So I’ve been cooking up a storm for four and a half years now, ever since my kids have grown, I don’t have help at home and we’ve moved back to the city which took place all at the same time. I will admit, as much as I’ve always loved to cook and always cooked up fancy 3-4 course meals on the weekends, this cooking every night business took some getting used to. This week, my son Zach (23) offered to cook on Wednesday, last night. Great!! I figured he’d do a simple ok dinner and I’d make a fuss about how wonderful it was, and be oh so appreciative of simply having an evening in which to get some other things done, like laundry and sewing a hook on a pair of pants.

Well let me tell you about his dinner!! At first he was going to make Chicken Cacciatore but then when we came home, he had the most beautiful boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a pan starting to brown, stuffed with mushrooms and goat cheese, each tied up beautifully in three areas with thin little string. They were so beautiful, I wanted to cry. He had decided on a Food and Wine recipe he found online.

Now let me tell you about the taste. He learned this weekend from a James Beard recipe where he was making a duxelles sauce, to squeeze the moisture out of the mushrooms. So he chopped the mushrooms for tonight, then put them through the garlic press to get all the moisture out and wow – it made for a truly rich, rich mushroomy taste that was divine!! The goat cheese added creamyness (I’m never going to lose weight) that was just yummy. He served this with steamed Basmati rice and sauteed dandelion greens with olive oil, garlic and lemon. My husband even told him that his dinner was like one of mine.

So you see, the love you put out always comes back to you tenfold. Cook! Spread the love to encourage others to as well.