My dad used to always say that Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday. It's the only holiday in which the only expectation is to eat and hang out with the people you care about most. Maybe that's where my love for food and baking came together.
Around Thanksgiving, including the weeks leading up to it, you'll see me with a list of dishes I want to make and quickly buzzing around getting grocery lists and timing right. I've been helping in the kitchen with Thanksgiving for years. This year is my first year to do it all myself - and I'm very excited!
From an early age, I started baking and cooking with some very important people in my life.
In the picture above, you'll see my grandpa - Big Mike as we called him - teaching me to make biscuits with a Tupperware mat and rolling pin I still use today. We lost him to cancer a few years ago, but I like to think that I still honor him by using those same tools we used 25 years ago.
It's the only holiday in which the only expectation is to eat and hang out with the people you care about most.
I've always been one you can find in the kitchen, but the person who inspired me to do it most was my dad. Long before Pinterest, my dad and I used to make copy-cat recipes of our own. We went to all our favorite restaurants and try to figure out what spices they were using or what techniques and come home and try it ourselves. We got pretty good at it over the years. He would feed anyone that stopped by - part Southern hospitality and part us having no idea what we were doing and making WAY too much food. We had plans to start a food truck or a restaurant ourselves before he unexpectedly passed away in 2015. His love for food (and for dogs) inspired me - you'll learn more about that in later posts.
And don't think that only the men in my life taught me to cook. My mom still makes the best pot of chili out of anyone I know. She swears she does nothing different than I do, but it's still significantly better. My Mawmaw has always had cookbooks around. I started typing up her old handwritten recipes when I was young. Maybe that's why I can cook without a recipe so well is because somehow they were hardwired into my brain at age 10.
Nonetheless, baking, cooking, and food is part of my family. My boyfriend says that most people have something they are really into - and mine is food. I read recipes and watch Food Network like most would breathe air. I take that passion, and I turn it into great treats for your dog. Innovative, fun flavors that are nutritious dog treats and cakes.
Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!
Kayla