“Dishing Love Daily and Other Secret Ingredients” by Susanne Clark

Dishing Love Daily and Other Secret Ingredients 

Susanne Clark
Tellwell Talent (2024)
ISBN: 978-0228819936
Reviewed by Tammy Ruggles for Reader Views (03/2024)

“Dishing Love Daily and Other Secret Ingredients” by Susanne Clark takes the cookbook to places you can only imagine. Everyone knows that comfort food can ease stress and make you feel better. But what if you take that idea one step further and transform your entire kitchen into a place where making a meal can become an act of love, and the food itself can have healing and health benefits?

Chef Suzy presents her favorite recipes that are all about serving and eating food made with ingredients that are readily available, always fresh, and always healthy. Food doesn’t have to be the enemy. It can be an integral part of your mind, body, and spirit connection. Whether you are a cook just starting out on your gastronomical journey, or a seasoned chef looking for a healthier alternative to food, this is the guide you’ve been looking for. Why keep mindfulness, meditation, and positivity separate from food? If you’re a cook, or a foodie that loves serving others a delicious meal, then you know that preparing and sharing food can be an act of compassionate nurturing. How much more loving could this experience be if you incorporate the mind, body, and spiritual aspects? That approach gives food a whole new meaning and purpose.

Clark offers up appetizing recipes that nourish both body and soul in a way that is well-organized, thoughtful, and irresistibly described. The chapters are categorized into Breakfast and Smoothies, Appetizers, Salads and Dressings, Soups, Sides and Seasonings, Mains, and Baking and Sweets. But before you delve into the scrumptious recipes, you are introduced to the author’s philosophical take on food, the recipes, and the cookbook as a whole. Her technique is simple yet profound: Take the word that you can use the whole day…a word like “hope” or “joy” or “gratitude” and infuse it into each dish and moment of your day. That word is the secret ingredient Chef Suzy is talking about, and the foundation for this book.

A cookbook may seem like the last place to find life lessons, but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Food, emotions, and life events are connected. Think of any meaningful occasion you’ve been to, or special moment in your life, whether it be a wedding, a baby shower, a graduation, a girls’ night out, a bachelor party, a date, or yes, even a family gathering after a funeral. Food is there on most occasions, to help celebrate and nurture.

I love how the author shares mindful words and concepts in the beginning of the book, how food played a role in pivotal moments in her life. She also describes the book’s origin story. You’ll find space to write down your ideas and inspiration, and extra tips for that special flourish. The tempting images will motivate you to try some of the recipes right away.

One of my favorite recipes is for granola, which is a go-to snack for me, and the secret ingredient the author presents with her granola recipe is “purpose.” Her “Watermelon, Mint, Blackberry and Feta Salad” can be made in 10 minutes. Flavors and ideas abound in this book.  Anyone who loves food and how it ministers to us can appreciate the soul-soothing “Dishing Love Daily and Other Secret Ingredients” by Susanne Clark with its mouth-watering, mindful recipes.