Rachel Powell, Co-Director of Children’s and Youth Ministries at Salem United Methodist Church, enjoys cooking for her family of three. “I love having lots of time to plan and prepare big meals but I'll be honest, our lives are so busy and fast paced, I cook meals that are ‘semi homemade’. I'll use a premade crust if we are doing chicken pot pie, or I'll use premixed frozen veggies instead of cutting my own peppers and onions for fajitas,” Mrs. Powell states.
Even with an extremely busy schedule, the Powell’s still manage to have family meals. “We are a very busy family. My husband works in Jacksonville and leaves the house at 6:00 then doesn't get home until almost 7:00 most nights. We both work at our church as Co-Director of Children's and Youth Ministries, I have a small at home embroidery and monogramming business, and Raeghan is involved in cheer and kids church activities. I have to pre-plan all our meals for the week. I try to shop once a week to get everything needed for that week’s menu. Pre-planning allows for more time spent together when we are all home and it cuts out the ‘Well... I don’t know what to cook, lets just order a pizza.’ No matter how busy we are, we always sit down and eat dinner together. It's our time to talk about our days and just enjoy each other. We always start every meal by saying a blessing. I grew up praying at every meal and faith is an integral part of our family,” Powell explains.
Powell finds keeping up with her parents to be an important part of her life. “My parents live one subdivision over from us, so we try to have dinner with them at least twice a month,” Powell adds.
“Big family meals are always huge. When my sisters and brother-in-laws visit, the first thing they usually ask is ‘Is Russell going to grill one night?’ That's one thing my husband can do! Anything on the grill is his specialty: hamburgers, chicken, steak, you name it!”
Powell also enjoys cooking with her daughter, Raeghan. “Raeghan, who is seven, loves to cook! We are notorious for making kid-friendly and themed meals. For three years we would do what we called Movie Monday. We would watch a Disney Movie and cook dinner as a family with themed food. Raeghan would always get a menu as her announcement of what movie feature that night was. For example: when we watched Little Mermaid we had Prince Eric's Ship Sandwiches (pita pocket bread), Flounder's Seaweed (French style green beans), and Ariel's Seashells (shells and cheese). For Alice in Wonderland we cooked Queen of Heart Sandwiches (grilled ham and cheese sandwiches cut out with a heart cookie cutter), Cheshire Cat Smiles (smile shaped tater tots), and un-birthday cake for dessert,” Powell contends.
It doesn’t stop there. “At Christmas we make green waffles and stack them like a Christmas tree. When she had a friend spend the night, we made rainbow pancakes the next morning for breakfast. We are all about making cooking fun for her. It doesn't have to be complicated and fancy. I just want to teach her the love of cooking and that it's a time that can be used as family time. Some of our best family memories are made in the kitchen,” Powell says.
Powell states that her mother is the big influences on her cooking. “My mom is my role model in everything, but I admire her so much in her cooking. She's not a fancy cook, but she always loved cooking and serving meals and everyone was always welcome and loved at our table. My house was the hangout for all my friends growing up. When I got to be a teenager, my friends would call and say ‘Hey mom, what's for dinner?’ She always welcomed them and treated them just like family. We always had breakfast and dinner together as a family. Every morning, and I do mean every morning, she gets up and cooks breakfast for her family. Growing up, when others talked about grabbing pop tarts on the way to school, I always had a full hot breakfast of eggs, bacon or sausage, and toast or biscuits. She would wake up before everyone else and we would all sit together as a family to eat breakfast. And she's done it for as long as I can remember. Now that my sisters and I are married and moved out and my parents are retired, breakfast is around 9:00-10:00 for them instead of 6:00am, but they still sit down and have breakfast together every morning,” Powell adds.
Like most others, Powell retreats to Pinterest for recipes. “That site is so addicting!
I also have several of my mom's, grandmother's, and Russell’s mom's recipes, although I can never make them taste as good as when they cooked them. I have my grandmother's caramel pecan roll recipe and I can never make it as tasty as I remember hers being. I wish she was still alive today to tell me her secret”
“I'm all about some cookies, cakes, and desserts. But I really enjoy cooking meals. Having dinner all ready when Russell gets home is important to me. I show love by taking care of those important to me and one way I do that is cooking and gathering around the table.”
I just recently finished "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I had no idea what this novel was going to be about going into it; all I knew was that our 10th grade English class study it. Right off the bat I noticed that our narrator was not your average Joe. The narrator is death. When I realized this I said to myself, "Oh this is going to be good." The novel is all about the Holocaust and it is shown from a German point of view. Leisel Meminger's mother gives her away to a foster German family. On the trip to this new family, Leisel's brother dies. So right from the start death is there. I'm not going to give you a synopsis of it, because I think you should read it for yourself. Just know that a German family hides a Jew in their basement for a while, and death is around every corner. That last line of the novel really got me though..."I am haunted by humans."
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