Carrian Cheney - Raised in the Kitchen

Cover photos Jessica Kettle Photography
Book design Shadow Mountain
Art direction: Richard Erickson
Design: Heather G. Ward

Food Photography by Carrian Cheney
Cheney Family Photography by Jessica Kettle and Aria Bethards

Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are the property of their respective owners, and they are used herein for reference and comparison purposes only. This book was not prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by any of the owners of the trademarks or brand names referred to in this book. There is no express or implied endorsement for any products or services mentioned in this publication.

2021 Sweet Basil Blog, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Shadow Mountain, at permissions@shadowmountain.com. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of Shadow Mountain.

Visit us at shadowmountain.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cheney, Carrian, author.

Title: Raised in the kitchen : making memories from scratch, one recipe at a time / Carrian Cheney.

Description: [Salt Lake City] : Shadow Mountain, [2021] | Includes index.

Summary: Popular food blogger Carrian Cheney invites us into the kitchen with recipes that can help you teach your kids to be more confident, independent cooksProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020050636 | ISBN 9781629728452 (paperback) | eISBN 978-1-62973-991-5 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: CookingStudy and teaching (Elementary) | Cooking, American. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.

Classification: LCC TX661 .C44 2021 | DDC 641.5973dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020050636

Printed in

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my parents, who raised me in an unassuming, safe kitchen.

To Cade and the kids for helping me create a place where we can share the love we feel for each other.

And for all of you for settling in at our table and sharing in this journey together. You are part of this family.

Contents

Introduction

You know that evening when you have just enjoyed one of the most delicious meals youve ever had, and youre perfectly, comfortably full? The sun has already set, and youve leaned back a little, the chair has become a part of you, and youre completely present. Theres laughter and clinking of a few plates as someone is using the back of their fork to pick up every last crumb from dessert. The sky is dotted with stars just beginning to reveal themselves, but you dont even notice because the company is too good. The conversation has wrapped itself around your shoulders with the most enveloping pull, and you take the chance to look around at all those happy faces. The dinner could go on for hours without a scrap of food left because its the moment thats delicious. In Spanish, theres one word that describes that moment, that feeling: sobremesa .

How do I even begin to tell you in this book how youll achieve your sobremesa ? As Im thinking about it, I feel a burning in my heart and maybe a little in my eyes. This book will be the link. It will be that silver thread that somehow reaches its delicate fibers through time, tying your familys hearts together. It will start with the first waft of the fluffy, buttery pancakes on the griddle, sizzling and breathing as bubble after bubble bursts. Suddenly someone will be reminded of that night you stayed up late, eating pancakes at an hour when most are in bed and talking about your first breakup or how totally unfair Dad was for making you come home early. A moment woven into time.

Or it might be the feel of the soft, warm dough being pinched off and gently shaped into balls to be set aside while the griddle heats. Ahhhh, fresh tortillas are being stacked, ready for taco night, but your childrens mouths will be squeezing oh so tight as they remember you getting all fancy, lifting and jerking the pan because duh, of course you can flip it one-handed. But alas, youre no Iron Chef, and the next thing you know youre chucking a tortilla Frisbee-style at the closest kid for laughing at your tortilla flopped on the ground.

Fail.

And theres that thread again, wrapping and weaving its way into their hearts. Isnt that all youve wanted all along anyway? Moments that somehow create this thing called Life.

When youre no longer there with your kids, dont you want a way to still be there? These pages, these recipestheyre your way to create a tapestry of love and unity within the walls of your own home, within the very souls you have been entrusted to care for on this earth.

One day you wont be there. But the smell of that sauce gurgling on the stove will, and there your little one will be, all grown up, stressing about the flour that exploded all over when the mixer got turned on and the eggshells that are literally crunching with each turn of the beater blade. There she is, teaching her kids the basics using these exact same recipes, just the way my mom did so many years ago for me. In fact, if Im really quiet, if I have just a breath of being still, Im there.

Our countertops werent like they are now. I dont even know what it was, laminate? It was all white with the smallest amount of texture as I laid my hands on top to climb up on my oak stool. Grating cheese was my job that night, the best job of all because every five seconds I could pinch a clump of those tasty strands just begging to be eaten.

Times are a little different now. Im not that little girl with the hair-bobble ponytail holder and perfectly rolled socks above my white Keds. Now Im the mom. Im the one turning up the music as I move from pot to pan, from cutting board to sink, fussing here and there to get dinner on the tableone that half of the kids wont even eat #becausegrayson. Cue the eye roll and the awkward smile as I know his picky eating was inherited from none other than me.

But there I am, moving through the kitchen as if its a dance to the music, and if you stop and listenreally listen its the music of the kitchen that is filling my family that night. Its the sizzling of the pan, the muscle of the mixer struggling to knead a dough that has just come together. Its the smells of the butter browning with the herbs blooming to make the best pizza sauce ever.

You see, if you learn to hear the music that plays in the joy of childhood, the love of two people, and even the sounds of the kitchen, it tells you everything to do. When its time to hug instead of discipline. When its time to add more to the pot so the garlic doesnt burn. When its time to turn everything off, to step away, and to partake together because the work is done and once again the song has returned to the soft melody of the day, the family settling into chairs, tiny hands reaching for the bread before the blessing has been said.

I guess what I want to tell you is that this book isnt mine, its yours. Its the book that will write your story with your childrenyour moments and memories. Its the book I never intended to write but always intended for you to have.

What was going to be a cookbook for kids written by my kids never happened. Instead, this is a book written by a mother to the mothers, the fathers, the children who are all looking to make the kitchen a place of becoming. This book is about learning to cook, about messing up and trying again. Its about creating moments, creating food, creating homes, and, in the end, its about you.