Seasoned with Love

Grandma’s cookies didn’t need preservatives. They didn’t last that long.

I have my grandkids brainwashed. Every since they were tiny they have always thought "Nan’s" food tastes so much better then anyone else’s. When they tell me that, I laugh and say it is because when I cook something for them all the love in me oozes from my body, through my hands and into whatever I am fixing, making it taste sweeter and better. Even a bowl of cereal tastes different at Nan’s. They believe every word I say. : )

We all know everything tastes better at grandma’s, even when grandma can’t cook. : ) We have heard many times that we eat with our eyes and not just with our mouths but what we don’t hear about very often, except in a negative way, is that we eat with our emotions, too.

In a minute I am going to give you some good flavors to add to your food to make your taste buds feel good, but nothing will taste good if it is not served sitting down with those you love and with laugher, talking and sharing. We can serve the healthiest food, the most flavorful food, but if it is not served with unconditional love it will taste like sawdust and will lose most of it’s healthy goodness.

There are so many practical things in the Bible which Christ taught us, but we sometimes tend to overlook them. How often did He sit down and eat with the disciples? All the time. There was a reason for it– because those were the times they learned the most about how they were to act or feel and  just to have communion with the one they loved and the one who loved them.

Sit down and eat with your family. Schedule them in. Get up 30 minutes earlier so you can all have breakfast together. Get home earlier so you can eat dinner together. I realize that some of you have lives in which you really can’t always do this. I’m just saying for those of you who can, try harder to find a way to eat together. Make eating as a family a priority.

Stop just grabbing food and running. Actually, if you think about it, it is like the animals in the jungle: They hunt their food, quickly kill it, run with it and then toss it to their young who fight over it. What good is all the education in the world and what good are the things money can buy if, in our daily living, we act like animals. Families need each other so slow down and have a meal together.

 

Here are a variety of practical things with which to season your food but most important, don’t forget to keep a large container of love to sprinkle on everything.

• We list twenty plus things in Dining on a Dime to add to oatmeal but here is one we didn’t include. Add a little vanilla to it for extra flavor. In some cases this may help to cut back on the amount of sweetener you use.
• Add some onion soup mix to your favorite roll recipe.
• Instead of regular bread crumbs for your meatloaf or meatballs, use seasoned bread crumbs or crushed seasoned croûtons.
• Drizzle cooked veggies like carrots or squash with maple syrup.
• Pour a half of cup or so of leftover coffee on your roast the next time you make it. It adds a rich flavor, but not a coffee flavor, and helps to make a nice brown gravy.
• I have mentioned before to add peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, etc. to brownies before baking but you can also add these to chocolate pudding for a nice change.

But most of all make sure everything is

"Seasoned with Love"

      -Jill

 

photo by: jessicafm