For Kelly Rowland, the holiday season brings upon memories of fun and family time in the kitchen.
“Oh my goodness! It was loud,” the singer says reminiscing on her childhood. “It was waking up Christmas morning and listening to the [ripping and tearing] of the paper and us eating. We would eat everythang and just really chill.”
With food bringing an additional joy to the holiday season, Rowland teamed up with Uncle Ben’s earlier this year for their 2016 Ben’s Beginners™ Cooking Contest, which aims to get kids and families back in the kitchen and cooking meals together.
The contest recently selected their five winners from: Pearland, TX; Kaneohe, HI; Shreveport, LA; Charlevoix, Mi; New York City, NY. The winners will receive $15,000 for themselves and $30,000 towards a cafeteria makeover for their schools.
“I really loved the fact that they wanted to get families in the kitchen together and it’s about kids being creative, building confidence in the kitchen and being able to open up the lines of communication with their family members,” she tells JET.
Rowland adds that the kitchen provides an open opportunity for bonding among friends and loved ones. “For me, I remember learning how to make mac and cheese with my mom and her sitting there, guiding me step by step through the process and us talking about everything else under the sun in between that.”
Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Uncle Ben’s)
As for this year’s holiday menu, the mother of two-year-old Titan and wife to music executive Tim Witherspoon, says she’s still working that out.
“I need to master greens, and it’s not working out very well,” she laughs.” Chef Lovely recently told me a new way to kind of kick up my recipe. [When I made it] it was cool, but it wasn’t hers! The one recipe that I hoped would get passed down to me actually happened. It was my husband’s mother’s cornbread dressing. It is so good.”
Another skill she hopes to conquer with her baby boy though is a gingerbread house. “I really want to try it with Titan and his cousin. I just don’t want it to fall and then everything else falls too. So we’ll see what happens.”
While Rowland is working out holiday plans with the fam, she has also been cooking up projects when it comes to her career.
Most recently, the award-winning singer added author to her resumé with her debut Whoa Baby! Her excitement radiates over the phone as she breaks down the motivation and mission behind the book.
“After I had my son, I felt like there was nothing, and I looked into it,that told me what was going on with me mentally, physically, and spiritually. I saw this quote by Toni Morrison that said, “If there’s a book that you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, you must write it.” So, that’s what I wanted to do,” she says.” So, it’s not about parenthood. It’s about us as women, after we have a baby, what happens to us.”
With her duties of being mommy and wife, it’s been a minute since we’ve received new music. But scroll through her social media and you’ll get a glimpse as to what’s soon to come from the songbird.
“It’s been three years since I’ve put out music and my fans are going to ring my neck. I really miss performing. I also miss being in the studio and after having my son, I was just searching for a sound. I’m so grateful that I’ve found it,” she says. “It’s been too many beautiful things that have happened in my life and I want to put them in the right perspective and express that on the record properly.”
*Feature image: Instagram
