Sometimes in the middle of your week, when you’ve already done your grocery shopping for the week, something inordinate occurs. A precious lady in the church passed away unexpectedly recently. She was such a blessing to me and will be dearly missed, but I have confidence I’ll see her again.

You’ve heard me mention before that we have what we call a “hospitality ministry” in my church. When someone has a baby, is in the hospital, or passes; we mobilize meals for the families involved. Since it was in the middle of the week and I knew I wouldn’t have time to make it to the store until next week, I pulled together some staples from my fridge, pantry, and freezer to make something comforting and filling.

I salted & peppered a cubed 2lb pork roast in my Instant Pot and added a 1/4c of salsa, a half a can of ginger ale, half an onion (sliced), and chopped garlic. I set it for 35min. While that was going, I boiled 1/2lb of wide egg noodles in one pot. In another pot, I mixed a can of cream-of-chicken, a 1/4c of heavy cream, and 1/4tsp of nutmeg and heated it until the noodles finished cooking.

When the roast was finished (allow pressure to release 10min before opening if using an Instant Pot), I shredded the pork and put it to one side of one of my foil “throwaway” pans (since I cook alot for others, I generally will buy a big package of foil pans and lids to keep in my pantry for this purpose). I mixed the cooked onions and garlic into the cream sauce to wait for the noodles. When the noodles were finished and drained, I folded them into the cream sauce and transferred to the foil pan. I sprinkled the noodles with chopped, cooked bacon and torn sprigs of parsley.

I tucked in a few of my popovers and baked an entire tray of gingersnap cookies from the freezer to finish. Being there for those around you doesn’t have to be hard or time-consuming or expensive or inconvenient. I didn’t make anything fancy or novel, but it’s the heart I put into it that counts. (Special thanks to TakeThemAMeal.com for sending me a thermal travel tote to be able to transport these goodies.)

What is one time you felt loved by a seemingly small and simple gesture?