Welcome to Oma Darling!!

Hello Everyone!!

I am excited to launch my new blog!  This is something I have been thinking about for quite awhile as a way to combine my love of writing with my other passions of cooking, baking, recipe development, DIY projects and everything family.  I am a nurse who has been married to my high school sweetheart for 33 years.  I have 2 grown sons and 4 grandsons.  As a family we have always been very active in sports and the outdoors.  We love to go off road, waaaay off the beaten path into no man’s land for our camping adventures and vacations.  This can create unique challenges when something breaks, we have unexpected weather or less than optimal road or trail conditions, but to us that is half the fun!

When I was a young wife and mother, we struggled with a severe budget restriction, and a grocery bill I wrestled to keep under control.  We often had more month than money! Our 2 growing sons regularly went through 10 gallons of milk a week, more meat, bread and potatoes than I can possibly explain to you.  So I had to be creative and thrifty to keep them fed.  Since I could get much more out of pantry staples than I could processed and packaged foods, I cooked from scratch.  What started out as a necessity, became a passion and way for me provide healthy and filling meals for my family and a way to share love with others.

The blog name is derived from the surname my grandsons gave me, which is “Oma” or grandma in German.  Quite often the little guys are involved in my cooking or baking adventures.  I love their unencumbered enthusiasm for all things related to our kitchen endeavors.  They are learning to look at recipes, separate eggs, smell spices and taste as they cook.  Now to be clear, we are talking about cooking with 4 boys, ages 7 years-old and under, so we get a lot of food on the ground, on the counters, in our hair and on ourselves.  I don’t know if I am in the minority on this one, but I think this is the good stuff!  This is where memories are made and a joy for being in the kitchen begins!

Over the years, I have made food for various events, potlucks and work functions.  Invariably there are people who love what I have made, and are in awe of the fact that I cooked the dish from scratch. It was something that I learned to do as a kid, and I assumed everyone else did too.  What I didn’t realize, is there is a huge population of people that were never gifted with the time to learn to cook or an experienced person to expose them to the joys of making good food at home.  In this day and age, the close knit family, the “family dinner” and nearby relatives to pass on recipes and a sense of community are gone.  What is left are a lot of frazzled moms, dads and families struggling to find something to put on the table at the end of a busy day.

While I love convenience and utilize it when I have a need, there really is nothing that matches a succulent roast and potatoes, the smell of bread baking or a pot of sauce bubbling on the stove top.  What I would like to do with this blog is to share my family and my love of cooking.  I want to show everyone that you really can cook, even if you don’t know where to start.  I know not everyone has an Oma and I would be happy to step up and fill in the gaps of your kitchen experience.  I don’t take myself too seriously, goodness knows, I am not professionally trained and I have mistaken the salt for sugar on more than a few occasions.  I know not everyone is struggling with their cooking skills, but rather are looking for some good, hearty, family favorites. I am happy to pass on the recipes I create and give credit to those I have gotten from others.

So grab your apron (or NOT, I’m not doing your laundry!) and let’s get after something tasty!