Loving and Learning: Cooking

My mom has many gifts, but one of her best is being a wonderful cook and showing love through food. While Chris does all of the other Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, I focus my energy on cooking for our family. It's been a steep learning curve to start from literal scratch! Being able to cook for us gives me a sense of pride, accomplishment and independence and is one way that I show my love for Chris and Hank.

Chris is willing to try anything I cook. He also often chips in as sous chef and he always does all of the dishes! Hank is a more selective eater. :) Anything with flavor is 'spicy' to him, so Chris and I joke that we have spicy weeks and bland weeks depending on when we have Hank. Hank has learned to eat so many new foods since he's been with us--and even loves the vegetables I cook! It's satisfying to see him eat healthy and wholesome foods.

I'm a bit of an anxious cook because I lack the confidence that I'm not going to under or over cook something. At the same time, cooking is such a good way for me to cope with all of the stressors in our lives right now. I have to focus on the recipes and task at hand and stay in the moment. I tell myself: What's the worst that could happen? It doesn't come out and we get take out or make frozen pizza!

So far, my two favorite cookbooks are What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking and Ayesha Curry's The Full Plate. This week we tried Tamale Pie and Shrimp Pad Thai from America's Test Kitchen's How Can it Be Gluten Free? I'm many years away from being a skilled cook like my mom or being able to cook with what I have and not use a recipe, but I'm enjoying the process of being able to learn something new.

I'm amazed that my body allows me to stand up long enough to cook and my neck pain no longer keeps me from looking down to do the chopping. Learning how to cook and being able to cook for us is about so much more than just cooking. It's about my body allowing me to do something I could not do for 27 years. It's about learning something new. It's about loving my family.

What are your favorite go-to recipes? I am always excited to get a recipe from a friend!

Blessings,