The Secret to Healing and Finding Comfort: Recovering from Grief with Soul Food (Food for the Soul)

By E. Talley Washington

Do you like to cook? Do you like to eat good food? Are you sad about a change in your life or a loss of someone or something you loved and/or enjoyed? If you answered YES! to at least one question, then you will enjoy this book.

Inside is a collection of good recipes and a guide to your recovery from a change or a loss in your life. Complete the assignments and bring your grieving to a close.

This collection of recipes include meat, fish, soups and desserts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781491770863

E. Talley Washington

E. Talley Washington, a teacher and a minister, lives in Chicago, Illinois. Her hobbies are flower and vegetable gardening, herbs, natural healing and cooking. She has experienced deep grief and now ministers to the sick and the bereaved. E. Talley Washington studied Pastoral Care and is a graduate of (STVU) the School of Theology of Virginia Union University. A version of this book was previously published as “My Mother’s Box of Secrets.”

Book preview

THE SECRET TO HEALING AND FINDING COMFORT

RECOVERING FROM GRIEF WITH SOUL FOOD

(FOOD FOR THE SOUL)

Copyright © 2016 E. Talley Washington.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-7010-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-7086-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015909784

iUniverse rev. date:   01/26/2016

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Website.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Helpful Tips

Glossary

Rainy-Day Sunshine: Slow-Cooked Meals and Grief-Healing Assignments

Fish: Food for the Brain

The No-Grill Barbecue

The Salad Bar

Comfort My People

Platters and Punch Bowls

To my child, Precious,

my grandchildren,

my cousins, family, and

friends who knew my mom.

To those who were the objects of her love and affection,

and to all those who sat and ate at the table of

Lillian Martin Talley.

Honor thy father and thy mother …

To those who have loved and lost.

To everyone who knows the value and secret in the

healing properties of good food with good company.

To all who have cried and grieved

over the death of a loved one.

c. 2012 by E. Talley Washington

INTRODUCTION

It was never my intention to write a book or sell my mother’s recipes. This book is a result of grief work—my intense work at getting over the death of my mother. While I was getting over her absence, I discovered—bitterly, slowly—that recovering from the loss of a loved one requires work. Just as losing weight or inches requires exercise, regaining your composure or spiritual equilibrium after a loss requires reflection, appreciation, thanksgiving, and adjusting to a new life without the person or situation you had before.

Originally this was a thirty-page collection of my mother’s recipes, created for my daughter as a Mother’s Day gift. Two months after I gave Precious her book, I found my mother’s sweet-potato recipes and just had to have them in the book. Then a friend asked, "Are you sure all these things are okay? I mean, have you tried each recipe?" Well, my friend, that is when the adventure began!

After I tried each recipe, I would remember an incident involving my mother, relive a lively conversation between us, or laugh at a joke she shared. By the time I cooked the last dish, I was a fatter, happier person who was finally whole and well adjusted. During the months that I cooked and ate what she had cooked so well, I reflected on many things, appreciated my mom and her wisdom, and finally was grateful for all of it. Some things in my mother’s past and mine are not so pretty, yet I have grown to appreciate all of that. I am thankful for the rough times and the peaceful times. The two make a great whole!

I encourage anyone who is struggling with grief to take all the time you need to work it out. What is grief? Grief is your pain, your reaction to a loss—any loss. If something or someone has been removed from your life, then you have experienced a loss and you probably grieved. Whether the loss is a person, a pet, an object, a job, good health, finances, teeth, looks, a situation you enjoyed, if you no longer have it and it was not your choice to be without, whatever is gone represents a loss. Loss hurts; grief ensues.

Now that I am healed and whole, I can share my mother and her great dishes with you.

After each recipe was tested, I revised my collection and added newly found recipes, such as the sweet-potato collection.

Let me add a tiny warning or a disclaimer: These are not quick and easy methods of cooking or meal planning. I and the editorial department have included directions to explain and simplify each recipe. Most recipes use real food that require a prolonged cooking time; there are no instant items in this collection, no use of the microwave or the food processor. It is common knowledge that the internet is full of quick and easy preparations and the cable network have a variety of shows that give instruction on preparing a meal in 30 minutes. This not that