Welcome to EB Delights! by Esther Baxter
About the Chef!
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An internationally accomplished model covering magazines, TV, topping the annual “Sexiest” lists, and awarded VIBE Magazine’s “Vixen of the Year,” ESTHER BAXTER has been widely regarded as one of the most well-known names in urban pop culture. Now as a mom of a 4 year-old son and a rising actress, Esther is opening up another side of her world and sharing some of the comforts of home life – good old fashioned cooking! With curiosity and requests stemming from her Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest following, Esther tapped into an interactive community with others who share her passion for cooking, which became the inspiration for EBDelights.com
Browse for new recipes, comment, and share your own! And don’t forget to stop by the EB Delights store for aprons, mugs, and apparel for you or as a gift for your favorite chef! Last but not least, Enjoy!
Xoxo!
-EB
The EB Delights Story….
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Growing up with 15 brothers and sisters, Esther was born the 11th child into a big hungry household that her mom enjoyed cooking for. Baxter family dinners regularly welcomed 20 people around a huge dining room table. Living in Miami, her mom mainly cooked Southern-style traditional soul food as well as Miami-style Cuban dishes (one of her many favorites is Vinegar Chicken!). She also learned the art of making a meal out of whatever there was in the kitchen, also known as a “whatchamacalit” dish.
Esther first learned to cook by first watching her mom in the kitchen and then by trying it out on her own. One of her early cooking memories was at age 8, when her older brother talked her into making fried chicken for him and his friends. There was already chicken thawing for dinner that nite, but not for long. Just like mom, she took out a big freezer bag and put the key ingredients of flour, spices, and egg in the bag along with the chicken and shook it up. She got out a pot (not a pan) and poured in the oil, and successfully fried up her first batch of chicken!
Needless to say it wasn’t until later in life that Esther learned how to make small portions. Everything was made family style, and holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas were multi-day productions where your skills were put to the test. Everyone had a role, and depending on how you did, got to graduate the following year. She started out as an entry level cheese grader, job #1 in the Baxter kitchen. Next you would graduate to the Sweet Potato Pie mix, then dressing, and once you could really be trusted – the mac and cheese. By age 17 Esther had mastered all the roles and was practically making the whole dinner by herself.
Her cooking business savvy emerged back in elementary school when she felt her allowance wasn’t making ends meet and she needed a side business – her own personal school bake sale. She conviced her mom to make an initial investment in the ingredients she needed, and agreed to give her half the sales on the first batch. After that Esther was on her own to keep the enterprise going. She started baking cookies, cupcakes, brownies, rice krispie treats, and other goodies to sell at school to her friends and teachers. Before school, lunch and after school, Esther’s sweets proved to be a hot commodity, going for $.50 – $1.00 and even candy for a quarter. Her mom cleaned out pickle jars as the “bank” to house her operating funds and, of course, her hard earned extra spending money.
Esther loves to experiment in the kitchen, and used to browse the various magazines at Wal-Mart for recipe ideas and go home to try to make it. Now with EB Delights, Esther is excited to share some of her tried and true favorite recipes that are sure to be a hit in your kitchen!
