strong women and onions

Grandmas are awesome right?

I've been very fortunate to have two awesome grandmothers in my life.  Both demonstrated what strong women do when faced with tough times.  I've watched both of them live without the loves of their lives at different points, and both of them handled it with much grace.  And in my eyes, they both "can do" anything.  Seriously, anything.  Especially cook!  Maybe that's where I got my love for it?  

Now my mama's mother is the only grandparent I still have living.  Since my grandfather passed away in February 2011, I have gotten to know a whole new side of her.  Living without my grandfather has been hard, and its created challenges for her.  But she has handled it far better than anyone could have imagined.  

My Grandma and I on my wedding day!

Every time I'm with her, I learn something new.  One day, I learned that she was the first baton twirler Arizona State University, and another day, how to sew a button on.  I enjoyed my summer vacations, because I get to spend more time with her.  During the school year I live an hour and a half away from her, so we have to settle for phone calls.  She always makes a point to call and tell me when watermelons are on sale, because she knows David loves them.  She loves her family well.

This past summer, she taught me to make a few simple recipes.  We went through a cookbook that came with her first microwave oven!  One night, she took my mama and I to a huge dinner.  When we got back to her place, she said she wanted to show me how to cook an onion.  We were stuffed but also intrigued.

She took a small dish and put a whole sweet onion in it.  She sliced it down all of the sides like a blooming onion.  Then, smeared butter over it and covered it in lemon pepper.  Lastly, she covered it in saran wrap and stuck in the microwave for 5 minutes.

When it came out, I couldn't believe my eyes!  It smelled amazing.  It just fell apart!  The butter had soaked in and the onion was so tender!  When mama and I tasted it, we were impressed.  The lemon pepper flavor was not strong.  It was just perfect--melt in your mouth perfect.

Since then I have made David a couple of what we call fake "blooming onions."  And each one takes me back to that night, sitting in her kitchen.

Fake Blooming Onion

Serving 2

1 sweet onion

1 tbsp butter (or spray it down with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!)

Lemon pepper

Place onion in small microwave safe dish.  Make slices down the sides of the onion to create a petal effect.  Smear butter all over the onion.  Cover in lemon pepper (to your liking).

Microwave for 5 minutes or until onion is fall apart tender.

ENJOY the sweet goodness!

Hazel has two places she loves to lay while I'm in the kitchen.  I couldn't help but capture her latest spot on camera!