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Religion

Mother, dream inspire a cookbook

Mom could make a meal from whatever was at hand. That influence and a divine nudge lead to a cookbook chock-full of simple recipes.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published November 12, 2005

CLEARWATER - Although she's deeply religious and has been a whiz in the kitchen for more than 50 years, Barbara Jones-Johnson never intended to put her faith and her creativity together after she retired as an administrative assistant in 2002.

She wanted to pen stories about her mother marrying her father during the Great Depression when she was 16, and how the couple settled in Big Flats, N.Y., and raised six children.

And about how her father worked at Corning Glass Works making Pyrex mixing bowls on the assembly line, and how her mother used them to make pot pie with rabbits her father shot.

And how when there was little to eat she reupholstered a Model-T Ford, sold it and used the money to stock the icebox.

But after Helen Maude Branch-Jones died at 87 of congestive heart failure in 2000, Jones-Johnson had a strange dream.

In it she saw the cover of a book with a dove, purple grapes and a title in gold lettering: Blessings and Bountiful Cookbook by Barbara Jones-Johnson.

"I said well, I guess that's what God wants me to do," said Jones-Johnson, 67, who grew up Baptist.

In her will, Branch-Jones left $5,000 to each of her six children.

"I knew what I wanted to do with mine: to publish this cookbook in her honor," Jones-Johnson said.

For a year she sifted through the many boxes of recipes she had collected over four decades and selected 1,000 dishes, from salmon cheese balls to oxtail soup.

Eventually, she whittled her list to 500 of her favorites.

Published by Morris Press Cookbooks and priced at $10, the Blessings and Bountiful Cookbook was released in February and is being sold at Cokesbury Books, Tampa Christian Supply, the Promise Book Shoppe at St. Luke's Cataract & Laser Institute in Tarpon Springs, and the gift shops at Morton Plant Mease hospitals. She has sold about 460 so far.

While the ingredients in the recipes have nothing to do with religion, Bible verses and proverbs are sprinkled throughout, including one from Corinthians: "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

Jones-Johnson enlisted her granddaughter, Crystal Starkey, now 17, to design the cover with the dove and the purple grapes she saw in her dream.

She decided to keep the recipes simple, just as her mother did.

"Even when times were tough and the cupboard was nearly bare, my mother always had a knack for creating her own recipes with whatever she had on hand at the time," Jones-Johnson wrote in the book's dedication.

Jones-Johnson and her husband moved to Clearwater in 1981 and joined First Assembly of God. They have four grown children and nine grandchildren.

She laughs when asked about the first meal she ever cooked.

One day in 1954 when her parents had gone out for the evening, her Aunt Mary and cousin Laura came to visit.

When it was close to dinnertime, she asked if they wanted to stay and eat. They shocked her by accepting the invitation.

"I looked and saw a box of cornstarch and thought I could make white sauce," she said. "I read the box and it said you could put in vegetables. So I added some peas and poured it over toast. After that, I thought I better learn to cook."

Many of her recipes come from friends and relatives.

There is Aunt Edna's Brown Bread, Aunt Mary's Vinegar Pie and Grandma Edith's Barbecued Bear. The cookie recipes are named after Jones-Johnson's grandchildren.

Of course, there are some from her mom, whom Jones-Johnson described as a kind, spirit-filled woman who prayed for her children until the day she died.

"I hope that it brings people to the Lord and brings them peace and contentment when they're cooking and when they're not cooking," Jones-Johnson said. "And that they'll be blessed by God."

When Jones-Johnson cooks, she said, she still uses the Pyrex bowls her father made on the assembly line all those years ago.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com

For a copy of the Blessings and Bountiful Cookbook send $10 plus $2.95 for shipping and handling to Barbara Jones-Johnson, 2327 St. Charles Drive, Clearwater, FL 33764.

Here are some holiday recipes from Barbara Jones-Johnson's Blessings and Bountiful Cookbook that you might consider trying with all that leftover Thanksgiving Day turkey.

3 cups of stuffing

1 cup of cranberry sauce

2 cups of chopped turkey

11/2 cups of leftover vegetables

1/2 cup of gravy

3 cups of mashed potatoes

Place stuffing on the bottom of a pie plate. Layer with sauce, turkey and vegetables. Drizzle gravy over the mixture. Spread the potatoes over the top. Top with a dollop of sauce and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are golden.

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup of chopped onion

3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 pound ground turkey

1 tablespoon olive oil

Combine all ingredients except the olive oil and mix well. Shape into six patties and cook in the oil over medium heat. Serve on hamburger rolls with lettuce and tomato.

[Last modified November 12, 2005, 00:54:17]