This single mom and self-proclaimed “romantic foodie” quit her IT exec job in New York Ciity to return to her home state and make—yes—goat cheese while raising her son.

Real Breakfast
I get up at 5:30 or 6, catch up on email and write in my journal to focus. A half hour of quiet, coffee and a laptop. Then I get Kelly up and make a real breakfast—eggs and bacon or ham, a frittata with what’s in the fridge (Kelly loves them). We talk over his school day. his dad, David, who lives nearby, sometimes joins us. He picks Kelly up to take him to school on the way to work. I get ready for work at the creamery or at home with staff—command central at my dining table—or to travel.

Click here for two easy and festive recipes from Tasia’s new cookbook, Tasia’s Table.

Cheese-y Days
I tell Kelly, “I don’t go to work, I go to play.” The fun part is getting my hands into the cheese. We have a great staff of cheesemakers—mostly women. We may bring our kids to work, and we flex schedules. We turn up the music loud as we roll out cheese logs and package product. I also work on development, like a new line of cheese- cakes, and do finance and marketing. Or I help with gift boxes and orders. Some days I’m on a plane to meet with customers or go to a food show.

Afterschool Ease
Kelly goes to after-school care at school. His dad picks him up most days and brings him home. But sometimes I do, and we’ll have Kelly-mommy time and get ice cream. We don’t have a regular caregiver, though we hire students to help in summer. Right now he plays ice hockey after school. we’re in an old-fashioned neighborhood, where a gaggle of boys get together and play football in the nearby park. I’m not a fan of overscheduling. I want him to be a boy and play.

Homebody Eves
Kelly’s home at 5:30, and I’m cooking dinner by 6:15. His bedtime is 8. I don’t go out on school nights, but I might entertain a buyer at home, so Kelly’s life is saturated with my work. I make chicken pot pie (he’ll help roll out crust and put our initials in it), shrimp and other seafood. I just wrote a cookbook, and he and I both tested recipes. He doesn’t fuss at bedtime at all. After, I clean up, have a glass of wine, maybe check email. We don’t have a TV. I read, and I’m in bed by 10.

Weekend Cooking
Sure, I’ll check emails and such. But weekends are really for Kelly and me to be together. We hang out with neighborhood families, or I might travel and he’ll come with me if it’s reasonable, like to New York City or a food show. Sundays I often do a supper tradition: 8 to 12 neighbors and friends come over—it’s about me and my need to cook. It’s a big country meal: seafood and sausage gumbo, three kinds of chili and cornbread. Cooking is how I relax.

Alabama Holidays
My mom lives here. My two sisters, who live in Greece, come for Thanksgiving. It’s all about the food. We’re always at home at Christmas, too. Kelly and I do a different-style tree every year—one year a nature tree (pinecones and leaves, spray-painted), the next all pipe cleaners. David and his father come over early, and they and my mom and Kelly and I have Christmas breakfast together. Kelly is with his mom and dad. For his gift, Kelly gets a trip every year. Last year he read the Magic Treehouse series set in Venice, so we went to Venice. This summer we went to Montana. This Christmas he’ll get another trip. We both love to travel.

Business Lessons
If Kelly says, “I wants a new Nerf gun,” I say, “You can have what you want, but you have to figure out how to earn the money to buy it.” So he’ll come to the creamery and put boxes together—he earns $20 for 200 of them. He’s involved in my work and learns a work ethic. He sees it as something that earns money to buy things and also that lets you do what you love.

—As told to Barbara Turvett