Bringing her own spin to healthy cooking and wholesome, nutritious ingredients, Joyce Lorick shares dozens of her original recipes in this collection, which are a must-have for anyone who wants to eat healthier while still enjoying all the luscious foodstuffs God provides us. From brownies made from beans, rice, dates, and cacao, to cream soups thickened with cashews, Cooking for the Daniel Plan delivers a set of delightfully delicious recipes that will tickle your taste buds and help you trim your waistline—all while adhering to the fundamentals of Rick Warren’s Daniel Plan. Lorick is a successful business owner, matriarch, and thirteen-year veteran member of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Her avocation in cooking began in early childhood, when she wrote her first recipe at age seven. She’s come a long way since then, earning degrees from UCLA and completing UCLA's Professional Writing Program as well as a Master's from Northwestern University. In addition to this title, Joyce is the author of Holiday Cooking for the Daniel Plan.
"Basically, I want to tell my story and how God provided abundantly for me inspiriting these recipes that are unique and delicious.
Before the Daniel Plan, I struggled with weight and related health issues with climbing blood pressure and sluggishness. You can see the sad state I was in by the pictures on my website. I tried what seemed to be everything I could to lose weight with no success. I had given up. I thought at 67 years old that I would simply fade away into a life of limited mobility and health. When the Daniel Plan came along, I wanted no part of it.
About thirteen years ago we started a small group, and I would cook great meals for our Saturday morning brunch meeting, but I simply would not eat the food at all, because I was struggling to keep my weight down. I was 178 pounds then. One morning, as I was setting out the food in preparation for the meeting, God spoke to me.
He said loud and clear... food is not your enemy. I began to eat the food. In a nutshell, over the next nine years, after embracing several healthy - God Centered diets - followed perfectly, with no weight loss, many prayers and a 50 pound weight-gain later, here came the Daniel Plan."
"FOR OUR light and momentary troubles are achieving for US an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:17)
Rick started talking about the Daniel Plan months prior to the January 15th start date. I started focusing my prayers on what I saw as my dilemma - The Daniel Plan. Put simply...I didn't see how I could do it. My moment to moment prayers on this continued right up to entering the door of the worship center the morning of the health seminar that Saturday. My whining prayers were that I didn't know if I could do it, but would embrace whatever God's will was for me. God spoke to me again letting me know that the Daniel Plan was His will for me. My response: "Ok, God, I will embrace this plan to the letter, but I don't lose weight when others do, so I don't know if I can lose weight, even if I fully embrace it." God's response to me was "...Joyce, you will lose what I want you to lose, not more, not less." My response, "So you mean that I'm not responsible for the results as long as I do what you say?" God said: "Joyce, you cannot even cause one hair on your head to grow without me. Trust in me for my plan." I conceded to God, but added that we would do it with just raw fruits and vegetables, because with running an office, working on a Master's in Public Administration, and hosting a small group each week, I didn't have time to be cooking. I told my husband and friends we would just be eating raw fruits and vegetables. Well, I've learned more than once not to tell God what I'm going or not going to do. My head was flooded with recipes before leaving Saddleback campus that day.
"And we...are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
I went shopping the next day and loaded up on fruits and vegetables and cleaned my cabinets. However, the recipes would not stop flowing through my mind. I was operating on about 5 hours of sleep each night because of my school commitments with some nights no sleep at all. When I would finally lay my head down to rest, God would urge me to test these recipes. I couldn't sleep. I argued that I didn't have the ingredients. Finally, I got up and started cooking. Somehow, I had all the ingredients, and each unique dish came out picture perfect. Since it was the middle of the night and I was totally alone, I took pictures. Everything was delicious. We were eating such delicious food, while all our church friends were struggling with bare essentials that I began to feel guilty. God told me to share what He gave me.
I agreed and promised God I would write everything down as soon as I finished my MPA. After all, I argued, you prompted me to this MPA program. Well, most likely know that God has a plan and His timing is perfect, which was not in alignment with my timing. God approached me through friends who asked me for recipes. How could I refuse a friend? When I wrote down the first recipe for a friend in an email, I thought, well I better just paste this into a Word document so I have it if someone else wants it. I suddenly had a collection of recipes and all the pictures. That was the beginning of the cookbook.
"Write these things down for the future so that people who are not yet born will praise the Lord." (Psalms 102:18)
God pressed me to share the cookbook with others. It was just a list of recipes at that point. I had a two week break from classes, so I organized the recipes sections and made a table of contents. I printed copies and handed them out at church. I made tons of healthy snacks and took them with me to church and handed them out, while giving out copies of the cookbook. I wore a self-made T-shirt that said "See Me for Free Cookbooks." Every PEACE meeting or rally, I did the same thing.
I knew it was not enough and that God wanted more. I set up a website with free downloads of the cookbook. The site had 35,000 hits registered by Christmas 2013. I made flyers and handouts telling people how to download the cookbook. Churches called me to ask permission to use the cookbook for their small group, and of course, the answer was always yes. They are not my recipes. Still, everyone wanted to know how they could get a hardcopy of the book. This cookbook is my surrender to God.
"The Son has set me free. I am free indeed!" (John 8:36)
I went into the Daniel Plan knowing it is not about me, but rather about God's plan, and that I was off the hook for the results. Moreover, I knew it was not about losing weight, but trusting God and being willing to follow His plan for my life. My anxiety was gone and I knew that the Daniel Plan was way bigger than me. I also knew that God had a purpose for me in this. I thanked God and told Him I trusted him and His will for me was my total desire, no matter what I weigh.
Well, God let me know He was with me. The first week of the Plan, I lost 10 pounds. By the second week of the plan, I had lost a total of 20 pounds. To date, I've lost over 100 pounds. Moreover, every day, God has inspired me with four or five new healthy DP recipes. We have never eaten such healthy and delicious food. God told me to share the gift of these recipes. The result is my attempt at this cookbook. Hope you enjoy!
"God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)
You can do this Daniel Plan, and enjoy some of the tastiest food you have ever experienced. God has provided a life of abundance and blessings for us to empower us for maximum health to prepare us for life. When you think about it, when we surrender to God's purpose for our lives, it seems so obvious that He would also provide us with the best possible tools to accomplish His will for us. God tells us more than 365 times in the Bible to "fear not" so fear must come from some place other than God.