Women’s Ministry Minute
April 30, 2020
With Audrey Cochran
Cheez-Its for the Soul?
Like many others around the world, I’ve recently had the urge to up my cooking game. About five years ago when I was newly married, our dinner menu often consisted of grilled cheese, hot dogs, or canned soup. Some may contribute this to the fact that we didn’t have much money, but let’s be honest, I also just had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully, I’ve been able to learn some basic recipes over the years to expand our dinner horizons. However, as I’ve been home watching “Bon Appetit” and “Binging with Babish” on YouTube, I felt myself being called to something greater: homemade chicken noodle soup--from scratch.
Andrew Rea of “Binging with Babish” is a wonderful cooking teacher, even though he uses foreign words like “leeks” and “aromatics.” His chicken noodle soup recipe is full of nothing but real and fresh ingredients. He had me simmering whole peppercorns, bunches of parsley, heaps of garlic, bulky chunks of root vegetables, and onions upon onions. In a matter of minutes I had a vegetable garden swimming in a pool of chicken water. After hours of swimming, the whistle blew for everyone to get out of the pool. As I put my freshly made chicken stock back on the stove, I added another garden worth of “aromatic” vegetables alongside pulled pieces of chicken thighs. As the stock was transforming into soup, Rea suggested that I add a layer of finely chopped herbs and freshly grated ginger. While gently stirring through the mixture, I leaned in close, feeling the warm steam on my face. I inhaled deeply through my nose, and smelled what I could only describe as the best food I had ever made. As I ladled the soup into bowls, I snuck in a first bite, and it was magic. Using all fresh ingredients created a taste so wonderful that I knew it wouldn’t just fill my belly, but my soul.
After giving my husband his portion of the magic, I suddenly reverted to my rudimentary thinking and had the idea, “Oh, we have Cheez-Its. We could eat them with the soup!” My husband, Sean, tasted the soup as I went to find the Cheez-Its. After his first spoonful, he was just as enamored with the liquid gold as I was. I quickly brought the Cheez-Its to him so that we could eat them with the soup. I popped a couple Cheez-Its in my mouth, anticipating an even more magical experience with the soup. Let’s just say that I have never been more wrong in my life. After tasting a soup that is so authentic and fresh, the Cheez-Its tasted so artificial that I almost spit them out. I realized that when you put something artificial next to the real deal, the artificial doesn’t stand a chance.
“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2:2-3
When you taste the love, comfort, warmth, joy, and peace of God, you can’t deny its goodness. Once you know that something is good, you can’t help but crave more. As we become more and more filled with our God of truth and authenticity, the artificial desires of this world will pale in comparison. So go ahead. Take a big spoonful, and taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).
In case you’re interested, Rea’s chicken noodle soup recipe can be found under his “basics” section on https://basicswithbabish.co/, and yes, that categorization did hurt my pride.