Larson Folkerts
Mama of Two & Chef
Tell us a little bit about yourself! What made you launch your book?
I’m a wife, mom and homemaker who has a passion for cooking! I grew up cooking alongside my mom, who is a fabulous cook, and my sister. My mom and grandmother passed on their love of cooking to us! I cooked for friends and roommates throughout college, then as a newlywed cooked dinner for my husband and I every night after work and now I cook every day for our little family. I feel that cooking has become too complicated and fussy and the art or skill of cooking a homemade meal has been lost. We live in a culture that’s all about hustle, fast and convenient and the food people eat reflects that. I think TV shows, blogs and social media have also made cooking intimidating to many home cooks.
My husband encouraged me to share how I cook, meal plan and grocery shop with others so I created A Month of Dinner. My hope is that it makes cooking at home feel approachable, affordable and even enjoyable for the average home cook! Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated, you don’t have to put a Michelin-star meal on the table that looks like it could be featured in Bon Appétit. I wanted to share recipes for REAL life, recipes made by an average homemaker in an ordinary kitchen with simple, healthy, from-scratch ingredients.
Many moms feel incredibly overwhelmed cooking for their families, especially amidst working, schedules and juggling activities, sports, family obligations and more. Cooking often falls to the wayside, why cook when you can pick something up or have it delivered? But nourishing our families, sitting down to a meal together and eating real food is so important in many, many ways. A Month of Dinner is meant to be a helpful tool in the kitchen that takes the guesswork out of “what’s for dinner” and helps someone get just one homemade dinner on the table, a little more often.
What are you most passionate about?
My family and motherhood. My husband and my children are my greatest joys, my biggest blessings, the loves of my life. There is nothing I am more passionate about. Motherhood is without a doubt my calling and I love and embrace all of it: the beautiful, the hard, the exhausting, the uplifting, the energizing, the tears (of many kinds), the challenges, the joys. It is my vocation in life and I am proud of that.
Where do you gather inspiration from?
I gather inspiration from loved ones, from nature, travels and books. My mom is a huge source of inspiration to me, not only is she a fantastic cook, but an incredible mother and I look to her in all I do. I love to be outside! Nature is a huge source of inspiration to me. We live on a commercial tree farm and we are surrounded by beautiful trees, plants, flowers and wild life. I am grateful for that, it’s a gift. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, so a love of nature runs in my family. We’ve been fortunate to travel on many fun family trips across the country, as well as trips to Europe, Central America, Mexico and Canada. There is so much inspiration to be found in other places, even if it’s a new town in the same state you live in! I also love to read and find inspiration in books, whether it’s a novel, a beautiful coffee table book or a cooking magazine. I still read paperback books, no Kindle or tablet for me, I love the feel of a physical book too much!
What is your favorite family tradition?
Slow, quiet weekends together with my husband and our children. It usually consists of a “fun” weekend breakfast, my husband and our son going to do some work around the tree farm together, playing outside all day, cooking a yummy dinner, family walks and cruises around the farm, church on Sunday. Doing a lot of “nothing” with them means everything to me. I treasure our quiet weekends together, just us 4 (soon to be 5).
If you could invite any three people to your dream dinner party who would they be ?
I would invite any woman from the early days of the western frontier, no one specific but an average wife/mother living on the frontier with her family. I want to know what motherhood was like back then. How did you raise children in the middle of the frontier? What was motherhood like? How did you take care of everyone? How were you so strong? How did you keep going? What advice do you have for mothers today? I think those women were some of the strongest and bravest women in history, even if they weren’t famous or recognized individually in our history books. We are incredibly fortunate in today’s world to have just about anything and everything at our disposal, especially when it comes to raising children. I think there is much to be learned from women in a different time period who had it much harder than we do today.
I would invite Doris Day, she seems like she was an absolute ray of sunshine, bright, joy-filled, classy and fun. I think conversation with her would be wonderful!
I would also invite Ree Drummond “the Pioneer Woman!” I’d love to talk family, cooking, ranch life and rural living with her. I think she would make me laugh! She has been one of my favorite cooks since she released her first book.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
I recently turned 30 and have been thinking about my younger self often, there’s so much advice I’d give her and things I’d wish I’d done differently, but without any of those experiences and mistakes, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I like who I am at 30 much more than who I was at 20. I think I’d tell myself to trust your gut, keep working hard, keep doing the things that make you different, even if you feel “weird,” be more thoughtful of others and know that the things that set you apart are qualities that will serve you well down the road, even if it doesn’t feel like it now. It’s okay to not be cool, it’s okay to not have it all figured out.
What quote or saying do you try to live by?
“If you want to bring happiness to the world, go home and love your family.” -Mother Teresa
Say Bonjour
social: @larsonfolkerts
website: www.letslovetocook.com