Faith-filled Friday: Relax and try this version of French onion soup

I had a "duh" moment yesterday. Also known as a "face palm" moment where something ridiculous happens and you have to slap your hand to your forehead. This may happen more often than I would like, just for the record.

Anyway, I subscribe to the nearly-daily Proverbs 31 devotional e-mails. Yesterday's devotion focused on the following passages from Isaiah 58:13-14:

¹³“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

I have been known to pack my days full to where I wake up at 6 a.m. and sometimes don't sit down again until after 8 p.m. only stopping to eat. I never forget food. I have also been known to say "I'll rest when I'm dead." After having experienced mono, I realize what it is to be in tip-top shape and then brought low. It's not pretty my friends.

My "duh" moment came during a hectic week of being really busy at work, doing lots of post-work activities, getting ready for our trip to Australia and the race this weekend. I make myself stop whatever I'm doing and read my daily devotion without interruption. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. However, when it does, I feel like I'm getting a moment of rest to hangout with God, and here he was reminding me to stop and relax.

As you can see in the verses above, God wasn't joking when he put "Thou shall remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy" in the 10 Commandments. He was putting that there to remind us to take time to rest, recharge and spend some time devoted to him. That's a time to give God your box of worries. It's a time to focus on the message that he's giving to you (whether you get it right away or not). It's a great time to stop, look, listen and feel God giving you a moment to just be present in his presence. He says right in verse 14 that you will have joy in the Lord! Don't waste it!

Whether it is taking time to read the Bible, speaking truth to a friend or relative (and vice-versa), going to God in prayer or going to church on Sunday (or whenever your church has services), I encourage you to RELAX! Relax in some time with God. If I can do it, you can do it.

As you know, one of my favorite ways to relax in a non-spiritual way (although that's debatable since sometimes recipes require a lot of faith and prayer) is to spend some time in the kitchen. A week ago, Steve and I picked up some vidalia onions for making soup. Fortunately, there was a recipe for vidalia onion soup right on the side of the beef broth container! It's been a while since we had onion soup and grilled cheese, so we decided to have that for dinner.

Vidalia Onion Soup
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp garlic grapeseed oil from Wildtree (I love this stuff!)
4 Vidalia onions, thinly sliced
water as needed so the onions don't stick
3 Cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Tarragon
4 Tbsp Tomato juice
1 Tbsp Whole wheat flour, or regular all-purpose flour
1 cup Dry white or red wine (I used Malbec and then poured myself a glass too!)
2 32 oz cartons of Beef stock (I used the low sodium kind)
Pepper to taste
As many slices of Swiss cheese as there are servings (depending on how big your bowl is, I'd say 8)

Gear you'll need: Large pot for the soup, measuring cups and spoons, a large spoon for stirring, a butcher knife for slicing the onions, and a wine bottle opener

Directions:
While you're heating the oil in the bottom of the pot, finish slicing the onions. If onions make you cry, run them under cold water after you peel them.

This is only half an onion!

Once everything is sliced, throw the onions in the pot, give them a stir and let them cook down for about 10 minutes. They should go from being crisp to flexible like a cooked noodle.

That's a lot of onions!

After the onions cook down and get all bend-y, add the garlic, parsley, tarragon and tomato juice.

This is where Steve came in the kitchen and said, "This smells so good!"

 Stir that all in and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Then add in the flour and a cup of wine.

Ready for a drink?

Bring the wine and onions to a boil. Turn down the heat and let that all simmer together for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

When you're done, you can top your bowl (or mug as shown here) with a slice of Swiss cheese and even throw in a crouton or piece of bread for a true French onion experience. If you bowls (or mugs) are oven-safe, place then on a baking sheet, cover with the cheese and pop in a 400 degree oven for a few minutes until it gratinees and looks like this. We didn't have Swiss cheese at home, so we ate it just like you see in the picture, but seriously, if I had the cheese I'd have eaten it just like Julia Child.

If you made it through this whole post, congrats! It's a long one. Anyway, as a reward for making it this far, I have a link of really fun signs from races. They're hilarious, and honestly, sometimes seeing a sign that says "Running slow just means you're getting your money's worth!" or "It's a hill. Get over it." or "You made it to the START, you will make it to the FINISH." that helps you get to the finish line. 

Thanks in advance for the volunteers and well-wishers at the half marathon on Sunday. You are awesome!