Teach A Man To Fish... (and to cook: recipes wanted)

Read to the end to enter a contest.

I am a big believer in being self-sufficient. Though most of my life I hadn't swept a floor or hammered a nail, there comes a time where doing those things aren't options, they're necessities. I've learned that most of the time, it's easier to do something yourself than to wait and have someone do it else for you. And it's never as hard as it appears to be.

Now, I don't sew; my sister-in-law Colleen sewed me pillows, my tailor hems my skirts. I'm also not great at building things from scratch. I can, however, put together "easy to assemble" furniture, drill holes with my drill, screw things into the wall, bake, paint and clean. I'm also pretty darn happy whipping up a meal for my family.

When my son was young, he used to watch the Food Network with me, and got really into Emeril Lagasse. He loved him so much that he always wanted to cook. We would make dough, beginning with a yeast packet, and from the dough, make pizza. He helped me make basic blueberry muffins on a weekly basis. Eventually, though, his desire to learn to cook waned, and his deepest kitchen desire was to have a taste of cookie dough.

Lately, though, E has gotten very interested in cooking. She has helped me make many a meal, including garlic chicken breasts with Jasmati rice. She has made garlic bread with melted mozzarella, and she's also made pasta. Learning to get water to a rolling boil, add salt and later, oil, and how to take the top off the pot without getting a steam burn is an important skill.

I've offered to start the kids a recipe box, writing down all of the recipes that they've made. This way, they can see all that they've done, refer back to the recipe cards if they forget, and learn to cook. I am hoping that E's enthusiasm will motivate M to want to cook, and bring JH back to his culinary roots.

After the most recent meal E made, she was so excited that she sat down after plating all of our food and said, "I want to learn to be a good cook so that I can cook meals for my kids and my husband." I mentioned that being able to cook is also good because it allows you to cook healthy meals for yourself, and to know every single thing that goes into the meal. Needless to say, I was thrilled at her new found desire to cook.

I am looking for new, easy recipes to teach the kids. I am thinking baked macaroni and cheese, beginning with a roux, will be fun, and maybe a meatloaf. I would love your ideas and recipes.

CONTEST: Send me your favorite recipe. The one that the kids first choose to cook will win and a prize which will be awarded to the person who submitted said recipe. All entrants must be fb fans of the fb page The Domestic Goddess Files. Mail to: The Domestic Goddess, PO Box 243, Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046