Raised on a mid-west farm in southern Indiana, while my mom helped in the fields I would prepare the meals. I was 10 when I cooked easy meals such as spaghetti. Now I am 54, mother of 4, grandmother of 10 living in a small mid-west town in southern Illinois. I work part-time and on my days off I LOVE cooking all day! I love baking too, but cooking is my favorite. I cook breakfast ever day, except Sunday and try to have a hot evening meal on the table by 6:30 or 7, even on the days I work. I have 2 adult girls that recently left home, ages 21 and 26. I am kind of experiencing the EMPTY nest syndrome. The 21 year old left for Eastern Illions University two years ago and will graduate in December but will stay to get her Masters. The 26 year old bought a home and is still an RN at a hospital in a nearby city. So now I am trying to learn how to cook for only two instead of 6 (we have a lot of left overs) I also love animals. We have 3 cats and 3 dogs, all inside. They keep me bu I love creating new salads and soups. Muffins, breakfast casseroles and biscuits and gravy are family favorites. When my kids come home or friends gather at our place, we always end up in the kitchen around food. So finger foods are a must. I love taking a recipe and turning it into low-fat or higher fiber. (I am a big believer in Whole Wheat and brown rice.) I guess the traditional, I have Thanksgiving at our home every other year (alternating with my brother) and Christmas Eve every 4th year (alternating with my husbands brothers and sister). When we can we love to have cook-outs or pinic type parties, Memorial weekend or Labor Day weekend are usually best for my family to make it to get together. A menu of grilled meats and lots of salads are great. I'm really pretty good at anything that I plan and take time with. I am not a very good, "hurry-up" cook. Most things that I try to do in my "automatic" crock pot usually ends up too dry or burned. The only thing I can do in it, is soup. I just don't know what I am doing wrong or if the crock pot is defective. Also, I am probably the only cook to have ever burned rice, it was totally BLACK.