I have been thinking a lot about family recipes lately. The other day I called my mom for the millionth time asking her to repeat her spaghetti and meatballs recipe to me. I know most of it by heart, but I like calling her to hear her version of it, just to make sure I have it exactly right. I then end up writing it down on a post it note or on the back of an envelope, usually never to be seen again.

My sister recently went through a divorce…in fact her divorce was final at the end of October. It is hard for me to write about because it is still so fresh and personal with all of us. I have known her now ex-husband since they started dating when I was 14 years old. I looked up to them both and felt like they had the “perfect marriage”. As things often are, what appears to be reality often isn’t. I love my sister and hate that she has had to go through this pain…a pain that I know she never envisioned being a part of her life. Even though the marriage has ended between the two of them, some wonderful things have come out of their relationship. I have a nephew who is incredibly talented, brilliant, witty and wonderful. I also have a niece who is loving, beautiful, compassionate and smart. We have lots of great memories, laughs and family moments that will always be in our heart. And, last but not least, our families have swapped some pretty tasty recipes.

What would our birthday parties be like without his great-grandma’s sugar cookie recipe or our grandmother’s homemade ice cream recipe? I have several emails from his mom sharing family recipes that I have asked for. Not to make light of the situation, but if these two families didn’t unite at some point in history, our recipe boxes would be void of some great tasting things.

The Viva Diva Cafe (home of Viva paper towels) is hosting a great family recipe contest on their website and they have asked me to be one of the judges when the contest has closed. The prizes are fantastic… top prize is a $1000 gift certificate to Willams Sonoma. 2nd prize, a KitchenAid Professional 600 series mixer and a set of OXO utensils. 3rd prize is an Apple iPod Nano 8GB and JBL On Stage II Speaker System.To enter, all you need to do is register with The Viva Diva Cafe (which seriously takes less than a minute) and then enter your favorite family recipe. Whether it is one passed down from generation to generation within your own family, or a recipe snagged up from a relationship lost, head on over to The Viva Diva Cafe and share it with us.

The recipe I am sharing with you today is not one that has been passed down from generation to generation in my family, but the cup and saucer shown have a story to go along with this post. My sister, one evening feeling hurt and angry about the divorce, decided to take her wedding china out to her back porch and have a little therapy session with it. She put a blanket down on the concrete porch and began throwing pieces of her china against her homes brick wall watching the pieces fall into the blanket (which I thought was brilliant… much easier to clean up!). After she broke the first setting, she called me feeling much better and explained to me what she was doing. I, being the sensitive sister that I am, applauded her for finding a way to let out her aggressions and then thinking of the most important thing first said… “Ummmm, if you are just going to be crashing your china against the wall, would you mind saving out a place setting for me for my food photography photos?” Yep… you can call me Mrs Sensitive if you want.

Chai Tea Latte (from Simple and Delicious Magazine, October 2008)

15 min | 5 min prep

SERVES 2

Yesterday afternoon, the two year old in my family had a meltdown… in the middle of the grocery store. Let me tell you, it was a lovely site. First, refusing to wear her shoes and then refusing to sit in the cart, my normally sweet and laid back daughter completely lost it. Running off, laying in the middle of the aisles and screaming at the top of her lungs, she really let everyone within a ten mile radius know that she was not happy. I would attempt to pick her up, and she would  scrunch up her legs, pushing me away, and would scream even louder. Three kids, lots of grocery store trips, and this was my very first time to experience such a show firsthand.

Most sane mom’s would pick up their child and leave the store with their groceries un-purchased. Me? Nope - I continued to let her make a scene simply because I had these luscious, juicy, aromatic peaches in my cart and I couldn’t bare to walk out of the store without them. Women, who apparently have never had children or who were as terribly annoyed as I was kept giving me dirty looks in the checkout lane. But, as stubborn as my two year old, I refused to leave without my peaches.

And I can honestly say… all the dirty looks, all the built up frustration, all the cussing at my husband for traveling for work this week which lead me to go to the store with my three kids in the first place… all of that was well worth it when I took my first juicy bite.

In fact, I may even brave the store with the temper tantrum thrower again tonight. This simple recipe (even though my whipped lemon cream had a meltdown of its own) is worth any embarrassment I may face.

Peaches with Lemon Cream, from Simple & Delicious August 2008

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add the brown sugar, vanilla and lemon peel; beat until stiff peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until serving.
Brush cut sides of peaches with oil; place cut side down on grill rack. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 10-12 minutes or until peaches are tender and begin to caramelize.
Place peaches on dessert plates; fill with lemon cream mixture. Yield: 6 servings.

I sat down at 2pm this afternoon to write an article for Her Life Magazine. At 10:42pm this evening, the article still is not written. It has nothing to do with the fact that the article is a difficult one to write. The story is fascinating and I pretty much have how I want it to go all planned out in my head. The problem is… I keep getting distracted! Hubby came home withchocolate…so of course that distracted me right from the get go. Then the kids wanted to go to the swimming pool so of course I couldn’t turn that down. The Pedi Egg Blogher add grabbed my attention (and yes… I was swayed enough to buy one get one, plus the lotion and the upgrade to the Deluxe - what a deal!), etc. Just about everything sounds better to me right now than sitting down and writing the article I am supposed to be writing. So what do I do? Sit down and procrastinate some more by writing a Dine and Dish blog post!

Are any of you out there like me? You go to get the mail and notice weeds in your flower bed, so you stop to pull the weeds and completely forget to get the mail. You go to grab your address book so you can sit down and write a thank you note and when you open the drawer to find your address book you notice that you stashed a bill in there when company was coming last week, which reminds you that you forgot to finish downloading your Quicken transactions so you head to the office to do that… moving the thank you note to the next days to do list, once again. You head to your freezer to pull out a roast to thaw for dinner, and by the time you search through your freezer you completely forget what you are looking for and end up closing the door without pulling anything out? I think FlyLady calls us “Sidetracked Home Executives“… I know that term sums it up very well for me.

There is one appliance I am very thankful for that really helps with my distracted brain, and that is the microwave. I rarely use the microwave for anything other than the defrost function, but the letters on that button are barely legible because I use it so often. I love the defrost function. I can just picture the focus group who sat around and determined that microwaves needed a defrost function. A room full of “Sidetracked Home Executives” who feel like they really accomplished something that day if they remembered to take the meat out of the freezer to thaw. I seriously feel like I should be awarded or something on those days! “And Kristen gets a medal today for actually making it to the freezer, pulling out the meat and having it thawed in time to cook it for dinner without having to turn to the defrost button on her microwave for assistance.” <applause, applause>

Thanks to my microwave defrost button, we still get to eat pretty good around here. I have been wanting to share this recipe with you for quite some time now, but I keep getting distracted by other things to post. Lemon Chicken Spaghetti Toss is probably one of the most regular recipes on our menu. We have it at least once or twice a month, and have been for the past several years. This is a recipe that I can even pull through without getting too distracted by other things. I typically have all of the ingredients on hand and my entire family enjoys it.

Now - I’m going to share it with you immediately because as I was going to pull the recipe from my Zaar account, I got distracted by a chocolate cake recipe I want to go and check out. Enjoy!

Lemon Chicken Spaghetti Toss (adapted from a past issue of Quick Cooking magazine)