Finding My Way Back to the Kitchen

A Little Taste of Home: Finding My Way Back to the Kitchen

You know what I’m loving most about getting back to cooking the way my mom did, the way her parents did, and the way their parents did before them?

I’m remembering just how much I took for granted.

Now, let me clarify something. I’m not learning how to cook. My mother taught me that a long time ago. I grew up eating homemade meals, carrying lunchboxes filled with food made at home, and sitting at the kitchen table eating something simple while Mom worked on whatever came next.

That’s how I was raised.

But life has a funny way of changing your habits.

Being a single mom meant finding ways to make life easier. Convenience foods started making their way into my kitchen because sometimes you do what you have to do to get through the day. And somewhere along the way, cooking from scratch became less frequent. Eventually, I stopped cooking altogether and started ordering out.

Then COVID hit.

And for a couple of years, breakfast, lunch, and dinner could all come from somebody else’s kitchen. My own kitchen wasn’t making meals anymore. It was just there.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, I got away from something that had always been a part of me.

Now I’m finding my way back.

Not back to simply cooking. I already know how to do that.

I’m going back to the kind of cooking I grew up with. The kind where fresh ingredients matter, where you know what you’re putting into your food, and where making something from scratch is part of the pleasure, not just another chore on the to-do list.

And let me tell you, I’m starting to appreciate things I never thought I’d miss.

Like a tomato.

Because I swear tomatoes used to taste like something! They were RED. You sliced one up, added a little salt and pepper, and ate it sitting at the kitchen table while Mom cooked.

Tell me I’m not imagining this. Did tomatoes actually have flavor back then, or am I officially at the age where every other sentence starts with, “Back in my day…”?

These days, sometimes I bite into a tomato and wonder if I’m eating a tomato or just an orange-colored suggestion of one.

And that’s what has me thinking.

We’ve become so accustomed to convenience, packaging, shelf life, and food that looks perfect under grocery store lights that I wonder how much we’ve sacrificed along the way.

I want flavor. I want freshness. I want ingredients that have been grown, harvested, and handled with care.

That’s why I’m enjoying sourcing farm-fresh eggs, growing herbs in my own pots, and looking for local farmers and growers who bring their products to farmers markets and community events.

I love the idea of buying something from the person who actually grew it. Someone who knows what went into it, who tended to it, and who cares about the quality of what they’re selling.

And I’m not stopping at eggs and herbs.

I’d love to start sourcing my meats directly from farmers and filling my deep freezer with quality proteins, too. I want to be more intentional about what I buy and what I feed myself and the people I love.

Now, before anybody gets excited, I’m not throwing away my stash of convenience foods. That deep freezer has pizza puffs, snacks, and a little bit of everything.

And my pantry? That thing is prepared for the zombie apocalypse.

If the world ends tomorrow and I’m hiding in a bunker, I fully expect to be the one saying, “Well, at least I stocked up!”

But today, the zombies aren’t here. The farmers are. The gardens are growing. Fresh ingredients are available, and I’d like to support the people putting in the work to produce them.

Because here’s what I’m realizing: I’m not trying to learn a new skill. I’m reclaiming an OLD (per Cheryl) one.

I’m returning to something my mother taught me, something that was once an ordinary part of my life. I’m bringing my cooking back to a place where fresh ingredients, homemade meals, and knowing where my food comes from matter again.

And as I do that, I’m discovering that this journey is about more than food.

It’s about reconnecting with memories. It’s about appreciating the things I once took for granted. It’s about making different choices now that I have the opportunity to make them.

And, of course, it’s about enjoying the process. Some days I’ll make something wonderful. Other days, well, we all know how that goes in my kitchen!

That’s life. That’s cooking. And that’s me.

I’m a home cook and baker who stepped away from her kitchen for a while and is now finding her way back to the kind of food that feels like home.

And as I continue growing La Susa’s Bakes N Sweets, that appreciation for ingredients, tradition, and the people behind our food is becoming an even bigger part of my story.

I can’t rewind the clock and sit at my mother’s kitchen table again. But I can bring some of those traditions into my own home, one fresh ingredient and one homemade meal at a time.

Now, tell me: What’s one food from your childhood that you miss because it just doesn’t taste the same anymore?

I want to hear your stories. Because I have a feeling I’m not the only one trying to bring a little taste of home back into her kitchen.

La Susa’s Bakes ~N~ Sweets