Reading & Recipes

Much of family life happens around food. Special occasions are celebrated with a favorite meal followed by a yummy dessert. People connect as they chat around the dinner table. Difficult problems are hashed out over a cup of tea or a shared pot of coffee. Illness is battled with chicken soup and a sympathetic touch. It can be the same in fictional worlds. So, when my characters share a meal, I try to pay as much attention to the food being served on their tables as I do to my own.

Last week, I released my 28th book – If the Boot Fits. Food ended up playing a larger role in this story, than I anticipated. Early in the novel, our heroine, Samantha Dearing, tries to win her way into the Ellis family’s good graces by baking up a scrumptious blackberry cobbler and bringing it with her when she comes to tutor one of the boys. Her father is responsible for ousting the widow and her two young sons from their previous home, so Samantha hopes to sweeten her reception with a sugary treat. It wins over the youngest boy in an instant, but when the handsome cowboy she met in the hardware store turns out to be an Ellis, too, her desire to please intensifies.

Later in the story, Samantha and the Ellis family plan a picnic that proves to be a pivotal event, not only because relationships are deepened, but because a deadly danger stalks the gathering. In the midst of it all, however, God is also at work, revealing truth to our heroine’s heart.

Have you ever had a moment of spiritual clarity while taking care of a mundane task? Here is a short exceprt where Samantha experiences such a moment while packing a picnic basket:

Why was it easier to trust God to work things together for the good of others than for herself? She believed the Lord was at work in her life, but there was so much uncertainty swirling around her at the moment, she felt like she was stumbling around in the dark. How much easier it would be if God would light a lamp and show her the full plan so she could step forward in confidence, knowing she was going the right way.

As she shuffled things around in the picnic basket to give Ida Mae and Martin the illusion of privacy, an unexpected bit of insight materialized in her mind. There must be dozens of ways to pack this basket. Sandwiches could be placed on the top right. Or they could switch places with the boiled eggs. The boiled eggs could be divided up, some on the right and some of the left. The crackers could be taken out of their tin. The cheese could be sliced or left in a large wedge. As the one packing the food, she had the choice of how to place everything. There wasn’t only one right way to do it. All the food would still end up at the picnic. Some methods might lead to the food being smashed or spilled, so wisdom certainly played a role in minimizing difficulty, but as long as she followed the prescribed menu and didn’t trade out the eggs for rocks or the cheese for a cake of soap, the picnic would still be a success.

Could the same be true of life in general? That the Almighty provided godly parameters for his people, but gave them the freedom to choose the details of the paths they walked? She could return to Boston and serve the Lord, or she could serve him here in Texas. She could walk in faith as the wife of a rancher, the wife of a banker, or a single woman who never became a wife at all. Her duty was to seek God first and walk in righteousness, but within those parameters, she could make a hundred different choices that would shape the details of her life in a thousand different ways.

Yet not all of those ways were equally good. Dropping a twenty-pound watermelon on top of her sandwiches would lead to considerable bruising, and taking the crackers out of their tin would end in a crumbly mess.

How I need you, Lord. Your wisdom. Your discernment as I seek the best path for my future. Guide me through the tangle of possibilities I face. Show me what is best, and give me the courage to trust your leading above my own desires and limited understanding.

Samantha’s Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
2-3 cups fresh blackberries
1/3 cup sugar * (for sweetening blackberries * increase sugar if using more berries or if berries are extra tart)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar (for batter)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees.
2. Melt butter in 13×9 inch baking dish.
3. Mix blackberries with 1/3 cup sugar and set aside.
4. Combine flour, 1 cup flour, baking powder, and salt. Add milk and vanilla to form a batter.
5. Pour batter into pan with melted butter.
6. Scatter the sweetened blackberries around the top of the batter, taking care to keep the berries away from the edges of the pan. The sugared berries will scorch if they touch the pan edges.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
8. Eat warm as is or top with vanilla ice cream.

If you wanted to sweeten someone up with a special dessert, what would you make?