for racial justice?

As the season of Lent begins, the Seasoned Franciscan offers a recipe for Minestrone Soup and a “recipe” for Lent from Christine Valters Paintner.  In her book “A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding Our True Hungers in Lent”,  Christine poses the question: “What is my true hunger?”  Whether you have a long practice of Lenten reflection or are new to the season the summary of her reflections in this post may season these weeks before Easter with meaning.

Valentine’s Day is about celebrating those we love.  The tradition of giving chocolates in heart-shaped boxes for Valentine’s Day was started by the Cadbury company in 1868.  Chocolate, however, comes with a price.  To this day, children and forced labor are used to work many cocoa farms.  In addition, many cocoa farms contribute to illegal deforestation.  This post offers a great recipe for "Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cups" from Meredith Hink and information about Free Trade Chocolate.

In winter, root vegetables can keep for months after harvest.  Keep warm with this Hearty Root Vegetable Soup recipe.  Winter is also the time of year to consider buying a share in a local farm!  The Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) movement provides a way for eaters to get fresh, seasonal and often organic produce and proteins from a local farm and “put a face” on their food.  Read about CSAs. You might discover a farmer that might be a good partner for you!

Feeding the hungry is a vital work of mercy.  If you're shy about cooking for a crowd, fear not!  Sister Ruth Berra sponsored an FSPA Ministry Grant to Pillars in Appleton, WI.  This post includes a link to the cookbook they created to provide volunteers with recipes to make dinner for a large number of people. "Sloppy Joe's for a Crowd" was made and served to unsheltered people at the LaCrosse Warming Center this winter by affiliates.  Where can you feed the hungry?

One Christmas our family chose to exchange consumable gifts. Theme baskets are fun to create and to eat! The last healing secret of food message encourages us to eat foods produced close to home, in as close to their natural state as possible and sourced with concern for the earth and for workers. This post offers ideas for optimal local foods good for health, the earth and the community.

Our beloved Labrador (nicknamed "Hoover" by his rescuers) ate each meal like a starved vacuum cleaner, as if someone might take the food away from him!  The opposite of "hoovering", mindfulness is a spiritual practice that allows slowing down to savor each flavor, texture and smell.  This weeks "Healthy Snack Ideas" encourage attentive and nourishing mini-meals with which to practice mindfullness, another healing secret of food.

Advent and Christmas are special for Franciscans.  This year, we celebrate the 800th anniversary of Francis’ live reenactment of Jesus’ birth.  Since Francis’ 1223 Christmas in the Italian village of Greccio, nativity scenes (live and in art) have continued because God who is Love was born as a baby, God among us.  This recipe for Bambino Bread is a simple way to honor the Baby Jesus on your table as a loaf of bread, shaped to resemble a baby in swaddling clothes!