Baking, Cooking, Cooking, Baking I'm in Love!

 

I have always loved cooking, started making scrambled eggs at age 2 and moving up to grilled cheese and many other things by age 4. I began making cookies and candy with my mom and aunts for holidays around then as well, a tradition I hope to pass on to our little one.  Outside baking I never really used cookbooks to cook.  I'd just see what was on hand and throw something together.  Some of our favorite meals came about that way.

 I bought my first cookbook when Don and I started dating and boy was it a horrible one.  We still laugh about one meal I made exactly as the book said and it was hideous! That book went bye-bye but thankfully I didn't stop there and have many books now from vegetarian meals and ethnic cuisines to basic all encompassing books to baking.  I even gathered yummy recipes from the internet, long before Pinterest was around but they've made it easier to find way too many things to try.

My favorite time of year has arrived and the baking and making of good comfort food has begun.  I enjoy cooking anyway but I rarely bake unless the holidays are upon us or we can get fresh pumpkins.  I steamed some pumpkins and made a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting yesterday and in the oven now is pumpkin bread.  I’m keeping a loaf and taking the other plus the cake to my grandparents.

I also made lasagna yesterday to take to my grandparent's tomorrow. Grandma was super-excited to hear all the goodies I would be bringing down for them.  Her response is why I love to cook.  It makes my heart smile when people enjoy my food or shared recipes.  I can't wait to share my Love of cooking and baking with our son or daughter. I can only hope they'll love it half as much as I do.

Family and pumpkins

My Uncle is coming up from California to visit soon and I really want to share some pumpkin recipes while they are in town.  So I went and got some pumpkins to cook and plan to make some homemade pumpkin bread, some Curry Pumpkin soup and a handmade pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.  My grandparents house is where we all meet up together and play games, eat, and enjoy each others company.  We always look forward to it.

I'll also be bringing my mom and grandparents some of the homemade apple butter I made. My love of canning comes from my grandma so I like to show what a good job she did teaching me as I grew up and all the canning books, recipes, and jars have gone to good use.