mondays in the kitchen: chipotle-kissed black bean soup

it's been a long while since i shared any of my kitchen-escapades. to be perfectly honest, i'm not much of a chef. i do, however, love a good meal, especially when i get to share it with some lovely ladies. tonight, i cooked, and tonight, i share!

this recipe happens to be my first and favorite meat-free recipe!
(i've made minor adjustments over the last two years to make it my own)

chipotle-kissed black bean soup

ingredients:
(i'm not one for measurements anymore...follow your tummy on this one!)

olive oil
sliced baby carrots
chopped onions
garlic, minced
LOTS OF black beans (3-4 cans)
diced tomatoes
vegetable broth
potatoes, cut into small cubes
sliced zucchini
other vegetables of your choice
1-2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (for flavor)

1. heat olive oil in a large pan. add carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, zucchini, etc. cover and cook until softened. transfer to a large pot.

2. over medium heat, add black beans, vegetable broth, and tomatoes. lastly, add chipotle chiles for flavor (warning: these are SPICY!)

3. eat and enjoy :)

that's a lot of love!

(if only i weren't allergic...)

if i could rule the world...

every sneeze would be followed by a genuine bless you

every person would call me Kara Lee

every hour would stretch into days

every baby would have a home

san diego and san francisco would be next door neighbors

my bed would hang from trees

annddddd....

...we'd eat pancakes every day!!

stomach and heart

here we go. an explanation for something that i never thought i would care about.

besides a love for feeding myself donuts and baby-back ribs and late night trips to taco bell,

my stomach received little attention from me

until:

i noticed my diet affecting my rest, my studies, my thinking, my body

and even outside of myself: the environment, other parts of creation

because food is important and what we eat goes far beyond our own dinner tables

and our bodies are valuable pieces of art by a loving Creator

and suddenly my diet was pushed into the realm of the Lord

five months ago, i became a vegetarian

i amazed myself when i made that decision

even though i knew it was coming

i was being gently nudged in that direction

in the direction of seeing eating as spiritual

and as seeing stewardship of creation in a profoundly new way

and experiencing time in the kitchen as time with Jesus

and eating with friends as living a piece of heaven

so this is my journey

every monday, i spend time in the kitchen

just me, raw ingredients and a heart set towards Jesus

and i attempt to cook a meal that will satisfy body and soul

recipes, tidbits of information, explanations

even the food itself,

i want to share with you

stomach and heart,

i want to share with you :)

food for thought

I don't like restaurants.

I love eating, but I don't like restaurants. Partly because they're expensive and I'm slowly running out of money; partly because they make me strangely anxious. I would much rather be in the comfort of my own home, where we can eat, then sit and chat for however long we feel like it. That applies to fast food as well. And birthday celebrations.

I used to think that I liked going out to dinner, especially if I got to get dressed up. I don't. I love eating at home, wearing jeans and some comfortable worn-in top that doesn't cling to every curve or need to be pulled up repeatedly. Plus, I always spill, and I feel much less guilty about spilling on jeans than on my silk dress that I bought in France.

Restaurants stress me out. So many people running around, plus you feel a lot of pressure to make the dinner event as a whole great, because you're paying for the food and the ambiance and you're spending time with this other person, so you better make it good. But I promise a much better conversation if we eat at home. I feel more secure at home, which means I feel more secure with whoever I'm eating with, which means that conversation is bound to be good. Plus, we can pick the soundtrack. And, doing the dishes is oddly relaxing for me.


Is that okay? I'm much more of a home-body than I ever recognized. So come over. We'll cook, eat, and we can hang out while the water runs and the mess slowly disappears. It'll be great. I promise.

mango tango

It's really hard to find the perfect mango. Like really hard. I would know, I'm a mango enthusiast. I love mangoes. "A mango a day keeps the doctor away," right? I mean, they're so good. A lot of people don't really like mangoes, which is sad to me...I totally feel like they're missing out. But I really love them. And let me just tell you, it's hard to find a good one.

Sometimes you pick it up cause it looks ripe, and it feels ripe, and it smells ripe, and then the anticipation of eating the mango builds because you just know, if this mango is ripe, man, it's gonna be good. And then it's not. It's too tart, or too hard. But you suck it up and eat it anyways.

Sometimes you pick it up, and it doesn't look ripe at all. It's still green, and hard, and doesn't smell anything like Hawaii, but it's the last thing in the apartment to eat, and you're hungry and don't want to walk to the caf, so you eat it. And it's okay. It's juicy enough and sweet enough...it's enjoyable, though you know it's not the best mango in the bunch.

Sometimes you pick it up. You really don't know what to expect. With all these mango mishaps, it's easy to become weary. But you start peeling, and you can just tell. This is it. This is THE mango. You peel faster and faster cause you just can't wait. It's juicy and lush, the perfect shade of orangeish-yellow...you've seen this before...it's the perfect mango. It kind of just melts in your mouth. It's fruit, so there is absolutely no guilt involved with eating something so sweet. (Some days I even eat two!) So it's good....and if you eat it first thing in the morning, like I like to do, it kind of sets the stage for your whole day. Weird that a fruit has so much influence over my day.

Some days are hard though, and I think God knows that we just need the perfect mango. That's what I like to think of mangoes as. You might start thinking I'm a freak right now, but seriously. It's like God is giving me a little gift...a little reminder of His love. He uses the weirdest things in my life. Sometimes it's people, sometimes it's circumstance, sometimes it's fruit. And I love that. I love that I never know what to expect. I love that when I pray, "God, I really need to feel Your love for me today," I know I will, I just have no idea how It's going to come. And I love that today, it came in the form of a perfect mango.

Also, could the mango be a metaphor for something else :) Yes, I think so....and believe me, I have a lot to say about that, too. We'll get there eventually.