I'm truly a southern girl who LOVES to cook. I work full-time and have a husband who eats a LOT, so I am always looking for quick, economical recipes. During the week it has to be pretty simple, but I love experimenting with new recipes - especially on the weekends. My husband is a landscaper and does a lot of physical work, therefore, he needs a high calorie diet. After nearly 3 years of marriage I have learned that this not only gets expensive, but can be hazardous to my jeans size as well. I love recipes that I can split to make a healthier, lower calorie option for myself and a full sugar full butter version for him =) I am going to need an industrial kitchen before we even think about having kids! I have always loved to bake and everyone loves my desserts. I have been doing a lot more cooking lately (branching out to inclue weeknights!) and live by my slow cooker. I like pastas and one-dish casseroles for weeknights, and we usually grill on the weekends. I love any southern comfort food (we could eat grits 3 meals a day!) and italian cuisine is a favorite as well. My mom makes THE BEST pecan pies and sweet potatoes every holiday. My grandmothers have passed along the most amazing strawberry cake, mac & cheese, and sloppy joe recipes. My mother-in-law has given me the ultimate chicken pie recipe, and one of these days I plan to master my great-aunt Rebecca's coconut cake! I love coming together for family meals and holiday celebrations. Whether we are all seated around the table or the family spills over throughout the rest of the house, we always have a wonderful time. I get constant requests for my zucchini bread (made with our home-grown zucchini) and chocolate-peanut butter chip cookies. I make them in massive batches! I have also recently mastered my mother-in-law's chicken pie and it is a regular in our house. When I made it last week (with my own personal touches) my husband said it was the best he's ever had! Shortly after we were married I tried to make a whiskey-flamed steak dinner to surprise my husband. I had never flamed anything before(and haven't since)and would have assumed a warning about the massive amounts of smoke would have been mentioned?? I did everything exactly as directed-swirling the whiskey around the skillet and over the steaks at the designated temperature-and our apartment filled with smoke within a few seconds. I had to run outside with the pan of smoking steaks and the parking lot was so smokey you would have thought the building was on fire. After leaving the smoking pan on the porch for about 20 minutes I brought it inside and dished up the steaks(I wasn't about to waste such nice expensive meat-he was going to eat it!) My husband actually loved it! Though the outside was black and unappealing-the inside was perfect and super juicy. I still haven't braved that recipe again, though we now have a house with nice big windows right by the stove.