General Hospital's Vinessa Antoine (Jordan Ashford) has been cooking up quite a side project in recent months. The Canadian actress has launched a food blog called CookingForLittleMen.com.
The sweet site chronicles Antoine's adventures as a single mom raising two growing sons. "I am a single mother. Actress. Writer. Food lover. But these days in addition to chauffeur, house keeper, doctor, teacher, and therapist raising two active boys...I'm a home cook," she shares. "I feel like I'm literally in the kitchen all of the time! I mean, they just don't stop eating! Don't get me wrong. We have to actually function here in this busy household. There are a lot of days that I'm ordering out or heating up frozen pizza with the best of them. But every few days, I do feel inspired to cook for my little men. It is the most satisfying thing to watch them eat."
Antoine also shares some of her past relationship experiences, including how becoming pregnant during a new relationship led to a marriage the couple wasn't truly ready for, relationship struggles, and eventually the end of the partnership -- which left the actress alone with her two young sons.
"[After the marriage ended], he said that he'd return in a couple of weeks to work out this ‘co-parenting thing'. He never returned. I think my gut told me that he wasn't coming back," she writes. "He left early morning before I woke up. Lestat was up and when he and Basquiat crawled into my bed later that morning, I asked them the only question that I could in our silence. ‘Do you guys want pancakes or waffles?' I guess that is when my obsession with cooking for little men began. It was sort of my way of compensating for his absence."
She continues, "I started baking bread every week. Kneading and beating out my anger and sadness. It helped. Trying new recipes for the kids. I even ventured into gluten free, vegan, raw-vegan, and everything else under the sun. Just wanted to give them some sort of comfort in the midst of daddy being gone. He called every now and then but for the most part, it was just me and the boys. It's been that way ever since."
But Antoine realizes her story isn't unlike many others. "I wouldn't dare say that I'm special or any different from any other parent that loves their kids. It's single motherhood. Not rocket science," she writes. "I am learning as I go. For the most part I'm just winging it here... All while loving my kids and cooking for them along the way. This blog was created out of that. It's not just for single parents. It's for anybody that wants to try some recipes, connect, and be inspired. I hope to share some of those experiences with you. I promise to keep it honest and true. I will always have a special place in my heart for single moms. Remember, if anyone tries to tell you that you're a super hero....you're not. You're a damn mom. And you're pretty freaking amazing. Happy cooking."
To check out Antoine's blog, CookingForLittleMen.com, click here.
What do you think about Antoine's new project? What do you think about the personal story she shared that inspired her to start CookingForLittleMen? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
