From Generation to Generation

Great food has always been a huge part of my life. I grew up with a mom and grandmother who could cook better than anyone I knew. My mom would cook dinner for us every night and it was expected that Matt and I were seated at the table when dinner was served. Pretty much we hardly ever missed a family dinner around the table unless we were sick or out of town. Family dinner time consisted of everyone sharing about their day, good or bad, and enjoying a well balanced meal. My mom was the queen of well balanced meals. We always had a meat, 2 veggies and a carb. She also would make a homemade desert every week which would either be pies, cookies, cakes or homemade ice cream. Matt and I really had it made and took it for granted. I am really missing my mothers food these days. I am now married so I feel the responsibility of carrying on the tradition of cooking every night and I love it (Jon does too)! I really do love it! A few years back my mom wrote a cookbook and published it. She started the cookbook for just Matt and I because she got tired of us calling and asking her how to make this or that. It is a huge success! My mom has sold and given away over 500 copies. She actually has her own website where she displays some of her artwork and sells the cookbook so check it out www.gumbocreations.com. I love it because a lot of the dishes I grew up eating are in there so I have a quick reference when I want to cook something of mom's.

My grandmother named Momma T. is the mastermind of the chefs in our family. She is where it all started. She is from Louisiana and can cook the best cajun food you have ever eaten. I use to love it when she would cook us gumbo or etouffee but the most delicious thing she would make was her homemade sour dough bread. My brother could eat an entire loaf when it was hot out the oven b/c it was that good. Momma T would also have a freezer full of ice cream to go with deserts she had cooked each week. It really was a treat to go to her house!

So back to me, I am trying to be as good of a cook as my mom and grandmother but it is a tough task. One thing I love to do is find recipes online. I love to read blogs that other people have written and I equally love Pintrest. The recipes on Pintrest are fabulous and for the most part so easy! Check out that website if you are not already addicted to it like me www.pintrest.com. Jon is such a good sport when it comes to eating my cooking. I can honestly say that for the most part my dinners are very good but there have been times where the dinner was totally unedible and straight up GROSS. We usually end up ordering a pizza on those nights.

So Im going to leave you with 2 tasks:
1. Check out my mom's blog WWW.GUMBOCREATIONS.COM
2. Check out Pinterest WWW.PINTREST.COM

 Enjoy!

My husband is a ROCK STAR!

Check out my husband's kayaking video. I gave him a GoPro Headcam for his birthday and he has been taking some great videos while he is in his boat.

I know this video is short but you get the idea. Jon is the second boater in the orange kayak. More to come.......

Happy 2012 Friends!

It is time for something new for this old blog so I have updated it! I love it! It reminds me of spring and warm weather. The holidays were so much fun but bring on the sand and flip flops....please!
So I never wrote about our awesome New Years Eve night. Jon and I spent the week after Christmas down in Daphne so we were there for New Years Eve. Jon's brother Chris and his wife Kelly live down there too so we planned to hang out with them on NYE and wow, I felt like I was back in college. We decided to bring in 2012 at a bar called Club 44 and we danced the night away. It was so much fun!

We were so sad to leave Daphne but we will be back for Mardi Gras!

Christmas 2011

The holidays are always such a busy time of year but are so much fun. For my family, Christmas preparations start the day after Thanksgiving. I love to decorate the house for Christmas. It always looks so good and puts a sense of excitement all over the house. This year Jon and I put up a 10 foot fake pre-lit tree with white lights and it was beautiful. I got some good ideas for my mantel from Pinetrest and it was perfect. Even Lilly had her own stocking! We had simple decorations, not too much! Presents under the tree gradually grew and grew. I love shopping for people and wrapping. This year I bought red and white polka dotted paper with ribbon and sparkly tags. To me the wrapping is just as important as the gift because it shows that you put some time and thought into every gift.

This year it was Jon's family's year for us to be with them. This was my first year away from my family on Christmas and I must say that I did very well. Of course I missed my family but I knew that I would leaving Monday to spend a week with them, so that made things easier. Jon's brother Chris and his wife Kelly came in town on Christmas Eve to spend the weekend with us. We all met Jon's parents at church for the Christmas Eve service at 5pm and then had dinner at their house afterwards. It was a great  spending time with everyone all together. Christmas morning we all went to 10am church and then back to the Reynolds house for gifts. We spent the day opening gifts, hanging out and eating lots of great food. The day ended with Chris and Kelly coming back to our house for the night which was a blast. We loved getting to spend so much time with them. They actually live in Daphne so we were not only going to be spending the week with my family but with them too! How great is that!
We woke up bright and early Monday morning and traveled 5 hours down to Daphne. When we got there my mom had made shrimp and okra gumbo (which is my favorite) for lunch. We had Christmas with them that afternoon and ate some amazing steaks that night. The week was full of great food, hunting (jon killing a doe or two), catching up with family, hanging out with Chris and Kelly, a trip to Louisiana to see the cousins and a fabulous New Years Eve night. The holiday could not have been better. We were so blessed to have such a long time off work and to be with family. I hope to have many more just like this one!