Maria Provenzano’s Everyday Celebrations from Scratch Book

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Maria Provenzano’s book, Everyday Celebrations from Scratch feels as though it confirms our own lifestyle. My mom used to laugh at me affectionately because I “make up a tray of food as elaborately as if it was a dinner party of 20.” Yes. And, then, as now, food even tasted better.

“Life’s everyday moments are worthy of connecting people together with food and crafts,” according to the sunny author of Everyday Celebrations from Scratch includes step by step, easy recipes, step-by-step craft tutorials and heartfelt insider tips. Maria became emotional on her YouTube book presentation when she shared that she was doing her best to pass down the beloved recipes of her grandfather to keep alive wonderful food and memories.

The White Wine Artichokes, a favorite of Maria, uses frozen artichokes for convenience. She adds recipe adds shallots, fresh thyme and dry white wine for a more refined version, plus a pop of lemon to brighten it up.

This is as much a book that inspires as much as it instructs a young mom or wife or college grad to set the scene from scratch on a daily basis. Maria shares the essentials for everyday celebrations, including must-haves for a well-stocked pantry and the basic supplies for craft activities anyone can do.

Sections include weeknight meals, so even a takeout night is memorable; honoring individual family members; making friends feel special, adding a personal touch to sporting events, and using seasons (and small holidays) to make the days festive the year around.

In our home, my dad would tease about “waiting to buy me a wolf ski jacket until it went on sale,” and then toss a grocery bag at me as we sat down to dinner with the treasured jacket rolled inside of it. Valentine’s Day and Easter he would bring home a box of candy for my mom and little boxes for us.

Everyday celebrations are the foundations of memories that last a lifetime. We use restaurant tableware to make everyday meals special. That a dear friend, Rayjean Fontaine started me off with plates and saucers from Le St. Germain, Le Vallauris and Le Chardonnay, and even a Le Domê saucer lends a historic touch.

Maria is already well known as the creator of the site FromScratchwithMaria.com and has had recipes published in numerous magazines, including Bake from Scratch Magazine, Taste of Home, Luxe Life Magazine, and Focus Magazine. She has also been featured on such sites as The Local Moms Network, LaurenConrad.com, Refinery 29, CafeMoms, and Giada De Laurentiis’s Giada: A Digital Weekly. 

On Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family, Maria shares her love of homemade crafts, food, and do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. As a mother, she also loves to inspire families to come together through crafting with kids. A native of the Great Lakes State of Michigan, Maria graduated from Florida State University with a BA in theatre and moved to Los Angeles after completing her degree. She is a wife and a mom to two happy boys, and she loves yoga, a great cup of coffee, and spending time with her family. 

Maria is a lover of all things crafty and is obsessed with cooking and feeding those around her. She is self-taught–and mom-taught, taking inspiration from the most imaginative, organized, detail-oriented person she knows: her mom! Her hope is to inspire others to be hands-on in their own lives.

Follow Maria on Instagram @fromscratchwithmaria