My love of baking started with an Easy Bake Oven that was a Christmas gift from Santa at age 8. By the time I was 14 years old, I was preparing my family's evening meals, and managed to pull off my first Thanksgiving when I was 17. Collecting recipes and cookbooks has been a hobby for more than 30 years -- surfing the web for new recipes, and new twists on old favorites, has opened a whole new world for me, and Allrecipes.com has become my favorite website for recipe searches. After our children were grown and on their own, learning to cook for two was a challenge. In the process, I have revised and scaled down many of my old tried and true recipes, in addition to making them more healthy, lower in fat and calories. After many years of cooking on a large scale, I have found that my favorite things to cook are simple, healthy, yet tasty, meals. BUT .... when time permits, I love to search Allrecipes.com for a challenging bread recipe, then spend the day in my kitchen trying it out. There is nothing like the feel of bread dough, and the satisfaction of baking the perfect loaf. Along with the added bonus of the wonderful aroma. YUM! A tradition that started many years ago, when I was only 14 years old, was cooking with my Grandmother during the Holidays. She passed on a few years later, and that tradition was continued with my Aunt Ruth (who is probably the BEST cook I know!), and is being continued with my 4 year old and 2 year old Grandsons. Grandmother taught me how to make a perfect pone of cornbread, Aunt Ruth taught me how to make perfect Southern Style Chicken and Cornbread Dressing, and I am teaching my Grandsons how to bake cookies and cupcakes.