If You Give a Girl a Cookbook

She's gonna want to read the recipes.

When she reads the recipes, she will realize that she would like to make a recipe out of it.

She'll make some things to eat, here and there, and they will be yummy.

They will be so yummy, that she'll want to make even more recipes.  She is, after all, almost twelve.

Then one day, when you least expect it, she will ask if she can pretty please stay home and babysit her siblings while you take her other brother to Tae Kwon Do, and could she also pretty-pretty please make dinner all on her own.

You'll say "Yes" - cause even though the thought terrifies you, you know you should.  You stay home long enough to watch and make sure she doesn't lose a finger during the chopping process, and then you leave, praying that God will keep her from forgetting any of the safety and cooking skills you have been trying to impart to her over the years.

She might call you a couple of times on your cell phone with a few questions- but nothing that requires rescuing.

You might realize that your little girl is not so little anymore.

This is a picture of someone who is not a toddler.  In case you wondered.

When you finally do get back home, the girl will welcome you and proudly show you the kitchen, which looks like this:

And take something out of the oven that looks like this:

Chili-Fries - a new recipe for all of us, and SO GOOD!

And while you are busy oohing and ahh-ing over the delicious looking dinner just removed from the oven, she will proudly show you a beautiful veggie plate that looks like this:

I love the presentation - Martha Stewart - eat your heart out!

This incredibly capable and confident girl will be complemented by everyone at the table on her cooking skills, and they will all ask her to make sure that she make it again soon.

Which makes her go back to the cookbook that you gave her in the first place.

And chances are, if that girl looks through the cookbook again...

She's gonna want to make some more recipes out of it.