Elizabeth Recommends

Inspiring Books, Chants and the Family Cornbread

Books

Want to read a wonderful story about family, faith, and miracles? Peace Like a River (by Leif Enger) follows eleven-year-old Reuben Land who has asthma and has reason to believe in miracles, his outlaw older brother, his sister, and his father across the country as they look for safety and the chance to be together again. This story has one of the most delightful depictions of heaven I have ever read…when Reuben’s daddy dies and goes to heaven we readers get to see what the father sees. A national bestseller, this book was one of Time Magazine’s Top Five Books of the Year. I loved this book!

My dear friend, Kathi Appelt, multiple award-winning children’s book author has just published a new picture book called The Best Kind of Gift. Set in Tennessee, the story tells about a new parson who has just come to the Dogwood All-Faiths Tabernacle. The members of the church are planning to give the new preacher a “pounding”—a pound of this, a pound of that--as a way to welcome him and his family to the community. The story is about a little boy Jory who doesn’t know what he can take as a gift to this pounding for the new preacher but who finds by the end of the story the perfect thing to give, the Best Kind of Gift! I have bought this book for children and adults alike! One of our close friends, a world-famous novelist, sat at our kitchen counter reading the book and cried when he reached the ending. Read this book anytime you want an uplift! (To make it even better for our family, the parson in the book is named Brother Harper, in honor of my father, Rev. Tommie Harper; and the book is dedicated to the memory of my father and mother, Tommie and Rachel, and to me! This dedication, too, is the best kind of gift!)

Music

I’ve just bought some new Mozart and Gregorian chant cds. Recent research in hospitals show that people who listen to Mozart and to Gregorian chants return to health more quickly. These patients say they experience more calm and peace after hearing the music. In a new book Looking for Spinoza—about sorrow and joy and the healing brain—the scientist Antonio Damasio also talks about the power of harmony in music to bring stability to our up-and-down emotions. Every day in my writing studio, I play anything by Mozart and have several Gregorian chant cds. (One of my favorites is called “Chant” by The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos, a cd that was in the top-of-the-chart lists in popular music, showing clearly that Gregorian chant appeals across the board.)

A Family Recipe

Growing up in Georgia and Tennessee, I ate cornbread for as long as I can remember. And loved it!! Recently my brother Frank took up cooking for the first time (wonders never cease!), and at Thanksgiving he made one of the most beautiful pans of cornbread I have ever seen. And did it taste good, too! Can you imagine taking a picture of cornbread—well, that’s what I did right on the spot. And here it is, as well as a picture of Frank and me. You can see how happy we are. We’ve just eaten the cornbread!

While Frank used one of Emeril’s recipes for his cornbread, I wanted to share a Chattanooga Cookbook version that I’ve made for probably thirty years. Slather a big slab of butter on a piece of this hot cornbread, eat, and enjoy! And, oh, how good any left-over cornbread is the next morning, buttered and toasted under the broiler for breakfast! If you cook this cornbread, let me know how you like it.

Recipe:

Chattanooga Corn Bread
(from Mrs. Roy McDonald’s mother)

1 cup meal
1 cup flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup shortening

[I often use self-rising flour and don’t use the baking powder, soda, and salt.]

Beat eggs and pour into the buttermilk. Sift the dry ingredients and add them. The batter will be rather than, and this is right because it takes a thin batter to make light, tender bread. In an iron skillet or square cake pan, heat the 1/2 cup of shortening. This greases the pan. Pour the shortening into the batter, mix well, and pour into the pan to bake. Bake in a hot 450-degree oven for 20-25 minutes.