Love Welcome Serve: Recipes that Gather and Give

Introduction

MY HEART

I FEED PEOPLE.

My husband, my children, and anyone who walks in my door.

New faces on my street, and old friends.

People who have babies, job changes, and water damage.

People who are celebrating.

People who are grieving.

My town’s high school football coaches.

The UPS man who knocks on the door.

Churchfolk, kinfolk, menfolk, womenfolk.

And just about any other folks who come across my path.

Why do I feed people? Because I believe with my whole heart that people who are cooked for feel cared for. I’ve believed that for as long as I can remember. This way of love was modeled by my grandmother Euna Mae Nelson, who fed her Circle group, her Sunday school class, and her grandchildren every Wednesday when we’d come over to play. She made compassion meals for people who were hurting. She donated treats to area bake sales. She hosted and fed her family’s families on sled-worthy snow days, any given pretty afternoon, and every Easter and Christmas for as long I can remember.

Euna Mae had a round wooden stool with a cushioned top that she’d let me pull right up between her sink and her stove—which was exactly in the middle of in the way. I’d ask questions, and she’d answer. I’d sit on my knees and watch her tend to her gooey, slow-stirred, homemade mac ’n’ cheese with noodles that, at the time, seemed as big as my face. I learned over time how to recognize when the macaroni and cheese was ready to be taken out of the oven because the cheese and butter were all melted in and the edges had juuust started to dry out. Sometimes I’d stand right next to her while she made her famous peach fried pies that my daddy and his brothers would practically wrestle over. I’d watch her test the heat of her pan with the first pie, sometimes too hot and sometimes just right. (Too hot meant burning a pie, which made her madder than a wet hen!) I would stand nose-up to the kitchen counter, watching and waiting, while the still-sizzling pies drained right in front of me on brown paper bags from our small-town grocery store. At the time I didn’t think a thing about parking myself right in the action zone of her small kitchen. But as I got older, with a kitchen of my own, and reflected back on those days in the kitchen with Euna Mae, I realized why she never shooed me away. She was intentional kitchening. She knew that making and serving food was a means to an end, and that the end was impacting the lives of people for the better. And in this case, that life was mine.

Because feeding people is the way love was shown to me and the way I show love, I’ve become aware in the last several years of how folks have gotten away from feeding their families, from opening their doors to friends and neighbors, and from using the ministry of food to love on people. Everyone’s gotten busy, noses down in their phones and hustling all about. Everyone’s gotten wrapped up in making things just so, like a Pinterest board or a staged social media photo. (Emphasis on the word staged.) The result is excuses, comparisons, closed doors, and missed opportunities to show people they’re cared for. Isn’t that a shame? Let me tell you, I became stirred on the inside about encouraging and equipping folks to embrace hospitality—intentional kitchening—so people wouldn’t miss one more minute of the love that happens when they make and serve food to their people.

One day when my husband, Sam, was working from home, I went into his office and, with a lump in my throat, told him that I felt as if God was urging me to do something bigger. I didn’t know what that bigger something was, and it scared the daylights out of me. I liked my life at home, doing for-hire projects here and there, keeping my house, nurturing my relationships, and ya know, hanging out. But I’m telling you, this urge was undeniably strong. I knew only two things: (1) I had a growing desire to inspire folks to use their homes and kitchens to get into the lives of people, and (2) my heart raced so hard I couldn’t sleep because I sensed God had something in mind that He wanted me to do about it. So I prayed and waited. And I wish you could’ve been a mouse in my pocket for the next six months and witnessed all the things that came together to steer me toward my first big move.

With purpose and some divine prompting, I opened a kitchen boutique down the street from my house named after my grandmother Euna Mae, with hopes of encouraging and equipping folks to live out authentic hospitality, to inspire intentional kitchening. Y’all, I was forty-one years old and had never worked in retail. Gosh, for that matter, I had never even had five consecutive days with a shower and makeup. But it was clear as a bell that it was the step I was supposed to take, the purpose that had been stirred up in my heart that one teary-eyed day with Sam. I had peace and passion, and the people responded. And they’re still responding.

They’re responding to a lifestyle of hospitality found in 1 Peter 4:8–11. So what exactly do those verses say? Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms . . . so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. . . .

Love deeply. Welcome gladly. Serve faithfully. So that in all things God may be praised. These three words captured my heart: Love. Welcome. Serve.

The Love Welcome Serve lifestyle means living with an awareness that people have emotional, spiritual, and physical needs, and using the comfort and ministry of food to respond to those needs, demonstrating the goodness of God in their lives. It’s opening your heart to impact theirs. It’s opening your home to give people a place to belong. Love Welcome Serve is deliberate and considerate. Simply said, it’s intentional kitchening. Purposeful plating. Lovin’ on people with lasagna. Can the people be strangers? Yes. Company? Yes. Your spouse and kids? Yes. Your mail carrier? Yes. Crown roast or boxed macaroni and cheese? Yes. Food is the means to an end, and the end is to impact the lives of people for the better. Love Welcome Serve.

I love the way Sally Clarkson says it in her book The Lifegiving Home: There is something about preparing food and sharing it that enhances relationships, builds community, and even fosters spiritual connection. My goodness, she is so right! And you want to know what else? When you purposefully pour yourself into others, the treat will be yours too! There’s something unique and magical about serving. It’ll come right back around and squeeze your heart.

MY HOPE

As with my retail store, my social media presence, my loud mouth, and about every other platform the good Lord’s given to me, my hope for this book is that you will be encouraged and equipped to live out authentic, intentional, life-giving hospitality right there in your own kitchens and homes.

I hope to encourage you to . . .

• see that cooking for your family is an enormous privilege and can create treasured memories and lifelong warm fuzzies.

• look for folks who need to feel that they matter and invite them into your home to be seen and cared for.

• be the one who finally takes the step of inviting rather than waiting to be invited.

• tune your heart to hear others’ needs and respond with a pot pie at their door.

• view your home as one of the warmest and most effective tools to love on your kids, their friends, your neighbors, the new family in town, and more.

• realize that hospitality is about others, not you, and enjoy the freedom and peace that it brings.

• pray that God will blow the doors of your home wide open so that out of your kitchen and around your table, lives will be changed for the better.

I hope to equip you with . . .

• family-friendly recipes that you can make on busy weeknights or on slow Sunday afternoons.

• dishes that you can fix for crowds that stretch and feed bellies and have reasonable shortcuts so that you’re able to welcome them with a happy heart.

• make-ahead recipes that are perfect for weekend company, allowing you to spend your time visiting and enjoying their faces.

• portable comfort meals that can be easily prepared and transported, and that make good leftovers for the times when you feel prompted to serve someone who has a crisis—or just deserves a little care.

• suggestions for stocking your pantry and fridge so that you’re prepared to pull off a quick, yummy meal for starving teenagers. (And they’re always starving, y’all. Always.)

• helpful tips for making ahead, freezing, doubling, preparing, taking shortcuts, and more.

• food that just plain tastes good—crowd-pleasers and belly-fillers that anyone can make!

So, you’ve got this book in your hands, you’ve listened to me rah-rah-ree about living a life of authentic hospitality, and in the pages that follow, you’ll be all set for gathering and giving, serving and sharing food! Good food, great impact, and big blessings are about to be yours! Now let’s get in our kitchens and cook the fool out of some food, and change the world one pot pie at a time!

Intentional kitchening, y’all.

love welcome serve,

A FEW THINGS ABOUT A FEW THINGS

I love the part of a cookbook where the author shares all kinds of hints about ingredients and equipment to inspire and help readers on their journey through the book. So, here are a few of my own thoughts that I hope will help you with this book, with these recipes, and with the mission of intentional kitchening!

INGREDIENTS

For the longest time, I didn’t believe that the quality of ingredients made much of a difference in my cooking. But y’all, it makes a big difference. So, here’s my number one encouragement to help you make a big splash in your cooking: Buy the best ingredients you can afford. Good olive oil, good vanilla, good cheese, and so on. And buy natural ingredients whenever you can.

Use real lemon juice rather than that artificial stuff in the plastic bottle. I’ve considered flying an airplane pulling a banner that says, Squeeze your own lemons! But maybe this will do the trick.

If you choose not to make your own chicken stock (which is fine, but I urge you to try making it at least once—see my recipe on page 171), then buy good-quality chicken stock rather than chicken broth. Chicken stock is generally made with bones—and we all know that there’s flavor in those bones! Chicken broth is usually made with only meat. Same goes for beef stock over beef broth; it’s just so much richer.

Choose full-fat ingredients, not low-calorie or low-fat. I just believe it’s the way God intended it. So eat cream cheese in moderation, but when you do, do it with gusto. Then go run your block or plank a little longer at your workout class.

Use real mayonnaise. The creamy salad dressing that sits beside mayonnaise at the grocery is not a substitute. My favorite mayonnaise is Hellmann’s. Always and forever.

I believe so firmly in shredding your own cheese, y’all. It’s my soapbox. It’s more natural and so much creamier, especially when you’re melting it into a soup, like my White Chicken Chili (page 89). The only cheese that I buy pre-shredded is mozzarella, for a recipe like Layered Spaghetti Pie (page 114), because mozzarella is so soft that it’s nearly impossible to shred. But cheddar, Monterey Jack, Parmesan, and the like, I shred.

In this book, I call for granulated garlic rather than garlic powder. They are very similar in flavor, but granulated garlic has a little more texture. You can substitute garlic powder if you prefer, as they are virtually interchangeable. What is not interchangeable is garlic salt. As a matter of fact, there’s no real need for you to buy garlic salt—just good granulated garlic (or garlic powder) and salt. That’ll do.

When in doubt, use unsalted butter. It’s not a crime to use salted butter, but with unsalted I know I can control the amount of salt in a recipe. I buy butter by the wheelbarrow. It can freeze for several months so I know I always have backup.

If I’m not making my own marinara, I look for a high-quality store-bought tomato sauce. Choose a brand that has the fewest number of ingredients on the label. And it never hurts to stir a tablespoon of butter into your jarred sauce when it’s simmering on the stove to add a little richness and to round out the acidity.

Regular all-purpose flour is what fills my giant glass jar on the counter. I purchase special flour like cake flour or bread flour only when I need it for a particular recipe. And here’s a tip: Before you reach in to scoop and measure out your flour, use a whisk to stir it up and loosen it a little. You’ll get a more accurate measurement with light, loose flour.

Baking soda and baking powder can both expire, which means that they won’t add the necessary rise and texture to your baked goods. To test baking soda, stir a teaspoon into a little cup of white vinegar. It will fizz and bubble if it’s still fresh. To test baking powder, stir a teaspoon into boiling water and it should vigorously fizz too. If they don’t bubble up, then it’s time to replace them!

For all my baking, I use Baker’s Joy baking spray because it has flour in it. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than turning out half of a Bundt cake with the other half stuck in the pan. A good coating of Baker’s Joy will do the trick every time.

Vanilla extract is absolutely one of my favorite ingredients. I almost always give the bottle a long, slow whiff before I pour it into the mixer or bowl. Spend a little extra on good vanilla like Nielsen-Massey, or make your own with lots and lots of beans.

You’re gonna have to search for it, but look high and low to find ground Vietnamese cinnamon. It is so much sweeter and more flavorful than regular cinnamon. I use cinnamon in so much of my baking, and even in a few dry rubs for meat. Vietnamese cinnamon will change everything about your cinnamon rolls, taking them from good to Oh my word!

A WELL-EQUIPPED KITCHEN

My kitchen equipment gets a serious workout, between cooking for my family and friends and testing and