She is the busy mother of four in small town Oklahoma who makes sure the poor get fed. She is the Southern grandmother who lives alone yet most days cooks family-sized meals for whoever drops by. She is the woman in New York City who always brings something good to eat to her office. She is every woman who knows to serve is to reign.

Kitchen Madonnas tape the Beatitudes to their refrigerators, and they pray when they wash the dishes. Kitchen Madonnas know how to cook a
wolf when adversity is knocking at the door. Kitchen Madonnas are behind every party, every reception, every special event. In other words, kitchen madonnas know that food is love.

Where are the 21st century Kitchen Madonnas? Where are the women who take the time to create a home, cook for others, and offer their receptive feminine genius to the world weary?

If you find one, try to keep her.

The Kitchen Madonna Value #1: Frugality
July 13th, 2006

With the overabundance of summer produce, what do we do with the overripe tomatoes, peaches, and okra that come our way?

My French redheaded girlfriend (remember the KM is one of three spicy redheads), brought me some big fat yellow peaches on her way back from the beach. She had stopped at this huge big peach - it looks like a peach shaped water tower - beckoning from the superslab. I was grateful to receive them but didn't tell her that my son and I had been eating from a basket of white Prince William peaches for over a week.

What is a kitchen madonna to do?

My son and I made up a recipe. It goes like this. The day before I had boiled a chicken because I wanted cold chicken as an antidote to this hot, dry summer. First, I made gumbo with the broth; I had lightly steamed some okra to keep it from going bad. Just consulted that classic cook, Who is Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux, and we feasted.

So one frugal move leads to another. What to serve with the cold pulled chicken? We are tired of chicken salad. So with our surfeit of peaches, we decided to make a black bean and peach salsa. We peeled and finely chopped the peaches, red onion, and fresh cilantro. I drained a can of black beans and rinsed them. Then I added some red wine vinegar and olive oil. My son slyly got out the apple cider vinegar since he knows I consider it a gift from celestial realms. We added each ingredient bit by bit to get the right proportions so I’m sorry that I can't give you exact measurements.

We were so pleased with ourselves that we set the dining room table with placemats, napkins, and my German china that has the cows, sheep, dogs, foxes, horses, and the blissful country people. We dined on cold chicken, peach and black bean salsa, served with a dollop of cold sour cream and corn tortilla chips. And sweet iced tea of course!

So we ate for two days on a $4.25 whole chicken and the munificence of a friend!