The Thoughtful Chef: How the Connection of Spirituality, Great Energy and Good Clean Organic Food Become One

By Lisa Stalvey Coady

The Thoughtful Chef is a culmination of eclectic recipes from over the last 20 of her 44 years of Lisa's professional cooking. It is also mostly gluten-free but can also be easily replaced with regular flour wherever it's used. As a child, Lisa always had an interest in cooking but never thought it would

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amazon Pro Hub
• Release date: Jul 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781088052822

Book preview

The Thoughtful Chef

How the Connection of Spirituality, Great Energy and Good, Clean, Organic Eating Become One

By

Lisa Stalvey -Coady

Between Lisa's inventive menus and cooking and my mad hosting skills combined with great design and a fabulous staff, we definitely put the legendary and unforgettable Bambu on the map!

JEANETTE FARR-FOX- Owner, and operator of Bambu Malibu

From Bambu to the heart of my own kitchen, Lisa infuses classic preparations as well as her own recipes with innovative flavor combinations. Her commitment to preparing delicious wholesome food is noteworthy and I relish our culinary collaborations.

KEELY SHAYE BROSNAN

Acknowledgments

I want to thank Patrick Terrail, proprietor of the famous restaurant, Ma Maison, in Hollywood, California, (back in the 70’s and 80’s), for asking me to come back for an interview with Wolfgang Puck. Where would I be now if we hadn’t met?

Thank you, Victor Grenner, Vice President Erewhon Grocers, for giving us a chance to sell our Butter Barn Butter products in the Erewhon Market. We have no idea where our little dream would be right now. And because of your support, other stores and markets around the country have discovered our products through distribution. I feel very blessed.

Thank you, Beth Bearer, for creating our beautiful labels for all of Butter Barn’s products, for creating the cover of my memoir, Food, Sex, Wine, and Cigars, and for creating the cover of this cookbook. And thank you for contributing your amazing vegan recipes and being a great friend.

A special shout out to Mary Jones, owner of The Chocolate Moose in Sun Valley, ID. You’ve been instrumental in the success of Butter Barn by being there every time for me no matter how busy you were, during my crash-course in baking, and for also being a supportive friend. Thank you.

Dedications

I dedicate this cookbook to God. He’s protected me throughout this entire process. Had this come out when I wanted it to, I wouldn’t have discovered the many errors during the editing process. With God, everything is always on time.

I also dedicate this cookbook to Wolfgang Puck. Thank you for hiring me and giving me a chance at my first apprenticeship under you, a master chef, at the most popular restaurant in Hollywood at the time. That opportunity launched me into a career I would have never imagined, including becoming your head chef 6 years later at Spago Sunset in 1986. Thank you.

I want to thank my fabulous parents, Dorrance and Marilyn, for always supporting me throughout my life with whatever I was interested in, which were many! I am so grateful for my father’s knowledge about health and the importance of a healthy gut, eating organic and not making sugary, refined foods readily available in our home. I believe I am healthy today because of this, and I am thankful that my mother took the time in the evenings after working all day to teach me how to not only cook, but to prepare me in all aspects of life when it came time to leave home. And lastly, I want to thank my clients over the years for your support, of which many have been repeats.

Preface

This cookbook is a culmination of thoughtfully prepared recipes. There are a wide variety of recipes, including some from my company, Butter Barn Butter’s grass-fed flavored butters, vegetables, grains, pastas, soups, eggs, vegan and vegetarian, meats, poultry, seafood, salad dressings, salads, and sweets. I’ve created thousands of recipes over the last forty-plus years cooking professionally, and in retrospect, I wish I had written them all down. Butter Barn’s baked goods started in 2016. Baking was never something I enjoyed, let alone thought would become a business so late in life. Using gluten-free flours, organic cane and brown sugars, grass fed, or organic butter and grass-fed pasture eggs are the key to a better-tasting and healthier treat.

I am a simple chef. I’m not the deconstruction kind of chef. I’m not the meticulously placed items with tweezers chef. I’m a don’t

-mess -around -with -the -food -too -much chef! I want my food to be colorful and pleasing to the eyes, easy and quick to prepare, as close to its natural state as possible, good for your body and tasty as well. I’ve been told that my sweets satisfy my customers craving after a few bites, which was my goal. I recommend my customers cut them into pieces, bag them and freeze them so when they crave a sweet, grab one and eat it frozen. It’s a great way to satisfy that sweet tooth.

The Purpose of this Cookbook

One of the most important things to learn in life is how to cook, it’s a basic need to survive. Second, it’s crucial to understand that what we put into our bodies should be mindful; choosing wholesome, organic food, (or at least non-GMO foods), and using very little processed foods as possible. Eventually, you will have a family and hopefully you’ll want to get them eating healthy early on, eventually teaching your children how to cook. You’ll entertain friends or might become a professional cook or chef in a restaurant, or maybe as a caterer or private chef. Cooking is one of the most giving, gratifying, and thoughtful things to offer people. There are many ways to give and for me, cooking is a big one. It’s enormously satisfying on many levels.

Passion is also essential when it comes to cooking, as is how you handle the food, and the head space you’re in while preparing it. Thoughtfulness, good energy, being in a happy, giving, and loving place can make or break the experience. You may think that sounds silly, but if you’re sick, unhappy, angry, or experiencing anything negative, don’t cook! People can pick up on that kind of energy through the food you’ve made, causing them to not feel so great afterwards. Think of the movie ‘Like Water for Chocolate’! That’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Over the years, I’ve been told how good my clients feel after eating my food, which never gets old for me. That’s exactly what I want to hear. The reason I believe this happens is because I put my heart, passion, good energy, and soul into my cooking, even if it’s just fried eggs. It really does make all the difference in how the food tastes and makes one feel. And finally, always remember where your food came from. My hats off to all the hardworking farmers, the pickers in the fields, the fisherman, the truckers, the captains who sail shipping containers across the ocean in sometimes horrific conditions so we can eat King crab, the packers, and many other people who distributed the food to the stores for you to enjoy at home.

I wanted to note that I originally wanted to base my recipes around the ingredients mentioned in the Bible, but I happily realized while researching this idea, many of my recipes already include most of these ingredients. People also appreciated food differently back then, mostly on a spiritual level because they knew it came from God. They never took that for granted. Food was often scarce as there was no refrigeration and very seasonal (the true ‘Farm to Table’ concept), so I assume a good part of the day was spent sourcing and preparing food. Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth is how my husband looks at the Bible and I like that. The biggest message I took away from doing my research was it’s mostly about giving and love, and what better way to give than through cooking. No matter what your beliefs are, there’s some pretty good information in there for everyone.

Foods and Ingredients That Were Available During Biblical Times

I found all of this very interesting and wanted to share it with you. Most of the food was very seasonal, (the true ‘Farm to Table’ concept), so the diets would change often, making items more scarce than other times of the year.

Wine- Of course wine was the most important staple! It is said that God himself first showed Noah how wine was made. Vineyards and grapes were in abundance in ancient Israel. Many scriptures refer to the importance of wine and warned against drunkenness, which didn’t seem to stick! The wine also had to be Kosher, therefore only the Jewish people were to make the wine. Wine was mostly drunk out of metal goblets or earthenware mugs, except for the poor; they used wooden cups. Glass was very expensive and hard to make. Wine was considered medicinal at the time too. Water wasn’t often pure in wells as they carried bacteria, (which is why they preferred spring water instead), which caused soreness and inflammation in the stomach. To fix this, they drank wine to help kill water-borne bacteria.

Bread- Bread was an essential, basic food and was treated with great respect. Many rules were created to preserve and show deep respect for this gift from God. Any crumbs left weren’t to be thrown away but instead gathered to snack on later. Also, bread was never to be cut but broken apart. Women almost always milled the wheat grains or barley and because the bread would mold too quickly because of the lack of refrigeration, enough was made for only a day or two.  These women were busy!

Milk- Cow’s milk was rarely drunk as it would go bad too quickly. Goat milk and ewe were more common. And since milk soiled quickly, cheese making was more common.

Honey- Honey was used often as a sweetener. The bees were colonized like today resulting in so much honey, some of it was exported. Interestingly, cane sugar was unknown at the time in the Holy land.

Eggs- Very few eggs were eaten back then as well. Eggs were mostly reserved for the very wealthy. Chickens were scarce, but the idea of eating poultry seemed to come to light in Jewish regions around 500 B.C.

Vegetables- The diet of the common people consisted of mostly of vegetables; beans and lentils being at the top of the list. Cucumbers and onions were very popular, too.

Meat- As I suspected, far less meat was consumed back then than today. Meat was mostly eaten by the wealthy, and they ate a great deal of it. When big feasts were approaching, an older animal was chosen, and fed grain for several months as they wanted a fatter animal. Goats and lambs were the most common but occasionally a cow was chosen. The poor never killed an animal, unless there was a large family gathering. Because of the shelf life, meat was often pickled or salted.

Fish- Fish was more important than eating meat, making it the most coming source of protein. They mostly came from The Sea of Galilee and imported from the Mediterranean Sea. They often salted fish or pickled it to preserve it as fish went bad quickly as well.

Seasonings- Salt came from the Dead Sea as it was close, (I would assume), which also helped preserve certain foods. Black pepper, which is my favorite spice, was very expensive as was cinnamon because they had to be imported. Other spices used were capers, cumin, saffron, mustard, coriander, dill, rosemary, garlic, mint, onions, rue, and shallots. Rue is a perennial plant and a member of the same family as the citrus fruits.

Nuts- Nuts were always available, like walnuts, pistachios, and almonds. And like today, they were roasted mostly.

Locusts- Okay, this one shocked the heck out of me if I’m to be honest! I’ve eaten weird things before, but nothing this weird! Apparently, there were 800 different types of edible locusts, which were either boiled or dried in the sun that was made into a powder. The powder was bitter and often added to flour to make a popular bitter biscuit. Who knew?

Olive Oil- Butter was rarely used as it would also go bad in a few days, but olive oil was more common. There were so many olive trees that olives and olive oil had to be exported. Olive oil symbolized strength and health.

Fruit- Fruit was a major part of the people’s diet as it also very abundant and exported as well. Melons, figs, pomegranates, dates, and blackberries were at the top of the list.

Testimony

"My wife and I retained Lisa to cook for us almost 2 years ago as we wanted to eat healthier foods. Lisa creates meals on a weekly basis that are not only delicious but that clearly provide the essential nutrients and support that our bodies need to live a healthier life and thrive.

In addition, my wife had a recent injury that required medical attention, and the medical staff was so impressed with the healing process that they believe our diet contributed to her healing process. Lisa’s meals have truly been a blessing for us."

Mitch Bredefeld- CPA Malibu, Bredefeld & Associates, PC

About Lisa

A person sitting on a table Description automatically generated

This was taken Spago Sunset in 1984 during a photo shoot for Cuisine Magazine. I’m holding a tuna dish made by Mark Peel,

Wolfgang’s head chef at the time. This wasn’t supposed to be in the magazine, but somehow it made it! Notice the food looks like it was made at home, nothing fussy.

It all began in 1977 while studying fine art at Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood, California. I needed a job to pay for my art supplies, so I found one as a waitress at a restaurant called, The Good Earth in Westwood Village, Los Angeles. It was one of the first natural food restaurants and very good. At that time, I was making about two hundred dollars a day waiting tables, which was incredible back then, but I was more fascinated by the goings on in the professional kitchen. When I was ten years old, my mother, Marilyn, unknowingly started my training to become a chef. This was not what I had in mind for my future. I wanted to be a famous photographer. But God had other plans for me. I began by cleaning up after dinner for twenty-five cents a night. She taught me how to prepare food, like snapping the stems off green beans, cutting the thorns off the artichokes, etc. By