It's not why I love him . . .

This Monday I got home from yoga ready to eat a bear. After an hour of back-extending stretches trying to get into the Wheel position, I was ready to devour about five pounds of steak, preferably freshly killed in a hunting expedition. As soon as I opened the door, glorious smells greeted me. My stomach growled and gurgled in anticipation. “Hey honey!” I heard my husband yell from the kitchen.

As I headed towards the kitchen to investigate, a beautiful sight welcomed me.

My man, in a apron–not just with dinner on the way, but with a batch of cookies in progress.

Chocolate chip cookies, his favorite dessert and one of my favorite breakfasts.

Dinner was a-sizzlin’: Polish sausage, onions and bell peppers, to be eaten over piles of steamy, fluffy white rice.

Based on our go-to Brats and Peppers recipe, it’s one of our recurring weeknight meals that never fails to please–especially once I sprinkle blue cheese all over everything.

It’s not why I love him. My baby could never set foot in the kitchen again, and I would still be his adoring wife.

But it certainly makes me feel loved. Cherished. Taken care of.

I will love my husband forever no matter what he does, no matter how many or how few cookies he bakes–by God’s grace, our promise to each other was unconditional love.

But I just have to say–there’s nothing like a man in an apron at the end of a busy day to make you feel like you’re living in a perfect world.

36 thoughts on “It's not why I love him . . .

  1. Ann

    What a wonderful welcome home. Love a man that cooks. Especially when I am hungry to enough to eat a bear! I have a wonderful husband but he only cooks out of a bag but thats ok. He’s pretty special in every other way but I can dream 🙂
    Looks like you taught him pretty well Jenna. Good job.

    1. Jenna

      Not exactly–we met in the dorms at Indiana University when we were 18, and he definitely didn’t know how to cook back then. I remember he used to scoff (in a funny way) at the idea that brownies could be made from scratch as opposed to the boxed kind. =) Marriage has certainly provided an arena for him to flex his cooking muscles pretty regularly–even if I’m the one doing the main cooking, he’s always helping me in the kitchen. It’s so lovely, and more than I ever hoped for or expected!

  2. Vicki DeArmeyv

    I loved this post. I even love your husband, and I think you know what I mean :)…So glad he is taking care of you and feeling cherished is so important.
    I do yoga too but will never ever get to the wheel position. I can’t even bend forward sitting down to rest my head on the floor. I have to use a yoga block, but I love yoga.

  3. sweetridgesisters

    This is really sweet, and definitely in keeping with the kindling and marriage theme I wrote about today. Chocolate chip cookies are a favorite breakfast for me as well.

  4. Veronica

    That ain’t never gonna happen in my home, but I do feel blessed to have my wonderful hubby too! You are so lucky to have a man that can, and loves, to cook! And bake! He’s a double threat! Can he sing and dance too? 🙂

    1. Jenna

      Haha–the dancing not so much (his skills will be put to the test this Saturday as we learn period dances at the Regency Ball), but he does sing and play the guitar. We’ve been writing songs together recently, and I absolutely love it when we can join our creative forces.

      1. Veronica

        He’s amazing simply for going to those lessons! LOL! That’s so cool, my hubby plays the guitar too and sings but we don’t do it much together. Don’t know why! I think it has to do with him mostly playing non-female voice friendly heavy metal and me preferring ballads. 🙂

  5. Alex

    Ah, the glory days of our misspent youth, when Adam didn’t believe in the culinary arts and I didn’t believe someone didn’t know how to make a decent rue. Now he’s all Jacques Pepin, mixin cookie batter, wearin aprons. The times they are a’changin.

  6. Melissa

    I love chocolate chip cookies for breakfast! A great way to start the day off happy. My hubbie didnt know anything about cooking when we met either. Now he can cook fried chicken without burning it and can make soup that doesnt include ramen noodles. Your lucky to have such a sweet guy!

    1. Jenna

      Don’t I know it!! Sounds like we’re both pretty blessed. =) Fried chicken can be tricky–I’m impressed your hubby mastered it!

  7. Kimby

    Bleu cheese on brats sounds yummy! (So does your bleu cheese sauce in the previous post.) It’s great to see you two helping each other out — that’s what it’s all about! 🙂

  8. Kimby

    P.S. All I have are “girly” aprons — will have to invest in a “manly” apron to inspire my hubby… But he washed my car yesterday and cleaned our ceiling fans, so I’m feeling blessed, too!

    1. Rox

      Whoops! I accidentally entered Jenna in the Name slot of this form. Clearly I am not you… You’re you, and I’m me. lol!

  9. Quay Po Cooks

    Jenna First, thank you for stopping by my blog and leave such kind words and let me find yours. I hope to see you around often so that we can share our cooking experience. Your hubby looks like chef in that apron. I agree it is a beautiful sight to see him cooks for you. That picture of him is priceless! You are both so blessed to have each other. My hubby is a very good cook and cooks for me more than I did for him before July last year because I just don’t care about cooking or baking. Now I get better at it and I cook more than him hehe. He is happy like a pig in mug. He said I should have started my blog that day we were married.

  10. pinkingshearsandbroccolispears

    What an awesome surprise to come home to. My man can cook too and he’s awesome at adapting things. Yesterday he was the main cook and I was “helping.” Except my clumsiness is starting to reach terrifying proportions. We were trying to make stove top mac and cheese with evaporated milk and I almost put sweet and condensed milk in it. When we realized we didn’t have any evaporated milk, he said put coconut milk in it instead. He also put some ground beef, sauteed onions and carrots and cumin. So it ended up being closer to a curry. He then went and made a baklava-type dessert with some of the sweet and condensed milk that I accidentally opened.

    1. Jenna

      Yeah, Andrew is brilliant at tossing unusual things together and coming up with winning combinations. Remember that amazing hot chocolate style drink he made? You totally need to share the recipe on your blog–I still have wonderful memories of that concoction!

  11. Allison

    How lucky are you! Doesn’t it feel great to be cooked for? I do all the cooking in our house, because I enjoy it, but once in a while its so nice to just put my feet up and do nothing.

  12. cusinera

    Thanks Jenna for dropping by….lovely blog you have here, I melt like butter when Mr. H do the cooking now and then, even when he cooks scrambled eggs overdone…hehehehe! Will try out your Brats and Peppers recipe in our one of our Lazy Brunch weekends=)

  13. alongtheohio

    It has been such a busy life this week….I totally missed this post until today! Way to go, Adam 🙂 My hubby is a chef at times, too….and it is most definitely one of the sweetest things he could ever do for me!

Comments are closed.