My name is Jenn and I am a mother to a little girl Kaia who was born the summer of 2006, and live with she, my boyfriend Josh and our four-legged furry kid Raider. I began cooking around the age of twelve and since then have only grown to love the art even more! Since the age of fourteen I have worked in the food and beverage industry, creating within myself quite a little foodie monster. In March of 2009 I received a diploma in Professional Catering from Penn Foster Career Institute and am building to start my own business, My Kitchen Kreations To You. Aside offering a personal chef service I too will provide grocery shopping, menu planning, cooking lessons and small-affair catering. In April of 2007 I became a member of Cooking Contest Central where I began my recipe contesting. Because published recipes are not eligible for entering into contests I only have photos of most of my dishes posted, except for the published ones, but am more than willing to share! I am not an artist, but I view a whole fresh chicken breast as a blank canvas with so much opportunity. Most often I like to create new stuffed chicken ideas, the possibilities are endless. Same thing, for me, with risotto. Once again a canvas for you to show your creations. It did take some time to master the art of cooking risotto itself properly, but that challenge was overcome! As of lately I am really into different ethnic cuisines and learning all I can about them; Asian, Meditteranean, Jamaican and Caribbean... Really this is where it all began. Not so traditional, or maybe so, but early in high school I began to cook dinner for my family while they were getting home from work. It was a helpful thing to do and once I got started I found I really like it and did a good job at it. The meal did always consist of either chicken breast or ground turkey, but also always versatile and flavorful. One summer I grew a variety of tomatoes (Early Girl, First Lady II, Better Boy, Beefsteak and Bonnie Original) and found myself with almost too many, if that's possible. After doing a little research, I learned it was actually pretty easy to make your own marinara. This most definately took a number of steps but was worth the process and I was proud. Usually I am not one to cook with meat other than your plain 'ol white meat, but I found that I do have a wild side. It was going to be burgers for dinner and I felt like one with some blue cheese. Browsing the store I came along buffalo and went with it. A blue cheese stuffed buffalo burger was the result and a delicious one it was. Here again, not familiar with the meat of tri-tip, I decided to go out on a limb for my boyfriend. It could not have been more simple, I trimmed the sirloin bottom roast with ease and placed it in the crock pot along with a mixture I created. It cooked all day and was eaten gone! On a cold night in early Fall, nothing can be more comforting than a cheesy macaroni casserole. I made my cheese sauce from scratch and it was seasoned perfectly. Once I began browning the ground beef, Kaia decided to demand immediate attention. While giving her my all, I simultaneously season the meat with salt. Once the meat was cooked I gave it a taste and thought I might have grabbed a chunk of sea salt by accident. Knowing I still had more ingredients to combine with the meat and then bake it off, I was hopeful the dishs' seasoning would balance out. No go and no macaroni casserole that night, just a sore tongue.