eorgia O'Keeffe, well known for her striking paintings of the Southwest, carried her creativity into the kitchen, where she took great pride in her healthy culinary style. The meals served in her household focused on homegrown and natural foods. They were always tasty, nutritious, modest, and beautifully prepared.

A Painter's Kitchen is Margaret Wood's recollection of seventy recipes from Georgia O'Keeffe's kitchen. As Miss O'Keeffe's companion for five years, Wood's responsibilities included, among other things, preparing many of the meals. O'Keeffe directed Miss Wood in the preparation of simple, delicious food using many fresh ingredients and insisted that Wood pay scrupulous attention to every step of food production and preparation. Besides containing recipes from Miss O'Keeffe's kitchen, the book describes in charming detail Miss O'Keeffe's outlook on food, philosophy, life, art, and the world, while maintaining respect for the artist's well-known desire for privacy.


Margaret Wood left Miss O'Keeffe's employ in 1982. She was a production weaver for Kozikowski Tapestry Weavers and since 1988 has been a speech/language pathologist.

Lavishly sprinkled with black-and-white photographs of the artist as well as full-color food photos, "A Painter's Kitchen" is a feast for the eyes as well as the mind and stomach.
--Mail Order Gourmet

More than just a cookbook, this text describes O'Keeffe's outlook on life and art in 128 pages.
--Southwest Art

Here is a way of cooking and eating serene in accumulated wisdom (Miss O'Keeffe was in her nineties at the time the author knew her) and rich in undiminished sensual delight.
--Cook Book

SAMPLE RECIPE:

During the 1960s and 1970s, many prominent magazines featured interviews with Georgia O'Keeffe, along with photographs of both her houses. During supper one evening she recalled the occasion when a female staff member from one of the magazines had come to the Abiquiu house and was straightening everything up so meticulously that it no longer looked like the painter's house. At one point, when the woman was making every curtain pleat perfect, Miss O'Keeffe could not resist saying to her, "You know, you'd make a first-class maid."

Chicken Soup

4 cups homemade chicken broth
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 small onion, minced
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon butter or oil
2 teaspoons unbleached flour
1 1/2 cups boned, cooked chicken
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh summer savory
1 teaspoon chopped fresh lovage
Herb salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Measure the chicken broth into a 2-quart pan. Add the vegetables and the garlic squeezed through a press and simmer them for 15 minutes. In a small pan, melt the butter over very low heat, then add the flour, and cook the roux until it is gently bubbling. Separate 1/2 cup of broth from the large pan and use a wrie whisk to add this to the roux. When the roux and the broth are thoroughly blended and smooth, use the whisk to incorporate this mixture into the liquid simmering in the larger pan. Add the cooked chicken and herbs. Season with herb salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Serves 4.