My MasterChef journey starts this week and I can only say that it was one of the most intense experiences of my life! Yes, of my entire life! But it is one that I know my Grandma Jane would have been very proud to see me endure. Having grown up in Fast Food America I have become adamant about creating a much different food experience for my little Willow. So there I found myself chucked into the deep end of the produce pile shaking like a leaf staring at a fish, a liver and endless options, I felt like I was going to lose my cookies any second. Let the games begin! It’s a Hunger Game of sorts…

Just three short years ago I couldn’t even make a proper cup of tea.

You’re probably snickering and thinking I must be daft. You might even be right… but hear me out!

Three years ago, under serious pressure and stress of meeting a gorgeous Londoner named Max and wanting to impress him with what seems to be the best offering of any English household (builders tea with milk and sugar) I found myself in my little kitchen in Primrose Hill pouring cold water over the top of a tea bag puzzlingly trying to figure out what step to take next in order to make it hot…

‘Do I boil it in a pot or put it in the microwave? What am I doing?’

I could see him staring at me from the couch and it only made things worse. Every bit of common sense escaped me in that moment of feeling the cultural pressure of being a foreigner in a country an ocean away with a different way of life. I finally had to admit to him that I didn’t know what I was doing. Luckily he wasn’t disgusted by this American behavior and instead thought it was cute. Hopefully you do too because I was absolutely mortified!!

In America a tea pot/kettle is not a household item in most homes. In our American culture coffee is the go to comfort drink and instead of the electric teapot on our countertop most American homes have a coffee maker.

Trust me… I can now say, ‘what an idiot!!’

Don’t worry I have learned a lot over the past few years and am very capable of a very good cup of tea as well as a few other things, otherwise I definitely have no business whatsoever competing on MasterChef. Tune in to see the outcome!

So why even put myself through this food hell?

Now that I am a Mum and a Wife to an English Gentleman I have quite possibly become somewhat of an Anglophile. I love and am inspired by some of the traditions in England like wearing paper crowns from a popper at Christmas and the Queen’s Jubilee. What I possibly love the most is the United Kingdom’s food culture. A Sunday Roast is like having an American Thanksgiving every Sunday! I want that for my family but I need to learn how to do it first and I want to find ways to make my food clean and healthy while still tasting ridiculously good!

Huge news in the Rogers household this week, Willow got her first tooth! She is growing so fast. It makes you realize just how fast time flies. She is my inspiration in life and I would love it if food were something we could bond over. Something we can and share together. She is only 6 ½ months old and won’t be joining on the Sunday Roasts quite yet but cooking is a skill that takes time and it’s about time I start learning!

While I perfect my kitchen skills I’ve focused on what I can with Baby Willow and started making her purees. I introduce new veg and fruit each week, making sure each works well with her system. So far she has loved Baby porridge, rice, banana, and applesauce.

This past week I introduced her to my first puree for her, which is carrot and apple, and proudly her new favorite!

Today I introduced her to Butternut Squash mixed with Carrot. She wasn’t sure at first but after a few bites she was into it. Carrot and Apple is still her favorite though!

I Love Honey: One of my favorite tricks I learned from the Husband, to beat hay fever, use a teaspoon of local honey in a cup of warm water, add lemon and drink it. This helps your immune system build immunity to the local pollens. I don’t know about you but this makes total and complete sense to me. My whole life I’ve been jabbed with allergy shots containing just a little bit of the things my body is allergic to build up an immunity – that’s exactly what eating local honey does. It’s total and complete common sense!

Save the Bees! We need them in order to continue having delicious honey as well as most of the produce at the market.

That’s not to say I don’t still suffer. There are days when I think my eyes will explode from my head, my throat feels itchy with no way of soothing it and my nose runs a marathon while shining red like Rudolph from blowing it constantly, but I definitely think it helps a lot!

One of my favorite newfound kitchen items is a gadget called Babycook. Now this is completely unnecessary as I already have a steamer and blender that I can make baby food with but I totally got sucked into the ease and cuteness of it. The veg and fruit steam in a basket that fits inside the blender, then you dump the contents of the basket into the blender and blend into a puree. Bish, Bash, Bosh, baby food! It’s that easy and leaves a lot less mess! Plus if you decide to freeze some of the food you can steam it back to life using the babycook. Love it!