Let's see...a little about me. I am a 27 year old working mother, to a beautiful 2 year old girl name Natalie and wife and love every aspect of my life! I LOVE to cook, I just wish I had more time to do it. Luckily I work from home now so it is easier to sneak away from my desk to throw something in the crock pot or marinade something. My mom is a great cook and she passed it off to me and my 3 sisters. We all love to cook. I bake sometimes too, but I really love to cook. I am not a huge dessert eater. Don't get me wrong, I like desserts, but I would rather fill myself up on yummy food and am always too full to eat dessert. I do love the smell of my house when I bake though! Let's see...I love making chicken dishes, pasta salads, pasta (I could eat pasta all day, everyday), my mom's chilli and spaghetti, I love finding new recipes and making those. Whenever I see a new recipe, I will make it. I have thousands of recipes printed up, now I just have to find the time to make them all! :) Now, if my daughter and hubby weren't such picky eaters, I could/would experiment more, but sometimes it's just easier to make the tried and true ones. 90% of the recipes my family loves, I found on this site! Some of my favorites from this site are...artichoke bruschetta, caramelized baked chicken, basil shrimp, award winning soft chocolate chip cookies.... No real traditions yet. I am always asked to bring my famous ceasar salad to family gatherings (add lemon to the salad, a lot of it! Makes it great!!). I am really getting my daughter involved in the kitchen. She is only 2 so she can't help with anything yet, but just having her there with me. She loves hanging out with mom in the kitchen. I just got her this really cool stool called the learning tower so she can't fall down and she can be up next to the counter. It was the best investment I have made yet! Hmmm....well, my favorite salad is the Chop Chop Salad from the restuarant Cucina Cucina. The resturant closed (so sad) and I was so bummed I couldn't have that salad anymore. I googled it and was sooo excited to find the recipe (If you want it, google cucina cucina chopped salad recipe, you will LOVE it!). I made it, hesitant, because I thought there was no way it will taste exactly the same but to my great suprise, it is a carbon copy of it, so now I can have it anytime! I have shared the recipe with other Cacina Chopped Salad lovers and they make it all the time!! It takes some time to prepare but soooo worth it! Another triumph is if I make something my hubby loves! He is picky and if he doesn't LOVE something, he won't eat it. Pisses me off so much! Sometimes he will eat it to be nice and say he likes it, but the true test is if he eats the leftovers, then I know he loves it! The only one that comes to mind is this crock pot recipe I found in one of my Southern Living cookbooks. It was like a peanut chicken something. Looked really good, but when I was preparing it, I got very hesitant but that happens a lot and it turns out great, well this one...stunk the whole time it was cooking, but I was still thinking (or hoping, I should say) it will taste OK. Boy was I wrong, YUCK! I looked like poo and tasted horrid too! I threw it out and ordered pizza. Total waste.