Food and faith have always been deeply intertwined, shaping the rhythms of daily life and family traditions. For Sandy Hanson, a cradle Catholic from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the dinner table was always more than just a place to eat.

“My mom was a good cook, and cooking means family time,” she said. “She taught me to cook, and if Mom had a meeting at church, I had to cook for my brother when got home from his job. Our meals were based on meat and potatoes and vegetables. It was not ethnic food because both my parents were raised on a farm, so it was farm cooking.”

Her parents’ families were from Wisconsin. Sandy’s great-grandparents immigrated from the Netherlands with their priest and community, seeking freedom to practice their Catholicism.

“When I was growing up,” said Sandy, “I had friends who were either Catholic or Lutheran. My dad was a cradle Catholic, and my mom converted before they were married. We lived one block away from the church and I became very involved with church activities.”

Sandy attended the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, where she studied geography and met her husband, a geography instructor. After graduation, they moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while her husband pursued a Ph.D. He became a geography professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR). Sandy worked with several public agencies and nonprofits.

“My last position was working with the faculty of the Department of Criminal Justice at UALR. I helped faculty transition some classes to online and assisted students learning to adapt to online classes,” she said.

“Online classes were especially helpful to police officers, women with young children and employees in the criminal justice system who wanted to advance in their careers. They could complete class requirements at a time that worked with their schedules.”

After living in Little Rock for 45 years, Sandy Hanson and her husband, Jerry, moved to Virginia to retire. They now live in Ashburn, Virginia, near their two sons and their grandchildren, and are members of St. Theresa parish. Sandy is involved in Catholic activities in her 2,000-person retirement community and takes part in Scripture study, taking Communion to the homebound, and leading prayer for residents physically unable to attend Mass.

Food remains an important part of her life. Her cooking, based on the Midwestern farm food tradition, is also influenced by the Cajun and Creole cooking of Louisiana and the Southern influence of Arkansas.

Growing up, her favorite dish was ham. “It was a special dish for our Easter treat,” she said. “I was the oldest of seven children, and my mom often had me help in the kitchen. My least favorite of her recipes was liver, ‘because it is good for you.’ I liked Mom’s pork chops, beef stroganoff, homemade pea soup and her home-canned dill pickles.

“My parents had a garden and grew green beans, carrots, tomatoes, radishes, peas and cucumbers in the summer. I was the one who was often tasked with picking the raspberries because I hadn’t yet learned to like them, so all the berries made it to the kitchen. My sisters all used Mom’s recipes. During one memorable trip back to Wisconsin from Little Rock to visit, we had beef stroganoff three times as we dined with various sisters.”

Now retired, Sandy Hanson has free time to experiment with home cooking. She noted that one of her favorite recipes is a Louisiana dish adapted to Arkansas rice that reminds her of the “hot dishes” (casseroles) her mother relied on. “Jambalaya could be a Lenten favorite by substituting shrimp as the protein,” she noted.

Recipe: Jambalaya

Serves 4 to 6

“Riceland is the brand of rice grown in Eastern Arkansas,” says Sandy. “I preferred long-grain — not as sticky as medium-grain rice,” she noted, adding, “For a Lenten meal, substitute 4 tablespoons of butter for sausage and add cooked or canned shrimp instead of meat.”

• 8 ounces small link sausages, sliced
• 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 quart chicken or beef bouillon
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• 1 cup raw rice
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 to 1 cup diced ham
• 1/2 to 1 cup cut-up cooked chicken
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt to taste

In a large soup kettle, brown sausage until almost done. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender. Stir in bouillon, thyme, and parsley. Heat to boiling and add rice. Reduce heat and simmer until rice is tender. Add ham, chicken, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Cook for 5 to 10 more minutes, stirring well. Serve hot.