So it’s been a little over a month since I’ve posted a recipe or anything for that matter. I have my reasons and today I’m telling you what this Momma’s next step is. A book. Yes. I’ve finally gained enough confidence in myself to dive in and tell the world that I’m writing a book. Ah! I said it. No where do I begin?
Let me start with my confidence level. I’ve enjoyed writing since I was a child. I wrote stories with my cousins, I had diary upon diary (now if I only still had them how awesome would that be!?) and I just enjoyed any writing assignment I had in school. It brought out my imagination, I was able to put my feelings into words and feel better afterwards, but it never dawned on me to do it for a living. So I went on to get my business degree and make a good living. Then I had kids. I decided I needed an outlet, I figured no one wanted to hear my venting sessions about how much motherhood was smacking me in the face so once I discovered that I truly enjoyed experimenting with new foods and creating healthy and delicious meals I started Momma’s Meals.
When my kids were younger I just blogged to have an outlet and share recipes with friends and family. I’m your typical mother who loves bragging about her children so why not blend it together. I love writing letters to them sharing our adventures and I hope someday they can laugh about them. I then got into the blogging atmosphere, food then parenting. I attended many conferences on how to get just the right numbers for social media, how to title my posts just the right way to get readers to click on my posts, and a long the way I met amazing people. I had a part time job for over two years doing book work for a woman I grew to admire. Her strength and perseverance to achieve her goals was truly inspirational. Then I discovered so was my husband. Always striving to be happy and I’m the kind of person who is always willing to do what I have to do be a better person, wife, daughter and mother.
Enter my old childhood friend. Who ironically I just got together with for a Momma get away this past weekend. I’ve known her since I was five and we have been through many things together, finding ourselves, death, marriage, divorce, loosing a parent, children but the most important part of our friendship to me is our history. So when I came across this book she gave to me over 18 years ago when I lost my boyfriend in a motorcycle accident it really weighed in on me. It’s a beautiful book called “May you always have an Angel By Your Side.” It’s a book about loosing someone we love and coping with the feeling of loss. Inside of the book she wrote these words to me: ” Tammi, I hope that this day and that this book will help to inspire you to start writing again. You are an excellent writer and I hope that one day you will be able to find it within you again. Love always and forever, Jennifer. 8/25/02. You see I’ve lost site in my writing skills off and on all of my life. Probably because it’s hard to consider “writing” something you do for a living. Sure you can be a journalist, now that is making a living! Once I came across this book and read those words once again it made me just really think about things. It was a sign. It was the final boost of confidence I needed.
I always thought I’d publish a self help book someday. I love helping people and being honest about motherhood is something I’ve become proud of over the years. It’s taken a lot of time, I’ve lost a lot of friends over the bare naked honesty I share with the world, and it’s taken me a long time to be comfortable with my words but I can finally say that I am. I’m not writing a self help book. I’m no professional! However, I can use my imagination and my experiences to just write a fiction book!
So that’s what I’ve been doing friends. Writing, writing and more writing. I have found an interesting subject and have been non stop since. For the first time ever, I have enough confidence to say I will publish this book some day. I’m not sure how long it will take and I can only imagine the obstacles I will find along the way but I’m ready to take them head on. I’m probably about 100 pages in with no edits yet of course. Mom has read a few chapters just so I could get a feel for the subject and if I could hold an audience, did she want to read more? Her reaction was pretty good since she said she would read it the next day when I handed it off to her at 7pm one night and she texted me an hour later saying she had to read it and read all three chapters I gave her. I’d say that’s a good sign!
Don’t worry, I’m still cooking. I’m here to share some recipes with you too. I’ve experienced quite a few new dishes over the last month or two, not enough to post them myself but I’m still going to share them with you and connect you to where to find them because that’s how awesome they are.
Irish Nachos – I made these for St. Patrick’s Day. My husband doesn’t like the traditional Irish dishes so every year I’m forced to stretch my “Irishness”
Vegetable Tots – I’m always desperate to get vegetables into my kids. This was one of my attempts but of course it failed and I ate every single one. I used a bag of shredded veggies for this one, it happened to have carrots in them.
Cheesy Zucchini Zoodles- This came about after I bought the veggie bullet. I’m obsessed with creating recipes that have zucchini and summer squash spiralized. It’s the first time ever that I don’t miss pasta! I got this recipe out of a cooking magazine!
- 3 medium zucchini
- ½ cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil
- kosher salt & pepper
- 4 slices of turkey or chicken bacon, chopped
- 2 scallions, white and green parts separated
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp of unsalted butter
- 2 tsp of all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup of low-fat milk
- ½ tsp of dijon mustard
- pinch of red pepper
- ⅓ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Spiralize the zucchini and set aside.
- Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan under medium heat.
- Add a pinch of red pepper and garlic and saute for about 30 seconds.
- Add the flour. Stir to combine for about 30 seconds.
- Whisk in the milk, mustard and season with salt and pepper. Cook, whisking until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheese until smooth.
- In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the bacon pieces, tomatoes and whites of the scallions and saute for a few minutes. Add the zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Saute for a few minutes until zucchini is softened. Remove from heat.
- Add cheese sauce to the zucchini noodles and stir to combine.
- Sprinkle the green scallions on top and serve.
Grilled Salad – My new obsession (besides spiralizing veggies) is grilling any and all veggies and throwing them on top of crisp lettuce! Add chicken or beef and I’m a happy Momma. No recipe here, grill your favorite veggies and enjoy!
