“Cooking as an art — ‘Hidden Art’, if you want to call it so – should be recognized
and then developed in everyone who has to cook, wants to cook or could cook!
Cooking should not be thought of as a drudgery but as an art.
The danger today.. is to take the short cut of using prepared and frozen foods all the time,
using things from packages, bottles, tin and cans, rather than starting with fresh food,
or food from one’s own garden.
Just as it is good to get one’s fingers into the soil and plant seeds,
so it is good to get one’s fingers and fists into bread dough and knead and punch it.
There is something very positive in being involved in the creativity which is so basic to life itself.
{vanilla essence in the making, kefir water and orange-infused vinegar}
Home-made bread, home made cakes and pies, homemade vegetable soup from home grown vegetables,
these are almost lost arts in many homes. ”
– Edith Schaffer, The Hiddern Art of Homemaking
Do you love serving your family home-cooked meals?
Oh, I do!
And yet, it was not always this way. We can only laugh (and cringe, sadly) at our early years as a young family and my years as a younger mother – with no skills in the cooking department and absolutely no knowledge in baking or nutrition, I did not even know how to make one meal for my family. It was only after our fourth child — who became ill and lost all her hair from an iron deficiency— that I learned the value of eating well, cooking homemade meals and growing our own food.
Many days, I am amazed at the amount of from scratch cooking and baking required for this family of 11. Every day in the winter months, we eat soup for lunch – a variety of soups so it is not boring – with fresh bread.
Our supper meals vary and I do not meal plan – but cook from what we have on hand. You would think our food bill is large, but truly, God provides and, somehow, always have enough food to feed our family. From our large vegetable garden grown in the summer months, to raising our own chicken and beef, our meals are never lacking. God is good and will provide, but sometimes, you must do the work! If I had to buy all our vegetables and meat, we would certainly be seeing steeper food bills. We have a beautiful farmer friend, just down the road, who grows organic vegetables nd has blessed us with many carrots, turnips and cabbage this winter. We are so thankful for such gifts of health!
I see my work in the kitchen as a ministry — and feeding food to my family is not a burden, but a joy.
Just for fun, my favourite meals to cook for the winter months would be:
Chicken Noodle Soup
Shepherd’s Pie
Lasagna
Beef Stroganoff
Chicken Schnitzel with noodles
Chili
Chicken Alfredo
Tacos
Cheese-Stuffed Cannelloni
How I wish I could have more mothers over and have tea and swap recipes and just enjoy our journey together ….
Dear fellow momma anad homemaker, may you be encouraged today as you feed your beautiful family and serve them with love.
Know which part of the Lord’s work He has called you to
and give your whole soul to it. -Charles Spurgeon
by Gigi
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