Maria Provenzano loves going all out for birthdays, graduations and other significant milestones. But she’s just as big on lifting up the smaller moments of life, be it her kids’ first soccer game of the season or a visit with a friend in need of support.
She channels that enthusiasm into her website, FromScratchWithMaria.com, and spots on the Hallmark Channel show “Home & Family,” where she demonstrates cooking and crafting projects for every occasion — and non-occasion. In “Everyday Celebrations from Scratch” (Harper Horizon, $29.99), she categorizes her recipes and DIY tutorials into chapters that reflect “areas of our lives that are perfect for a touch of jollification.” For her, that means weeknight meals, family, friendship, sports and seasons.
You’ll find tutorials for making pasta and meatballs in the spirit of her Italian ancestors, along with one for paper plate art using dried pasta, food coloring and school glue. For a book club, she suggests presenting guests with personalized bookmarks along with Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes topped with piped chocolate butterflies. And for a backyard campout, she shows how to stuff ingredients for s’mores into banana “boats” to wrap in foil and grill over a bonfire.
Provenzano credits her mom with instilling in her the value of “making the little things important.” She recalls the time when she was in the fifth grade and woke up feeling anxious for a big test. She walked into the kitchen and was greeted with homemade pancakes, a good luck charm, and a note that read, “I know you can do it!”
That comforting feeling of someone rooting for her stuck with her. In her book, Provenzano puts her own spin on that memory with a recipe for Champions Brown Sugar Sour Cream Pancakes and instructions for making a “Break a Leg” Macrame Key Chain.
Provenzano encourages us to look for easy ways to celebrate such moments, if for no reason other than “to enjoy life a little more.” She even tells us how to make the confetti.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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