Ladies...Why Aren't You Cooking?

I have said that I love to cook... but more than that, it is my passion! It makes me happy to make others happy, to have others taste my food and really love it, is an incredible feeling! To have others praise you for what you just love to do is mind boggling! I am blessed to appreciate this gift and want to share it with everyone that I love! My question is even if you can't or you're not the best cook, why aren't the ladies cooking anymore?

My great grandmother was an inspiration to me because I remember as a kid, my great grandfather coming home every evening and sitting down to a home cooked meal. I have always carried that with me and love to do that for my man, excuse me, my fiance; and by the way ladies that is one of the reasons that I did get that ring *wink*! Never forget the saying "The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach!

(In the picture is my idea of a home cooked meal...instead of a whole meat loaf, which takes like an hour I made them into patties and it worked perfectly. Only took me about twenty minutes. The peas were frozen and the potatoes were pre-ackaged but I made a homemade gravy and cooked the bacon myself to crumble on top! Easy, but he thought it took me all day!)

I know that most women work, they have families and don't have time to cook full course meals every night; but in just thirty minutes or so you can give not only that man an amazing meal but your family too! Men tend to eat a lot of fast food and would feel appreciated and grateful that you take the time to show them a token of affection!

I'm not talking fancy shmancy food but its time for the ladies to get back in the kitchen! If time is an issue always remember that you can use 60% pre-packaged items and 40% fresh. For example use a store bought sauce but add fresh herbs and garlic to make it your own. In the frozen section there are veggies that are already chopped and ready to go; this helps with stews, soups or sauces. Don't be afraid to try new things, you have to open your mind...a great outlook for life also!

(In the picture I made chicken and waffles...I used store bought waffles and fried up some party wings; the wings were less expensive than buying the whole chicken cut up and I served it with a honey butter drizzled over the chicken and waffles. It was unexpected and not an everyday meal! It only took me about 30 minutes.)

Don't forget to season your food; there is so much more out there than salt and pepper! Garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, basil, thyme...these can Take your food from average to extraordinary.

Use recipes, there are so many resources out there to help; use them! It might take a while and you might make a few mistakes, I do, but keep trying! It is a simple way you can show that person that you care about that you appreciate them. I have been to restaurants where I have ordered Gumbo and never knew how to make it. I looked up a couple of recipes and did my best to recreate it. (In this picture I made a chicken and sausage gumbo. I used a pre-chopped cajun meripoix found in my frozen section, canned smoked tomatoes and followed the rest of the recipe with fresh ingredients. It was easy and only took me about 40 minutes.)

Come on ladies...independence in exceptional but loneliness is a dime a dozen. Get in that kitchen, lets bring back the tradition and bring our families back! Its not as hard as you make it!

My Sister's Shower!

Cooking has always been apart of my life...now it is my life! I love to cook, try new recipes & eat! Recently I've started throwing parties; I learned that I have a real talent for it. I would love to share the love that I have for food with you as well as my projects that I do for parties! I know how expensive throwing a party can be; hopefully, this will help you cut corners, make your own decorations and stay within your budget. I'll offer other ideas and themes for parties as well...you know NOTHING COMMON!

My last project was a "Baby Shower" I through for my sister; a woman I would describe to have a great sense of fashion, young, fresh & modern. Her theme was "Sugar & Spice..." She decided she wanted her colors to be brown, green, & hot pink. She did NOT want a typical baby shower, since we have been to plenty and they seem to be repetitive...I couldn't agree more! So we decided on lunch and it was outdoors; what do we do for decorations now? I knew that the tables would be important since our guest would be seated the entire time!

We rented tables from a local party rental place, I bought chocolate brown table covers from Party City...good start, but I was stumped as to what to use as centerpieces. It really took me awhile to come up with it but I found pails from Target that were in the dollar bin. I bought five since there were five round tables

I bought ribbon from Wal-mart for like $1 and some change and pacifiers from Party City for $2 or so... it was inexpensive though! I also bought foam letters from Wal-mart that cost about $3; however, I already had the letters from a previous project so I just went through my craft box!

I was very pleased with how these turned out...NOTHING COMMON!

I wanted them to be used as a holder for the one of the party games and pencils as well! I bought the "Its A Girl" pencils at Party City and I believe they were like $2 as well as the games! I got the curling ribbon from Target for a $1.

Okay...so we found the plates, a table cover, confetti, and balloons with the "Baby Theme" from Party City. Now I have to be honest, it was a little pricey; if allowed you can break the bank in that store! But because we were on a budget, I did my best to just get what I needed and get out of that store as quick as I could!

So we had limited room to decorate but I still wanted to make an impact. I believe that its all in the details and its the little things that matter so I needed a game plan...my sister wanted a "Sweet Buffet" and I figured that would be another chance for me to get some decorations in. My sister had these over sized teacups at her place from a previous party and she wanted me to utilize them; I used the same ribbon and foam letters that I got from Wal-mart to create these. She wanted to have a chocolate fountain so we used these to hold food...NOTHING COMMON!

As far as the favors I just purchased tulle from Party City...the cute little boxes were so expensive. I have been to more than one party and remember leaving my favor or if I did take them I cannot tell you where they are today! You don't want to know how many favors I have left over from the shower lol! But thank goodness I didn't spend a ton of money on them! I also got the candy from Party City (by the way not that bad like $6 and I only used 2 bags)...they were in the shape of pacifiers and baby pins! The example of the favor on the package gave me a slight yawn...but I didn't want to spend too much time and energy on them anyway, so I just took the pacifiers and ribbon to accent the bags...this way everything coordinated! Also an important factor when decorating for a party!

A few other projects...we went to the dollar store to get water, printed out labels that said "Sugar & Spice" or "Everything Nice", tore off the label that was on the water and attached our own! They were so cute and unexpected. I used the same concept with candy...little minis from BJ's and letter labels that were printed out with the baby's name, thank you and the date of the shower; another favor!

I found a sign in sheet at Party City but it was COMMON...so we had to come up with something else; we found photo albums from Ross and stickers from Wal-mart and spelled out "Sugar & Spice" on one book and "Everything Nice" on the other, we also passed the books around to the guest and let them sign notes to the baby and once the pictures from the shower are printed out I'll put those in the book! Killed 2 birds with 1 stone and it was NOTHING COMMON!

I had so much enjoyment putting this shower together and letting my creative juices flow! I hoped that I have helped you or at least got you thinking about your next party! Don't forget its in the details and its the little things that matter. You don't have to spend a ton of money to have an awesome party! Try to get as many bargains as you can, you might have to go to more than one store. I have so much more to show you from this event...MORE PICS TO COME! Remember in whatever you do, make sure its NOTHING COMMON!