Guest Contributors

The Challenge of Catholic Evangelization

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Note from Lisa: This post is written by my über-talented friend Tom Quiner, a Des Moines musician and composer, who has written a new musical, The Wedding at Cana. This musical is designed for musical dinner theater. What a novel concept, eh? And you could bring this production to your neck of the woods as well. … [Read more…]

Laboring Through Lent

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Today we wrap up our Lenten Soup and Stories series with a terrific post from Marcia Mattern about the spiritual similarities between Lent and pregnancy. “Forty days, forty weeks (or in my case more like 41 or 42 weeks!) Waiting and waiting for that baby, waiting and waiting for Easter.” And we’re also treated to a soup recipe that Marcia prepared right before welcoming Baby #6!

Tortellini Making Day

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Today’s guest post comes from a very special person in our lives — our daughter Lydia’s godmother Maria Campbell. Since we both live in the Des Moines area, readers might think we have a longstanding friendship. That isn’t exactly true. We actually “met” through the pages of this very site. Joel and I were in … [Read more…]

Julie’s Cajun Crawfish Soup

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Today’s Soup & Stories contribution comes from Julie Baldwin, the Editor-in-chief at Ignitum Today who blogs at The Corner with a View. A Midwesterner by birth, Julie currently lives in the South with her husband and baby. She has embraced southern living AND southern cooking and today shares her Cajun crawfish soup recipe. Lucky us! I’m not even a fish person, but I find this one quite intriguing!

Oh, one more thing. Please allow me to publicly congratulate Julie for being the first, and most likely only, person to ever use the praise “Slap Ya Mama” here in this space.

Resilient. And Delicious.

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Shortly after bringing home my son Jude from the hospital, a package arrived in the mail. The return address on the package indicated it was from Trendy Traditions. Now if I hadn’t been recovering from a c-section, I would have jumped up and down in excitement because I knew … I just knew … that … [Read more…]

Ew Stew (otherwise known as Caldo Gallego)

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Today’s Soup & Stories post is sure to make you smile. And by the time you’re finished reading, your tummy may be growling for this Spanish soup, too! The recipe comes from María Morera Johnson whom we’ve had the pleasure of meeting at the Catholic New Media Conferences. At the first conference Joel and I attended, … [Read more…]

Cooking, An Investment in Family

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It was an early spring morning in 2010. I dropped off my then two-year-old daughter at the childcare center before heading into city hall to begin the workday. I turned on Catholic radio and heard an interview with Patti Maguire Armstrong. Up until that moment, I don’t recall knowing much about her, but the interview caught … [Read more…]

Lessons from the Parish Soup Supper

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“Something is wrong when the best possible compliment you can give a fish dish is that it doesn’t taste fishy,” or so said Jim Gaffigan during a recent concert he gave here in Des Moines. The “anti-fishers” in the crowd had a good roar over that line, myself included. Given I’m not a seafood fan, when today’s Soup & Stories guest post hit my in-box a few weeks ago, I became excited. Could it be that our guest contributor has a plausible alternative to the Lenten parish fish fry? Please?! :) I’m really intrigued by how this parish is fostering fellowship and service during Lent, and all around a bowl of … yep, soup!

Food for the Journey

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My dear friend Julie Nelson joins our Lenten Soup & Stories series today, sharing a lovely story about the importance of mentoring and supporting one another. Reading Julie’s post reminds me of why I used to feel so energized after my weekly chats with her for Catholic Women Now, a radio show on Iowa Catholic … [Read more…]

How a Bowl of Soup Helped me Home

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Today’s Soup & Stories post is from a great friend and fellow CatholicMom.com contributor Catherine Boucher. Catherine is living proof that Nebraska Cornhusker fans are indeed people, too. (Sorry, this Iowa State alum couldn’t resist!)

First, a note from Catherine: This post in no way is intended to reignite the so-called “mommy wars.” I know tremendous mothers who work in and outside of the home. This post is simply about how a warm bowl of soup helped me to realize that God was calling me to be at home.