I'm a stay-at-home-mom of two wonderful boys. I *LOVE* to cook and bake, as I find it to be a great stress reliever and creative outlet (as long as the little one isn't screaming at my feet). I've learned a LOT from All Recipes by comparing the differences between similar recipes (Alton Brown has helped a lot too &hearts ). We've recently transplanted from east coast to west coast where food is more expensive (the current economy hasn't helped) so my current challenge is to do more meal planning to reduce food costs. I strongly believe in altering recipes to suit one's tastes, dietary needs, and ingredients on hand. After all, if we never altered recipes, we wouldn't have great chefs with original twists to old favorites or great cooking shows! ;-) SWEETS SWEETS SWEETS!! My sweet tooth is insatiable sometimes. Anything quick and easy. I love pastas, casseroles and slow cooker recipes. My taste buds and I get bored easily, so I'm always looking for new recipes to try. Our family is young, so we don't have a lot of traditions yet. My older son likes helping measure and stirring ingredients, so I try to have him help when there's time. I guess cookies are becoming a tradition. Cookies for almost every holiday! Son #1 always helps me decorate sugar cookies for Easter, Halloween and Christmas. This past Thanksgiving I successfully hosted my first dinner. Everything went really well, and all the dishes were timed perfectly. Not too many tragedies, fortunately, so I can't think of any at the moment...