Mary Jane Hathaway | The Hidden Joy of Traditional Cooking

I used to have a crock pot before my little family grew to one of eight, including four hungry boys. Some days I really miss being able to throw food in that portable oven and let it do all the work while I ran errands or cleaned the house. But I’ve also discovered the joys of the original “slow cooking”. Now I’m forced to stand in the kitchen for hours and I’ve discovered it’s not really the end of the world. In fact,I think we’re a closer family because of it.

Now, before you all envision me in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant (I have six kids and I hardly ever wear shoes, so that’s actually not too far from reality), let me say I understand saving time is important. We’re all squeezed for time, no matter if we work 40 hour weeks out of the home, stay at home with the kids, or a combination of both. Nobody wants to waste precious hours that could be spent with family and friends.

But when I was forced to give up the crock pot and do more cooking at the stove, I found that I sent more time with my family, not less. I never found myself stirring the lasagna sauce for twenty minutes without a single soul coming by to visit. (I actually cherish my alone time, so that wouldn’t be all bad, either.) Instead, my teenage girls would come in, lean against the counters and chat about their day. My preteen boys would gravitate toward all those delicious smells and find me standing there, and stay to talk. My toddlers always seem to know where I am, so that was nothing new, but I was surprised by how much more time I spent listening to their little stories.

I have a to-do list several miles long, so when I usually got stopped on my way from one chore to the next, I gave the minimum number of minutes before I had to keep running. But when I was cooking, we didn’t talk about their chores, or their homework, or their rooms. It wasn’t the kind of “fly by” conversations we usually have as we rush toward one social commitment or away from another. I wasn’t distracted by driving, or listening to the radio. We were face to face, relaxed, nothing else to do but stir the sauce and spend time talking about nothing… and everything.

I’m also on a food blog called Yankee Belle Café and I thought I was used to bonding with my kids over cooking as they helped take pictures or add ingredients, but I realized those recipes came with hidden stresses. I needed those dishes to look good. I didn’t want to post a kitchen fail, so my focus was on the dish, and not the people in the kitchen. When I cooked for the family, there was no stress past actually making something edible. Most of the recipes we enjoy include simmering or a lot of prep work, and I always welcomed the extra helpers.

As we head into the holiday season, I find myself thinking of everything I have to do to prepare but one thing won’t change. Life in my kitchen will continue at the same slow pace. I look forward to the long simmer of homemade carbonara sauce, the focused beginnings of a roux, the minutes spent mincing vegetables with nothing else but the promise of the perfect chicken noodle soup.

I’m wishing you all the graces of the Thanksgiving and Christmas, with the added joy of long hours spent “slow cooking” with your family.

I’d love to hear what you do to slow down the holiday rush! Come on over to my blog and leave a comment. I’m also giving away THREE paper copies of PRIDE, PREJUDICE AND CHEESE GRITS so be sure to enter the rafflecopter at the bottom of the latest post.

About the Author

Virginia Carmichael is an award-nominated writer of Christian fiction and a home schooling mom of six young children who rarely wear shoes. She holds degrees in Linguistics and Religious Studies from the University of Oregon and lives with her habanero-eating husband, Crusberto, who is her polar opposite in all things except faith. They've learned to speak in short-hand code and look forward to the day they can actually finish a sentence. In the meantime, Virginia thanks God for the laughter and abundance of hugs that fill her day as she plots her next book. She also writes under the pen name of Mary Jane Hathaway and loves to meet readers on her Facebook page of PRIDE, PREJUDICE AND CHEESE GRITS. Or visit her blog: The Things That Last.

About PERSUASION, CAPTAIN WENTWORTH AND CRACKLIN' CORNBREAD

A lively Southern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, featuring Lucy Crawford, who is thrown back into the path of her first love while on a quest to save her beloved family home.

Lucy Crawford is part of a wealthy, well-respected Southern family with a long local history. But since Lucy’s mother passed away, the family home, a gorgeous antebellum mansion, has fallen into disrepair and the depth of her father’s debts is only starting to be understood. Selling the family home may be the only option—until her Aunt Olympia floats the idea of using Crawford house to hold the local free medical clinic, which has just lost its space. As if turning the plantation home into a clinic isn’t bad enough, Lucy is shocked and dismayed to see that the doctor who will be manning the clinic is none other than Jeremiah Chevy—her first love.

Lucy and Jeremiah were high school sweethearts, but Jeremiah was from the wrong side of the tracks. His family was redneck and proud, and Lucy was persuaded to dump him. He eventually left town on a scholarship, and now, ten years later, he’s returned as part of the rural physician program. And suddenly, their paths cross once again. While Lucy’s family still sees Jeremiah as trash, she sees something else in him—as do several of the other eligible ladies in town. Will he be able to forgive the past? Can she be persuaded to give love a chance this time around?