Arugula out the Ears

What do you do when you have Arugula growing like crazy in your garden? (I must have some freaky microclimate, perfect for this member of the Brassicaceae family, in my backyard).


You. Make. Pesto.

The first photo was taken after I was DONE! Which just goes to show that I had harvested oh so much. So I gave some away, ate some in a salad, and then started sauteeing the rest with garlic and olive oil. Yum.

Arugula Pesto (Nut and dairy free)

A BUNCH of Arugula*
A BUNCH of Spinach
A bunch of cloves of garlic
Some salt
Some olive oil (enough to get it to all blend together)
A little water (for the same reason as above)

Blend.

(At first, I hadn't added any spinach. Man oh man was that ever spicy! The spinach tones it down nicely, and stretches it, too.)

I warmed the pesto on the stove on low to get it all nice and um, nice. Then froze it in '1 family meal' portions. The spice of the Arugula makes me forget all about the Pine Nuts and Parmesan!

I've tried this recipe with Cilantro, too. The kids loved both kinds!

*You can even eat the flowers! They're slightly sweet, slightly spicy.

Really Cool Gardening Imagery

Some skeptic is sure to ask, "Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this 'resurrection body' look like?" If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a "dead" seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don't look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.

You will notice that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies—humans, animals, birds, fish—each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies—sun, moon, stars—all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we're only looking at pre-resurrection "seeds"—who can imagine what the resurrection "plants" will be like!

This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but only if you keep in mind that when we're raised, we're raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that's planted is no beauty, but when it's raised, it's glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!

I Corinthians 15: 35-44 from The Message