I have a new series based on cooking starting today called 🍳 THE BIG FAMILY COOKING SERIES — OUR REAL‑LIFE, YEAR‑ROUND KITCHEN STORY. Because in this house, food isn’t a schedule — it’s survival, tradition, and love. I hope you enjoy this post which will keep the circle unbroken and my circus intact and the Monkes feed.
Now, let me tell you something before we go any further: This Cooking Series isn’t a “10‑week challenge,” a “limited run,” or a “cute little project.” No ma’am. This is our life, the way we actually cook, eat, stretch, survive, and gather in this house — and it’s going to run all year long, right into the holidays and beyond.
🍳 THE BIG FAMILY COOKING SERIES — OUR REAL‑LIFE, YEAR‑ROUND KITCHEN STORY
Because in this house, food isn’t a schedule — it’s survival, tradition, and love.
Let me tell you something before we go any further: This Cooking Series isn’t a “10‑week challenge,” a “limited run,” or a “cute little project.” No ma’am. This is our life, the way we actually cook, eat, stretch, survive, and gather in this house — and it’s going to run all year long, right into the holidays and beyond.
Because our kitchen doesn’t follow the rules. It follows real life.
And real life in this house looks like:
- Dinner at 9 o’clock because that’s when David gets home.
- One meal a day sometimes because the day ran us over.
- Breakfast on Wednesday — not in the morning, but at night — because breakfast is dinner in this home and always has been.
- $5 lunches that feed 3 or 4 people because teens eat like they have a job.
- Gluten‑free meals for my sister because love feeds people, not labels.
- Crock‑Pot miracles, grill nights, electric skillet suppers, microwave rescues — whatever works.
- C cooking sometimes, David cooking sometimes, me cooking mostly, and the dogs supervising like they’re on payroll.
- Leftovers turning into lunches, lunches turning into hacks, hacks turning into survival.
- And holidays rolling in like a parade of casseroles, pies, and grandma wisdom.
This is the heartbeat of the series. This is the why. This is the story.
Every week in our home has its own rhythm — not a list, but a living tradition:
Sundays are Down Home Cooking, Grandma Style, the kind of meals that don’t need measuring cups because the grandmas before us already taught our hands what “enough” feels like. Sunday is the reset, the comfort, the gathering.
Mondays are Leftovers, whether they’re ours or Granny’s, because Monday always comes in hot and nobody has time to pretend otherwise. Leftovers become lunch, lunch becomes a hack, and hacks become survival.
Tuesdays are All Things Taco Tuesday, where dinner becomes Wednesday’s lunch and the whole house smells like a fiesta. It’s the one night the kids don’t negotiate.
Wednesdays are the double‑header: Cook Once, Eat Twice AND Breakfast Night — the full‑on breakfast feast that fills the whole house and feeds the whole week. Eggs, biscuits, gravy, pancakes, bacon — whatever the day calls for. Breakfast is dinner here, and it always hits right.
Thursdays are Clean Out the Fridge, where we turn “What even IS this?” into “Look at us making it work,” and the budget thanks us for it.
And woven through all of that — every single day — are the things that make this series more than recipes:
There will be $5 lunches, because that’s our signature. There will be gluten‑free meals for my sister, because family comes first. There will be homeschool cooking, because kids learn faster with flour on their hands. There will be books we cook from, because reading and cooking go together like butter and cast iron. There will be affiliate reviews, because if we use it and love it, we’re going to share it. There will be holiday meals, because every season has its own flavor. There will be comfort food, because grief sits heavy and casseroles carry us. There will be celebration food, because joy deserves a plate too. There will be late‑night dinners, one‑meal days, pantry miracles, and Crock‑Pot rescues — because that’s real life.
This isn’t a chef series. This is a family series. A real‑life kitchen series. A year‑round, porch‑truth, grandma‑approved, homeschool‑friendly, holiday‑ready, budget‑blessed, dog‑interrupted, teen‑tested, dad‑helped, mom‑powered cooking series.
And today — right here, right now — is the official announcement.
The first recipe will go up later this afternoon, around 1 or 2, because life got in the way and that’s exactly how real cooking works.
Welcome to The Big Family Cooking Series. Pull up a chair. Bring your chaos. Bring your appetite. We’re cooking through real life together.
If this is the one — if this finally feels like YOUR voice, YOUR kitchen, YOUR family — I’ll move straight into B: the $5 Kid‑Friendly Lunch post next.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
