My Love for Food

It's so effortless for me to write about cooking because it's something I truly love. I can cook in the kitchen all day long and be happy as a clam. If I'm having a bad day, my husband knows that I will most likely be cooking an elaborate meal to make me feel better. Works every time.
Food is unique in the way it can bring everyone together, no matter their differences. Democrat or republican, male or female, Jewish or Catholic- we all eat and food brings us together! I can't think of anything else that is such a common denominator among cultures across the world.
My love for cooking and food started at a very young age. Many of my childhood memories revolve around cooking in the kitchen with my mom and eating with our large extended family. My Grandma Huff is an amazing cook, known for her killer mashed potatoes (which I am sure have 3 pounds of butter in them) as well as pretty much everything else she makes. She makes a strawberry pie that I could eat every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of it. Her meals are epic. I remember the first time I took Joel and some of my friends down to Florence one year for Christmas and we went up to her house for breakfast one morning. As we sat down, dish after dish after dish came out. Sausage, bacon, eggs, potatoes, cottage cheese (she ALWAYS has cottage cheese on her table for meals, usually with tomatoes in it), pancakes, toast, fruit on and on. Anyone who knows my Grandma knows you don't leave her house hungry. And people are always treated like family in her house.   That is something I have learned from her that I always do myself. People who walk in my house will be well fed and treated as family.
My Great Grandma Eliot was also an amazing cook. Her gingersnap recipe is one that has been passed around the family and is literally the best cookie I have ever eaten. I remember going to her house and the entire table being filled with all sorts of food. 
Our Eliot family reunion every year was filled with lots and lots of family and lots and lots of food. My Aunt Barb always brought her 7 layer dip which was always gone after about 5 minutes because it was so good. Grandma always brought baked beans and there was always chicken and little sandwiches (like tea sandwiches). 
My mom is also a great cook and I always remember her making homemade dinners growing up. I never really liked beef at all as a kid (and still don't) but I do remember the only way I would eat beef was in my mom's famous beef stroganoff. About once or twice a year when I really need comfort food I make a version of beef stroganoff and it instantly perks me up. The way my mom made it (and the only way I like it to this day) is with cream of mushroom soup, egg noodles, boiled potatoes and then it was all topped with sour cream. Instead of beef, I use turkey. It is seriously the most comforting meal ever! 
My mom's minestrone soup is really, really good too. I will post her recipe for that on here sometime soon. Every time I go home, my mom will either make me waffles from scratch or biscuits from scratch for breakfast and I end up eating my weight in both. They are comforting and they taste like home. No matter how many times I make them at my house, they never quite taste the same as when mom makes them.
I have always been surrounded by good food, and I wouldn't want it any other way. I secretly feel sorry for people who grew up never eating homemade, GOOD food. My husband basically grew up on boxed dinners, miracle whip and Wonder bread so when he started dating me, he was taken on a whirlwind ride of homemade food. I hope I pass on my love and passion for food onto my son. He will grow up helping me cook in the kitchen and eating fresh, organic made from scratch food. He will be raised knowing the importance of being hospitable to guests and making them feel welcome and at home. He will learn that our family gathers around food and meals and that is how we connect and spend time together. I can only hope that when he grows up, he comes back home often because he misses mama's food!