My love of cooking oddly enough came from my mother's lack of cooking. My mother is a self proclaimed horrible cook and avoids the kitchen at all cost. I've lived on my own since th day I graduated high school and thanks to the military have lived all over the world. Having to cook for myself or eat at a dreaded chow hall I learned to experiment with all types of food to find entrees I love to eat and can perfect to my personal favorite tastes. I love to cook Italian and Mexican dishes but I love to experiment! If I eat a dish at a restaurant that I love I'll play around with it at home until I can make it taste just as good or better (again I love to make everything into my favorite tastes and likes). I love entertaining so I love recipes for slow cookers or casseroles; recipes that you can make for 6, 12 or 20!! My husband loves to eat healthy so lately I've been searching our favorite recipes and trying to change them into a healthier version that still tastes good...and doesn't take hours in the kitchen the first time I made linguine with clam sauce (which is now one of my specialties); I was only 19 years old and was cooking for my 2 friends. I didn't know how to pee & grate garlic so I decided to use garlic powder instead except I bought garlic SALT instead of garlice POWDER. Big Difference!! I could tell by my friends faces as soon as they took their first bite that something was off. But my dear friends who love me so much kept eating. Then I took my first bite and almost threw up! We immediately tossed the whole dished and ordered pizza! Thankfully now I've mastered the garlic peeling and chopping steps to not let that happen again.