Recipe Resolution

I have a new obsession. 

Cookbooks.   

I had three cookbooks on my Christmas list, and I got two of them as gifts.  I also recently purchased one for myself.  That's not even counting all the cooking blogs I have bookmarked and check regularly. So, to justify these purchases and time spent reading blogs, my New Year's Resolution is to try one new recipe each week for 2012! 

I love to cook and bake.  It makes me think of my mother.  My mom worked full time while raising three kids, and we rarely ate out or had pizza delivered.  Now that I am a mother, I am constantly amazed at the fact that my mom worked full time, ran us to all of our activities, and STILL managed to get a hot meal on the table for all five of us every night.  And not just some freezer meal, but an actual meat-potato-vegetable meal that she prepared either ahead of time or after she got home from work. 

Cooking reminds me of my grandmother.  My mom grew up on a farm as number two of six children.  Raising six children and running a family farm, not surprisingly, requires a lot of cooking. But my Grandma loved it, I could tell.

Grandma would get up in the morning and make breakfast.  Not just pouring cereal and having fruit in a bowl like I usually do, but eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and french toast all made it into the morning rotation.  As soon as the morning chores were done, her family had a HOT breakfast to look forward to each day. 

Once the kids were off to school, or out to the fields when they were older, Grandma would get started on lunch.  My kids get deli meat, soup, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, cheese sticks, and other mom-friendly (aka "easy") lunch choices.  But on the family farm, my mom and her siblings could expect a multi-course meal for lunch.  There was usually a meat of some kind, and it may or may not include a leftover from the previous night's dinner (meatloaf sandwich or chicken salad sandwich for example).  There was always bread (usally that she had made from scratch) and a vegetable or two (that were grown in the large garden out back).  And, of course, there was a dessert (cookies, brownies, and cake were a few staples).

Dinner was being prepared all throughout the day - roasted chicken or turkey with homemade noodles, a beef roast with vegetables, barbecue ribs or pork chops.  And most were accompanied by a large bowl of mashed potatoes, lovingly mashed with lots of real butter, and gravy made from scratch with the juice from the meat.  You could smell dinner the moment you walked into the house, and your mouth would start to water.

My Grandma took her job as "Cook" for her family very seriously.  And she was never flustered when extra people happened to show up at meal times because there was always plenty of food at every meal.  She truly LOVED to cook.  And bake!  She would spend two full days making homemade cinnamon rolls and kolaches.  And she did it multiple times each year.  I struggle to do it even once a year because it is such a process!

My Grandma was remarkable in many ways.  I have missed her nearly every day for the past ten years, but I feel closest to her when I am in the kitchen.  I hear her laugh when I follow a recipe so closely, and I feel she is most proud when I instead choose to "wing it" and make things up as I go.  I can hear her voice in my ear answering my questions when I used to watch her in her kitchen, and later when I would call her on the phone to ask her cooking questions.  I remember so many things she taught me in passing moments, and I am grateful for all of the moments I got to spend in her kitchen with her.

This resolution is a tribute to these two very important women in my life.  Two women I aspire to be more like in many ways.  As I try new recipes, I will post them on this blog with the tag "Recipe Challenge".  I will also provide a short review about whether or not my family liked the recipe and if we will try it again in the future. 

I'm off to read one of my new cookbooks now and get ready for Recipe #1!