Hi, I am so glad you stopped by. Grab a cup of tea and lets visit for a bit. Are you looking for ways to make a family meal happen just a little more often? Or, maybe baking is therapy? There is so much  we need to heal from as we travel “the broken way”. Sharing grace before a meal is my idea of how the healing begins.

Culinary medicine to me is a coming together of the soothing comforts of home cooking and the healing touch of The Great Physician, my Lord Jesus Christ. I added “my” because my 4 year old granddaughter told me she always says “my” God. I thought, I like that. I think I will start saying “my God” too. Thanks Paige for teaching me today.  “Everyone I meet knows something I don’t know”.  a quote I saw today and want to remember. Thanks Paige for helping me to remember.

My first foray into culinary medicine was when I was gardening and cooking on the farm as a child. My mommy died a few months after my 8th birthday, but I am so thankful for the gardening and cooking she taught me in those 8 years. We baked whole wheat honey bread and banana bread to sell for extra grocery money to supplement the government commodities we stood in line for each week.

I loved creating biscuits and cinnamon rolls and braided breads from flour and water. It was like magic. I took a demonstration to the Iowa State Fair when I was 14 to show others a little of that magic. How to cook the vegetables from my garden so they were still full of flavor and nutrients. I was about 8 years old when I gave my first nutrition presentation to our little 4-H club that met in a neighbor’s home. Probably my all-time favorite award I ever  won was for my yeast bread baking skills when I was about 10 years old. The yeast bread I took to the fair that year was a beautiful monkey bread decorated with a glaze and candied cherries. At the time I was a little disappointed that I did not win the Iowa State Fair bid; another girl did because the judge said the cardboard box I covered with bright red and white contact paper to hold the bread took away from the overall appearance of my 4-H project. I was only a tiny bit set back because I knew that bread was a great work of art and I learned a lot about presenting food that day. Months later at the end-of-the-year awards banquet, I was given this little 1-inch metal lapel pin that simply said “bread” on it. I was so thrilled and even now, every time I come across that tiny pin, I remember the joy baking bread gave me even as a child.

I was making bread for as long as I can remember. I have wonderful memories of helping my mom and later on Gram bake fresh, hot breads. Everyone loved our bread and I still deliver fresh yeast breads to neighbors and friends just because I can.

I co-authored a textbook for college students  “Nutrition and Diet Therapy”.  It is divided by diseases and describes how to eat to meet each special diet prescription. This is also the approach we take in our Culinary Medicine class at the University of Central Florida, College of Medicine. The students spend time in the classroom learning a little diet therapy and in the kitchen honing their ability to translate science into application to share with patients.