It all began with a New Year's Resolution... (originally posted January 21, 2014)

I survived college the way many students do- living on cafeteria and fast food, cereal, sandwiches, pizza, and, occasionally, the cooking of generous, more kitchen-savvy friends. When I married, I was lucky enough to end up with a husband who loves to cook, makes generally fabulous food, and had both the time and inclination to pamper me with delicious meals on a regular basis. By the time kids came along a number of years later, however, we had both completed our schooling, he was working an extremely demanding and time-intensive job, and we had chosen for me to stay home, run the house, and tend to the littles.

I confess I still tried for some time to avoid the kitchen, but when my first child was old enough to eat more than baby food, I realized I could no longer delay the inevitable. So I set a New Year’s goal to begin trying to cook just one or two easy recipes a week, with the intention of gathering 10 or so recipes that could be regular, go-to meals. At first, my efforts felt like pulling teeth. Slowly, but surely, though, I began to have success, to feel more comfortable in the kitchen, and my collection of go-to recipes grew to far beyond 10.

At this point, I meal plan each week, cook 95% of our family’s meals, and have a good-sized collection of recipes that my family loves, and that I actually enjoy making! I am by no means an expert cook, and I still experience cooking reluctance at times, but I have come a long way from where I was, and I am proud of the progress I’ve made and continue to make.
To keep things interesting, I try to experiment with new recipes once a week, and while sometimes they don’t turn out the way I hope or expect, I love the feeling when they do. Beyond that, I love the feeling of nourishing my loved ones with good food the way others have nourished me.
My goal for this blog is to post about recipes that I’ve tried (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and other food-related discoveries I encounter in the hopes that I might help others who struggle to enjoy cooking like I once did.