ABOUT

I was once asked what is a favorite life lesson I've learned over the years and I didn't even have to think but a second: "It's that food is love and a tasty recipe for life is to find your passions through creativity while being true to the endeavors that make you happy! If you’re going to do something, do it 150%!" At the time, I didn't know my days would be lovingly filled with creating recipes and preparing meals for people who were too busy and overwhelmed to cook healthy and fresh dinners for their families!

 

I come from a family of foodies! My Russian-born Grandmother made dishes that I cannot replicate but I would give a moment in time for her to whisper to me some of my favorite dishes! She wrote nothing down and I've searched my memory for specific ingredients per my favorites but I only remember watching her and not filing the ingredients in my memory recipe box. I've tried cooking some of the best ones but I know I'm missing some of the key ingredients so I substitute them but they just don't hit the tastebuds of her excellence!  On the other hand, she couldn't make a decent salad, her scrambled eggs were tasteless, her steaks were like shoe leather but her chicken soup and matzah balls were premier, her cinnamon strudle with walnuts makes my mouth water, there was never any leftovers from her sweet kugles and she made the best pancakes ever! Go figure! My Mother cooked a combination of Jewish/American food so I really didn't know what real spaghetti was till my first time in an authentic Italian restaurant! Pasta meant Kraft's Macaroni and Cheese, cheese was Velveta, bread was rye bread. The coming-together of two cultures! Confused my pallet!

 

I have three adult children and not only do we love to eat but we really enjoy the challenge of finding and cooking new recipes for each holiday, like Thanksgiving, Passover and other Jewish holidays plus family get-togethers throughout the year, which are not stressful, but full of excitement for the new dishes you want to share with everyone. Once a year during the winter, we try to converge everyone for a SOUP-OFF where you have to bring a homemade pot of soup and one you haven't made before. My four grandkids are the judges and hand out special awards for The Most Unique Soup, The Tastiest Soup, The Easiest Recipe Soup and The Best Looking Soup! (Everyone gets a certificate, no losers, all winners!) Of course, we make a feast of the Soup-Off with the addition of various appetizers and desserts. After these family gatherings, I feel as though my tummy is filled with delicious delicacies! 

 

It was always very important for me and my kids to have a specific dinnertime with homemade food, talking about our day and sharing life's experiences along with the kids helping in the kitchen. As a single mom, creating traditions and a sense of family was my goal as a parent so when they moved to their own homes, they would pass down those values to their children. Happy to report, the legacies that were given to me, I am watching being given to my four grandkids. And here's how I know that my kids were watching like I watched my Grandmother and Mother: The first time my son had the family over for dinner when he moved to his own apartment and he cooked a feast for us, he scooped the finished rice out of a pot and into a serving bowl, then immediately filled the pot with dish soap and water to let it soak as we ate! He was watching me all those years! Warms my heart like a freshly baked bread right out of the oven!

 

For the past 14  years, I have been a Home Chef for local families who are on overload with too much on their plate, too busy and stressed with work and everyday life, don't like to cook or don't know how to cook! Most often, my clients are just too tired to think of planning a week's worth of dinners, hate creating a shopping list and marketing, would rather have family/alone time instead of putting in the time and effort into doing all that it takes on the weekends to have weekly, healthy and fresh meals. And that's where I've come to the rescue. I would send a weekly Friday email with Menu Suggestions and Ingredients to purchase for the week, they would make their selections and email them back to me. Once a week, I would go to their homes and cook 3-7 dishes per client that had no prep, into the oven, grill, or eat cold, all fresh and healthy! Once, a client with three children under the age of six, wept on my shoulder and told me how grateful she was because of the stress I had eliminated for her every day at 4:00 when she started thinking about what she was going to make for dinner, did she have all the ingredients, did she have to run to the market? But it was now all gone and she had two extra hours a day to be with her kids. I had no idea at that time that I offered more than meals. Her gratitude made me feel as though I had eaten a flourless chocolate cake! 

 

With creativity running through my family, I've learned that just cooking a yummy dish is not enough, regardless of how good it may taste! It also has to look inviting and appealing, as though you are in the most delicious and fanciest of restaurants. So the presentation is really important. With a Master's Degree in Psychology, I use learned tools for keeping a mental recipe box for my guests and my clients so I  know what would make them most excited with a meal, the trimmings, plus the aesthetics that pleases the mind as well as the pallet. Knowing your audience, meaning each of your family members' likes and dislikes, can result in a pleasant dining experience for everyone. And cooking special needs is not as much a hassle as one might believe. Just think of how happy you will feel when you place DinnersByMom on the table knowing each person there will enjoy what you have prepared just for them! Your dinners will taste that much better and give you a moment of remembering that great glass of wine you last enjoyed!