I love the challenge of creating healthy meals that are so flavorful and satisfying that people are sometimes surprised to learn how healthy they are. My dietary goals are lowering saturated fats, salt, and overall calories, and using more whole grains. I don’t often make desserts or other treats. When I do, I go all out. I’d rather have the real thing rarely – butter, salt, sugar, & all – than a pale imitation more frequently. I’ll include nutrition info in most of my posts, but don’t be surprised if I skip it for the treats – I prefer to indulge in ignorance 😉

My mom taught me both how to cook, and to love cooking. Several of the recipes she taught me are ones I still make today. Others I’ve tweaked in one way or another, often just to switch to fresh ingredients that are so much easier to come by than they were back in the day. Mom was doing “semi-homemade” before Sandra Lee was even born.

I cooked my first meal for my family at the age of 10, for a Girl Scout badge: pork chops & applesauce (yeah, if you’re of a certain age, you just heard a Brady kid imitating Bogart in your head). I still love to cook, and frequently tweak recipes to make them my own. For years, I collected clipped recipes in a binder. It got a bit messy with all my little notes in the margins, so eventually, I started typing them over when they had too many notes to read easily. I built up quite a file on my computer, and it seemed a waste of paper to keep printing everything whenever I changed a recipe. Sometimes, I couldn’t even find the recipe or I’d forget altogether to write one down. I needed a central place for my recipes, where I could tweak to my heart’s content, keep track of the things I’ve tried, & leave myself notes with ideas for the next time I make something. It also makes sharing recipes with family & friends easier; plus I get to make new friends! There’s always a printer-friendly version of each recipe at the bottom of its blog post.

Note: I sometimes include links to products and companies in my posts. I don’t receive any sort of compensation or consideration for any of these. I’m just a hobbyist cook & blogger and like to share things I’ve found useful. Your mileage may vary.