Tag: food

This year’s feast…

by lovesdoves, posted in Family health, Physical health, Social health, Spiritual Health

I get to prepare the Thanksgiving feast! It’s a huge, gigantic blessing to me… to combine foods and herbs and spices together and cook or bake or roast them for just the right amount of time perfuming the air with anticipation of something delicious… it’s a part of who I am! I love it when guests enter our home and say, “OOOOoooooo, something smells gooooood!”, knowing that it will be just a matter of hours until we are seated altogether, serving and giving thanks to God for every provision.

I have found over the years that the traditional meal is the one that my guests enjoy most. I used to scour cookbooks for a month beforehand searching for unique and unusual recipes for preparing the turkey and all those luscious side dishes. I remember one thanksgiving at our little house on Wright Avenue, everyone was coming over including my grandparents from Boston and I was honored to be hosting the grand event! I found all kinds of new and innovative things to serve, and I busied myself getting everything just right because I wanted it to be so special for them.

I don’t remember the menu, but I do remember my grandfather telling me I was a fussy cook. It wasn’t an insult, because he savored what I was serving, and he loved me with his whole heart.

It was a reminder.

Of what’s important.

It’s ALL about the people we love and the time that we get to be together. Over the years I have come to realize that the traditional menu and those flavors were enjoyed most because they were familiar, they were Thanksgivings gone-by and the memories that came with the meal were as important as the meal itself. So I have embraced those Thanksgiving traditions. Now I only change the appetizers that are served as warm-ups to the real meal! So this year’s menu at the McCoskey home will include:

APPETIZERS

Brown-sugared Bacon-wrapped Smokies

David’s Skyline Chili Dip with tortilla chips

Cheese Wafers with Jalapeño Pepper Jelly

Old-fashioned Shrimp Dip with crackers

Sausage Cheddar Nibbles

Mushroom Pate Purses

Gingered Almonds

DINNER

30 lb. Roast Turkey & Gravy

Traditional Bread Stuffing

Sweet Potato Casserole

Spinach Souffle

Whipped Golden Potatoes

Laureen’s Green Bean Casserole

Janet’s Pomegranate Salad

Fresh-from-the-cob Creamed Corn

Assorted Cranberry Jellies

Home-made Dinner Rolls

Butter

DESSERTS

Mom’s Assorted Pies

Lily’s Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle

Acorn Cookies

It will be a feast, for sure. And there will be laughter and joyfulness as we reunite with our families. This year marks the first year that we will be including our very own grand baby and I know that over the coming years the events of our lives and our children’s lives may be cause for changes in the traditions. So I will stay flexible in the future and welcome this moment now… this year’s feast… this year’s togetherness… this year of thanksgiving in 2011…

Live Well.

Silky, Savory Soup

by lovesdoves, posted in Family health, Physical health

As the weather cools, my cooking brain shifts into soup, stew, and casserole mode.

And last evening, after a rainy and gloomy day, I had my heart set on some Savory Mushroom Soup. I love it’s earthiness and the delicious flavor and the way the sherry, added at the end, reminds me of working at the Marriott’s Panache in Columbus where God prepared for me to meet my future husband, who, it turned out, does not share my love of mushrooms!

But last evening worked out perfectly, as he had a dinner meeting to attend, and I had everything that I needed to prepare this simple, silky soup. Here’s the recipe:

Savory Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons organic olive oil

8 ounces of mushrooms, coarsely chopped

1 cup red onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/4 cup organic all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups organic no-chicken broth

1/2 cup organic half&half, optional (if not using, increase broth by 1/2 cup)

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon sherry

Directions:

Add the olive oil to a medium saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and saute until soft, then add the chopped mushrooms and saute until browned approximately 15-20  minutes. Add the flour and stir while cooking for 1 minute. Add broth and whisk until thickened. Boil for 1 minute, lower heat and add the half and half. Heat through and remove from heat. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve with croutons and sherry on the side… to add just before dining.

Prepare your own yummy and delicious soup and Live Well.

Lisa

The Simple Things

by lovesdoves, posted in Emotional Health, Family health, Spiritual Health

This evening as I waited for word about my father-in-law, a man who gently stepped in to be a surrogate dad for me, a man who raised his sons to be men, a man who knew he was fighting the fight of his life, I prepared a simple meal. As I prayed and waited…  I sat with the simplest things… foods grown from God’s rich soil, plentiful life-giving water, and His Word… and in that moment there was clarity of thought, and purpose, and mind… it was in that moment that God reached to me, and reminded me that all was well,

that I should cling to those simple things; the joyfulness of the baby’s laugh, the hummingbirds as they flit and fly around their feeders, and the deep love that we share with our family and friends…

and to remember that no matter what it is on earth, this is not the end…

Have faith and Live Well.

Lisa