I clearly remember the day I was standing in my kitchen in January 2010 when I made the only New Year’s Resolution I’ve ever kept. I guess I had just had one too many nights where I was feeding my family junk, or one too many house guests that got take out pizza for dinner, or one too many home cooked meals from neighbors that I couldn’t reciprocate. It was the final straw. I found myself in my kitchen with two children and a husband and I had no idea how to feed them. How did I get here, I wondered? My family was full of amazing cooks who used real food every day to make wonderful meals full of love for their families to eat. They all asked me to help them in the kitchen, but time and time again I politely declined and now, here I stood, with a family of my own to feed and no idea how to do it.
All of those memories of shared family meals around the dinner table filled my brain and I wanted my kids to have those same memories. Some day I want my kids to say, "Well that was good X, Y or Z but it wasn't as good as MOMs." At the moment, I did not corner the market on anything. That was my motivation for my Food Revolution three years ago. When I cooked my way through Jamie’s Food Revolution cookbook, the writing part came very easily; it was the cooking that I struggled with. This time, it’s the other way around. I’ve had a bit of writer’s block and I decided to return to that initial motivation, my family of great cooks and what I learned from them. Many of the meals I’ve cooked this year have reminded me of these important people in my life, many of them are now gone and the memories are bittersweet. Bitter because I wish I had pulled up that stool and helped chop while hearing their boisterous laughter and fascinating stories. Sweet because I’m so glad I have the memories of the table where we shared the food and the examples of food made with love.
When I made this next meal, it made me think of the one important lesson that we have all probably heard at the dinner table from the cooks in our lives.
“You are never too old to try new foods,” And of course, “your taste buds change every 7 years so even if you didn’t like it before, you might like it now.”
In that vein, my family tried (and to my amazement liked) smoked salmon. I cannot believe it was my first time trying the stuff too!
The Menu:
Smoked Salmon
Potato Salad
Beets & Cottage Cheese
Rye Bread & Homemade Butter
Serves 4
Page 162 of Meals in Minutes
You won't believe how ridiculously easy it is to make your own butter and (more importantly) how impressed your family is when they hear you did it!
Meals cooked: 17
Meals left: 33
Weeks left: 10
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