I have to tell you, my love for cooking started at a very early age~wanting to prepare meals for my parents. As soon as I was old enough I was expected to help with all the meals, whether it was slicing potatoes, boiling water for pasta or simply just setting the table. Wasn’t long before I wanted to prepare an entire meal myself. There was a Christmas that my parents gave me my first cookbook. It was a Betty Crocker cookbook for kids. I fell in love!
I have learned alot over the years, made some mistakes, burned a few things, set the smoke alarms off and made some absolutely delicious meals!!! My first attempt at preparing a holiday turkey dinner was a riot and almost needed the fire company for dinner! I invited all my family to my tiny little duplex and set up a table that claimed the entire kitchen. Early in the morning I put the turkey in the oven just like my Mom told me. Well almost like she told me, I forgot to take out the packet of giblets. She also told me to put lots of water in the roast pan. So I did…..did I say lots? Maybe I mean fill the pan. And filled it I did. Not knowing that the cooking turkey would produce additional liquid. My parents spent the night, it was Christmas and they wanted to be there in the morning to watch my very young daughter wake up to Christmas. Instead, they woke up to the first floor filled with smoke, the smoke alarm woke me!!! I ran downstairs in a panic thinking there was a fire. Sadly it was the turkey in the oven. It cooked over. Greasy turkey water. I never saw so much smoke! My dad had the front and back doors open, my Mom had gotten the turkey out of the oven and was cleaning that mess. Actually, till we ate, the turkeywas delish. At least I think I remember it being tastey, maybe that’s more wishful remembering!! Then there was the stuffing. I cook like my Mom used to, very little measuring, if measuring at all, we just know how much to add. But it didn’t start that way for me. I needed measurments!!!! Mom didn’t have a clue about how much sage she put in the stuffing, she just sprinkled it in. Ok, so did I. We had green stuffing for Christmas dinner. It really wasn’t that bad. Really. But it could have been a dish for St. Patrick’s Day.
Then there was this dish I made just a few short years ago. My then husband hated it, my guests…well, she hated it too, her husband said it was pretty good. Maybe he was being nice. I ended up tossing the enire meal in the trash. It was an eggplant rollatine. Eggplant sliced thin, rolled with a ricotta cheese mixture inside, and smothered in sauce. Sounds yummy right? Oh well.
I love to cook for my family and friends but honestly, it rarely happens. We all seem to have such busy schedules. I think we all need to slow down and get back to enjoying each other again.
So, what you will read here will be recipes from my heart, with love of course, that’s what cooking for loved ones is all about, and a little creativity in my kitchen. I will only post the good creative dishes, not my mistakes. Okay, I will probably post the bad stuff, just cuz it’ll be funny and I can laugh at myself!
PS: I post some of my recipes on Tasty Kitchen, but you have to be a member to check out my profile and my recipe box. go to www.tastykitchen.com, click member and type in Kartwheels in the Kitchen. This is a great recipe site for ANY recipe you are looking for, have fun!!
