I live in Rainier, Oregon with my husband of 3 1/2 years, our crazy pound puppy, and my 5-year old Quarterhorse George. I enjoy cooking as a way to relax (if I can't ride my horse, that is). Most of the time I only use recipes as a "guideline" as I'd rather make it my own. The only recipes I've followed to the letter are a family recipe for banana nut bread and Grandma Ople's Apple Pie (from allrecipes)... neither one need to have anything substituted for them. I enjoy using the BBQ to cook up fantastic steaks (I'm a carnivore... :) ) and enjoy making sides to go with the mood. Top it off with a yummy dessert and voila! It's a good thing I work, though, because I cook when I'm bored and we'd all be 400+ pounds!! Every year we make up a ton of batches of kalua (sp?)... it's so easy to do and takes about a half hour to an hour to complete... It's one that will soon be posted on here. In addition, I enjoy canning all season long with my mom and sister... good bonding time! I recently made strawberry crepes after I'd had a craving for ones my Grama used to make. They weren't as good as hers but boy they were close. I made sure to share them with the whole family (and my Grama who said they were better than hers) and got the "thumbs-up" all around! It seems like recently I can't get anything to cook right in my slow-cooker. I think I'm trying to hard to take recipes and make them into slow-cooker recipes that just won't work. I need to try different recipes instead of adapting them to my cooker(s)...