It doesn't make much sense, does it. If I wanted to teach my kids to cook, it would be so much simpler to just march us all into the kitchen and get to cooking, right? Well, as it turns out, that's a little harder than you might think. Almost two years ago, my oldest daughter Samantha, now 20, ventured forth on her first great adventure in the...dun dun dun....real world, serving with Americorps on the east coast. I was sure she would wow them all with her kitchen prowess. I was proud of the fact that she was not one of the "kitchen illiterate" so to speak. Though she might be more adept in the kitchen than some of her counterparts, I was soon getting calls saying things like "Mom, how do you make your spaghetti?" or "What's the recipe for your cheesecake?"
Wait....what? I thought I had done an fairly adequate job of teaching my kids how to cook. (and who can ever ask for better than "fairly adequate") I pride myself on being a decent cook and I have my share of "secret" recipes. My kid should be a whiz at this. Then it hit me; my kids can throw down with a mean mac-n-cheese from a box or a wicked frozen pizza. My oldest can order a pizza online faster than you can say "Carryout" but I had neglected to consistently show them or build on the basics. And worse, I had forgotten to share my recipes! Well, that's a big FAIL for good old Mom.
Though my daughter came back home (and left and came back again) she'll soon be off into the big old world again soon to join the Air Force. She can't eat in chow halls forever, and what better way to make friends than to be the one who can cook? Now, as much as I'd love to be able to spend hours in the kitchen with my kids, it seems to very often get shoved to the end of the list of things to do. Coupled with the fact that her nomadic schedule and limited space will make sending cookbooks near impossible and recipe cards don't really SHOW a person what to do, I eventually realized that the internet could hold the answer. I can still teach my daughter to cook without the hassle of trying to explain things over the phone while she was attempting to cook in another state. Plus, I will have a visual and written record that's a little harder to lose than a recipe card. Hopefully, my younger kids, Libby-15, Jack-13 and Landon-5, will be helping me so that they can benefit from this experience, too. If they don't, they can just come back to this website when they move out and get a hankerin' for some of Mom's Spaghetti. So off we go.....
