Sharing the Gift of a Homemade Meal

There is a very special someone in my life who is sick.  He is very, very sick and we are praying for God to give him hope, strength, AND healing.  What he needs is a miracle and each night I pray and have faith that God does grant miracles.  The special someone in my life is a doctor.  He gives sight to the blind.  He is a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a brother-in-law, son-in-law, friend and mentor.  He is valiantly fighting to live and is teaching us much about strength, perseverance, and love.

When someone you care about is sick, you want to help.  You want to help the sick person feel better and also try to provide some comfort and lessen the workload on the person's family.  I love making homemade meals and since cooking is something I can do, I wanted to make a meal for my special someone and his family.

To me, first and foremost, I wanted to make something that they all loved.  It's easy to whip up a tuna casserole but if the family you are taking it to doesn't eat tuna casserole, that doesn't do much good.  They would be grateful for any gift of a homemade meal, but even better if it is a meal they relish.

I don't have any new recipes for this post, but wanted to share the meal that I delivered to my special someone.  I wanted to take something that all of them would enjoy.  I delivered the meal right after the children of the family arrived home from school and just in time for my special someone and his wife to arrive home from a long, difficult, and exhausting day of various appointments.  They called to tell me upon arriving home that in the day of stress and worry, they had forgotten I was bringing dinner.  They had considered picking up a pizza on the way home but nothing really sounded good to our special someone so they decided to play it by ear at home. 

Upon walking into their home, their eyes settled on the counters loaded with dishes that I had delivered.  The yummy smells wafted to their hungry tummies.  They were so relieved and excited to see all of the food.  My gift was well received and I couldn't have ever felt as much joy as I felt when they called to tell me how they had forgotten that I was bringing dinner so it was a special and much needed surprise that day.

My special someone was exhausted so as his children made their plates, he rested a little while.  He called me himself later in the evening to thank me for the meal after he had had a chance to eat.  My special someone loves food!  He always loves what I cook.  He hasn't been able to eat huge amounts of food but his wife shared that he had eaten a little of everything I brought that day.  His joy and his call to me were the true gifts that day. 

Sometimes food is a great vessel of the love we feel for each other.  Here are the items I chose to make for my special someone and his family AT HOME MY WAY:

Sharing the Gift of a Homemade Meal

  

• Baked Pork Loin using this dry rub:



• Twice Baked Potato Casserole recipe HERE:

(My special someone especially loved this dish!)

• Frozen corn (This was just Green Giant Frozen Corn with Butter Sauce, which is a particular family favorite.  Here is a link to see the product.)

• Homemade Schoolhouse Rolls (I need to get a picture of these delicious things), recipe HERE.

• Ditch the Box No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake, recipe HERE:

• Fruit Salad (recipe coming soon, but it is simply a combination of canned peach pie filing, canned mandarin oranges, canned chunk pineapple, and bananas).  I thought this might be a nice, light item which would last well in the fridge for my special someone.
  
  
•  Brownies - I used boxed brownies because I had so many other things going but these  BROWNIES WITHOUT A BOX (recipe HERE) would be great for meal taking:

• I also brought with me this Sweet Tea.  It is the one thing that my special someone especially LOVES.  The recipe is HERE:

I tried to make something that each person of the family would enjoy.  I also brought items without hidden ingredients as I know this family isn't very adventuresome with their eating. I tried to send items that would reheat well for eating as leftovers and I only used foil pans and the new Chinette micro/oven proof dishware so that the dishes could be tossed in the trash and not washed to return.  

I highly recommend sharing your cooking talents with others.  Hey, even if you know someone who isn't sick or stressed out but might appreciate your cooking.  Who wouldn't love a catered, home cooked meal?  Talk about feeling the LOVE!  

Gina