Yesterday it dawned on me that Thanksgiving is next week. We hadn’t decided what we were going to do. Yikes! So we began working on it and included my co-author Dale in our plans.
Dale once taught a class on “Soup and Something,” and one of the soups was a celery bisque. It’s light, nutritious and could just be the ticket for the first course of your Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving Girl
Dale’s World:
Celery Bisque
Chop and Saute:
2 carrots
Several celery sticks
Several celery leaves
Small celery root, diced
2 leeks
Add:
Chicken stock
Peeled diced potatoes
Cook:
Simmer until vegetables are soft.
Puree in blender or food processor.
Season with:
Chopped parsley
Dill
Tarragon
Black pepper
Nutmeg
Finish Preparing:
- Thin with cream
- Garnish with whole peeled shrimp.
Doesn’t that sound elegant?
Food for Thought:
The warmth of soup! I’ve been yearning for soup ever since the weather turned wintry. Therefore, my menus for this week include homemade chili, Celery Bisque and Tom Kha, an interesting coconut milk and chicken soup with lemon and Thai basil.
Normally I stick with my three standard soups, but the handwriting is on the wall. It’s time to branch out. Day before yesterday, I was flipping through a notebook that has been my repository for interesting recipes over the years. At the back of the notebook there were four pages of totally forgotten soup recipes. Eureka!! I’d discovered gold.
Soup goes down smooth. It warms you up. It’s like sitting by a cheery fire when it’s snowing outside. It’s a comfort, even a joy, filling your house with tantalizing aromas, making you expectant.
It makes me think of how Jesus’ love warms our hearts, how God comforts us in troubles, and how we can live in certain expectation of Heaven because Christ paid for our sins on the cross.
Yesterday was my birthday. I was 75. Yikes! I looked up a devotional for birthdays and was comforted by the reminder that God is speaking to me personally when He says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. I am the Lord your God.” Me, lord, you call me by my name. You are my own, my God!!
It’s so good to be reminded as I struggle with aging and change that God knows me personally and that he knows the details of my troubles and is always there to comfort me. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in an affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (II Corinthians 1:3-4).
And then there’s the wonderful sense of expectation we can have in Christ because of his promise of everlasting life. I love the word expectant: “Looking forward with hope of a benefit, forseeing the prospect of succeeding to an inheritance.”
Those of us who believe in Christ can live with certain expectation, that there will come a day when God will make everything right. We can revel in a Heaven where God will wipe away all tears, where there will be eternal praise and joy. (If you haven’t read Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven, by all means do. It will increase your expectancy and your joy.)
The warmth and fragrance of a good soup is an appetizer of Heaven. Let us give thanks to him this Thanksgiving Season for all his benefits, including homemade soup. —RuthAnn Ridley
Our Resurrected King
Inspiring Cuisine 