I have cooked all my life.

I know–you are thinking that I’m exaggerating but it is true.  I was the smallest and youngest kid in our Polish community–which made me the BEST at washing out the small mouth canning jars!  I would scrub out blackish green gunk that was stuck to the bottom and sides of the Mason and Kerr jars.  It was not the most romantic job on the farm but those big, round, women loved a clean jar and I felt like I was making a huge difference by the way they smiled as they inspected, then complimented my work.

So when I say I have cooked all my life, maybe I could amend that to; I have been around food preparation until it was my time to do the cooking which for me, turned into a creative outlet.  I still love how the texture of the inside of a pepper is so different than the inside or planting 8 different kinds of basil in my garden.

I enjoy cooking for my family meals and I especially enjoy eating together–the time after dinner when we are all talking and laughing about the days events or planning new memories.  I try to look at it as an opportunity to offer my family the gift of health.  I feel blessed to be able to have food and a place to cook it.  I don’t have the fanciest pots, pans and bakeware but I make due with what I have.  I will admit thanks to Sandy S. who when we were looking for a house said “I hope you get the kitchen your cooking deserves.” her words set the intention for my kitchen.  When we moved we found an awesome house–with a great kitchen!  I wish now that I could cook for Sandy again in this kitchen :-).

I feel blessed when my fridge is full.  I feel blessed when my pantry is full.  I feel blessed when I make a new, healthy breakfast–that tastes good.  I feel blessed that my kids have enough food to eat.  I am blessed to have clean water.

I know–again with the hyperbole and the gratitude about food . . . but I feel so strongly about my body being blessed by the food that I put into it . . . the first chapter of my book is:  Blessings.

We say grace in our house before each meal and I see the kids crossing themselves before snack.  We give thanks.  We have our traditional prayer of “Bless us oh Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive, through Christ our Lord.  Amen”   We also take time to pray for those in our lives–now we are praying for my friend Karen.  We lift them up as a blessing to us and give thanks for the gift of having them in our life.  This attitude towards breakfast, lunch and dinner becomes a vehicle for gratitude, grace, and blessings.  It feeds our soul not just our bodies.

This is how it is now–we have evolved to this over many, many years of defining for ourselves what our family “looks like”.  I’m sure it will continue to evolve in joyful thanksgiving.

The first chapter of my book:  Blessed by Breakfast will be about blessings, grace, and thanksgiving.  If you have a prayer that you would like to share–I would LOVE to hear it!  Please just put it in the comments below, so that we can learn from each other new ways to begin our meals with a blessing.

Be Blessed in your journey of breakfast, lunch and dinner–may your food nourish your body and spirit.