16 years in the making.

I remember when my sister and I first moved out on our own. It was the day after high school graduation and we knew enough about being an adult to make it. What we didn't know much about was cooking. We took a picture of our first thing we cooked in our apartment and it was a simple can of pop open biscuits. I am not sure what we ate the next couple of years but I know there was lots of Taco Bell since we worked there and I know that I never looked at a cookbook. 

Jerry and I met when I was 19 and when I got to know his mother I learned a few things...she was amazing at cooking and she could sew anything in the entire world she wanted. 

Jerry never put a single amount of pressure on me to cook well but I knew that I needed to step up my game. I wanted to step up my game.  Early on in our marriage I did make home made chocolate chip cookies and I made lasagna...one time. 

After that it was simple things Kraft Mac and cheese and chicken. If I was being super fancy I would marinate the chicken in BBQ sauce. I had some go to meals of the boxed noodles with canned spaghetti sauce and pre boxed casseroles. I was 20 yrs old and just barely off baby food myself and here I was trying to feed my own family. The awesome thing was that I was doing the best I knew how and that was great. My family was being fed and I could only go up from there. 

Fast forward to 18 years later and I have done a 180. I adore cooking. I love everything about it and I have read a billion cookbooks.

-All of those books are cookbooks-

 

 I love being "taught" about cooking by reading different techniques in all the books. 

In 2006 I was brought to a crossroad and forced to make a decision because of my diagnoses of MS. I never ate much vegetables and really could care less if I ever added them in. 

Tonight I am sitting here being very thankful for my many cookbooks. I have so many options to pull from when prepping for the week's meals. I am very thankful that my best 18 years ago had tons of room for improvement. I am also thankful for Netflix. I am loving all the food shows on there and tonight while I look through a couple of my favorite books I can watch Top Chef Masters. 

I want to be know for a few things years from now. I want people to say that I loved Jesus with all my heart and I want to be know for being an awesome cook. 

Will I ever write a cookbook? Most likely not, but I will continue to read, continue to learn, and continue to share what ever random recipe I might come up with.