Finding God and Spaghetti Squash in the Garden

During the Fuel the Body, Fuel the Soul meeting on March 14th, Sister Anne McMullen demonstrated various ways to cook spaghetti squash. Following the recipe, Sister Judy Molosky gave a presentation entitled, “Finding God in the Garden.” Find the spaghetti squash recipes and a recording of Sister Judy’s presentation below!

Fuel the Body, Fuel the Soul is a monthly series held on the second Thursday of the month. Each Zoom session features an introduction to a healthy recipe presented by a sister, a presentation focusing on a spiritual topic and discussion and prayer with a community of young women from around the country. Register once for any/all sessions. There is no cost to attend.

Squash Spaghetti

Time: 50 minutes

Servings: 3-5

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 2 tbs olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1.4 chopped onion
• 1/2 lb ground beef or turkey
• 1 jar marinara sauce
• 2 tbs chopped basil
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese

Directions: Trim the ends of the spaghetti squash and cut in half lengthwise. Using a large spoon, scrape and discard seeds and pulp. Brush the inside of each half with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook halves, cut side down, in a microwave until tender. Check them every 5 minutes. Remove them when you can easily prick the outside flesh with a fork. When cool enough to handle, use a fork to scrape the flesh into long spaghetti strands. In a skillet, cook meat and onions. Add marinara sauce, basil and Italian seasoning. Cook for 15 minutes. Add squash and heat until warm. Top with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash Shrimp Entree

Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 3-5

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 2 tbs olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 chopped onion
• 1/2 to 1 lb uncooked, deveined shrimp
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup sliced basil
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup parmesan or feta cheese

Directions: Trim the ends of the spaghetti squash and cut in half lengthwise. Using a large spoon, scrape and discard seeds and pulp. Brush the inside of each half with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook halves, cut side down, in a microwave until tender. Check them every 5 minutes. Remove them when you can easily prick the outside flesh with a fork. When cool enough to handle, use a fork to scrape the flesh into long spaghetti strands. Heat oil in a skillet, add shrimp and onion. Cook and stir for 3-4 minutes. Add salt, pepper, basil, lemon juice and cherry tomatoes. Cook for another minute. Add the spaghetti squash strands. Stir and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Top with cheese and enjoy!

Greetings from Los Angeles, I am Sister Judy Molosky and I want to share with you some thoughts on “Finding God in the Garden!” As Sister Annie showed us, cooking is clearly a PROCESS involving many steps. Finding God in the garden is also a process!

Sister Annie’s really did grow that squash and those tomatoes in our garden! She’s the one in our community who tends our garden. She works the soil, plants the seeds, watches the growth all in hope, giving her attention, love and energy…and it is work! But she gets to witness growth and hope in the process of tending her garden.

I invite you to listen to the song “Tend the Ground,” written as a response to Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. Take a moment to ask yourself: What is the garden you are tending in your life? Is it a real garden? A plant? A dog or cat? A partner or a parent, or is it yourself? Where are you spending time and energy and love, hoping for growth, peace and love?

While Sister Annie is the gardener in our community, I am the rose pruner and the weed puller. Both of us find God in the garden. Why? Because we live in California, in a beautiful home on a corner lot in Koreatown with lots of wonderful soil, sun and sometimes rain! We live on a busy street, but there is quiet in our garden.

I am the strongest extrovert in our whole LA Province. I recently went to the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim with 12,000 Catholics, and I think I knew about a fourth of them. I loved every minute, but after an exciting two days, I came running to my garden to focus on quiet, nature and peace. What did I find after two days of not tending my garden? I found “orange rust” on all the leaves of the roses. AHH! I had problems! There were invaders on the leaves of my roses. It got my attention, shattering my peace! But it got me to pay attention, to not give up, to not walk away and to look for a solution! I found a solution in my favorite non-chemical soap, Palmolive!

Upon reflection and after a lot of spraying, I heard God in the garden saying to me: “Stop it with the distractions, Judy, the distractions of everyday life. I’m trying to talk to you in the garden, in the quiet as you tend your roses!” And then who walks by but my friend Sonia, who is taking her kids to school and her new little baby in the stroller, and we start talking about El Salvador and about how she baptized her children there so easily. And then I become a religious resource recommending a church and a process for her to tend to her new baby—to bring that baby into the life of the Church, the life of faith in God. What a joy to watch her tend her baby! Was that a distraction or a part of tending to the needs of the dear neighbor?

Then, a little later on, who walks by as I continue to spray the leaves but a new neighbor! I say, “Hi” and he stops, looks right at me and says, “Your garden is beautiful!” I responded, “Well, thank you! We love our garden!” About 20 minutes later, he walks by again with his coffee and says, “You love your garden, and your garden is loving you back.” Wow! God speaking to me in the garden, on the sidewalk from a stranger! So, I ask myself: Who am I gardening for?  Me? The dear neighbor? The kids who walk by going to school? For my housemates because we love to decorate our house with fresh flowers? Am I gardening for God?

I know I have to be very careful to not bump into the growing spaghetti squash or the eggplant or the tomatoes or the zucchini. I have to let them grow. Tending the garden is a PROCESS—working together with God and nature. We need to let God do “God’s thing” as we hear in the Gospel of Mark 4:26-28. Jesus said: “The reign of God is like this: a sower scatters seed on the ground, then goes to bed at night and gets up day after day. Through it all, the seed sprouts and grows without the sower knowing how it happens. The soil produces a crop by itself – first the blade, then the ear, and finally the ripe wheat in the ear. When the crop is ready, the sower wields the sickle, for the time is ripe for the harvest.”

Knowing when to plant and when to water and when to reap the harvest is very important. It’s a process. Stick to the process and tend your garden—dealing with distractions but always looking for signs of God in your garden!

A Blessing

May the love be the gardener of your years. Bringing forth from your grounding in God a harvest of wholeness and peace and a bounty of courage and compassion. May your soul tower with the strength of cedars; your heart pound with the power of the sea. May joy rise in you like the mountains and may these be the blessings you share with all those you meet, who this day make merry. That in you the great love of God has found a home on Earth.

Jeannette Abi-Nader, HM

May each of you feel blessed and supported by our God as you tend your many gardens!