Homesick for My Kitchen

     I really miss my kitchen. I miss the way it smells, looks, and makes me feel. My family has been so busy with harvest, working ground, and hay season that I haven't had much time for my favorite thing: cooking. This is probably why I have lost all my baby weight plus an additional 3lbs! Kudos for this accomplishment! But truth be told, if I had time to make homemade pumpkin pancakes slathered with real butter and maple syrup, I would gladly pack those 3lbs back on! Alas, due to heat and time homemade anything isn't happin' much around here. However, during my "dairy" sessions I get 15 full minutes all to myself and I spend them on the computer working on my cookbook. I ran across some recipes that I love. Love. Love. Love! One in particular is Cube Steak Parmesan. I mean look at this baby, isn't she beautiful?! Such a hardy meal too. You have your cube steak breaded with one of my favorite ingredients, Panko, lots of glorious cheese, homemade spaghetti sauce, and pasta.

Cube Steak Parmesan

Last time we had this meal, Alli made Mascarpone stuffed strawberries to go with it.  Anytime you can add Mascarpone cheese to fruit you have a winner, at least in my opinion. Allison is proudly showing off the strawberries that she stuffed herself. Isn't she too cute?!

Proud Chef

She's my chef in training. At 4 years old she can make her own sandwiches, cupcakes from a cake mix (I do the oven part), fruit salads, and is a big help doing numerous other jobs. She's so eager to learn that she's wearing out all of our butter knifes (and using all the cheese) practicing her cutting skills. I'm amazed how much math she's learning too. She can measure ingredients to the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 cup by herself! I think the Bernstein Bear cooking game she plays on PBS Kids helped with this too. I'm thrilled that she shares my love for the kitchen. I have a feeling that as she gets older, we'll make the perfect team. I love to cook but not so much bake, while Alli seems to prefer baking recipes to cooking. I look forward to the great memories we're going to create from our time together in our kitchen.