Recipe for Family Love

They say;  The family that cooks together, stays together. I believe that saying is true, in my family, we all grew up in the kitchen, learning to cook and bake.  Everything was always made from scratch, using what ever ingredients we had and everything came out in big batches, by the handfuls and the dozens. Some of the best moments and memories, of my life were spent in the kitchen, with family.

I was one of the many children in this world, that was raised by my grandmother, since birth. I come from a large family, grandma had eleven children and handfuls and dozens of grandchildren and great grandchildren. I was the child that was passed back and forth between my seven uncles, when my grandma worked. Because of that, I have a bond with all seven of my uncles (brothers) and my mama, to this day. 

My grandmother, is the most inspiring woman, that I have ever known. She raised her eleven children alone and took on half of her grandchildren as well. She taught me, that no matter how hard life gets, you can't give up, you have to keep pushing forward.

I was raised as a Tom Boy, I wasn't a girly girl, by any means. I grew up watching football, baseball, wrestling and had to work on cars. I now embrace that I learned something, from each one of my seven uncles; cooking and baking, fixing cars, home repairs, sports, to be sure to always have good tires on my car, a spare in the trunk, a gas can and to keep my gas tank full.

Again, I had another curve ball thrown at me. I lost another uncle (brother) in August. I knew it would happen, because he had health problems for the past year. As I was morning his loss, I opened one of his favorite cookbooks and I realized, God blessed me with him, I learned so much from him and I cherish every minute, that I had with him.

This was a man that baked everything from scratch and it always started with a pinch of this, a dash of that and a handful was his measuring cup. He always used my mama's secret ingredient in everything he created, they both  swore the secret ingredient to everything turning out, that you create in the kitchen, is love.

In my family, our best bonding moments were spent in the kitchen. We had to be creative, my mama didn't have money, in fact there were times she would buy commodities, from some Native Americans, she needed the food and they wanted beer money, so they always came to her. The funny thing is, those bricks of government cheese, made the best homemade Mac and Cheese, ever!

Though she had her hands full, we always had to cook extra, because we never knew who was going to show up at our house at dinner time. The challenge for me today, is cooking in small batches, I had to learned to portion things down, freeze it and have something on hand for later.

When I had my own children, they grew up in the kitchen, learning to cook and bake as well. One of my best memories is of my son, when was about nine. We were baking cookies together, he stopped mixing, looked up at me and said " We have to put the love in the cookie" and gave me a kiss.


He told me that grandma great had told him, "If you don't put the love in the cookie, it won't turn out, so you have to throw in a kiss". It was a reminder to me, of how loving my mama is and how she taught us to love. Though my oldest is grown and on her own, when she comes home, I make it a point for the three of us to cook or bake together. It's yet another way, that I have found to bond with my kids.

I love to bake at Christmas time, this past one, I struggled. It was my first Christmas without my uncle (Brother) and I had to force myself to bake. Knowing that he wasn't here anymore, for me to take a plate of goodies to and brag to him on how great it all turned out, was heart breaking. I called my mama on the phone and we cried.

That is when I realized, maybe the best recipe for family love, comes from spending the little moments together in the kitchen. Working together, bonding together, creating together and eating together. Every family has their own ingredients, their own recipes, their own way of loving each other.

I wish all of you the best recipes, for finding the little moments to spend together, To finding your own way, of finding family love.  Happy New Year to you all!

Bobbie
XoXoXo