My Journey to Culinary Genius

I have to say that I've always had a knack for cooking. I can remember helping my mom in the kitchen from an early age. Like any good southern girl, the first thing my mom ever taught me to cook was homemade mashed potatoes. These are still one of my favorite things in the world to eat with dinner. Baking became a regular weekend hobby when I was in high school. I can honestly say I probably made every single dessert in Paula Deen's original cookbook 'The Lady & Sons' at least once during that time. My baking became such a regular weekend activity around my house that my dad would expect a fresh baked dessert every Sunday at supper. Bless my family for being my willing taste-tasters back then. I know for a fact that those desserts didn't always come out perfect.

As my love of the food network grew, my cooking improved substantially. In those early days I was hooked on Rachel Ray and Paula Deen (obvi) and couldn't stand Giada and the Barefoot Contessa with all their fanciness! However, recently I've found that the Barefoot Contessa has become one of my favorite chefs. Admittedly, her personality gets on my nerves sometimes with her high-end, Hamptons life-style but her recipes are truly gems. I love how she takes these super complicated, fancy recipes and turns them into rustic, simple dishes. Her recipes for Coq au Vin and  Peach and Blueberry Crumbles have become staples in our household.

I have reason now to add another staple Barefoot meal to our repertoire - Real Meatballs and Spaghetti. Holy cow guys, this was the absolute BEST spaghetti with red sauce I have EVER had (keep in mind that I have been to Italy)!! The red sauce alone made this meal fantastic. I will never ever ever purchase red pasta sauce out of the jar again! It was very simple to make and probably costs about the same anyway. Please do yourself a favor and make this sauce tonight! You won't regret it. I wish I had pictures to share but I am not devout blogger yet and don't think about these things. Anyway, the directions are straight forward and I am in belief that even the most novice cook could handle this. I also used a whole wheat spaghetti and it was a nice nutty contrast to the acidity of the tomato sauce.

Thanks Ina for making my husband believe that I am a Culinary Genius :)