I see hosting visitors or bringing a dish to pass as a challenge: how can I make something people will truly enjoy, that has either a hidden or overt powerful nutritive boost, and that is frugal enough that I donít mind sharing, even if by chance no one appreciates the effort?

A dip is the perfect grab and go dish for a big gathering, in my opinion. People love to be able to cruise the appetizer table, grab a cracker or veggie, dunk, and be on their merry way.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Garlic Spread
With a gorgeous autumn orange offset by the deep green of fresh parsley, this simple, nourishing spread has everything going for it: seasonality, aesthetics, quick prep, and even an immunity boost for the folks rubbing shoulders while they sample your real food appetizer. I serve it with homemade sourdough crackers, but itís even better with my other homemade cracker recipe that tastes just like Wheat Thins.

Ingredients:

3 small or 2 large sweet potatoes (~4 cups)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp oregano
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Why yesÖthere are four garlic cloves in this photo. It was zangy, with emphasis on the ZANG!

Method:

Bake sweet potatoes until soft. I like to simply scrub the skins, place the whole potatoes on a cookie sheet or baking dish, and bake along with another meal Iím making sometimes a day or two before I need to make the appetizer recipe. If baking alone, 400F for 45-60 minutes should do the trick, depending on the size of your sweet potatoes. Cool completely, then peel and place into a medium bowl.

Mash somehow or another: a hand blender is my favorite, but you could use a food processor, a potato masher or even a sturdy fork.

Optional step: sautÈ the garlic in the olive oil over low heat until aromatic. I usually choose to skip this step and just go with fresh for the immunity-boosting properties of raw garlic.

Add garlic, oil, and all the other ingredients to the mashed sweet potatoes and mix until uniform. You can adjust the garlic to taste: more for adults who love it and less for children. Keep in mind that the intensity of the garlic will increase quite a bit, even if the spread only has to wait in the refrigerator one night. I like to add a bit extra lemon juice, because that zing gives the whole dish something special to talk about.

Tip: Plan to make homemade chicken stock the same week you need to take this dip somewhere so that you can buy one bunch of fresh parsley without waste.

You can serve the sweet potato spread with crackers of any kind (Iíd recommend Wheat Thins if youíre going with purchased crackers; the sweetness is actually just perfect to compliment the garlic). Other tasty options include tortilla chips, toasted pita chips, mini bagels, or even fresh vegetables. Itís especially attractive on cauliflower florets.

My son requested that I made the homemade crackers and this dip for the teachers at his school when they had to stay late for parent-teacher conferences. I just love that it seems par for the course for him to expect his mom to make homemade crackers to share, and that he thought others would love them (they did!). It warms my heart that healthy food has become so natural to him!

You can see a video of this and another great party appetizer if you check out the cooking eCourses for which I teach at GNOWFGLINS.com.

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

Is there a better way? What options does a “real food” household have for trick-or-treating?

Learning to Host Halloween Ghouls

When we first moved into a real house in a neighborhood, I was pretty excited about hosting trick-or-treaters. Even then I didnít want to contribute to the sugar fest, so I went to a local novelty store and bought small toys in bulk: bouncy balls, fake fangs, gooey balls, witches’ fingers, toy boats, and more.

Wouldn't you like your child to come to my house?

I spent about twenty-five bucks ($13 of which was the bag of bouncy balls that I’ll have when I’m a senior citizen) - and I still have the same stash four years later! Turns out our neighborhood doesn’t host a big trick-or-treating crowd. I was so disappointed that first year!

To Sugar or Not to Sugar?

I’m an anti-materialist, too, and I have a healthy fear of “things” coming into our house. We’re running out of places to put “things”, so I’d rather not acquire more than what I need (or really, really want!). My kids both get a lot of toys as gifts from family members, and I wasn’t thrilled about contributing to other folks’ “junk piles”…BUT I decided “things” that won’t hurt anyone’s health are better than candy.

The History of Trick-or-Treating

I enjoyed discovering the following in an old book my cousin found in our Busia’s (Polish grandma’s) attic, The Year And Our Children;: Planning The Family Activities For Christian Feasts And Seasons by Mary Reed Newland:

Begging at the door grew from an ancient English custom of knocking at doors to beg for a “soul cake” in return for which the beggars promised to pray for the dead of the household. Soul cakes, a form of shortbread… became more important for the beggars than prayers for the dead, it is said. Florence Berger tells in her Cooking for Christ a legend of a zealous cook who vowed she wold invent soul cakes to remind them of eternity at every bite. So she cut a hole in the middle and dropped it in hot fat, and lo — a doughnut. Circle that it is, it suggests the never-ending of eternity. Truth or legend, it serves a good purpose at Halloween.

The refrains sung at the door varied from “a soul cake, a sol cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake,” to the later:

Soul, soul, an apple or two,
If you haven’t an apple, a pear will do,
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for the Man Who made us all.

[People put on pantomimes and dramas to remind people of the] reality of life after death and the means to attain it. it is probably from these that the custom of masquerading on Halloween had its beginning. The folly of a life of selfishness would be the message pantomimed by the damned; the torment of waiting, the message of the souls from Purgatory; the delights of the beatific vision, the message of he Heavensent. Together they warned the living to heed the means of salvation before it was too late. Doubtless the presence of goblins and witches and cats (ancient symbols of the devil) were remnants of pagan times bespeaking to Christians of spirits loosed from hell to keep track of their own and herd them back at cockcrow.

I’m not about to make homemade doughnuts to feed the neighborhood, so for me, I’m sticking with my toy basket. I wish I had some suggestions for how to quell the flow of Halloween candy coming IN, but we just ration it and allow the excitement that comes along with Halloween.

Ideas for a Sweet-less Trick-or-Treat

Time to chime in! What ideas do you have to help people avoid being a candy supplier to the neighborhood kids? How do you manage your own kids and their trick-or-treating loot?

1. little raisin boxes or natural fruit snacks (my S-I-L always gets them for my son from Trader Joe’s)
2. holy cards/saint cards (for the bold)
3. trading cards (baseball, Pokemon)
4. little soaps (not anti-bacterial!)
5. pencils, erasers, crayons (bought at the back-to-school sales, of course)
6. Snack-packs of Goldfish or something else relatively not-un-healthy (better than HFCS or white sugar)
7. Kids love a few coins!
8. Playdough (maybe even homemade!)
9. Activity books and crayons
10. stickers, tattoos, stamps and toys (Oriental Trading is a source for those who may not have a novelty shop in their hometown)

And I’ve got no ideas for the second question. How do you monitor your own kids’ Halloween sugar intake? Please join in!

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

If your family likes Mexican food, this lower carb, grain-free twist on taco night will send you to the Farmer’s Market in a hurry!

Recipe: Mexican Stuffed Peppers

inspired by Coping with Frugality

Ingredients:

3-5 bell peppers, green or colored, halved, seeds removed
1/2 pound ground beef (or a full pound)
1 Tbs. taco seasoning (or follow package directions for 1/2 pound beef)
1 1/2 c. frozen corn (optional)
2 c. black beans (dried and prepared or about 1 can)
1 16 oz. jar salsa
1/4 c. diced red onion
(optional) other vegetables: diced red pepper, zucchini, leafy greens, etc…anything you have on hand to enhance the mixture
(optional) extra kidney beans or lentils to fill in for the missing 1/2 lb. ground beef
Cost: Varies widely depending on vegetables used and current Farmer’s Market prices, but I estimate I could make the meal for 6 adults for $5-6.

Method:

Brown meat and add taco seasoning, following directions on packet or with seasoning recipe to make basic taco meat. If using a half pound ground beef, you might brown a whole pound and freeze the other half for an easy pasta meal the next week. Consider adding cooked lentils or kidney beans at this point and double the taco seasoning accordingly.

Add all the other ingredients except the cheese and heat through on the stovetop. Be creative with the vegetables you have on hand; it’s hard to go wrong with a whole jar of salsa and some taco seasoning already in the mix!

Meanwhile, use a steamer basket to steam the halved peppers for 5-10 minutes until somewhat softened but not cooked to death. Arrange in an oval or 9×13 casserole dish and “stuff” the filling into each pepper generously. This filling is a bit like the loaves and fishes: everything is suddenly full and there’s still more left! I often end up with more filling than I need, which becomes great taco style leftovers or freezes well for a future meal.

After filling, top the peppers with shredded cheese and broil or bake at 350F for 5-10 minutes to brown the cheese.

You can skip the steaming peppers step and simply fill the raw peppers, adding a little water around them in the casserole dish to soften them up while it bakes, but you’ll have to bake 30 minutes, covered, before removing the cover for 5-10 minutes to brown the cheese. You can also freeze raw peppers, simply halved, and then they’re ready for the next stuffed pepper meal, especially if you freeze a jar of leftover filling!

The day I took this photo, I used only a half pound ground beef but added some beef heart, half an ear of corn that was leftover in the fridge, regular white onions instead of red, and orange peppers. I also threw in a can of kidney beans. Often some spinach sneaks in, and it’s really quite alright without any corn for a lower carb option. This is nothing if not a versatile meal!

The original recipe called for a cup of cooked brown rice, but I’ve taken that out to make it a very diabetes-friendly meal for when my mother-in-law visits. The beans could decrease and the meat increase if you’re very serious about low carb; I’m more serious about my food budget, so I go the opposite way with meat and beans.

Serve with:

• Mexican Beans and Rice
• Homemade Refried Beans
• Homemade Guacamole

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

When I evaluate a baking recipe for overall healthy rating, I like to see what kind of ratio the flour vs. sugar is. Many quick bread recipes, for example, will have 2 cups flour and 1 cup sugar, a 2:1 ratio. Thatís not great, but much better than many cakes, which get closer to 1:1! These cakes are 3:1 and 1.5:1, which really arenít bad. They also have 2-3 times as much whole grain flour as white, with only 1 cup white flour each.

I realize white flour and white sugar arenít good for you – but I wasn’t shooting for dense sourdough whole wheat bread here. That’s the “balance” is in my tagline. These are birthday cakes, and theyíre exponentially better than a boxed mix!

Recipe: Coconut Cake
Everyone gave good reviews to this unique cake, which adds a cup of shredded coconut that I count against the white flour in the 3:1 ratio of whole grain to white. Iím thinking of using coconut flour next time to avoid the mouthfeel of the little pieces of coconut in the cake, in which the coconut flavor is evident but not overwhelming. It is just as moist as a boxed mix cake (yesssssss!) and truly delicious, not just ìthis is good for a whole grain cake.î If I had been home for my birthday, I would have made one for myself!
from King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking Cookbook

Ingredients:
King Arthur provides all measurements by weight as well, for those of you amazing bakers who use a scale. Iíll just share the volume measurements, as Iím not so fancy as that.

1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (may I just say I love that they include the ìunbleachedî part? You know thereís a healthy consciousness there!)
æ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 º cups superfine or granulated sugar
1 Ω tsp. baking powder
æ tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
5 large egg whites
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup plain yogurt

Notes on ingredients: The original called for sweetened coconut, but unsweetened went great. I used organic sugar (evaporated cane juice) from Wholesome Sweeteners as part of my test of their products (and they have an awesome prize package for my readers, too! Think holiday bakingÖ). The original also called for coconut extract, which I didnít have, so I doubled the vanilla. Also, itís so exciting to find a recipe that calls for egg whites, because I always have them hanging around from making homemade mayo and Caesar dressing. Do not try to substitute any other kind of flour for the whole wheat pastry flour. Regular whole wheat would not generate a happy texture in a cake. Pastry flour is a totally different beast and well worth the investment if you want to dabble in whole grain biscuits or cakes.

Method:

Choose either two 9-inch round pans, one 9×13 pan, 24 cupcakes, or a 15×20 sheet cake pan. Grease pans with butter and flour them thoroughly, or line with parchment paper.

Whiz the coconut and all-purpose flour in a food processor until the pieces are quite small. (The original recipe called for 30 seconds, but after realizing that you can feel them in the final cake, and thatís not the greatest mouthfeel, I would process longer or use coconut flour.) Set aside.

Cream butter, baking powder, sugar, salt and vanilla in a large mixing bowl at least five minutes until fluffy and light. I set a timer to keep myself honest.

Stir 2/3 cup of the whole wheat pastry flour into the batter, then a Ω cup yogurt, then 2/3 cup more flour, Ω cup yogurt, and the final 2/3 cup flour, mixing well between each addition. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as well between each ingredient.

Add the coconut and flour mixture all at once, stirring until the batter is evenly mixed.

Pour into your prepared pans and bake in a preheated oven at 350F.

• 9-inch rounds or cupcakes: 21-23 minutes
• 9×13 pan: 30-33 minutes
• sheet cake: 25-30 minutes

Test for doneness by poking with a toothpick and watching for the cake to pull away from the edges of the pan slightly. Because of the whole grains, checking to see if the cake springs back when you depress a finger does not work as a doneness test.

Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before frosting. You can freeze the layers for 30 minutes to make frosting easier.

King Arthur offers a coconut frosting as well, but I used my momís famous almond-flavored frosting. We donít do birthday cakes without it! She used Crisco all my life, but Iíve had good success substituting real butter, or even coconut oil (in the winter only). I used Wholesome Sweeteners organic powdered sugar.

My daughter’s birthday cake this year was a classic butter cake with whole grains, if you’re interested.

Do you ever try to make a celebration a little bit healthier?

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

• Easy Deviled Eggs Eggs really are a seasonal food, most abundant naturally in spring and summer, but deviled eggs are great summer food because of picnics and parties.
• Potato Salad My ultimate favorite party dish to pass, potato salad with hamburgers and corn on the cob is the quintessential meal that said, ìSummer is here!î in my childhood.
• *Pasta Salad Variations: Traditional, Pizza, Spicy Red Pepper and Greek Another easy, inexpensive way to feed a crowd.
• Two Cold Beet Salads Beets are easy to find at the Market, and other seasonal vegetables make this a light, unique beginning course for any summer meal.
• Cooked Spelt Salad Cold side dishes can be hard to come by, but this one fits the bill and is a great travel companion for picnics or camping, too.
• Cream of Vegetable or ìEnd of Gardenî Soup The fresher the veggies, the better this soup tastes. Iím never afraid to make soup in the summer!
• Chicken Barley Leek Soup Leeks are always more expensive at the grocery store than the Farmerís Market, at least around here, and chickens are slaughtered in the summer.
• Garlic Soup My garlic is getting ready to harvest; I may have to make some of this blended soup as a side dish to a light summer salad or grilled chicken.
• Katieís Simple Cabbage Soup with Secret Super Food The secret super food may be a fall veggie, but you can watch for cabbage any time now. I like to buy some in season, lightly steam it and freeze for the winter.
• Lazy French Fries in Tallow or Coconut Oil Nothing better than french fries with your grilled burgers!
• Mashed Cauliflower Trick For the low-carbers among you, a side dish that seems to fit better in the summer than the comfort food mashed potatoes.
• *Jamaican Meat Marinade Utilizing in-season peppers, this unique homemade marinade is a must-have for grilled chicken and gets rave reviews every time I serve it.
• California Chicken Wraps Another way to avoid turning on your oven or stovetop in the heat of the summer while still getting a hot meal on the table.
• *Sausage Zucchini Bake I watch for the zucchinis to come in just to make this low-carb, tastebud tantalizing meal. Weíre having it this week, finally!
• *Sausage, Beans and Kale Soup I always find kale tempting at the Farmerís Market, and discovering this soup gave me the opportunity to buy some. The grilled tomato, basil and mozzarella sandwich we dip into the soup can only properly be made with fresh, local tomatoes and basil that was picked this week. Who says soups arenít for summer?
• Green Smoothies With the leftover kale from your bunch or two you bought for the soup, lightly steam and freeze in ice cube trays for green smoothies all season long (or beyond).
• *100% Whole Grain Healthy Fruit Pizza The seasonís best berries make fruit pizza a dazzlingly bold summer dessert choice, perfectly light and airy.
• Summer Fruit Dips Very basic, simple dipping options for your strawberries, blueberries, even melon.
• Fresh Salsa It always takes forever in Michigan for the bulk tomatoes to be ready, but I can almost taste the fresh salsa. Donít even bother making salsa with grocery store tomatoes!
• Lacto-Fermented and Canned Garlic Dill Pickles Iím determined to get the perfect crunch this year!

*My ultimate favorites are starred! I’m also sharing more new ideas from this summer for the next few weeks over at Kitchen Stewardship, if you’re looking for in-season produce ideas.

What summer recipes could you not live without?

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

My son is no exception, but he made us burst with pride when he accepted service over self-indulgence for his own birthday.

We actually told other kids not to bring presents.

Someone asked at my last post whose idea the act of service was, and if it was hard to convince our son. It was my idea, and we were careful and sensitive about how we brought it up. I wanted to show you the results of a birthday party with no toys:

For my son’s fifth birthday, we wanted to give him a “kids” party but didn’t want to deal with all the toys he didn’t need. He decided it would be okay to forego the toys and ask his friends to bring donations to a local organization, Kids Food Basket. I used to work with KFB back when I taught third grade, and they’ve been providing sack dinners for schoolchildren who might not otherwise have their third square meal of the day for almost 10 years.

The guests at the party brought cards for my son instead, and most of them went all out creating handmade masterpieces.

I don’t think anyone missed the presents…

…and yes, most of my son’s friends are girls. He happens to like older women! I was blessed to know many Catholic friends having children around the same time as me, and most of them happened to have girls. He’s grown up with these lovely ladies!

Aren’t birthday parties mostly about the playtime and the CAKE anyway?

Here’s his birthday “loot”. We took him down to Kids Food Basket to donate the food himself, and we volunteered to help make sandwiches and pack some bags while we were there. It was the best thing I did all week!



Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

He’s five years old.

And we’re really proud of him.

Paul forfeited gifts at his fifth birthday party (the kids’ version) in lieu of food for Kids Food Basket, a local organization that provides sack suppers for school kids who might otherwise go home hungry. Besides that, he willingly (more or less) left his friends playing outside to volunteer to make sandwiches for an entire school.

It was the best part of my year so far.

Paul Volunteers at Kids Food Basket

Excited to be on our way with just Mommy and Daddy. Little sister Leah was too young to come along.

We donated one really BIG bag of non-perishables and sandwich baggies.

We washed our hands to get ready to work.

Our assignment was to make 85 peanut butter sandwiches, which would feed one entire school’s worth of kids in the program.

Just peanut butter on bread; no jelly. It was hard to figure out how thick to make them. At home I would make really thick, delicious sandwiches, but here I felt like I needed to stretch the peanut butter more. ???

We made sandwich after sandwich, hitting our mark of 85 and going beyond on our way to helping feed this many kids:

Paul was so highly motivated. He loved spreading the peanut butter on bread, especially since he got to wear gloves so his hands didnít get sticky. We talked about the fact that some other 5-year-olds would probably eat the sandwich he made, and we prayed for those we were serving from time to time (my “kitchen prayer” in action).

After a while, he asked if he could help fill the bags, and the concentration on his face as he got to the end of the line and trucked back to the beginning was truly priceless. He could barely reach into the boxes.

The Contents of the Lunch

How to Feed the World Real Food with Less Waste

I don’t know the answer.

I hate that.

At one point while spreading peanut butter on the outside of a heel of bread, I said, ìThis is almost unethical for me,î referring to making white bread sandwiches with hydrogenated fat-laden peanut butter. *hair stands on end* (How I feel about trans fats.) It was hard to think about feeding kids food I knew was bad for them.

The alternative, though, is letting kids dig through the dumpster for food after school, which is what one principal found her students doing that inspired the creation of Kids Food Basket in the first place.

Sometimes you have to take what you can get.

I also started to think about the waste of single serving packages, and especially of the plastic spoons I was asked to purchase, knowing that most of the children would be eating the meal at home. I understand packing the ìwhole mealî though. What if thereís not a clean spoon in the home? Itís important that these kids are given dignity along with dinner, and they donít need any reminders that the food and financial situation in their house is so dismal.

Is the Purpose “Full” or “Nourished”?

The question of hungry people being “full” vs. being “nourished” is a tangled one, and there’s no easy answer. As much as I wish I could have been making roasted organic chicken and real cheese sandwiches on whole wheat bread with homemade mayo…that’s just not going to happen. The donations that come in, from private individuals and other organizations like Gleaners or America’s Second Harvest, simply must be used, and when white bread is all you have, you just feed the children.

I was told that this year, they’re serving a lot more fruits and vegetables, which I was really excited to hear.

On the flip side, even that isn’t probably as positive as it sounds. I kept wondering how many of the little baggies of cherry tomatoes in that day’s meals found their final resting place in the trash can, along with the cucumbers from the day before. How many kids will eat a random bag of vegetables, with no dip, especially when it’s likely their parents aren’t going to make them?

Speaking of those plastic baggies, I also couldn’t help thinking, ìFake Plastic Fish would have a heart attack if she could see this.î

We used lots and lots of plastic bags, but what is the alternative? A charitable organization canít spend the extra money on waxed paper bags, and that would still create a mountain of waste, and you canít give the kids reusables because youíd never get them back, and how would you keep them straight if you could?

The joy I felt in volunteering was tempered by all these not-nutritious and not-eco-friendly considerations.

A Well-Oiled Machine

The feat of serving over 2500 kids a sack supper every weekday is an incredible one, especially for a grassroots non-profit organization like Kids Food Basket that was only serving four schools and a few hundred kids six years ago when I got involved with them. Their facility is a small one, with lunchbag food tucked into every corner.

On our tour, I was happy to see

and not surprised to see:There was also real cheese. Again, you just have to take what you can get.

Paul was thrilled to get to sign his name

on the cooler wall:

The director also shared with us some thank you letters from some of the kids they serve:

This reminded me that the school teachers can make a big impact on their students’ nutrition, and I bet they’re reminding the kids to eat their vegetables. “Delicious vegetables!” Doesn’t that just warm your heart!?

I’m proud that 85 kids had a sack dinner because of our volunteer efforts, and I pray that the tomatoes and bananas got as much face time as the PB sandwiches and granola bars. I’m really, really proud of my son Paul, who had a fabulous experience his first time volunteering, and wore his new T-shirt for the next two days.

Donations to food banks are notoriously low this time of year (summer), so I want to encourage you to find one in your community and think of the hungry with a gift of some sort this month. What will you bring? Is it possible to feed hungry people nourishing foods, or at least something closer to real food than the cheapest peanut butter on white bread?

What do you think? How do we change the paradigm of cheap food for the hungry?

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

In previous posts, we’ve discussed God’s perfect design for the world.  This post is unfortunately all about how humans sabotage His plan…

Animal Health

The way in which our food is grown or raised has an incredible influence on the health of the society and Godís creation. When animals are fed what God intended for them to eat ñ grass for cows, for example ñ they are healthy, and their meat has an appropriate balance of nutrients for human consumption. When cattle are fed corn, soy, and other stuff you donít even want to know about, their stomachs have to adjust, their fat and muscle adjusts, and the animals are more likely to be ill, just as their meat is more likely to make human eaters ill (or at the very least, not support optimal health).

Soil and Farming Health

Artificial fertilizers and pesticides are wreaking havoc on the health of our soil, yet another layer of ìhealthî that is easy to disregard. The soil doesnít groan with stomach pains or look gaunt from malnutrition, but it may as well have both. The minerals in most conventionally farmed fields are tapped out, to be replaced with the same artificial fertilizers year after year, requiring more each year to compensate for the dead earth.

We may never recover from the impact of genetically modified plants, especially after they start influencing the development of their organically farmed neighbors, and even the weeds that try to attack them. We are changing our ecosystem with genetic modification, playing God if you will, and I donít think the far-reaching consequences have been predicted or examined thoroughly enough.

Add to that the damage done directly to the health of communities by pesticide clouds, manure run-off, and petroleum and ozone depletion to cart all these commodities across the country and back and package them, and our food system is becoming as anti-health as can be.

The High Health Costs of Cheap Food

To complicate an already complicated food situation in America, we need to acknowledge the fact that our food system changes are all aimed at the goal of increasing production and reducing cost. That makes it even easier for the uninformed or unintentional consumer to overeat, particularly foods that will ultimately damage their health. We generally grow cheap food that will kill you early instead of expensive, worthwhile, nutrient-dense food to sustain good health.

The Problem of Medication

The common solution to the various health problems we have created is to throw some more chemicals in the mix, whether they be more fertilizer, sanitizers, irradiation, antibiotics or other medications. We are putting medicinal band-aids on bleeding hearts instead of looking for preventative measures and simply returning to the life God has created us for.

Not only is this perpetuating the diseases from which the modern world (and the modern world only!) suffers, like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, but also the chemicals, either after passing through our bodies or by taking up residence in the soil, pollute our air and water supply. We are all drinking the estrogen, for example, that users of the Pill and hormone supplements excrete, because it cannot be filtered out of our water. How many more occurrences of disease are we causing in our fight to take control of our health, unnaturally?

Whatís a Christian to Do?

Can we really use our faith to influence the choices we make about our health and our food consumption? I truly believe that God wishes us to consider the overall health, both physical and spiritual, of the world when we make our food choices. The Father of all wouldnít want His children sabotaging each other and harming themselves for some momentary convenience or pleasure of good-tasting food. Our health is tied into our care of creation, our day-to-day eating, and our sense of community. Let us make conscious choices to be good stewards of all Godís creation when we sit down to the table and break bread. We may be hosting angels unaware.

What else are people doing to fight against God’s creative plan, and how can we make a positive impact?



Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

In the last article, I discussed how God has written into Creation some “rules” for good health.  Today we’re talking about our perspective on eating.

What is God’s Plan for our Health?

When you read Genesis, “the beginning”, it’s pretty clear that our lives now are little like God’s original intent for humanity’s existence. We were vegetarians (Gen. 1:29), without bodily shame, without toil of labor to grow our food (Gen. 3:17), and with very few restrictions other than “don’t eat the apple.” With that first sinful bite of food, Adam and Eve sent humanity into a tailspin of improper eating and resulting consequences throughout history.

Much of our health is based on what we eat (probably a bit on sleep, too, but don’t tell my body that). The brain and the gut talk to one another, the status of each affecting the other. Some say we have a second brain in our guts. Hard to believe? Consider stress-induced “butterflies” and how poor nutrition, especially lots of sugar, can impact mental acuity and cause hyperactivity. Studying God’s plan for our health comes back around to what we eat.

Can eating be a spiritual endeavor? Consider:

• The first temptation, although that of pride, used food as a vehicle to accomplish the first sin.
• Food is immediately in the spotlight again when Cain and Abel bring tithes to the Lord of different qualities.
• God’s mercy is demonstrated through the miraculous manna and quail in the dessert. The people are fed, but they don’t even realize that they still need to be fed (spiritually).
• Christ often ate with his followers, regularly sharing key teachings with them over a meal, including the Last Supper and the giving of His Body and Blood.
• After the Resurrection, Christ revealed Himself to His friends a number of times over a meal: in Emmaus, when He first appeared in the Upper Room (He asked to eat), and when He cooked fish for Peter, John and the others on the seashore.
• The early Christians met for the “breaking of the bread” in their homes.

The Many Sides of Eating

Eating is also not something that humans do in isolation, neither physically nor figuratively. Eating is an important form of community, and some theorize that it is just that, the community aspect of meal time, that makes eaters either healthy or unhealthy.

Folks in the scientific world have dubbed the superior health of the French people, in spite of their diet heavy in saturated fat and white flour, the “French paradox”. There are as many theories about the answer to that paradox as there are people trying to figure it out, but one possibility is that the French eat slowly, with friends and family, and not to excess. The French do not say, “I am full,” but rather, “I have no more hunger.” When we Americans are expected to eat until we are full, perhaps we’re destining ourselves to obesity!

Eating is an input/output system in more ways than one. Not only is our health dependent on appropriate food input and effective output, but the very act of eating food has such an impact on our community and environmental health. Like a stone tossed into a still pond, each action we choose has an effect on everyone around us, even people we’ll never know. The plastic bottle I drink from today may impact my fertility 10 years from now and Susie Q’s cancer rate 100 years from now.

How do you view your faith and your food?  Are they connected?

In the last of this three-part series, I’ll discuss animal and soil health, the high cost of cheap food, and medication.

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

I don’t watch much TV, but I’ve caught this commercial in which doctors or medicine men in various cultures and historical time periods examine a boy with stomach pains. Only the modern doc with fancy equipment can actually “take a look” at the pain.

While the commercial pokes fun at old-time medicine, I think we mustn’t forget how intuitive that medicine could be.

The Creator of the Body Knows How it Works

So often, God has written into our very bodies recipes for health:

• Foods that aren’t good for us make our stomachs feel badly or interfere with our elimination, such that we can see and feel a problem.
• When we have a cold, our instincts make us cough and sneeze, to get the germs out. We want to rest, which heals our systems.
• Before our culture-driven mind gets in on the eating game, babies and very young children are born with the ability to (1) know when they have had enough food and (2) eat a balance of nutrients over the course of a week, including what they might need to treat a particular problem, without consulting the food pyramid or the super foods list. Even adults can crave certain food items that their body needs, without knowing why.
• Our taste buds and cultural norms direct us to put foods together that nutritionally complement each other, like beans and rice, tomatoes and olive oil, cheese and crackers.
• Bad food – rancid oil, moldy bread, etc. – tastes and smells awful to us, protecting our systems from the sickness that would come from eating it. Fumes that are bad for us also usually smell bad, too.
• Upon a serious injury, systems often go into shock to protect us from severe pain and losing control of our emotions.

Other times, He wrote health notes to us through His Word:

• When pork was often making people sick, pork was prohibited.
• God commanded the foreskin to be removed, and it is now proven that men with foreskin have more infections and other problems.
• A person was “unclean” for seven days after they touched a dead body (Numbers 19:11). As Rex Russell points out in the introduction to his What the Bible Says About Healthy Living, this probably saved many lives from contagious diseases passed by doctors and rabbis before we understood the value of handwashing.
• Teachings on fasting truly help humans to detoxify, particularly the tradition of fasting during Lent, in the springtime, the time of year that most agree is vital for detoxification.
• Even the simple reminders of moderation, of hospitality, laughter, consistent prayer – all improve our health, when obeyed.

Certainly this God who cares for the sparrow cares for our health. He wants our bodies to be proper temples of the Holy Spirit… The most fascinating fact I’ve learned lately is the powerful connection between the gut and the mind. Did you know that 70% of your immune system is in your gut, along with more neurons than your spinal cord? (source)

It’s like God wrote a secret code message to the scientists of our day when He created the world: “By the way, now that you’ve figured out how everything microscopic works, please take note that what people eat affects their health! And be thoughtful about it, will ya?” Actually, I don’t think the Lord would use exclamation points. That would be my influence, and one of many reasons He didn’t inspire me to write down any of His Scripture.

What else do you see in the natural world that points to the author of life writing good health into His Creation?

Next time…What is God’s Plan for Our Health?



Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

If you’ve read my last few columns, you know that I found naptime to be the perfect time for a 5-minute power prayer session.  I shared with you my novena trick to keep me motivated to regular prayer.  Sometimes, even the best laid plans don’t end up working so well…

When I had a second child, the naptime thing no longer worked for me, since someone always seemed to be awake.  Satan tricked me into thinking that I didn’t have the energy to pray. I fell off the wagon, hard, and lost the rhythm of my Ordinary Time novenas.

When my daughter turned about six months, I found motivation for try anew for regular prayer time.  I had lost the momentum of my novenas, so I tried something new:  I made a list of daily prayer intentions, my “most important people,” along with a saint to pray to for each one of them. I quickly implored each saint to pray for this person, and if I had a particular intention for them, I added that at the time.

I can get through the list in 5 minutes, plus ask God for help in my day and even add another prayer for my marriage sometimes. Here is an idea of my current list:

• St. Joseph – for my husband
• St. Paul – for my son
• St. Katharine Drexel – for my daughter
• Mary, Mother of God – for patience in parenting for myself
• I offer up my: time, money, parenting, daily duty
• St. Monica – for my parents and in-laws (I figure she prayed for her son, but she can pray for my parents, too. I don’t know if there is a patron saint of parents!)
• St. Michael the Archangel – for my brother in the armed forces
• St. Maria Goretti – for my sister and brother-in-law, newly married
• St. Benedict – for my work, my writing, discernment about jobs
• St. Martin de Porres – for the USA and the conversion of President Obama
• For an end to abortion and contraception
• St. Gerard – for all my pregnant friends (16 at one point – too many to keep track of!! God knows my heart…)
• Blessed Mother Teresa – for all sick, especially…(here I can add people as I learn of illnesses)

You can do this, too. God wants to talk to you, even if it’s just 5 minutes. When you’re lucky, the timer will beep and you’ll ignore it because you’re enjoying your time with the Lord so much. This is how we grow in holiness…one 5-minute step at a time.

I don’t only pray 5 minutes a day, but that’s the time I spend on my knees.  Here is how I incorporate prayer into my busy work in the kitchen.

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

Last time I shared with you my constant novena trick to keep myself praying with the fervor of the 40 days of Lent.  Today let’s talk about when during the day you can set aside time to talk to the Lord.

If you don’t think you can fit prayer into your schedule, try 5 minutes. Choose morning, evening, or any particular time of day and commit to setting the timer for FIVE minutes (so you don’t interrupt your prayer to check the clock) and pray. If you’re like me, having a plan will help so that you don’t spend the first four minutes of your 5-minute prayer thinking about what want to pray about, or the last four minutes pondering your to-do list for the rest of the day.

• Choose some written prayers to pray every day if you don’t think you can focus well.
• Have a prayer list of intentions handy, those people you want to pray for, so that you keep on task.
• Try the recurring novena method that I described in my last column.

As a mother of young children, a specific time of day for prayer doesn’t work for me. I would never say, “Every day at 3:00 I’ll pray for 5 minutes.” Who KNOWS what I might be doing at 3:00?

I have to choose a specific point in my routine.  For example, when I had one child, I used to pray daily when my son went down for his nap, setting aside the first five minutes for the Lord.

If you have kids in school, a “time” of day might work for you.  Try about 10 minutes before the kids come home. Then you can pray for 5 minutes and prepare for their coming for the next 5.

Some other ideas include:

• upon waking up
• after brushing your teeth
• first thing after the child(ren) go down for a nap (BEFORE you get involved in doing your to-do list – it’s too long anyway!)
• right after dinner
• after dishes are done
• after the kid(s) go down at night
• when you get home from work…
• The list is endless and must be tailored to YOUR situation.

“And what about when you had your second child, Katie?” you might ask.  I’ll tell you about that in part three: When Your Routine is Interrupted.

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

Since I have no self-discipline unless I’m sacrificing for God, that joy came with way too much sugar during Easter week, a bloated stomach, and a lack of structure in my prayer life.  I work so hard for 40+ days at certain habits, and as soon as Lent is over, sometimes I fall right off the wagon. Sometimes so fast that I can’t even find the wagon!

Today I want to encourage you to keep up the discipline of prayer that you (hopefully) increased during the Lenten season.  Try giving yourself a new goal, something attainable.  How about nine days?

Choose a special intention, choose a saint (or a particular prayer or set of prayers) to pray for them,  and pray a novena. When it finishes, choose a new intention and new prayers for the next nine days.  This is a great way to make a commitment to prayer, like the 40 days of Lent, that won’t overwhelm you with it’s infinite time limit.  You can do nine days.

When I was faithfully keeping novenas running, I kept track of them on my prayer calendar…just in case any miracles happened, I’d have documentation, right?! And that helped keep me on track. This way, I felt I HAD to keep the novena going for my special person/people, therefore I was less likely to skip prayer time.  (Find lists of novenas for your reference here, here, and here.)

What are you doing to keep the prayerful spirit of Lent alive while enjoying the Alleluias of the Easter Season?

Next time we’ll talk about when to fit daily prayer into your life.

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

St. Peter’s Spicy Fish Seasoning

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 ½  teaspoons cayenne pepper, or to taste (I like it hot)

Method:
In an empty spice jar or small bowl, make the blackening seasoning by combining all of the above dry spices. The mix stores great for as many fish dinners as you can cover.

To cook the fish:
Heat a heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) on high for a few minutes. Sprinkle some cornmeal on a plate with the seasoning on top and coat both sides of thin tilapia (or other mild fish) fillets with the mixture.  You may want to add a little water to the fish if the cornmeal isn’t sticking.  Sear fillets in hot skillet for about 2-3 minutes on each side (until they are blackened and cooked through).  I love the flavor of the cast iron skillet and a little butter, ghee, or refined coconut oil.  You know fish is done when it flakes when you put a fork in it and lift up.

A Problem with Tilapia:

Although my fish-hating husband started allowing tilapia to be served last year because he knew he needed to increase his omega 3 intake, unfortunately, I now have learned that tilapia has more omega 6s than omega 3s.  It’s not what I’m looking for!  The tilapia in Christ’s era was probably quite healthy, but farmed tilapia that we find in our grocery stores eats too much corn, which is high in omega 6s.  Americans eat way too much omega 6.  I need a new bland white fish that I can cut super thin and cover in seasoning, that is also safely and sustainably fished.

Here are some excellent resources about tilapia, farmed fish, eco-friendly fish and healthy-for-you fish:

• U.S. Farmed tilapia is “best choice” for the environment, says Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch.  However, only 10% of tilapia sold in the U.S. is farmed here.  Read The Nourishing Gourmet’s thorough post on why tilapia is still not a good choice.
• Research from Wake Forest University shows that farmed tilapia, catfish higher in omega-6 fatty acids than lean ground beef, doughnuts.  This “could be a potentially dangerous food source for some patients with heart disease, arthritis, asthma and other allergic and auto-immune diseases that are particularly vulnerable to an “exaggerated inflammatory response.”
• So what fish SHOULD we eat??  Check out the Super Green Fish List from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch:  fish that are BOTH good for the environment and high in omega 3s.  Unfortunately, there aren’t many basic, low-on-the-fishy-flavor white fish on there.
• You can also download a regional safe fish list, which is really helpful for me in the Great Lakes State.  Tilapia is still on the happy list, but the omega 6s say otherwise.
• Kimi has a great post on what considerations to take to choose safe, healthy fish.

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

“I don’t get desserts in Lent!” he fired back with an earthy groan.

No, we didn’t make our then-three-year-old sacrifice sweets last year. He probably had some fallout because his father and I didn’t eat desserts, but I clearly remember him making good use of the candy stash for himself. It’s intriguing to me that “no desserts” erroneously made such an impact on him.

It can be difficult to figure out how to involve young children in a penitential season like Lent without turning them off. A friend shared a list of great ideas to do just that last year. They are taken from the book Guiding Your Catholic Preschooler by Kathy Pierce and Lori Rowland. I utilized a few when my son was three-almost-four and was pleased with the outcome, and I’m just as pleased to share some ideas with you.

Participating in Lent with Young Children

These are a few of my favorites from the list:

1. Work with kids to create Stations of the Cross and post around the house; visit the Stations each Friday as a family

2. Rice Bowl Pennies:
- Go around the house each day and count how many of one item is in the house that you are grateful for (ie: lights, books, beds, shoes, children)
- For each item on that day, the child may put that many pennies into the Rice Bowl

3. Bury the Alleluia:
- Create and decorate signs with “Gloria” and “Alleluia”
- Bury outside or hide inside
- Dig up or find on Easter morning

4. Sacrifice Cross
- Cut out a large purple cross and hang up in the house
- Each time a good deed or sacrifice is performed by the child during Lent, they may put a sticker, or pasta painted purple, or some item on the cross
- Try to fill up the cross by Easter!

You can download a FREE one-page printable version of the full list.

My dear friend Sarah also has a great list of 10 Ideas to Journey through Lent for Families.

Our Family’s Lent: Praying for Souls in Purgatory

This year, we’re going to do a decade of the Rosary each night for family prayers, and we have a Noah’s Ark that’s like an Advent calendar from Liturgical Training Publications that will give us a Scripture, story and prayer for each day. I looked, but cannot find it for sale anywhere to recommend to you this year.

I’m also committed to praying for the souls in Purgatory. A holy mama at my Bible study reminded us this week that the souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves. Every one of them depends on the prayers of the community of saints – including us, the Church Militant on Earth! – to help purify them and get them to Heaven. That may not have been the most theologically correct sentence, but it’s striking. We have a great responsibility to our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in Christ.

Even greater is our responsibility to teach our children about praying for those in Purgatory. Just think: who will be praying for you when, most likely, you are awaiting purification there? More importantly and less selfishly, who will pass the tradition on to your grandchildren, so that someone is praying for your children’s souls on their journey, as well as the rest of the Body of Christ? Start the habit young, and your children will accept this doctrine of the Church without having to reason through it.

What About Older Children?

Honestly, I would love some suggestions from more seasoned moms about the transitions in Lenten practices from preschool to high school. Here are my thoughts at this stage of my parenting:

• Transitions is the key word. You make changes in how you explain Lent and what you expect of your children between three and fourteen, when they are supposed to practice their faith like an adult.
• Focus on the penitence, the prayers, and not so much the sacrifices, unless you can explain how to sacrifice well, really well.
• When I taught third grade, I absolutely expected them to do something for Lent. I called them “Lenten Promises” and explained the three options: sacrifice, prayer or good works. If Lent in middle elementary is a time simply to focus on improving one’s behavior or being more kind to siblings, so be it! It is a season set apart, for every age.

How are you sharing the season of Lent with your children?

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

Many in the “Real Food” world speak of the difficulties of convincing the husbands, and I’m beginning to think it’s a major issue. We’re called to be partners in marriage, so it’s vital that we work hand in hand. The way the man of the house reacts to the food being served can impact not only the peace of the marriage, but also the way the children accept the food and respect the mother.

It is not this way in every situation, but so many of us wives are the ones doing the reading about nutrition and/or following our gut to determine our family’s nutritional goals. What’s a husband to do? When we put something a bit off the grid on the table, do they just have to eat it?

My apologies to the men out there; this post is not exactly for you. Ladies, read on for inspiration to get on the same page with your husband in the kitchen, no matter what it takes.

Beyond womanly wiles and bulldozing your ideas through, what’s a real foodie mama to do to keep peace in the marriage? Sometimes there are a lot of changes to make to transform a standard household to a whole foods diet. It really goes against the paradigm of seducing our men through their stomachs. A good meal is traditionally (and truly!) like a love letter to a man, whether during courtship or marriage.

If you’ve read part of my story, you know part of the craziness that happened within my own head and in my home as I learned more and began to make changes in our diets. When the dust settled, my husband was tentatively on board.

I probably did some bulldozing. I may have used some womanly wiles (here is one example). Ultimately, I do have a few tactics that I can share with the masses.

Real Food and Husbands: It’s About Teaching, Trust and Trickery

Teaching:

My husband is a computer guy, an engineer who truly appreciates cold, hard facts. I try to be as up on the science behind the nutrition as I can, and I lay it out for him as plainly as possible. He doesn’t have to know everything I know about what we’re eating, but he wants to know enough to understand why our food budget is expanding slightly and some of his favorite treats are disappearing. I explain to him how certain foods will keep us healthy and the rationale behind purchasing decisions, whether for the environment or our health. He knows enough to stay afloat about raw milk, coconut oil, and his own triglycerides.

My advice for others? Know how your husband likes to think. Talk about food. In manageable bites. He deserves to know.

Trust:

My husband knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have our family’s best interests in mind when I work in the kitchen. He sees how much I care, how hard I work, and he honors that in how he reacts to the food I serve. This is not something I can make a bulleted list about for you.

Building trust is simply part of our marriage, based on open communication, prayer together, and a foundation of faith and love. Just as we discuss our family size and our goals for the future, we can discuss our health concerns and desires openly. He hears me pray for our family’s health and for guidance on what to buy and what to eat. He knows I’m doing my very best, and that is of the utmost importance. If you don’t have a foundation of trust in your marriage, stop working on changing your diet and start with your relationship with your husband with God as the guide.

Trickery:

This may sound mutually exclusive with the previous point, but it’s not. It’s about allowing yourself to be in control of the kitchen. The trust you’ve built means he doesn’t feel he has to micro-manage.

• It’s okay *not* to tell your husband when you’re trying something new, at least until after he’s tasted the meal. I don’t lie; that would be detrimental to the health of my marriage, even if he never finds out…but I do put organ meats in his spaghetti. He’s kind of learned not to ask!
• I serve tasty alternatives so often that he doesn’t notice his habits have been broken. I soak oatmeal or pancakes more than half of the time, so breakfast is determined before we wake up. The rest of the time, I prepare scrambled eggs and toast or try to persuade him to have yogurt or sourdough toast. Luckily, my husband loves oatmeal, so it’s a great alternative to cereal. He hardly notices the dwindling supply until he’s confronted with the lack of boxes in the basement.
• I tentatively upgrade certain meals, hoping the end result will be as tasty as the original (or better, in a perfect world). We’ve had great success with Homemade Hamburger Helper, Pepper Steak, and Skillet Lasagna. If I make a failure, I’m generally careful to wait at least a few days before trying something new!
• I make sure we still have good treats around, but they’re all upgraded nutrition. I bake cookies, but I use whole wheat flour, less sugar, and healthy fats. We have delectable hamburgers with grassfed beef and homemade buns. One meal like that is enough to keep him happy for a week!
• What’s the theme here? Serve food that tastes good most of the time so the husband doesn’t pay as much attention to (a) the food that is not so good and (b) the food he’s not getting anymore that he used to eat. Between knowing what he should eat and having so many good choices to fill him up before he gets distracted by what he shouldn’t eat, he hardly has time to eat poorly. (It’s a little like feeding a toddler in a non-condescending way.)

Partners in Life, Partners in Food

The bottom line in feeding a family, as in everything that has to do with running a household and growing children of God, is that you and your husband must be on the same page, or at least close. When I wanted to start getting raw milk, he said, “I’m never going to be more in favor of this than I am now. I’m still skeptical…but if you think it’s important, then let’s do it.” I love my husband. In my opinion, it’s good that he’s more skeptical than me, because it keeps me grounded.

It helps me remember that we cannot add a day to our lives by worrying, and that the Lord counts every hair on our heads and will feed us well, just as He cares for the birds of the sky and the flowers of the field. He keeps me balanced, and this is vital in a field where I am constantly coming across conflicting information and research. Who’s to say what the perfect diet is? Be a team with your husband; peace in the household is more important than the most perfect meal on the table. Giving up (for a time, with more prayer) may be the answer, if that’s what it takes.

How about you? What are the biggest challenges in helping the men buy into the whole foods changes? What have been your greatest successes? We cookin’ wives need all the help we can get!



Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

I first watched the movie as a single person, and I could feel the palpable terror in the mother’s heart as she digested the information…she suddenly screams at her children to get out of the pool immediately and nearly has a breakdown. Nothing had changed about her world except the information she had just been given. The water had always been harmful, even though it looked crystal clear and good for drinking. This mother can do nothing about the water her children had played in for the past hour, nor about the water they’d consumed in all their years in that home.

When I watched the movie after becoming a mother, this scene became wholly terrifying in the depths of my soul. My mouth went dry, my heart palpitated, my hands were chilled, and I emphasized with that mother to the nth degree.

It’s easy for me to become a bit overwhelmed when confronted with a wealth of new information about hazards in our world. This scene depicts exactly how I felt as I gazed around my house when I first started reading about the traditional foods movement and eco-friendly living (and still do sometimes).

What toxins are in my water? What pesticides might be on that lettuce? If I push the “start” button on my microwave, how does it affect my food? My children’s brains? It takes all my willpower not to run outside screaming, “Get out of the pool, NOW!!!!”

If I did that in my situation, we’d have nothing to eat, so it wouldn’t be very practical. You can’t just “get out of the pool” of the world of food: purchasing, preparation and storage. You can’t just quit taking showers and drinking the water.

When confronted with conflicting information, there’s nothing to do but make a choice, even when all you want to do is…nothing. Ignorance isn’t bliss, unfortunately, and once you have the knowledge you can only pray and do what you can.  I find myself praying in front of the apples sometimes.  “Lord, should I get the local apples a’la pesticides or the organic apples from across the country a’la transportation pollution?”

I’ve learned to trust Him to give the best to my family, even when I don’t know for certain what “the best” is at any given moment.

Do you ever feel like crying, “Get out of the pool!”?

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

• Jesus is truly present. When we serve Jesus to our parish, we say, “The Body of Christ.  The Blood of Christ.”  Far from being a repetitive phrase, I am reminded with every word that I am holding Jesus’s Body.  I am sharing my Lord with another person.
• Jesus knows everyone’s name. He loves everyone equally.  That is why, although it seems kind and personal to say someone’s name when serving them Eucharist, extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist are not supposed to.
• We are what we eat. We say it when we’re talking table food, and it is as true if not more so when it comes to the Eucharist.  When we consume our Lord’s Body, we become members of the Body of Christ.  When we carry Jesus within us, we are expected to act as Jesus would on the outside.  This is the reason, not exclusivity or pride, that non-Catholics are not invited to receive the Eucharist.  How can you become part of the Body of Christ when you aren’t a member of His Church?  How can you receive when you don’t believe?  It is not to keep people out that we do this, but to make it mean something for those who are “in”.
• We are called to carry Jesus to the world.  When we walk away from the communion line, we carry Jesus within us.  We are His hands in the world, His feet, His mouth to minister to a godless culture.  We become the Body of Christ when we consume the Body of Christ.  We must – must! – remember this and live it as we leave our parishes and go out into the world. We carry Jesus.  Let us behave as if we are worthy of His presence.

The following are some habits I have when I serve Eucharist.  They’re not anything I’ve been taught, not Church teachings by any means, but they show how important I think the Eucharist is and how I try to share that with others:

• I value touch. I make sure that my hand touches the other person as I lay Jesus’s Body in their hand.  When I was a server in a restaurant, I tried not to touch anyone’s food but often utilized a quick touch on the arm to connect as humans with my customers.  How much more so does touch make a difference when serving the Body of our Lord?
• I use eye contact. I make it a point to look every person in the eye, deeply.  I see so many different emotions there, from joy to sorrow to indifference.  I try to communicate the magnitude of what we’re doing with my eyes.  I’m serious to match my tone of voice saying, “The Body of Christ,” yet I often purposely put a smile in my eyes to communicate the joy we ought to feel, that we are chosen to receive Christ in the Eucharist.  Since I don’t say the names of people I know personally, I can tell them, “Hello!” with my eyes.
• I pray for the communicants. Not so much in words, even in-the-head words, but more in a groaning of the spirit as St. Paul teaches in Romans, I pray for the people receiving Jesus in my line.  I ask God to change their lives by this Eucharist.  I ask Him to enter into them and make them holy.  I beg Him that they would believe they are truly receiving a miracle, the Body and Blood of Christ.
• In my weakness, sometimes I judge. I notice the low-cut shirts or the funny-shaped nose, or I silently condemn the jeans-clad teenager or the screaming toddler before I can even censor my thoughts.  My mind drifts to how cute those earrings are or how many kids that family has.  *sigh*  I thank the Lord that He forgives me in my weakness, and I yank my thoughts back to the task at hand:  serving Jesus, literally.

Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball

]]> http://new.catholicmom.com/2010/01/13/serving-eucharist-by-katie-kimball/feed/ 0 http://new.catholicmom.com/2009/12/23/an-advent-christmas-season-reflection-based-on-away-in-a-manger-by-katie-kimball/ http://new.catholicmom.com/2009/12/23/an-advent-christmas-season-reflection-based-on-away-in-a-manger-by-katie-kimball/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:00:51 +0000 Katie Kimball http://new.catholicmom.com/?p=7443 Away in a Manger

Jesus Christ was born in solitude, away from the crowds, just as He sought time alone during his public ministry as an adult.  Granted, He was always found, whether by shepherds and kings or a crowd hungry for more miracles, but Jesus certainly showed us the value of time away.

Let us take time alone this day, or this week, to find a place to be away.  Away from the hustle and bustle of the Christmas to-do lists, away from the stress of navigating human relationships, away from the temptations of the world.  Most importantly, find a time to be away with Jesus.  Find Him alone as the shepherds did and honor Him, show Him the clean place you have created in your heart where you want Him to reside forevermore.  Nestle together in the stable, warm with the satisfaction that your God will always be with you, no matter how far away you may feel.

No Crib for a Bed

One of the first things that new parents worry about is where the baby will sleep (and how the baby will sleep).  How many books are there on the market about babies’ sleep habits and parents’ struggles with them?  It is compelling that the Son of God was born with no crib, no proper nursery room, no white noise machine…

God could have sent His Son in any way one could imagine:  in a blaze of fire, attended by legions of angels, simultaneously in all times in all homes throughout history, if He chose.  How incredible it is and worthy of meditation that He chose to come to us not only as a human, but as a helpless, infant human, and on top of all that, a poor, homeless one.

God may have had the striking simplicity of the manger scene in mind, whether Precious Moments or Fontanini, but I doubt it.  We can be fairly certain He was telling us something about the nature of God and the nature of humanity in His not-so-grand entrance.

The lesson for us from Jesus’ entrance into the cold world is humility.  Christ allowed Himself to be cared for by Mary as we must learn to allow Him to care for us.  We are called to be little children, trusting, obedient, and relying not on our own lofty knowledge but on the faith that God will always take care of us.  Let us pray today for an increase in humility, both in our own lives and in our culture, for politicians, entertainers, students.  Let us pray that we may appreciate the simplicity of a baby without a crib, who must be carried or cuddled, who relies completely on His parents, even though He created them in the first place. May we be content with what we have.

The Little Lord Jesus Laid Down His Sweet Head

St. Therese of the Child Jesus, a saint of just over 100 years ago, wrote often of her “Little Way”.  She believed that doing simple, everyday tasks for love of Christ and love of souls is the way for most of us to worship Jesus, the King.  She had a special heart for the Infant Jesus, who came to us so little, yet is such a BIG God.

When we sing of the Infant Jesus laying down His sweet head, I can’t help but think of another time His head was laid low, when the crown of thorns was placed upon it as punishment for the sins of us all.  He redeemed the sinfulness of our minds, where so much evil takes place, by allowing his head to be pierced.  The sweet Blood of Jesus ran down His face, pouring out salvation for the world.  Do you think Mary, His Mother, pictured His head surrounded by manger hay when she saw it encircled by thorns?

Let us today pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, the head of the Church instituted by the hands of Christ, whose sweet head we honor at Christmastime and always.

The Stars in the Heavens Look Down Where He Lay

We’re rather used to reading personification in our fiction, where animals and objects take on human qualities like talking, seeing, and even feeling emotions.  It probably doesn’t give you pause to read about the stars “seeing” the Christ Child laying in a manger filled with hay.  If you take a moment to ponder what looking stars might mean, what do you think?

I think of the Community of Saints, which includes the faithful here on Earth, the faithful who have passed into Eternal Life and those who are on their way.  They are called the Church Militant, for those fighting the good fight in the world, the Church Suffering for those being purified in Purgatory, and the Church Triumphant, for those who have realized the Joy of Heaven and eternity with God.

Imagine the hope and delight of those “stars” waiting for the doors of Heaven to be opened again, those saints looking down to see the Savior of the world born in a manger.

We are blessed to be able to ask for the prayers of the saints while we pray for those in Purgatory to be able to complete their journey.  Just as we pray for friends around us, we can count on our friends in Heaven to look down where we play and bring our intentions to the Lord.

All you holy saints and angels, pray for us!

The Little Lord Jesus, Asleep on the Hay

I’ve been teaching my four-year-old son this Advent about sacrifice and acts of kindness, and he’s been laying hay in a manger as a birthday gift for Baby Jesus.  Every time he does something out of love for God, he signifies it by building a soft bed for the Baby to be born on.

Any time is a good time to be reminded of the value of sacrifice and recommit to making little acts of sacrifice, kindness and generosity each day of Advent, or the Christmas season, or ordinary time.  I want to become better at giving gifts to the Infant Jesus out of pure love for Him and His Children (three of which live in my home and deserve my utmost every day).  Let us concentrate on the sweet face of the Infant Jesus, sleeping contentendly with the knowledge of our love for Him.



Copyright 2009 Katie Kimball