Eat Well: TLC w/WWW (featuring LDW)

The following post was written by my mom, WWW. Thanks, mom!

cherry pie in the making

Saturday I told Rebecca that I probably wouldn’t be writing a post this week. I have been in Bowling Green, Ohio since a week ago Tuesday, helping Rachel move into her awesome apartment (converted from a 1880’s hotel) as she prepares for grad school. I had originally planned on returning home on Sunday, but unfortunately Rachel’s back went out—as in, she could not MOVE—trying to lift a bookcase full of books (I know…my girls think they are Superwoman!) So…I am staying a few more days until I am sure that she can function on her own. She is generally being a good sport about being laid up at such an important time, but today when I dropped her off at the music school for her orientation (she still is having a hard time maneuvering a car and is in no condition to walk the mile from her apartment) she annoyingly told me it reminded her of being in junior high. At the same moment the words came out of her mouth, we saw another grad student whose parents were actually WALKING her into the building; I told Rachel it could be worse.

So… back to not posting. This week’s fruit is navel oranges but I didn’t think I would have time or inspiration to come up with orange recipes being away from my cookbooks and my kitchen. (8 navel oranges are inside of Rebecca right now according to babycenter.com which I think qualifies as a large bag and justifies a LOT of sympathetic stares). So I called Rebecca and told her no post. And then last night, Larry proudly sent me these pictures and that’s when I changed my mind. Larry had had picked a large number of vegetables from the garden, and had actually beautifully prepared and COOKED them to go along with some refried beans I had left him in the freezer.

Rachel and I were jumping up and down with glee at the sight of these photos and of course we had to forward the pictures to Rebecca who was also jumping up and down dying laughing at how FUCKING adorable my father, LDW, is. This is Rebecca by the way, back to you, Wendy...

I know this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but you have to know that Larry has NEVER cooked anything on the stove in the 33 years we have been married except scrambled eggs (which, I might add, he does really well).

So the two girls were calling each other to giggle about how ADORABLE they thought their dad was and I called Larry to tell him how PROUD we were of him for cooking such a wonderful (and beautiful) meal for himself. And that magical moment along with the fact that I have been cooking like mad here in Ohio, stocking Rachel’s freezer full of healthy food, lead me to realize that I could let the oranges go and write about something else, something I have been wanting to write about for awhile.

I had a friend tell me the other day that she thought that feeding people is one of my languages of love. I never thought about it before but I think she is right. Whenever people come over, I am suddenly inviting them to eat—lunch or dinner, or tea and a snack. One of my great joys when the kids were growing up was feeding them and their friends. And probably the hardest adjustment for me when they moved out was missing the constant waves of hungry teenagers plopping in our kitchen for a meal. With all of this extra time here in Ohio, I have been enjoying helping Rachel adjust to her new life by giving her a freezer full of home-made food. When Rebecca had her babies, I did the same for her and will again when the twins come. I have a list of favorite foods I cook for this purpose, all of them are recipes I have shared with you before. All of these foods freeze well but also are great to bring to the home of someone you love if they have been laid up or need a little bit of home cooking to cheer them up.

My favorite TLC recipes

1. veggie marinara sauce:

2. (meat-free) Split pea soup:

3. Black bean soup

4. Refried beans

5. Red dal

6. Quiche

7. Stuffed quinoa peppers

***

And one last thing… to those of you who live in the Michigan/Ohio area, how lucky you are to have Michigan tart cherries to use for cherry pies! Rachel found this recipe when she was at U of Michigan and it's amazing!

Ok…I am off to make another cherry pie before I have to pick Rachel up from her orientation. I think the smell of that luscious pie will cheer her up!!

Love,

WWW