About Me

When I got my first apartment I realized I had no idea how to cook.

This was very surprising to me. It seems like everyone one in my family is amazing at cooking. I was oblivious to the fact that growing up around people who cook, does not automatically mean you will know how. 

I did a lot of research, I made so many mistakes, and eventually taught myself. The journey was long and I never stop learning or trying new things. 

When choosing a recipe to add to my collection there are a few things I consider. First, is it good? Seems simple, but if you don't love the meal throw the recipe away and move on. Next, I consider time & ingredients. How long is it going to take me from start to finish? How many ingredients are there? These two go hand in hand, and usually the less the better. However, sometimes they're not something to consider at all. Some of my recipes are for me to enjoy. Some are worth the long ingredients list and 3 hours from book to table. I savor those days cooking as much as the meal. That however, is the exception. On a regular basis that is not real. If there are 7 ingredients to purchase for one dish, that is going to add up quick. As far as time, rather I was a stay at home mom or working full time, I never had enough hours in the day. I have to consider how much time I have to get the meal served and the dishes cleaned. That's the reason a lot of meals don't make it into my week day rotation, and sometimes, even if I liked it, it wasn't worth the time it took. The last thing is honesty. I have to be honest with myself about if I will ever make it again. It doesn't matter if it was healthy, pretty good, and only has 5 ingredients that can go in a slow cooker, if I'm not going to make it again, and again, it needs to go. This is where the honesty comes in, I have to throw out the maybes and what ifs right along with it. What's left is what makes the cut.

Most of the time when I'm cooking, I'm just doing it. I have no recongition of what I'm changing, or how much I'm using. This makes a recipe hard to share. Organization and cooking largely make up who I am, so I wanted to do this for me, my kids, and my best friend Shannon. This is me using all those things to sift through all my recipes, pages, pins, and somedays, to make my collection. Some of these recipies are my own, some are found, all are delicious.