The Begin

My mom's name is Trish. She has eight children, of which I am the oldest. Five of us live here in the Chicago area and three live around the country. Mom also has 15 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren.

After living for twenty-two years in Florida, mom recently returned to the Midwest--for me, this is a godsend because I get to see her regularly now.

Lately mom needs a little help with cooking meals. So I am helping out by cooking full three course meals, packaging them up, and delivering them to her house.

I ADORE doing this for her. And she ADORES eating my meals! It's a wonderful experience for both of us to share.

This is my space to describe my experience cooking for my mom and to record the details of this undertaking. I will include the most successful recipes as I go along.

The first problem I encountered in cooking for mom was that she eats meat. I do not. The second problem is that she likes to eat too many foods that aren't good for her (don't we all!) Mom has a sugar sensitivity and needs to watch her sugar/carb intake. When she does, her sugars are steady and normal. When she eats too much ice cream and chocolate, it shows in her blood sugar readings.

My goal is to create nutritious and delicious meals that she will love eating. It is NOT my intention to put my mom on a diet. It is NOT my goal to turn my mother into a vegetarian. It is merely my intention to create for my mother balanced and healthy meals.

So, I am for the first time in a very long time cooking meat in my kitchen. It's quite a change for me and my kitchen.