Sharing my book . . . Chapter 1 - Searching for Home at Home!

I wrote a basic cookbook a few years ago to help out a friend. My daughters have since made copies for themselves and my son plans to take one with him when he is ready to head out on his own. It is a very simple one that leaves plenty of room for self-expression. I thought I'd share it to help the ones who are just learning to cook and provide some ideas/inspiration to others who might be bored with the job of cooking/baking.

Chapter 1
The Cook's Catalyst
Searching for Home at Home!
by Barbara Barthelette

A popular misconception about stay-at-home mothers is that they have all the time in the world. They don’t go to work. They have of hours to devote to running their households successfully, easily and creatively. I don’t think so! When you stay at home, work usually comes to you.

If you stay at home, you want it to be comfortable and, well . . . homey. Although cleanliness, organization and dusted bookshelves can go a long way to bringing this about, the results of your time in the kitchen are what is most remembered by your husband and children. How often does your husband come home and exclaim, "You mopped and waxed the floor! Good job. It looks great!" And when was the last time you children proudly took their friends to see the spotless bathroom cleaned by their mom? After a long day, the good smells emanating from the kitchen are more likely to draw the family together. Dinner together is important. It is a time to be together in prayer as we thank God for the blessings bestowed upon us. It is a sharing experience needed to catch up on each other’s day. It is the moment when your efforts in the kitchen will reflect the love you put into preparing the evening meal.

Dinner was cooking and the aroma of food was wafting through the house. My daughter, Julianna, followed her nose to the kitchen where I found her busily peeking into various pots and pans that were bubbling away on the stove. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "I just wanted to see what the smells looked like."!

Breakfast and lunch are important, however, these meals are usually done on the run. Dad has to get to work. Mom has to get things ready for the school day. Children have to get ready for school. We eat as healthily as possible and take off quickly. We need the evening meal to rejoin the scattered day and resume life as a family.

In order to create the welcoming good smells from your kitchen, a certain amount of inspiration is required. After a day of washing, cleaning, shopping, and teaching, you often find yourself short on inventiveness as the clock determinedly ticks towards that final meal of the day. You send up a prayer and tentatively look in the freezer or refrigerator. You wish you had spent some time during the day at least trying to ignite some creativity. Alas, the meat just sits there awaiting your bidding. The potatoes remain ordinary potatoes. And forget about the vegetables. What are the chances of them being eaten anyway?

Learning to be creative with the mundane is attainable. The trick is to begin with one aspect of dinner at a time. You need to pick a portion and day dream about how you would like it to look, taste and smell. You have to incorporate one new idea for your menu at a time. If you grab a nice, big, fat cookbook, select three or four likely recipes and try to make them for that one mealtime, you could be headed for trouble. A creative hodgepodge is sometimes worse than a plain plate of pasta and canned sauce. Try for a battle and eventually you will win the war.

A friend asked me once if I would just sit down with her and talk cooking and baking with her. Her request was the germ of the idea for this book. We all would like to have a friend around to interact with on our thoughts, ideas and needs in becoming better mothers. We want the reassurance that we are not alone and we need the companionship even if only in snatched conversations on the run, by telephone or . . . by book! We like to share our memories and relate the successes (or failures!) that produce memories.