Cooking with Love: A Dash of Love

By Willie Holton Halbert

Cooking with Love is a collection of recipes that I have made over the past forty years of experimenting and cooking for family and friends. Webster Dictionary gives the meaning of love as great interest and pleasure in something. Cooking brings me great joy and pleasure that I desire to share with all. When I see people taste or eat the food that I have labored over in love, I watch for their expression and enjoyment, knowing the food that I have prepared is good for the soul. The feeling I experience upon observing is one of warmth and is treasured in my heart. For fun, I asked my husband, Charles, what is his meaning of love, and he replied, Willie. I just laughed, for he summed up the essence of this cookbook. Its me giving you a piece of my experiences, memories, and joyall in a dish of food. Enjoy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543417081

Willie Holton Halbert

Willie Holton Halbert has resided in the Bloomington–Normal area of Illinois for over forty years and has committed her life to helping others. She is an activist and works in the community and the world, making a positive difference in the lives of others. She believes that God has blessed her to bless others. When you give, your life will be blessed, and that is the true secret to success. She shares her passion for exceeding goals through motivational speaking, training, mentoring, volunteering within communities, providing workshops to youth and adults, and helping and inspiring others to see from her life experiences that you can exceed your goals. Willie is married to Charles G. Halbert (forty-three years) and has two children, Mary (age forty-two) and Collyssa (age twenty). One daughter, Elizabeth Halbert-Edward (deceased in 2005), was a former attorney and member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. Willie is also the author of two motivational books: Precious Treasures and Seasons of Our Lives. She is currently a real estate licensed broker, working as an office manager, assistant to Al Legg at Re/Max Choice in Bloomington, Illinois. Willie retired from the Illinois Department of Corrections in December 2002 at the age of forty-eight. Her goal was to retire prior to turning fifty. But her dad placed a blessing on her life from the age of fifteen, saying, “Willie, you have a special gift of God, and you will always have a job as long as you desire to work.” So everywhere she volunteers to help, they offer her jobs. She smiles remembering her daddy’s words. Willie Holton Halbert graduated from Illinois State University with a bachelor degree in criminal justice in 1976. Willie volunteers throughout her community through her church at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, Not In Our Town, and is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. In 2005, she was the recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award by the city of Bloomington, Illinois. Willie shares, “It is my goal to inspire and to challenge myself and others to exceed our goals through the use of our time, talents, and treasures. As we exceed—share and help others with our overflow. Writing books is just another way to spread the good news and share the blessings of God.”

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Willie Holton Halbert. 761170

ISBN:       Softcover       978-1-5434-1707-4

Hardcover       978-1-5434-1706-7

EBook       978-1-5434-1708-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any

information storage and retrieval system, without permission

in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 06/02/2017

Xlibris

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Contents

Just a Piece of Advice!

Anybody for Breakfast

Breakfast

Appetizers

Salads, Vegetables, and Pasta Dishes

Soups

Where’s the Meat?

Biscuits

Desserts

Introduction

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When I was growing up, I never really had to cook. This sounds a little strange because I came from a family of seven brothers and two sisters: Gerald, Geraldine, George, Robert, Jesse, Rodney, Jeanita, Mark, and John. There were ten of us! My mother, Mary Holton, and my grandmother, Mama Willie, did all the cooking. But I would find myself wandering into the kitchen to watch them prepare a variety of meals. When they cooked, my mother and Mama Willie would sometimes talk about life experiences. I would listen attentively; many times, they would forget that I was even there but would look up and see me. Mama Willie and my mother would say shoo, and I would quickly leave the kitchen. I left laughing, knowing I had learned a little bit more about life. Later, we would all sit at the dinner table and experience the love that was put into every dish.

As I grew into a teenager, my mother would let me bake oatmeal or peanut butter cookies, and I would toss raisins or nuts into the mix. My brothers and my sisters would eat them away, and I would just smile. They didn’t have to say much because the expressions on their faces told me that the cookies were good. Something strange would happen every time. I would get this warm feeling inside when I saw them enjoying the cookies, and it really made me happy. I received pleasure from seeing their joy for the small little sweets that I had made—a feeling of love. That feeling would play an important role in my life because it was that feeling that grew into a passion and a love for cooking.

In college, I volunteered to cook for my friends, trying out different recipes on them. Then I got married, and my mother, Mary Holton, gave me a cookbook with thousands of recipes that I still have today. Of course, the cover is missing, and the pages are smudged with butter, sugar, flour, and some unknown spices. Back then, I would start off with the recipes in the book but would not be content until I experimented with other ingredients and changed the recipes into my own. After years of cooking, I started watching the cooking stations on television, and I then learned how to use fresh herbs.

Whenever on vacation, I would insist that my friends take me by the grocery store so I could get some pasta, shrimp, and vegetables; I would then prepare a meal for them. Once my girlfriend Jo went shopping with me, and as I was putting cooking items into the shopping cart, she was taking them out, saying, We are not doing any cooking on this vacation. She knew that no matter how much she protested, I would just put the items back into the cart. When we got back to our condo, I would go into the kitchen and start preparing a delicious meal. And before she knew it, she too was in the kitchen, helping and laughing at how I had somehow talked her into cooking. I would invite some other friends over, and we would sit at the table and eat, enjoying the wonderful food that was prepared with love. We also created some marvelous