Oh, the More-with-Less Cookbook! How I love this book! “Green” and globally aware before it was trendy, really simple way before Real Simple; a Christian response to global hunger that involved so much more than writing a check to a relief organization. Commissioned by the Mennonite Central Committee in 1976 “in response to world food needs,” this cookbook was ahead of its time in its awareness of how personal food consumption is connected deeply to poverty and want in other... Read more

A recent study from the US Department of Agriculture noted that more than one in five children in the United States lives in a household that struggles to put enough food on the table. Among Latino children, says the organization Bread for the World, it’s more than one child in three that’s at risk for hunger. Ivone Guillen, immigration policy fellow at Bread for the World Institute, noted that while many immigrant families might qualify for programs such as SNAP... Read more

I made this with eggplant, basil, green sweet pepper, green beans and cherry tomatoes from our family’s garden. It went over big with the family, though my 5 year old–who is in a picky stage–denounced it as ‘sour.’ One of the things I like about this dish is that it brings together the foods we have plenty of right now–local–fusing them with flavors and techniques that are, well, global. It’s a dish where meat is more of a flavoring than a... Read more

Last week, year the popular Christian blogger and writer Rachel Held Evans drew her readers’ attention to mothers living in poverty in places like Bolivia. These women, whom Evans met in person, daily face crucial decisions–educate this child or that one? can we afford books or can we afford food? Evans contrasted these decisions with North American “mommy wars”–debates like breast or bottle (feeding), cloth or disposable (diapers), and Sears or Ezzo (gurus). Such choices, in light of the life and... Read more

This is one of those dishes that I begin craving sometime in late winter. But it is most assuredly a midsummer’s meal: it’s cool, perfect for eating on hot nights; it’s transportable, great for taking to a picnic or a barbeque, and it’s flavorful, but only when you use the freshest seasonal ingredients. To tell the truth, I’ve never even been a big fan of pasta salads–mostly because I like, but do not love, mayonnaise–but this one is different. Try... Read more

this book gives a great history of American Christian diet books/movements There’s a shallowness of thinking about food and eating that has surfaced again and again in the 100+ years since Christians first began linking healthy diets with spiritual health. The typical logic goes like this: The Bible teaches that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Fat and/or unhealthy bodies are not pleasing temples. Therefore to be a pleasing temple for the Holy Spirit you should not... Read more

This salad is another perfect meal for a hot night. Again, it’s delicious served with a baguette. We used more of our delicious Riesentraubes (an heirloom cherry-type tomato) in this wonderful salad, which reminds us of the time we spent in Rome two three! summers ago with my dear sister-and-brother-in-law. Though you’ll often see Caprese as a layered salad–with big slices of tomato and cheese alternated with big basil leaves–we find this version easier to eat. Toss together in a... Read more

I received a comment on the Audrey Hepburn post–in which I urged that one can be beautiful no matter their size–that gave me something to think about. You can read the comment in full on the original post (here), but this snippet sums up the basic point: “This is a message that is very lovely, but I have to say…you look beautifully thin in all of your pictures. It seems to me that it is somewhat easier to share the... Read more

I think it’s time for some cake. I don’t make desserts for every day meals. And I generally don’t bake cakes in the summertime. But you know? Some days, you just feel like having some cake. On this day, I was harvesting beets to make room for the very enthusiastically reproducing strawberry plants. My son and husband were helping me: {he’s not faking that enthusiasm for the beet, either.} {my dear husband, the real gardener in the relationship} So, earlier... Read more

for the record, I happen to love me some good North Fork Potato Chips–a locally produced brand. But I don’t pretend they’re healthy. They’re just yummy, and a sometime treat. Last week, Michael Pollan tweeted a paper on nutrition by Carlos Monteiro entitled “There is No Such Thing as a Healthy Ultra-Processed Product.” Food companies, the paper argues, promote their products as ‘healthy’ based on either of two things: 1. The absence of perceived “bad” ingredients (0g trans fats! NO... Read more