My Story

Due to a health issue I became a single parent when my kids were 5, 6 and 7 years old. Among Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Brownies, Girl Scouts, band, church, after school activities, sleep overs and all the events that come with parenthood I needed meals to be quick and easy. I was not looking to make gourmet meals or train Michelin Chefs but something quick and easy with minimal cleanup. I began to purchase and use “fast food prep” devices and to my delight my children wanted to use them too. In hindsight as my children grew, they began to use the gadgets to prepare their own meals and the “What is there to eat”, and “I don’t like that” events faded away. The struggle over whose turn it was to wash the dishes and clean up nearly…became a thing of the past. Meal preparation and cleanup became a bonding experience for my son and two daughters and amazingly enough with my four granddaughters.

Nearly everything on this website I have used or have used similar items. There are some devices I have used but have not posted here such as bread makers (I am on my 4th one), ice cream makers (I have used the hand crank model with ice, a motorized version with ice, a freeze the bucket then use, and now a completely self contained Breville model which my grandkids love), 3 different air fryers, 3 table top ovens the last two being Breville's, and many more devices not yet listed.

I do make soooome things from scratch...but most of the time in the interest of speed I used packaged ingredients.  Everything you see here I have made from scratch at one time or another but most of the time I use packaged ingredients.  Not the cheapest ones but better ingredients or organic ingredients.  At one point I was using Blue Apron and everything there was cooked from scratch.  The difficulty was that Blue Apron expected you to cook their ingredients every week which I couldn't always do resulting in some of their ingredients spoiling before I could use them.  So I quit ordering from them.

When my youngest daughter was grown she considered training to become a chef and was preparing meals for a fine dining meal delivery service but eventually chose a healthcare profession. Even today I send her cooking gadgets for holidays and birthdays which she loves.

 

 

Here is an early photo of my granddaughter crew from years ago getting ready to make something.  My youngest granddaughters are dressed in their favorite baking attire.  I suspect we are probably going to make chocolate chip cookies.  We did that a lot!!!!

But now my kitchen is empty.  All my granddaughters have moved away.  Sometimes I imagine I can still hear them running around chasing one another and squealing with delight waiting for the cookies to be done.  I would give anything to have those days back and to have those little people peering over the counter asking to help with the latest chopping, mixing, baking or stirring device.  From time to time each one was assigned a master task such as "chief bowl stirrer", "head vegetable chopper", or "chief cookie baker".  

I haven't found any photos of cooking with my children from the 80's and 90's when I started using cooking gadgets.  If I run across any I will post them.

If you would like to send photos of your children cooking with dad please send them in and I will do my best to post them here.

Grandpa

                     

I want to post this poem to my mom who passed away as I was leaving to visit her on my birthday almost 30 years ago.

Mom...

Could you come back and stay awhile?  I want to hear your voice and see your smile.  I want to hold you tight, and never let you go, and tell you how much I love you so...

Your son,

I miss you mom...