Cooking

Saturday mornings growing up found the smells of home made oatmeal bread, a selection of scrumptious fruit pies, and a cake or two wafting their way from the kitchen through every nook and cranny of the rest of the house. My mother never ceased to amaze when it came to her baking talents. Dinner was always a treat as her creative and artistic talents seem to work just as well with a human pallet as a painters. Spices were blended in a perfect union with pasta, vegetables, and whatever meat was on the menu. It was always a masterpiece. And I couldn't complain of boredom when it came to dinner time.

Somewhere along the way I missed out on the creative gene, and cooking gene. It took marriage and a pregnancy, as well as the desire to resist starvation, to push me into begging my mother to pass along some of her well kept secrets. Including the oatmeal bread I had had for lunch every day from the time I was old enough fall in love with peanut butter and jelly, and a pastry crust that would melt in your mouth. The rest of her teaching left me to fend for myself. A tactic that left much to be desired, especially in my cooking. A pregnant, young woman who's never cooked anything besides macaroni and cheese is not the first nominated to feed the family. First of all my taste buds were on a different kick each day, making spice combinations entertaining. But apparently the statement, "the chicken's in the fridge, you know where the spices are, and check the garden for veggies," was all I needed to get the creative juices moving. I also learned that foodnetwork.com was a fantastic resource for some of the greatest recipes available. It wasn't the originality of my mom's cooking but it was edible, and that was more than I could say for any previous attempt in front of a stove. 

Single parenthood is probably one of the greatest motivators. I've found myself forced into cooking to spare a dime or two. Packaged dinners lose their appeal night after night and there's a limit to my beans and hot dog consumption. Long days in the office don't leave me with much desire to spend a great deal of time cooking by the time I get home and the minimal time allotment between arriving home and bedtime for the kids definitely limits the possibilities. Or so I thought. And then it finally hit me. 

Cooler temperatures definitely make cooking more appealing, at least in my mind. Lack of a/c in our apartment doesn't tempt anyone to set the oven to a scorching 400 degrees when the temperature inside is already near 100. But this last week has been a welcome relief and the evenings a blessing. So, there I was standing in front of the freezer staring into its abyss, praying for inspiration of some sort, the bags of frozen chicken, tilapia, salmon and assorted vegetables were hardly whispering their encouragement. But I was determined, and determination prevailed. I grabbed the salmon, and broccoli and opened the refrigerator and began grabbing an assortment of ingredients that I prayed would blend well. And miracle of miracles they did! God was definitely on my side that night. And believe me the prayers didn't cease until the last forkful was eaten. 

Water set to boil, TJ's Garlic and basil linguine ready to go, broccoli in a microwave safe dish with butter, chopped pecans, butter, salt and pepper and set aside, and salmon set in a dish with lemon, salt, lemon pepper, sliced button mushrooms, and Gorgonzola cheese crumbled on top and stuck in the oven for about 10 minutes at 375. Lord be praised it worked! I couldn't have been happier. The pasta was perfect with a light touch of olive oil and some salt and pepper while I'd managed to steam the broccoli to the appropriate tenderness and the fish had absorbed all of the subtle flavors of the cheese and mushrooms.I was so thrilled I shared my success with my parents later and they were impressed. 

 I guess the crash course in cooking finally payed off. Faith in my ability to keep my children well fed has been restored, or rather initiated. I'm anticipating many delightful evenings during the cooler months spent in the kitchen experimenting with a few old favorites and creating some new ones as well. Check back to find out how it all goes.