Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Cooking with Kinley and an Awesome Cookbook Gift

We have hit week four of living with 2 kiddos and have finally run out of prepared meals for dinner. I was totally blessed to have so many friends and family bring over meals for us after Ty was born. Fortunately, it lasted for a long time and we had leftovers for lunch and weekends and it was a dream. Unfortunately, Ben is now spoiled by everyone else's fantastic cooking. I am not really a cook...not at all actually. I wish I loved it...but, I don't. So, it was definitely appreciated and my very favorite gift when someone brought over a meal for us!

The only thing saving grace I have now is that Kinley LOVES to cook. She loves helping me in the kitchen. She loves pretending to cook in HER kitchen and taking orders like she is a waitress with a marker and paper. She loves it. She likes to pour things in a bowl, put anything I have chopped on a salad, put cookies or crescent rolls on a cookie sheet....pretty much anything. She will stop whatever she is doing to help me cook. Therefore, my goal is for this to become a regular productive activity for the both of us...and maybe because she is doing it with me, I will start to love it.

Yesterday, we really went after it and made some homemade banana bread and a new recipe for dinner!

Kristen's mom, Kathy, brought us some banana bread a couple weeks ago and we ate every bit of it and have been craving it ever since! We used Allison's grandmother-in-law Gran's recipie here. I did not quite get the timing in the oven right. The edges were a little dry but, the taste is great and it is definitely delicious heated up with butter on top!
Kinley loved helping pour the sugar and mash the bananas.
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Then, for dinner, we made Beef Enchiladas from a recipe book that Ben's Aunt Deb gave us for Christmas last year. I can't believe I have not blogged about this book yet! It was SUCH a thoughtful and creative Christmas present.

She basically made this scrapbook/cookbook on Snapfish. Deb titled this book "Tastes like Another" because that is what their mom would say when she really liked something. When their dad "Walter" really liked something he would say "You got a good do on that one Lusel!"
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She scanned in old family pictures and recipe's in their mother or grandmother's handwriting and told the story of every recipe.
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It was so fun to read about the memories Gary and Deb have of when their mom made these dishes and the history of certain recipes like these "Dust Bowl Desserts." These were desserts their mom made during the Kansas dust bowl when everyone was poor and they could not afford anything but the basics and tried to make the best tasting desserts with what little they had.
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This beef enchilada recipe was SUPER easy and fantastic. I actually halved it since I did not need the entire amount.
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How cute is this old picture of Ben, Alex and their cousin (Deb's son) Adam!?
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This book is really so cool and such a great idea for a present for Christmas or really any occasion....even for someone who doesn't cook much because it inspires you to want to!

I was really excited when Gary and Cheryl came by last night. I already had this made and Gary hadn't eaten yet so I was glad he could try the enchiladas. He said they were great and just like he remembered. Yay! Then we initiated a fun photo session with Gram and Pops.
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I mean...how cute is this guy!?
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I will keep you updated on how the cooking goes....I am hoping it will stick!

5 comments:

  1. Wow! Ty already looks so different than he did 3 days ago! Maybe it is the eyes being open?? So cute! I love that Kinley loves helping you in the kitchen. Aubrey always wants to help me so I got us matching aprons, because what is more fun than matching?? Proud of you for getting in the kitchen with your sweet girl and making fun memories and good food! Love that cookbook!!

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  2. Ty looks SO DIFFERENT. Holy cow! I am thinking he looks less like Kinley now. You will have to do another comparison pic! Hooray for getting in the kitchen. And for a banana bread recipe! I will have to try it!

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  3. SO CUTE!!! i love the banana bread recipe and the cook book is amazing! i love that. what a good helper! and i love her prayer! that is hilarious! i love that girl. miss you guys!

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  4. Friend! I have a cooking tip for you. When you make a big casserole dish of something like the enchiladas, or lasagna you can put it instead into two 8 by 8 pans and freeze one for later. Chris and I can never eat a whole 9 by 13 of anything at once. This way when you are too tired to cook pull it out of your freezer and bake. Voila! Hot dinner. I will send you my recipe for Crockpot lasagna ...so easy!

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  5. I was like you, until I found easier recipes with fewer ingredients and less cooking time that I actually WANTED to eat! I think a big reason people don't like to cook, at least it was true for me, is that it is so intimidating (what if you ruin dinner?) and can also be cost-prohibitive (buying a bunch of ingredients that you will never use again!) Sounds like you have a good resource with the family cookbook and what an adorable idea for a gift! Keep cooking =)

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