Foodie

So, I recently coined myself as a "foodie". Later I decided I better check to see if the definition in my mind matched up with that of the rest of the worlds, b/c let me tell you- that is not always the case with me and my creative dictionary brain.

So, Wikipedia (always reliable lol) defines foodie as: amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news
and dictionary.com defines foodie as: a person keenly interested in food, especially in eating or cooking

The definition fits, well I am not interested in food news but the eating, cooking, consumption, and preparation are right on.

My in-laws visited over Christmas and as always I looked forward to providing wonderful dinners. You have to pull out all the stops when you have guests... especially when they have had to endure your cooking when it wasn't so wonderful. So, I realized I cook mostly because I am hungry,

(all too true for the Bartons)

But I also cook because I like to eat and as I said in our Christmas letter, it is a creative outlet. Endless possibilities of what to try!

I attribute most of this to my father who would attribute it to his Uncle Tommy. Basically the lesson was how to enjoy a good meal. Lesson learned and easily passed on to my husband. We both enjoy good food. Everyone enjoys eating with their spouse I am sure, but Brian is the best company for me!

Anyhow, we have learned together in the kitchen and I just wanted to share some pics of food. I still haven't learned how to use my camera well so bear with the photos, but you will get the idea.

This is Brian slicing the beef tenderloin on Christmas Eve. Now, I can't take any of the credit, the meat was all his project and if heaven were a meat it might be this one.

Thank you Pioneer Woman for again- never leading us astray. Not sure if you think the creamy herbed potatoes look good, but they were!

These are my satisfied guests, bellies full.

and this is one of my favorites- spicy shredded pork with homemade tortillas and corn salsa. AAAAHHHH so yummy!

The tortillas have taken much practice with many failed attempts. It is truly an art form.

Last but not least are the made from scratch Cinnamon rolls.

For these I enlisted the help of my sister. It was a huge endeavor that I never could have done alone, especially with a newborn. I have certainly learned this week that is hard to even make dinner when there is no one around to help with any of the 3 children. So now I start cooking at 3:30 so we can eat by 5:30 b/c inevitably I will have to turn the burners off multiple times to attend to my offspring.

Now, if that doesn't make you hungry, I don't know what will!

Praise the Lord for Ree Drummond and hope to anyone who can read instructions!