Healing Through Food & Love!

 

Food is our common ground, a universal experience. ~ James Beard

 

I took my daughter into Boston this last week to MA General Hospital for unexpected surgery. She recently fell and broke her ankle. Her Doctor recommended surgery to help it heal properly. It was a bad fracture in an unusual angle. She now has two steel pins internally to hold it together and some repair was done to the bone itself.

 As a Mom, it wasn't easy to watch her in pain, travel into Boston, undergo anesthesia and then head into the operating room. I had to let go a little. I had to trust that she was in good hands, that I had gathered enough information to make the right decision and that all would be well.

 I knew it would help us both to have something to look forward to the morning after we returned home from the Hospital. She was expected to need to rest, keep her foot up and manage the post op pain. We decided to make it a Pie Day and that I would gather ingredients beforehand and be ready to bake some of her favorite pies. We even stopped at Falmouth Public Library and picked out a fun cookbook on all things pie related early in the week for added inspiration. Yesterday, I baked a Triple Berry, Coconut Cream and Chicken Pot Pie. They were really scrumptious. She had a friend over and they ate them together, they said, "Wow, those were Delicious!"

 I used fresh ingredients yet I also added extra love and care when making them. Cooking with love simply makes food taste better.

Making fresh, healthy and home made food for someone you love and care about is one of the most comforting things you can do for someone. Like Beard says, "food is a  universal bond" and yet the making and sharing of good food is part of any one's healing process. And I love to try different versions of my favorite recipes. The Chicken Pot pie may be my new favorite. I added a bit of white wine, cream and broth to make the sauce and I added sauteed mushrooms, onion, garlic, celery and carrots too. It was a hearty meal in itself. It was hard for me to choose either a slice of the triple berry or the coconut cream for desert. So naturally I did the only sensible thing and had a small slice of both.