Nelson Family Cookbook

I am always calling my mom for recipes, recipes that she has made that I love. She is always quick to email them to me or tell me them over the phone. She is a master seasoner who can season anything to perfection. She makes EVERYTHING from scratch and her recipes are tried and true and a guaranteed to be good. She is not scared to take on new more complicated techniques or recipes. She loves to can her vegetables and fruits from her gardens and can whip up a fresh salad from her garden and throw together a vinigrette based salad dressing in no time.

Living in France my mom made it a personal mission of hers to try the foods of the land. She took french cooking classes and tried all their various cheeses. She explored the open aired markets and loved to try little quaint restaurants. When we first moved there my mom was fearless. She did not know the land nor the language and yet she would pile us all into the van and off we would go. When we would get lost and say "mom are we lost?", she would say "no, we are just sight-seeing". And after living in France our taste buds were never the same. We loved butter, fresh meats, breads and cheeses and learned what REAL chocolate tates like.
So one day on the phone my mom told me she was making a Valentines Day present for me (and all the kids) and that I would love it. I came home one day and there was a package on the porch. Inside was a sweet letter stating that she loved that I love to cook and that cooking is a Blackwelder (my mom's maiden name) traditon starting with my great grandma Brozovich who came to America from Croatia. The cookbook had family pictures of good food and good memories on the front and a picture of my gorgeous mom on the back.
Love this picture on my nephew Max cooking with Grandma Peggy!

These recipes are a treasure to me and are priceless. I love knowing that I now have all the recipes I love so much. Thanks momma. I can't wait to get cookin'!

You can visit my mom's blog to read all about her Lavendar fields and apple orchard and read some of her yummy recipes right her at: http://thepurpleapple-lavender.blogspot.com/