My 1st Cooking Skills

Growing up the oldest of 7 children provided me with a TON of cooking experience.

Making dinner was a somewhat regular responsibility of mine because both of my parents worked.

If I wanted to get out of it or was busy that night then the responsibility fell to my brother James who is 16 months younger than me. We all knew if he was cooking, we'd have fried egg sandwiches. Again!Sometimes he'd break out his gourmet side and we'd have fried egg sandwiches with cheese.

Thank goodness his wife has helped him see the light. He can now cook a mean BBQ and I hear he makes cheesecake too.

I would usually made dinner for 9-15 people because someone would bring home a friend or two.

I'm sure you can guess that when I got married, all I knew how to make were huge casseroles.One good thing about cooking that much is I only had to make dinner every 4-5 days. My poor husband would happily eat the same thing for 4-5 days in a row.

Growing up in a big family meant that you didn't have cold cereal. It was too expensive. If my parents ever did buy cold cereal, it would be gone that very morning.My youngest brother Phillip would eat a mixing bowl full of cold cereal and milk instead of a cereal bowl.

When I got married, I was so surprised that cold cereal could last in my pantry for over a week!

For some reason my cooking skills around dinner guests was sorely lacking. Maybe I was nervous. I remember inviting my SIL Margie and her husband over for dinner one night. The BBQ chicken was burnt and the rice krispie treats were hard and brittle.Hopefully they have both blocked that meal out of their minds forever. LOL!

I look back now and actually wouldn't change a thing.

Good times!