By Sheri Hopkins, Lifestyle Contributor
Hello everyone! Hope the first week of school went well for all the teachers and kiddos.
I will never forget Jacob’s first day of kindergarten. I was a stay-at-home mom, and I was so, so, sad. I really missed my little guy. Here comes Chuck home from work, he had to go to Ft. Smith and get a part, and he says, “come and go with me, I know you are having a hard time.” So, away we went, and it sure did help. Sometimes it’s hard on moms to let go of our babies. That same baby is 30 years old today, but he is still my baby. He has done a lot of things in those 30 years that make me shake my head. He goes through phases and this particular time it was a cooking phase. He calls me and says, “mom how much oil do I put in the skillet?” He was grilling chicken I think, and I said, “about two tablespoons.” He responds with “whatever that is.” So, I had to tell him about teaspoons and tablespoons. The next time he is cooking, he is cooking at a friend’s house and calls me and says, “mom I am making baked potatoes and I have them wrapped in foil, now how long to I microwave them for?” I reply, “noooo, you cannot microwave foil!” Landsake, I can’t believe he hasn’t blown up the town of Mansfield or my house. What in the world.
Can I add, he’s smart. He’s been married a few years now and he is a good cook. He even made Loren a cake from scratch one time. You could not have found a place to lay down a toothpick on the counter, and there was cream cheese everywhere, but he did it.
When they got married, I asked Loren if she knew how to cook. Her reply was, “yes, Dino nuggets and French fries.” When she left to go home, I told Jacob, boy you are going to starve to death. Guess what? She is an awesome cook. And she can make just about anything and it’s delicious.
He is on another phase now. He borrows Ella’s keyboard and takes it home to learn how to play the keyboard. Well, he brings it back a couple weeks later, no the phase is not over, it had some dead keys, so he just bought him a new one. Loren says he’s been playing songs and asking her to identify them. I’m telling y’all he has done these phases for years. He will learn to play a song on that keyboard, and it will be in the next yard sale.
Remember what I told y’all about him and Buff Jimmy when they watched the Rocky movies. They would come through the house and head to the garage to work out and I always knew they had been watching Rocky. I was so worried when they watched Ant Man that they would act like ants. That’s my boy and I am so proud of him, and his daddy would be also.
This week’s recipe is peach angel food cake. If you want a quick and easy dessert for company coming, this is the one for you.
PEACH ANGEL FOOD CAKE
All you need is a 15 oz. can of diced peaches in heavy syrup, or you can cut up the ones in a regular can of peaches.
1 angel food cake mix
Lightly grease or spray with cooking spray a 9×13 pan and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, add the full can of diced peaches and use a potato masher to get the peaches to a smaller size. Carefully pour in the angel food dry cake mix and mix with a wooden spoon till fluffy. Pour the batter evenly into the pan and bake for 32-34 minutes. The top of the cake will slightly crack and be al light golden brown. Allow to cool and eat with vanilla ice cream or cool whip. Have a blessed week and spread a little sunshine.
