My name is Deb, but BusySpoons is my alter ego in the kitchen. I am a single, working mother of two young children, a 5 old girl and 3 year old boy. I love to cook, which leads me here! I also love to garden, I often cook without recipes, I hide healthy stuff in my kids' food, I entertain (a lot!), have a huge family, and also belong to a make-ahead meals cooking club, The Make-Ahead Mamas. Usually people either like to cook or bake, and while I do both, I'm definitely more of a cook! I season to taste, rarely measure spices and never make separate meals for my kids, so they're forced to be adventurous eaters. I love variety and the challenge of coming up with dinner based on what's ready to be picked in the garden or what I have in the fridge. The AllRecipes.com Ingredient Search is my best friend and I've been using the site for nearly 10 years now. Potluck-style all the way! Food is centric to my large, extended family. We get together often for fantastic brunches (Italian Sausage Strata anyone?) and have a more-the-merrier attitude about our gatherings. Our Thanksgivings are attended by over 25 family members and any friends they want to bring along (last year we topped 40!), It's always loud, fun, and casual. And typically, Big Daddy Spoons (my father) turns on old country music and dances with the grandkids. Nobody ever wants it to end. My top three cooking triumphs: 1) Any meal where the food all comes out at the right time, 2) When my kids devour a plate of something healthy and possibly green, and 3) Any meal I get to eat hot! There are always going to be tragedies in the Busy Spoons kitchen! I hate it when my bundt cake winds up half in the pan, and half crumbled on the platter. I've accidentally added a TON of cayenne pepper to a recipe, thinking it was Spanish Smoked Paprika (I loved it though!). I try not to be too devastated by kitchen disasters, because there is always take-out!