Lasagna and a Birthday: Memories Around the Table

So the other day Katelyn's mom, my good friend, Jane, told me that there was a mistake in Memories Around the Table. I felt a pain rise in my stomach and then a sensation like hot liquid pour over me. Katelyn's birth date was incorrect. In fact, it's today, September 21-----not September 2 as printed in the cookbook.

Ugh.

Ugh.

Like anybody else, I hate making mistakes.

Especially this kind.

Jane reassured me not to worry about it.

So of course I am all about wanting to rectify the situation. I have two ways I would like you to help me in making things "right". The first is: I ask you to be sure and pencil-in a number 1 after the 2 in your copies for Katelyn's birth date. Next, I ask you to think about your loved one and do something in his memory today, something unique, something that embodies part of who she was here when she was with you.

I never had the privilege of meeting Katelyn, but I am told she was generous. Her mother has taken her legacy and is one of the most giving friends I know. She has supported me and my workshops and books in ways that are so awesome, I see God's light and love shine through her. And I see the love she has for her baby girl.

Happy Birthday in Heaven, Katelyn!

Here is her recipe for Microwave Lasagna from Memories Around the Table.



Katelyn Latta
September 21, 1985 ~ December 7, 2002

1 pound ground beef
1 (32 ounces) jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 lasagna noodles

Brown ground beef; drain. Add sauce and water. Mix all together and set aside.

In a bowl mix: 1 egg, pepper, ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese. Layer 1/2 cup sauce on bottom of 2- quart oblong dish, then add 3 uncooked noodles, 1/2 cheese mixture, 1/2 sauce, 3 noodles and cook on high 8 minutes, then medium low (50%) for 32 minutes.

Uncover and sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.

^*^*^

Katelyn prepared this lasagna recipe as a very young child. She loved to eat and she would eat almost anything. The weekend before her accident we celebrated her birthday with a group of young teen ladies by making Christmas chocolates and candies.

This recipe is simple and yummy. We used to use cottage cheese instead of ricotta and she never really measured anything. We would use homemade spaghetti sauce which already had the ground beef in it.

She arrived in Heaven 12/7/2002 and I don’t think we have made this recipe since. Maybe now is the time. We miss you baby girl!

~ Jane Latta

To order a copy of Memories Around the Table, please go to this blog post.

Everybody needs a place to share

People Need a Place to Share and Remember


I wanted to give people an opportunity. People need a place where memories are freely shared and abound.

When I started out with the making of my first memorial cookbook, Slices of Sunlight, I had an urgency to get the book out there. My four-year-old son Daniel had been gone just two years, and as a writer, it was important to me to have his name printed in a book. I knew other parents would welcome the opportunity to tell their son’s or daughter’s story about a food-related experience. Other parents, like me, had to deal with that empty chair at mealtimes—the space their child once occupied, back when life was not filled with sorrow. Why not give them a platform?

I sent out many email messages to bereaved parents’ groups. I told those in my Compassionate Friends chapter that I was putting together a book of favorite recipes and memories and gave them a short tutorial on how to write a food memory.

What was fascinating to me was the feedback I received, and not just the delicious recipes coupled with remembrances. People I had never met found out about the project and wrote to say things like, “Writing the recipe and memory was therapeutic for me.” “I loved having the time to recall. Thank you.” “I remembered and I cried; it brought back many good memories.”

My husband Carl is the one to thank for Memories Around the Table, my third and most recent book. He had not been in my life when the first two came out. I considered another book but wasn’t sure I wanted to dedicate the time or money, and I wasn’t certain that another memorial cookbook was needed.

“Let this one be a book with the recipes and memories of all loved ones, not just those of children,” he suggested. (I have a hunch it’s because he wanted to include a cake recipe he loves to make, known as Mom’s Cake, in the book.)

It was in Atlanta when I was invited to speak at a CURE weekend conference that I announced to a group of bereaved parents that I would do another cookbook. Once I told them about it, I knew I had to be committed to the project. I worked on getting the word out. I created a special email account where folks could send their recipes so I would have an in box dedicated to the “cookbook only” email messages. Which printer to use? Which cover? Should there be art inside? So many decisions.

When you compile a cookbook there are profound blessings along the way. First there are these priceless stories. I cried over many. The gratitude of those who submit recipes and memories are so dear. Then there is that action that many want to run from: editing. Editing to make the prose shine without taking away the essence of what the contributor supplied in the form of a memory and recipe—now that takes time.

The end result is a not just a mere book, but a legacy where love and the love of food live on. A tribute to those who once graced our tables, a reason for a contributor to take the time to write and say, "What a lovely little book. I was quite moved by the memories of loved ones and the way that the sharing of their recipes provided a way to share those memories and honor their lives. You did a very good job with this. I do thank you for doing all the work of putting this together and for including me. It is all so positive and healing."

Memories Around the Table is an invitation to all to come join us at the table, to remember and to continue to tell the stories that shape who we are.

You might want to bring a tissue.


Order your copy of Memories Around the Table (Daniel’s House Publications) by clicking this link.

~ Alice J. Wisler is a freelance writer and the author of five inspirational Southern novels, a grief and loss devotional (Getting Out of Bed in the Morning, a top seller on Kindle), and three independently-published cookbooks. She teaches grief-writing workshops across the country. Learn more at her website: http://www.alicewisler.com

(This article was first and originally posted at Julie Saffrin's blog)

Down the Cereal Aisle

Down the Cereal Aisle is not your ordinary cookbook. This book is a tribute to children who have died much too soon. Their loved ones have sent in recipes and memories so that all of us can now enjoy the treats these precious kids once enjoyed. Learn to make Amy's fruit cobbler and Ethan's frog-eyed salad.

The book also holds poetry as well as tips on parental bereavement. Get a copy today! Special offer from October 14 to October 31 is this:
Pay only for shipping/handling. (Down the Cereal Aisle retails for $12.95)
Send $4.00 checks to the address below:
Daniel's House Publications
201 Monticello Avenue
Durham, NC 27707

Why is it hard going down the cereal aisle?

Everything screams difficult after the death of a child. The cereal aisle is no exception. Walking down the cereal aisle after a child has died can be painful. Memories lie with the boxes of Cocoa Puffs and Fruit Loops.

Down the Cereal Aisle is more than a cookbook. The pages contain not only recipes, but food-related memories and stories of children gone too soon. You can read the book and cry, as well as create one of the recipes and weep. And while you're doing it, it will make your heart feel good that you are remembering a child who did live, was loved and is missed every day. Learn to make Chicken Broccoli Casserole and Tommy's Chocolate Cake. Or just sit down with a cup of your favorite tea and read the poetry and stories in this tender book.

Down the Cereal Aisle was compiled by me, with the help of dozens of moms and dads who contributed to the cookbook.

James Cox of Midwest Book Review says, "Down The Cereal Aisle: A Basket Of Recipes And Remembrances is a unique and very special cookbook of favorite recipes of children who have since been lost to their parents. As much a testimony of grief and bereavement as it is a fond memory of cherished dining with their loved ones, Down The Cereal Aisle is a soulful, meditative, and sober compilation of easy-to-prepare dishes. From Aunt Vicki's Macaroni and Cheese Stuff (in memory of Michael Haskins, May 9, 1979--October 11, 1996) to 7 Layer Bars (in memory of Teresa Wesley Hough, April 25, 1968--October 2, 1993), Down The Cereal Aisle blends capsules memorial tributes with recipes from the heart's own memory."

Order a copy today at the discount price. Send $12.00 (that includes shipping and handling) per book to the address below.
Visit this page at my Writing the Heartache website to read more about the book.

Address check to Alice J. Wisler and send to:

201 Monticello Avenue
Durham, NC 27707