For Christmas the kids got me the cookbook Giada's Family Dinners.
I don't think it's a secret that I LOVE Italian and French food. It's border-line obsessive.
On the weekends I've been trying to cook more from the cookbooks and I keep track of each recipe and mark it off in the books. It's pretty fun. The outrageous and sometimes scary part is the kids LOVE to help. This usually isn't a problem. I'm always happy to cook with them. I just have to make sure little fingers don't touch sharp knives and hot burners. So we do the best we can. Also, I usually have every ingredient in the book out. It looks cluttered but there's a method to my madness.....at least I think there is! The pics above are 2 weeks old on a late Sunday afternoon.
Carter is wearing the apron I wore when I was 4 or 5 and I used to cook all the time with my Mom and Grandma June and Shively. Grandma Mabel would let me cook with her but I didn't wear an apron. I'm not sure why we didn't wear aprons but her Orange Cookies were to die for. Both my Mom and I have tried many times to re-create the recipe and bake them but we can't get it exact. I'm not even exaggerating when I say it breaks my heart that we can't. I miss those cookies as much as I miss Grandma Mabel. I also miss Grandma Shively's casseroles that baked for 5 hours. She would 'clean the fridge' and whatever was in the fridge....literally went into the casserole. Hence....5 hours in the oven at 350. She said "we cook it low and slow". She was something else.
So we cook. We have chaos and we are happy. Then we eat and talk about our "favorite of the day and our least favorite of the day". It's by far the best part of my day.
