 Remember!! Comment at the end (below the blog box where it says in little blue letters, “comments” click on that and it takes you to comments and a comment box) in order to enter our giveaway. Drawing is Feb 13th. This time TWO people win one of the two identical packages – Pie tin set and First Out Pie Spatula. So comment early and comment often because every single time you comment, your name goes into the pot!!  In my last post, I was waxing a bit philosophical and I discussed my understanding about finding joy in the mundane stuff even when things don’t seem all that great. I told you that I had discovered that joy is an attitude of choice. And as I have been contemplating that state of being for the past few months, I have also discovered another attitude of choice: Contentment. Now, I looked up that word and there are a number of definitions with lots of educated descriptions, but as I have been thinking about it, I’ve come up with my own explanation of the state of “contentment”. As I see it, a life of contentment is a life without resentment. Heh..that kinda rhymes, doesn’t it?! It means gracefully allowing the stupid driver who cuts in front of you to be wrong or the store manager trying to stiff you out of a return to be dumb or a lady with a fur and fancy car to be rich or a long-haired youth, marching with a sign to be vocal. In other words, it means, “being satisfied with one’s self and one’s situation, not comparing one’s self to anyone else or expecting others to live up to one’s perception of fairness.” It hasn’t been that long ago that I was in a state of poverty according to that government definition. That’s a whole ‘nother story in itself, but the gist of it is that we had very, very little money. The strange thing is that I never felt poor. I honestly felt blessed and it could have been that I was in a very small town with other people in the same boat, but some of my friends were very wealthy too and so I should have felt like maybe life was lacking something. But I didn’t. And I think that it is because I had discovered the verse in Phillipians 4:12 that says, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” I had lived in abundance and then I was poor but that state only dealt with money and contentment deals with the heart. Now, today, I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination, according to those government definitions, either, but I am richer than I was in those days now past. And I have found that more money does not give more contentment. There is always more money than one has at any given time. And it isn’t because the world or the people around me are all behaving themselves and living right lives. That just doesn’t happen. There are people who cheat and steal and even kill, but those people can’t steal my contentment. We are told in Psalm 37:1, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;…Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” The greatest desire of our heart is to be content in God. No need to be angry that others have made more money or that others have more skills or that others say things hurtful. Contentment means to just relax in that with which God has blessed us and to remember that each of us is so special that we are not like nobody else! And of course, one way I relax in what God has blessed me with is to cook it! There is one way toward a contented tummy and that is with a comforting soup on a cold day like today. This recipe is one that a friend and I made up from top to bottom and has been a secret since the late 70’s (except that the original is in the cookbook at the shopping page!), but I have decided to share it today and I hope you find it to be a blessing! The story behind it is that this friend and I used to treat ourselves on special grocery days in the big city (from the country) by going to a particular restaurant. That was in the days before children. This restaurant was very expensive and since neither of us, being farmer’s wives, had much money, we would order the only thing we could afford – soup and salad. But that was all we wanted because that soup was incredible. Finally, she and I decided to try to figure out how to make the soup. We would eat there and discuss the flavors that we were getting in each bite. We went home and started experimenting and the base of this soup was developed. Then, in later years, I added more ingredients that I thought were missing and the following recipe is the end result. I usually make it with fresh crab, but the canned baby clams work just as well and in the off-season are best used anyway. If you want to use crab, just get some snowcrab, steam it and remove from the shells and chop. I sure hope you enjoy it!! 4 Tbsp butter 1 Tbsp onion, grated 3 Tbsp flour 3/4 tsp salt 1/8 tsp mace 1/8 tsp nutmeg dash of pepper 1/2 tsp. fresh chopped parsley 1 cup canned milk 1 chicken bouillon cube or 1 tsp granulated bouillon 2 cups shredded crab meat or 1 10oz can of baby clams 1 1/4 cup half and half 1/4 cup sherry (if you are using cooking sherry, cut back on the salt) 1/2 tsp lemon zest 1/2 cup finely diced tomatoes  In a large sauce pan on medium heat, melt butter  Add onions and saute for 30 seconds  Add flour  Stir to blend and make a bubbling roue  Add nutmeg and mace together and stir  Add canned milk and bouillon. Stir until bouillon is dissolved  Add half and half and continue stirring on medium heat. Do not bring to a boil. Lower heat if the soup is getting too hot.  And crab, or in this case a can of baby clams with the juice.  Add sherry and stir to mix well  Put in lemon zest  And add tomatoes and stir. Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occassionally.  Serve hot and garnished with parsley and black pepper. Yuuuuuummmmmy!! This post is linked at Deborah Jean’s Dandelion House Friday Blog Hop  |
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Tags: bisque, clam, contentment, crab, Joy, recipe, scripture lesson, soup
Looks yummy! I just printed it out and am going to try it with the crab. Hope mine comes out as nice as yours!!!!
It will Robyn!!
I love your definition of contenment! 🙂
Your bisque looks fabulous! If it ever gets cool here again, I will have to give it a try!
Candy, we even eat it in the summer! It’s THAT good! 🙂
You hit the nail on the head with contentment. Plus its a great way to deal the today happenings in the world.
Hubby and I go “crabbing” so I have a nice amount of frozen crab that would be very content to be “swimming” in a bowl of this yummy liquid. Thank you for posting your secret.
ooooo..Herdog…wish we lived closer. We’d be stealing some of that crab. Oklahoma isn’t exactly the place to go “crabbing” unless you mean standing in a mile long line at Walmart which then leads to crabbing and ultimately discontent! 🙂
Want!
Jamie, try! 🙂 And you are entered.
Thanks for entering me in the contest! Now I have to try those tamales, look delish!!!
Arghh.. joy and contentment… Do I have a target on my back? Thanks for the encouragment. You have no idea how much I need to hear that right now.
The soup looks yum! Thank God for people like you who can create such yummy food and share it with others. I could never come up with this stuff but thanks to you because you make us all feel like we can make it too!
And they are, Nancy! Thanks for commenting and entering the drawing.
You are sweet, Carol. You do know that the reason that the Joy/Contentment thingy hits you in the heart is because it hits ALL of us in the heart because we all struggle with it. 🙂
Mary Beth, You really said it when you talked about contentment and joy too for that matter – Our Lord sure knows what He’s talking about – sometimes we just don’t listen as well as we should. Thanks for putting it in plain English for me 🙂 !
So happy you are adding your amazing Pastry Cloth to your give-a-way – everyone should have one of these 🙂
The Bisque looks very yummy indeed – might just have to try that. We are having some very cold temps and wind here in N. GA today, with a dusting of snow – brrrrrrrr
contentment is a wonderful feeling! i enjoyed this post very much!
contentment, joy and serenity are things i ask God to help me find daily!
I wanna win the pie stuff! Great site – love the pictures and directions of all your recipes!
MB,
I love reading your blog and am so happy to have discovered it some time ago. You write some of the most eloquent posts that are a joy to read, but today’s on contentment was above and beyond! Over the years I have found myself in much the same situations as yours – poverty or not-so-impoverished. Due to unfortunate chronic illnesses that both my husband and I have, we haven’t quite been able to make it past the “not-so-impoverished.” But you know, that’s okay. We are content and we’re alive and that’s what is important. 🙂
It’s kind of funny how similar we seem to be, right down to the soup! While living in Rapid City, SD, there was a little place downtown where we loved to eat called The Beanery, but it was a little pricey as well. It was family owned and everything was homemade and delicious! We usually ordered a bowl of soup with a sandwich and we would split the sandwich. There was one soup mom and I both loved, a type of tomato bisque with rice and freshly chopped tomatoes. What’s so funny is that I did something similar to what you and your friend did! I came home and looked online for a tomato-bisque-rice soup. Then I tweaked that recipe by adding the other ingredients that I could taste in the soup. It turned out very nice and mom feels it’s pretty close to theirs. Don’t you just love when that happens? 🙂 Your soup looks delicious and is one I’ll be trying this weekend! Thank you for the recipe and for a chance to enter your contest!
Susan, thank you for your lovely comment and for sharing your own experiences. How neat to hear someone else’s fun experience trying to “taste” her way into a recipe that becomes a family favorite. Thank you so much for reading and commenting and thanks for entering!! And if you ever want to share the tomato bisque recipe, send it to me and I’ll make it for the blog!! 🙂
Thanks for reading and commenting Janis!!
Thanks Margo and you are entered!
Ruth, sounds like you need some of the bisque to keep you warm!! I’m glad that the post was meaningful to you and yes, we are a little hard of hearing sometimes!! And you are entered!
WAHOO!! I finally figured out how to add comments. Y’all don’t know how happy this makes me. It is the little things in life! Thanks for the recipes!
Congratulations Frankie!! 🙂 You are right. It’s the little things in life. I wish that WordPress would make commenting a lot easier!!! Thanks for posting and you are entered.
Hi MaryBeth!
Followed you over from MJF. Would love to have a chance to win your awesome goodies in your giveaway! Always enjoy your blog and all of your wonderful ideas and hints!
Thanks, Laurie! And you are entered.
I just came by to say hi again and forgot to leave a comment till I went to your FB page…I saw where you were adding a cloth to the giveaway…I’m so excited…today I made chicken and dumplings and my dumplings stuck and I was fussing and telling hubby I needed your pastry cloth…and lo and behold, you are giving it away. thank you
Also follow you on MJF board..just wanted to let you know…thanks again.
I’m going to try this with crab since I like it more than clams…you have the best tutorials…thanks for all the time you put into them.
Oh, I agree, Penny. The crab is the best. We just have a hard time getting crab here!!
Thank you, Penny!!
Well, good luck, Penny!!
I love your Blog. Your values are simple and worth re-stating over and over. Your recipes and pictures (thank you) have inspired me again and again. Tjhank you for all of your hard work and effort.
Debi
Why, thank you, Deb. You are so nice to say so. Thank you so much for reading and letting me know that you find the blog helpful. It is great to find out that it is doing a good thing! 🙂
MB
This sounds great! I have never tried to make a bisque. (What exactly makes this a bisque and not a soup/chowder? That seems like something I should know, doesn’t it?) Well anyway, it looks really yummy, and I think I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Well, Nana…you bring up a very astute point. Actually, this would be considered a chowder in hoity-toity circles because a bisque is, evidently, a pureed cream soup and they even puree the shells with everything!! But since we are not hoity-toity, and since they called it a bisque at the restaurant, I want to call this a bisque too. It just sounds so much more…tasty! The difference between a bisque and a chowder are the lumps!!
🙂