Each day during Lent, Ave Maria Press will be posting soup recipes and Lenten reflections from our Lenten prayer books here on the Ave Maria Press website. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more inspiration.
Lenten Reflection Day 9
From Give Up Worry for Lent!:
Getting to know Jesus requires spending time with him. It is impossible to have a good relationship with him without spending daily time in prayer and spiritual reading. There is no shortcut. If you are reading this, I would be willing to bet that you are looking for peace. Nothing I say can give you that peace. Like John the Baptist, my goal is to send you to Jesus. He can provide the peace that you seek, but only if you spend time with him.
Lenten Soup Recipe: Barscz (Borscht)
Polish Beet Soup
Ingredients
1 bunch of beets about 3 good size
1 bunch new potatoes about 6-8 or 3 lg
1-2 cups (handful) of green beans
1/2 head cabbage
1 cup mushrooms
32 oz. chicken stock
parsley
salt
1/4 cup vinegar
1 cup sour cream
(non-Lent use 1 lb pork: ham hocks, smoked sausage, or whatever you like)
Preparation
Cut the vegetables in bite-size pieces. Add them to the chicken stock. Add parsley and salt and cook till vegetables are tender. Add vinegar and sour cream. Blend.
If you like more vinegar, add a little. You can always add not take away, so taste as you go until it is to your liking. The soup will be pink.
Commentary on the Recipe
This soup is one of my comfort zones as a child. My Grandma Krol (my dad’s mom) made this soup every Christmas and Easter, along with Duck soup (Czernina) or Blood soup, which I refuse to make. Never did acquire a taste for that one. Grandma came to America in 1916 at the age of sixteen from the Old Country. She had never seen a banana before and with her first encounter on the boat over she thought she was to eat the peel and all. She quickly learned different. She always gave bananas out at Halloween. She brought over some wonderful dishes. I am sure we don’t do justice to them, but my family approves of my Borscht, even my dad who is not easily pleased. This is a great slow cooker recipe as well as stock pot. Keep in mind that Grandma grew all her own produce and canned or froze everything, so her produce was not fresh in the middle of winter or early spring and she did not shop the market for fresh produce. Button mushrooms came from the woods and were frozen.
Submitted by Janice Rajski, Inside Sales Consultant.
