"May His Peace Bring You Strength"

October 28, 2025.

by Bridget O'Donnell


Earlier this month my Father passed away. Although naturally and at home, the root cause was a progression of complications related to the stroke he’d had a year before. We did what we could to fulfill his wishes and make him comfortable, and are forever grateful for the services offered by hospice. Those last few days he had a good disposition, continued to make jokes, watched one of the cooking shows he liked on tv and listened to music. We’ll all miss his knowledgeable tutorials and sense of humor, to say the least, but the thought that he is no longer in pain and, hopefully at peace offers some relief that encourages us to move forward. 


Title of cookbook: The New American Heart Association Cookbook (9th ed.)

 

Author of Recipe: Recipe developers for the American Heart Association Consumer Publications.

                                                    

What prompted you to check out this cookbook?

Maybe you’ve heard the joke, “Is your refrigerator running?” Catching up with our refrigerator in the days following turned out to be quite the feat. There was a LOT of food in there. Unfortunately, unless we were interested in eating a strictly raw diet, there wasn’t much to eat. After composting, roasting every beet we had and reducing the remaining vegetable scraps to broth (including the bags of scraps stored in the freezer) I had to prepare enough comfort food to share.

 

The Tiny Kitchen Cookbook: Strategies and Recipes for Creating Amazing Meals in Small Spaces had a Minestrone soup recipe (pg. 181) that included most of the ingredients I already planned to use. Since there’s usually limited counter space in the kitchen, I appreciate learning how to apply techniques that work in small spaces. 

 

The Complete One Pot by America’s Test Kitchen was also a valuable resource offering recipes organized by cooking vessel and adaptations with choose-your-own pan options. For no reason in particular, my vessel of choice was a Dutch oven (refer to recipes on pg. 28, 45 and 62).

 

What did you like about this cookbook?

The title not only resonated with me but speaks for itself, it also contained both recipes I planned to make.

 

What didn't you like about this cookbook?

There weren’t any pictures. J

 

Favorite recipes (that you tried from the cookbook/website):

Minestrone Soup (pg. 46)

 

Did you alter the recipe or make any substitutions?

Chicken bone broth provided the primary base and a spiral noodle substituted elbow or medium shell pasta. Additional ingredients included: kale, red kidney beans, parmesan rind and chicken breast (later removed, shredded and added back to the pot before serving as instructed in Alana Lieberman’s “Chicken Minestrone Soup.” Lieberman's measurements are closer to what I followed but additional filtered water and broth had to be added to the soup after refrigerating). Potato was omitted because it would have required a trip to the grocery store; my main priority was to source ingredients from home.

 

Would you recommend this recipe? 

If you’ve read this far, thank you for sharing your time and, yes, I would recommend this recipe and variations of it. Comfort food doesn’t always have to be unhealthy.

 

Chicken Minestrone Soup.

If you’re not interested in a Chicken Minestrone Stew, add some filtered water or additional chicken bone broth. All those hearty ingredients like to absorb that nutrient rich broth overnight.

And then,

Beef Stew.

A combination of: Beef Stew (pg. 117), 

Savory Beef Stew (pg. 259) 

and Beef Bourguignon (pg. 260), 

also from The New American Heart Association Cookbook.

If the leftover stew is too thick after refrigerating, add a small amount of filtered water before reheating. 

Thanks for the tip, Mom!

References:

Books - 

The Complete One Pot: 400 Meals: Skillet, Sheet Pan, Instant Pot, Dutch Oven + More / America’s Test Kitchen.

 

The New American Heart Association Cookbook (9th ed. The 2024 centennial edition was checked out.)

 

One Pot: 120+ Easy Meals from Your Skillet, Slow Cooker, Stockpot, and More / from the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living.

 

The Tiny Kitchen Cookbook: Strategies and Recipes for Creating Amazing Meals in Small Spaces / Anne Mahle.

 

Websites - 

“About Hospices.” New York State Department of Health, profiles.health.ny.gov/hospice/pages/hospice. Accessed 28 October 2025.

 

“American Heart Association.” Heart.Org, heart.org/en/. Accessed 28 October 2025.

 

“American Stroke Association: A Division of the American Heart Association.” Stroke.Org, stroke.org/en/. Accessed 28 October 2025.

 

Awada, Rena. “Easy Homemade Beef Stew.” Healthy Fitness Meals, 18 November 2024, healthyfitnessmeals.com/homemade-beef-stew/#wprm-recipe-container-36209.

 

Christensen, Emma. “You Don’t Even Need Oil for These Easy Roasted Beets.” The Kitchn, 26 September 2025, thekitchn.com/how-to-roast-beets-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-172827.

 

Edwards, Terri. “Vegetable Stock from Scraps.” EatPlant-Based, 26 November 2024, eatplant-based.com/wait-dont-throw-those-veggie-scraps-out/#recipe.

 

Lieberman, Alana. “Chicken Minestrone Soup.” Your Home, Made Healthy, 28 May 2024, yourhomemadehealthy.com/chicken-minestrone-soup/#recipe.

 

Lotts, Lisa. “Homemade Vegetable Broth from Scraps.” Garlic & Zest, 30 March 2023, garlicandzest.com/scraps-vegetable-broth/#recipe.

 

Tania, Lau-Fong. “Hearty Dutch Oven Beef Stew.” Cooking For My Soul, 6 January 2020, cookingformysoul.com/hearty-dutch-oven-beef-stew/#recipe.

 

Quick Subject/Concept links to the Discover Online Library catalog:

Heart, Diseases, Diet therapy, Recipes.
Stocks (Cooking)


Also try searching combinations of keywords:
Soups, Stews, Cook 
Soups, Cook