Are you a John Eldredge fan? I loved his best-selling book, Wild at Heart, and I was so happy to receive a copy of his latest release, The Utter Relief of Holiness: How God’s Goodness Frees Us from Everything that Plagues Us. It starts with a compelling, if not odd, title and it delivers. The book is divided in two parts: The Surprise of Holiness and The Way to Holiness. Eldredge focuses on portions of the book of Ephesians in particular to stress the link between holiness (and our need for it) and the beauty for which we were created.

Eldredge’s basic premise, based on sound theology, is that God is good and he wants to work in us. It’s simple, really.

“Friends, he wants to give you his holiness. Receiving it begins with asking for it. There’s more to it than that, but it’s never other than that.”

This is a meaty work, but if you’ve read any of Eldredge’s other books, you know his tone is friendly and readable. He has a unique gift for breaking down Tozer-like theology into conversational bits. The message is deep but it settles in easily.

I hope you’ll give this one a look.

I received a copy of the book for review. Opinions are 100 percent my own.

I promise, this is not a food blog.

Having said that, here’s another post about vegetables.

This week’s delivery from Mother Earth Produce featured daikon radishes the size of Volkswagens and they are as tasty as they are large. Here’s a bit of the yumminess:

(These photos are from my phone, so please forgive the quality.)

With the daikon roots, the napa cabbage, onions, red kuri squash, broccoli and ginger (ginger was from last week’s bin), we made veggie curry.

I served it with pickled daikon and carrots. Good eats.

Our sugar pie pumpkin made a very delicious and oh-so-healthy-except-for-the-crust pie.

Tonight, we are embracing the winter need for carbs (maybe that’s just me) and having veggie tetrazzini.

We just received our first order from Mother Earth Produce, an Asheville-based company that has expanded to the Upstate of South Carolina. The folks who own the company have a passion for local, organic goods. They believe, as I do, that we take responsibility for our food when we can know our farmers.

And they delivered this awesome box of goodness right to my door. I have sorely missed having this option of late. MEP is the only company that does this in our area right now and I was incredibly pleased with the veggies.

Here’s what we got in our medium box:

• Rainbow chard (Oh, how I love chard. That’s not weird, right?)
• Collards
• Broccoli (I know you’re singing the Dana Carvey song. It’s OK.)
• Cilantro (This was a substitution for something we didn’t like or didn’t want. I can’t remember.)
• Yukon gold potatoes (Also a substitution because I am about to turn orange or purple from all the sweet potatoes we’ve been eating.)
• Kale
• Salad greens
• Zucchini
• Acorn squash
• Mutsu apples
• Green beans
• Ginger (I had no idea I could get local ginger!)
• And a free tub of Roots Thai Coconut Hummus (what the what).
• I also added on a dozen local, organic, pastured, the-chickens-eat-bugs-like-God-intended eggs.

I missed having organic produce delivery for many reasons, not the least of which is meal planning. I ordered this and now we have to eat it, so I better know what I’m cooking this week.

Right away, we whipped up a batch of fresh salsa with the cilantro and I made some kale chips with a handful of the greens. For dinner, I quickly stir-fried (OK, I was on the phone, so my husband did the stirring) the zucchini and chard, along with some onion. I used a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and cumin. We stuffed the veggies in tortillas, along with some pintos, salsa and salad greens. Good eats.

More to come…

I’ve mostly kept my pie hole closed this election season. That’s not because I am without opinions – I have lots of those. A few of them might even surprise you.

Months ago, as I began reading the sometimes daily (I gave up reading those) rants of friends on both sides of the aisle, one thing became crystal clear: the outcome of this or any other election is far less important than loving people.

That’s not a cop out and again, it doesn’t mean for a second that I am apolitical. It just means people are more important than my right to hear myself talk. (The irony of saying that in a blog post is not lost on me.)

Having an instant, worldwide platform is a good thing. My goodness, it’s been a tool for people to unite, whether to find their loved ones in the midst of disaster or to come together to bring down tyrants. Being able to instantly broadcast your every thought has its down side, of course. I think that’s come in the loss of civil discourse. Facebook and Twitter are filled (and have been for months) with the most hateful, vilifying words I’ve ever heard.

(I remind you that I used to spend a lot of time visiting clients in prisons, psychiatric hospitals and rehab units. Political pundits and angry voters should have nothing on a cocaine addict in detox.)

You have the absolute right to speak your mind. That’s the beauty of this great country. Hate the president or his opponent? As long as you don’t threaten them, you can rant all you want. The Secret Service is not going to pull you from your bed and cart you off into the night, where you’ll disappear forever. That happens elsewhere, you know. Don’t forget that.

Words do matter. I admit that I am nursing a few wounds here. Some people have said things that I can’t "unhear” but that, if nothing else, have caused me to evaluate my boundaries. If you claim to be a person of faith, I hold you to a higher standard than my non-Christian friends and I hope you’ll do the same for me. (Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.)

We can disagree at the core of our political leanings and still agree on the things of eternal significance. I truly believe that. If you want to change someone’s mind, talk with them. That means having a conversation that involves both listening and talking. Have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Love people, love people, love people. Love doesn’t leave room for personal attacks.

And remember that we have about 1460 days before we do this all again. That’s a lot of days, people, and a lot of opportunities to say words that heal, influence, change, impact and inspire. Make them count.

At Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival, I was thrilled to get my hands on a dish of vegan Chili Colorado made with Gardein Beefless Tips. Oh. My. Word.

Of course, I had to try and make it myself. My version isn’t vegan because I used queso rather than cashew cheese.

Notes: This is an amalgamation of lots of chili recipes I found online. It’s also my first time cooking with dried chilies, so consider the source. I know not what I’m doing. Also, the Epcot version had equal parts onion and chopped bell pepper.

Gardein doesn’t know me and is in no way involved in this post.

What you need:

1 package of Gardein Beefless Tips

About five dried guajillo chilies

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

2 T. balsamic vinegar

1/3 finely chopped onion

2/3 cup vegetable broth

1 clove of garlic

Rinse the peppers and remove the tops and seeds. Dry toast the peppers in a pan over medium heat until the color starts to brighten just a bit. Bring about 3 cups (enough to cover chilies) of water to boil, add the peppers and remove from heat. Allow the peppers to soak for 20 – 30 minutes.

In a skillet, heat the olive oil and add the onion and Gardein. Cook over medium heat until the faux beef is cooked through and the onions are tender. Remove from heat. Stir in vinegar.

Remove the peppers from the water and add to food processor, along with garlic and broth. Pulse to puree, adding soaking liquid as needed to puree the peppers to a smooth, thin sauce.

Add the chili sauce to the Gardein and simmer over low heat until the sauce is slightly reduced.

Serve over rice or with fresh corn tortillas, crumbled queso and chopped cilantro (there’s a bit of arugula on the ones above). Close your eyes and imagine you’re at Epcot.

This is a challenging movie. I didn’t expect it to be, but there you go.

“Father of Lights” is the third is a series (I have not seen the first two) of movies by Darren Wilson and Wanderlust Productions. The theology here is totally sound, in my opinion, and these are my kind of people. They love people, love people, love people. That’s it – they touch and love and pray for others. It doesn’t matter if the people they encounter believe differently, look different, smell bad or might want to harm them. That’s what it’s all about in this life. That’s how we are supposed to live, there’s NO doubt.

I enjoyed this far more than I expected to, I really did. There are things in this film that made me want to cheer. The guys involved here don’t beat Jesus into people, they just love unconditionally and genuinely. They state, quite accurately, that religion is often doing more harm than good. It’s all about love—quiet, unassuming, authentic love. Just love. What an awesome example.

*from a great scene of these guys reaching people right where they are.

Wanderlust provided a DVD for my review. Opinions are 100 percent my own.

This should be two posts, but I went to Florida where it’s summer and then returned home where it’s fall and now I can’t stop sneezing. Achoo!

Business first, then fun – like an Internet mullet.

• In Palmetto Parent’s October issue, I have lots of words, including some I am especially proud of about some local moms reaching out to others who have lost children to miscarriage, stillbirth of infant death. It’s not light reading, but it’s important to spread the word.
• Read online about Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.
• I have some fun stuff in Upstate Parent this month as well, including a story about making your own baby food (with recipes, because we’re thorough like that) and a story about how our local hospital now has midwives and birthing tubs (best of both worlds).
• Maybe this is a repeat, but I had a lot of fun writing about the Upstate Heritage Quilt Trail for Sandlapper Magazine. Quilters have goodness in their veins.
• And I always enjoy writing for the good folks at WNC Parent.

Now, Florida…

While at Walt Disney World, “dress rehearsals” were being held at New Fantasyland. It’s gorgeous, people. Simply gorgeous. Next time, I am wearing a dress with a pinafore so I can spin around and sing about books.

Nooooo one brags like Gaston.

Oh my, Under the Sea shows that a huge technological leap has been made in the world of animatronics. Gone are the herky jerky hydraulics. Ariel’s moves are lifelike and smooth. Kiss the girl, Prince.

I am compelled to photograph all gargoyles. That probably warrants some psychological analysis.

I picked up a hot guy on the bridge.

Tomorrowland Transit Authority at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom

Then (Feb. 2003):

Now (Oct. 2012):

Yeah, baby – homemade grape jelly made from wild scuppernongs and organic sugar. It’s the kind of stash that almost makes winter worthwhile. Almost.

Some of the work I do is very detailed and requires a level of focus that can only come with strong coffee and a sweeping orchestral score drowning out the rest of the world. If that score evokes thoughts of robots and space battles, all the better.

Even if you don’t like sci fi (Really? You don’t like sci fi?), I implore you to listen to some of Bear McCreary’s work. It will make your heart sing.

So say we all.

And one with the haunting vocals of Alessandro Juliani that will make you weep, even if you don’t know the context of the song: