Baking and Cooking

I'm thankful I know how to bake and cook. Sometimes the things I bake and cook are simple, sometimes they're more complex.

I'm also thankful for food bloggers and cookbook creators and for the recipes they produce.

French bread rolls from Mel's Kitchen Cafe are my go to rolls for making sliders.

 

I love A Season of Family Meal Plans (all four volumes) by Jordan Page where I got the recipe for Cheesy Chicken Sliders (in volume 4- Fall).

I'm thankful I've gotten better at learning substitutions in cooking or learning I can just leave things out. Only one pan of the sliders had cheese (based on family preference) and that's okay.

I'm also thankful I don't always have to follow a recipe when throwing dinner together. Spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad is something everybody in my family will eat.

I made sure to use the garlic and onion spaghetti sauce since November 8 was Bram Stoker's Birthday and Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day. It's tradition to cook with garlic that day. 

Quesadillas with a Friend

My friend, Stephanie, and I got together again to cook. Last time I taught her to make Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken. This time we tried a couple new recipes together, Black Bean Quesadillas and Easy Peasy Spanish Rice, both from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 4, from Jordan Page. Oh, there was also a recipe for a zesty quesadilla dipping sauce that we made.

We had fun again and both had meals to eat. That helped me a lot because that afternoon/evening was so busy it was nice to already have food ready that just needed to be reheated.

 

This is the picture she sent me later that day. 

Her husband told me that he really enjoyed the food, too.

Brownie Cook

There was a time that Nichole informed me of everyone's roles as far as cooking is concerned. Daddy's the pasta cook, Mommy's the rice cook, Nichole's the pizza cook, and Jr.'s the brownie cook. When Jr. Jr. was born, Nichole let me know that he is the bread cook. He couldn't be left out I suppose.

Jr. has become quite the helper in the kitchen. He still really likes those brownies, but he likes helping me make other things as well. The other day, I needed to wash a bowl to make brownies and Jr. was so sweet as to dry it. Then he helped make the brownies.

And of course he helped eat them. But I didn't get a picture of that.

I'm the Cook

Nichole came to me one day with some cooking gear as I was getting ready to make dinner and told me, "Hey, I'm the cook, Mom."

She proceeded to help me make pizza muffins.

Mixing the ingredients

Kneeding the dough

Rolling it out

And afterward, enjoying the fruits of her labor (or at least the muffins of her labor)

Later she told me, "I'm the pizza cook. Mommy's the rice cook. Daddy's the pasta cook. Jr. is the brownie cook." Though both Jeremy and I agree that Jr. is more like the brownie burglar.