I'm a dental hygienist living and working in the beautiful Mid-Hudson Valley here in NY. I love watching cheesy movies, spending time with friends and my family, and working with/training my Border Terrier, Chloe. I like to stay busy- I value my free time a LOT and I love yard saling, thrifting, knitting, crocheting, and reading everything I can get my hands on. I love to try new things! I especially love Mexican and Italian food (as I'm a proud Italian-American). I love "tweaking" recipes to make them fit into my lifestyle or dietary needs. I'm big on making hearty vegetarian food and learning to cook authentic Mexican cuisine. I'm also crazy about slow cooking- I have two crock pots! I love trying to adjust anything I enjoy to work in my slow cooker. I was raised to be very involved in what went on in the kitchen- just like every other Italian-American! Every Sunday we went to my nana's house and had a HUGE feast! I still cook her split pea soup, meatballs, and "gravy", and am constantly trying to recreate some of her other delights! My proudest cooking achievement was the development of TVP enchiladas with chile-lime yams...it's my "signature" dish and amazingly, the one thing, meat eater and vegetarian alike, that every dinner guest requests. I created it with input from my friend who loved to eat "big" but was trying to stay vegetarian. It's filling, easy to make, and everyone loves it- it's delicious! The worst thing I've ever cooked was a red velvet cake I attempted to bake for my sweetie on Valentine's day. I'm still learning cakes, I guess- it came out rather dry and tough, like a very thick pancake! Luckily, he was still impressed and in spite of the horrible texture, the flavor was good enough (helped tremendously by the liberal addition of cream cheese-coconut icing) that we actually ate it all! :)