The Best Teacher
I grew up with the best cook: my mom.
She is the ultimate hostess for large groups of family and friends and also makes the best intimate family meals. Her trick? Double the sauce! Double the seasonings and taste test to make sure you don’t need more.
She is known for making the best Greek dinners. The Greek Festivals are fun, but if you really want the most delicious Greek food, you should request a Greek Birthday dinner from her. Growing up, I remember my mom dedicating an entire day to cooking for groups of family and friends, with dinner often served as late as 9pm! Her meals were so elaborate that it simply took that long to get everything prepared. As we have grown up, she has become much more efficient and has learned to prepare the day before – she makes the Baklava the day before to save time on the day of hosting. She even found a delicious frozen spanakopita sold at Costco to make things a little easier.
“I’ll just bake him cookies”
From a young age, I was most attracted to baking. I loved making a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, cookie bars, and trying out new cake recipes. In high school, my mom asked me if I ever wanted to learn to cook. I respectfully said that I preferred baking. She asked, “Well, what are you going to make your husband?” With a smile, I responded, “I’ll just bake him lots of cookies!”
Later on, I did end up figuring out that cooking is a lot of fun too. As it turns out, the “ baking only phase” is not sustainable when you aren’t living at home. After a guy in high school ate some of my cookie bars, I did get a marriage proposal though. Those are definitely not made with seed-free oil.
I did get married, became a PA, and now am a stay-at-home mom. My husband, Ryan, does enjoy eating my cookies and we have come to enjoy lots of other recipes too. Our four kids probably wouldn’t mind if I only made cookies.
This recipe book is a combination of recipes that our family has come to love.
From my mom’s famous Greek recipes (which I have adapted and written down) to our favorite items to bake, I am always learning new things and making some old recipes even more delicious (if that is even possible).