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19
Oct
Tofu “Feta” Cheese

By: Karen Webster

cheese holiday recipe tofu

Tofu “Feta” Cheese

Ingredients

  • 15oz/16 oz. firm/extra firm tofu
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (distilled vinegar works, too)
  • 1 TBSP Greek seasoning
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper

Instructions:

  • Drain tofu.
  • Chop tofu into ½ inch cubes.
  • Put tofu in a tall jar (24 oz. or larger) or glass bowl with lid.
  • Put spices in the jar/bowl with the tofu.
  • Add the liquids.
  • Put lid on jar or bowl and gently turn it upside down and right side up a few times to mix the ingredients.
  • Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or, preferably, overnight. Give it a stir or a shake every few hours (or so) to ensure all the cubes become marinated.
  • Enjoy! You can keep the leftover tofu in the marinade for at least a week in the fridge; it becomes more flavorful as it sits.
19
Oct
Mint Ginger (Kashayam) Tea

By: Karen Webster

holiday recipe tea

Mint Ginger (Kashayam) Tea

(2 servings)

Kashayam is an Ayurvedic tea brewed with whole spices to boost immunity among other health benefits.

Ingredients

  • 16 oz water
  • 2 sprigs mint (12-18 medium/large leaves)
  • 1 tsp ginger (fresh, finely chopped or grated)
  • ¼ tsp coriander (whole seeds)
  • ½ cinnamon stick
  • Optional: 
    • 1 tsp raisins (chopped)
    • 6 whole walnuts

Instructions:

  • Chop ginger into tiny pieces and chop raisins (if using).
  • Heat water to a boil. 
  • Using a tea pot or cooking pot, pour water over mint leaves, ginger, coriander seeds, cinnamon stick, and raisins.
  • Cover and steep for 3-5 minutes.
  • Garnish with 3 walnuts.*
  • Enjoy!

*Note:

  • The original recipe recommends serving this with 3 walnuts because the natural fats in walnuts (and other nuts) appear to increase the bioavailability of fat-soluble phytonutrients found in plants.

Adapted from: NutritionScience.in

19
Oct
Lentil and Barley Salad

By: Karen Webster

holiday recipe salad vegan

Lentil and Barley Salad

(12 servings)

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups dry green lentils 
  • 1 cup barley* 
  • 2 cups greens (Swiss chard, collards, kale, lettuce) of choice (chopped; raw or cooked) 
  •  1/2 cup fresh cilantro or parsley (chopped) 
  • 1 small onion (chopped) or 2-3 green onion (chopped)
  • 1 apple (diced) 
  • 1 cup pomegranate arils/seeds (when in season) or ½ – 3/4 cup dried fruit (pomegranate arils, golden raisins, apricots)
  •  1/4 cup almonds* (chopped, sliced, or slivered) 
  • Optional: 
    • Salad topper: tofu feta (link to recipe)
    • Add roasted (and cooled) vegetables of your choice (sweet potatoes, carrots, whatever is in season)

Dressing

  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 garlic cloves (chopped)
  • 2 TBSP Dijon mustard
  • 2 TBSP Date paste*
  • Pinch of salt and pepper

 

Instructions:

  • Combine the lentils and barley with 5 cups of water.
  • Bring to a boil and then cover, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the lentil and barley are done, about 25 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
  • In a mason jar – add the apple cider vinegar, garlic, Dijon mustard, date paste, salt and pepper (to taste).
  • Shake vigorously until emulsified and combined.
  • Combine the cooled barley and lentils, pomegranate arils, greens of choice, cilantro/parsley, apple, almonds, and roasted vegetables (if using).
  • Dress with the vinaigrette and toss thoroughly to combine.
  • Serve cold or at room temperature.
  • Optional: Top salad with tofu feta

*Notes:

  • To make this gluten-free – substitute the barley with brown rice or my favorite combination (1/3 cup of each buckwheat, millet, and amaranth).
  • To make this nut-free – use sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds instead of almonds.
  • Date paste substitute – add 3-4 med-size dates (chopped) to the dressing recipe and 1-2 tsp. of water.  Then instead of shaking the dressing in a mason jar to mix the ingredients, blend the dressing using an immersion blender.

Adapted from: ParsnipsandPastries.com

19
Oct
Fig, Date, and Walnut Bread

By: Karen Webster

bread holiday recipe vegan

Fig, Date, and Walnut Bread

(Makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients: 

  • 1 cup water or tea (black, green, herbal, whatever you like)
  • ½ cup dried figs (chopped and any tough stems discarded)
  • ½ cup dried dates (pitted and chopped)
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour (or gluten-free, all-purpose flour)
  • 1 cup oat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 cup almond butter (or ¼ cup almond flour mixed with 2-3 TBSP plant-based milk) or sunflower seed butter (nut-free option)
  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup date paste (or 1/2 cup chopped dates blended with a couple of TBSP of water)
  • ⅔ cup fresh orange juice (from 2 to 3 oranges)
  • Grated zest of 1 orange
  • ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
  • ½ cup walnuts, chopped
  • ¼ tsp salt

Optional:

  • Top with sunflower seed “cream” cheese and a few dashes of cinnamon.*

 

Directions:

    • Preheat oven to 350º F.
    • Line a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
    • In a small saucepan, heat water or tea over medium-high heat.  When it just starts to bubble, turn off heat, and leaving pot on the burner, add chopped dried figs and dried dates.  Leave them to soften while you continue with the recipe.
    • Put chopped nuts into a shallow baking pan and toast in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until walnuts are brown and rich smelling.  Remove from oven and set aside.
    • Meanwhile, in a large bowl, sift together whole wheat flour and oat flour, baking soda, orange zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
    • In another bowl, mix together orange juice, date paste, almond butter, and apple sauce. 
    • Add wet ingredients to dry ones.
    • Drain figs and dates and add to batter. 
    • Gently add walnuts and stir just till combined. 
    • Pour into prepared loaf pan.
    • Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until top is golden and puffed and an inserted tester comes out clean.
    • Enjoy!*

     

    *Notes:

    • For a sunflower seed “cream” cheese recipe click here – Omit the garlic! And, you can use raw sunflower seeds instead of “sprouted.”
    • Wrapped well, bread freezes well or keeps well in the refrigerator for several days, but judging by the audience last week, tends to be consumed immediately.

     

  • Adapted from: VegKitchen

19
Oct
Change Is In The Air

By: Karen Webster

burnout clergy compost evolution reformed church stress

Change Is In The Air

As I write this, it is one of those brilliant mid-fall days where the whole creation seems sharp and clear.  The sky is deep blue, with no visible clouds; the air is warm, but there is a pronounced undercurrent of coolness betraying the frost that is quite likely to come tonight; the sun is lighting up red, orange, and yellow foliage as a fresh wind sends jewel-like leaves skittering across the grass, which has begun the process of fading from intense green to washed-out brown.  

Autumnal change is in the air.  Perhaps it is fitting that Martin Luther was moved to post his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg castle church in October of 1517.  As surely as nature was transitioning from fall to winter, his theses opened a debate that shifted the world, ultimately leading to the Reformation and the birth of the Protestant Christian church. 

Those of us in the Reformed tradition understand that the church is still called to change.  This is summed up in the expression ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda: “the church reformed, always reforming.”  

The Word of God is alive and dynamic; the Holy Spirit is like the wind, blowing where it will, calling us and challenging us to biblical, faithful change in a world that needs a vital, active church now more than ever.  

And remember: vital, active churches are made of vital, active Christians, who are called to realize that true life in Jesus Christ means having the freedom to love and serve God by loving and serving God’s people.  

As Luther himself wrote, “Behold, from faith thus flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love a joyful, willing, and free mind that serves one’s neighbor willingly and takes no account of gratitude or ingratitude, of praise or blame, of gain or loss.” ¹

As a pastor currently serving in parish ministry, I am well aware that many congregations are wondering what church looks like in a COVID world.  Ours certainly is! 

I believe that, pre-pandemic, many faith communities were already facing these questions, as they took account of recent and dramatic shifts in the cultural religious landscape; however, COVID has accelerated and exacerbated this trend.  

A lot of what believers took for granted about church before COVID no longer seems so solid.  The volunteers aren’t there; the funds aren’t there; with remote worship, even the old metrics for measuring meaningful involvement aren’t there.  

Although there has long been a crisis in clergy health, the pandemic era has seen a marked increase in clergy burnout, which may be indicative of this profound change in the ecclesiastical landscape. 

According to Barna, the percentage of pastors who have considered leaving full-time ministry was 42% in March 2022, up from 29% in January 2021. ²  Leading reasons cited include “current political divisions” and “I feel lonely and isolated,” but the primary impetus is “the immense stress of the job.” ³ 

It is hard to imagine that the reported stress behind this significant increase, 13% in just over a year, doesn’t have something to do with the accelerated discernment of both purpose and method that COVID has forced churches to undertake.

As we go forward, two broad ways of framing this reimagining that have given me hope come to mind.  One is compost.  My spouse and HSHC co-founding partner, Karen, is working in the garden today; she told me earlier that all of the kitchen scraps we have put in the compost pile throughout the summer have become rich, loamy soil, which she has worked back into the beds.  What a miracle!  This means that the otherwise unusable peels, skins, and ends have become the nutrients that will feed next year’s plants.  Likewise, it is not as if what we, as the church, have done in ministry before is now useless.  Rather, it is the soil in which tomorrow’s discipleship grows, creating the structure for meaningful future work.  

The second concept that is helpful for me is evolution.  Therapist and retired United Church of Canada pastor Bruce Sanguin writes that “religious traditions are like cellular structures,” elaborating that, while the DNA holds the “sacred gift of our tradition,” the membrane both interfaces with the environment and holds the cell together; thus, the membranes “enable the cell to maintain its unique identity while also allowing new information from the environment to pass through,” which can “override or even change” the cell’s genetic structure. ⁴  Thus, Sanguin observes, “for a religious life and tradition to remain alive and relevant, its membrane needs to be both porous enough to enable new information to enter and reshape the tradition, and at the same time stable enough to preserve its core identity.” ⁵  

Our current reality has injected a tremendous amount of new information into the cell that is church.  Our tradition, though, is more than strong enough not only to hold it, but to adapt in meaningful ways, forming something excellent and new that is nourished by, and incorporates, all that was good before.  Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda.  Daunting?  Yes.  Easy?  No.  However, a strong theological foundation, combined with the faithful flexibility to meet a profoundly fluid context, has worked many times before.  I trust it will do so again.           

Peace,

Travis Webster

HSHC Co-founder

 

¹ Martin Luther, Treatise on Christian Liberty. 

² “Pastors Share Top Reasons They’ve Considered Quitting Ministry in the Past Year,” April 27, 2022, viewed October 15, 2022, https://www.barna.com/research/pastors-quitting-ministry/. 

³ “Pastors Share Top Reasons They’ve Considered Quitting Ministry in the Past Year.”

⁴ Bruce Sanguin, Darwin, Divinity, and the Dance of the Cosmos: An Ecological Christianity (Kelowna, BC: CopperHouse, 2007), 33.

⁵ Sanguin, 33. 

10
Oct
Trail Notes Winter 2022: How Are We Being Called To Fill Our Plates This Holiday Season (And Beyond)?

By: Karen Webster

church holidays slow sustainable

How Are We Being Called To Fill Our Plates This Holiday Season (And Beyond)?

This past summer, my brother lent me a book that he thought I would enjoy titled Slow Church.*  It came out in 2014, so it has been around awhile, and some of you may have already read it.  Upon reading the first few pages, I not only immediately resonated with the authors, but found myself wanting to speed through reading a book that was focused on slowing down!*

The premise of Slow Church is to challenge communities of faith to “ask ourselves tough questions about the ground our faith communities has ceded to the cult of speed,” to invite us to consider the consequences of these actions (such as a decrease in meaningful connections), and to ask us to “rethink the ways in which we share life together in our church communities.”

Slow Church, as well as several other “Slow Movements” (ex. slow schools, towns, lives, etc.), were inspired by the language and philosophy of the Slow Food Movement, which “is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us.”

In a nutshell, what these “slow movements” have in common is their emphasis on the importance of meaningful relationships within the contexts of our churches, communities, the food we eat, Creation, and with God.

We are about to enter the holiday season, a time when many things seem, figuratively and literally, to stack up on our plates – preparing for the arrival of guests, endlessly long to-do lists, countless rich foods, etc.  This is when many people find themselves just trying to hold on the best they can and/or “ingesting” what is put in front of them until they make it into the new year… where they then hope to regroup!  We want to encourage you, as these “slow movements” suggest, to slow down.  Hopefully, this practice will help you to have a healthier/more sustainable pace through the holiday season, which will allow you to be more intentional about what you are putting on your plate (again, figuratively and literally) as well as afford you the opportunity to spend more time on the important relationships in your life.

Here are several reflections for your consideration:

  • Before putting something on your plate (figuratively and/or literally), think about how it may make you feel later.  Is it going to be nourishing?  Energizing?  Joy-filled?  Or, is it going to make you feel sluggish and/or weighed down?
  • How sustainable (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, environmentally, etc.) are the items you are putting on your plate?  Are there healthier alternatives you could choose instead?  For some examples, check out:
    • Tips for Maintaining Healthy Habits During the Holidays
    • 12 Ways to Have an Eco Friendly Holiday
  • Consider participating in an Advent Fast (some resources for this are provided in this edition of our newsletter).
    • This spiritual practice is not only a part of the Christian tradition (although it is often overlooked), but it is also a wonderful opportunity to slow down and consider what one is putting on their plate in preparation for the coming of Christ and in anticipation of the new year.

May all be well with you this holiday season and into the new year!

Karen H. Webster

HSHC Co-founder/Executive Director

 

“You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger,” (James 1:19)… and slow with what we put on our plates.

*While I liked the overall premise of the book, there are some aspects of it that aren’t feasible for many communities of faith (example – they strongly emphasize the importance of “local” – attending a congregation close to our homes and shopping and working as locally as possible.  These are all great ideals, but not realistic for a lot of people).  As one reviewer wrote, and I agree, the greatest strength of this book is to use it in a small-group setting, where the ideas mentioned in the book can help to generate new possibilities that are fitting for the congregational context.

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