So I mentioned yesterday about a Mother’s Day gift to myself…one which is different from our normal:

quiet time in the kitchen to COOK!  

Usually our celebrations include a break from fixing the family  meal, and my husband takes over or we’ll eat out.  My family was completely up to that task, Sunday found me being served in royal fashion.

I’m happy to say this isn’t saved for special occasions – you never know when I’ll be queen for a day!

But Saturday found me mostly alone with the kitchen all to myself, iTunes playing and hands prepping, chopping, stirring and basically soaking up quiet time in my favorite place of our home.

Slow cooking was just the pace for me.

I took note recently how much this time cooking an afternoon away was sooo missed.  Remember how full the month of March was?, and then April brought sickness which I’m still recovering from (there is slow improvement).

Freezer cooking ahead saved many evenings, as well as our incredible church family and some nights of take out.   This was all wonderful and needful, but it left me out of the kitchen much more than in.

I learned this doesn’t make for a happy Mama; at least not this one, who enjoys puttering around in her kitchen.  So, I decided to make up for it with new recipes just as soon as I felt well enough.

With a full family life, the idea of getting meals on table quickly is rather appealing; but sometimes, there’s joy to be found in not rushing the process.

I decided on this Italian ‘Drunken’ Noodles recipe {her pictures are much more desirable than mine, it was a funky camera day}.  While all the ingredients are not pictured above, I doubled the recipe, which turned out to give us plenty for dinner and for leftovers!

I’ve not used pappardelle noodles before and was thrilled to find them marked down the day of shopping. They’re wide, really long egg noodles which hold shape nicely.  Simple cooking wine was my substitution on the call for white wine.

While directions seem long-winded, the recipe came together easily and is absolutely delicious, especially the next day.

On our first serving, I forgot to add in fresh basil at the tail end.  When reheating for lunch, it was just the perfect complement to the rest of the flavors – yum!  My family oohed and aahed and there are requests for the future.

There was joy in eating it, true…but mostly in bringing the meal all together.

A gift.