Mission Accomplished

Delivery complete. Mission Accomplished.

Mom lives about 70 miles from me. In good traffic, it takes about 90 minutes to drive there. I got home from delivering at 11 last night. Whew! It was such a good feeling.

Mom is thrilled to have a whole new batch of food. And I got to see the look on her face as I revealed each dish. Priceless. :)

Here is the actual menu:

Sweet and sour cabbage soup

*Meatloaf w/carmelized onion marmalade/mashed potatoes/roasted acorn squash
*Asian grilled shrimp/brown rice pilaf/grilled asparagus
*Roasted pork chops with spiced apples/roasted parsnips, carrots, and potato medley
*Grilled lemon garlic chicken/sliced sweet potatoes/steamed green beans with crispy garlic slices and pine nuts

egg salad

I didn't have time to make a frittata this week. As it was, the entire cooking process took eight hours. The trip took four hours (one hour to visit with mom). I'm trying to pay attention to time so that I can become more efficient.

My goal is to produce the most exciting food for mom in the most time economical way. I don't want to sacrifice the wow! factor for mom to take less time. The wow! factor makes it fun for me too.

For me, this is an expression of love, shared with my mom. It is also an act of creativity that allows me the freedom to spontaneously create something out of nothing. I LOVE this! it's the light in my life, the best day in my week. I'm aware every time I cook for mom that I'm lucky to have this time; it's a luxury.

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.