I'm a wife and mother of two adult children. I've been cooking since my mother encouraged me at age 8 with a set of my own cookbooks. I still own those books, and well over 500 more! My passion is reading and collecting cookbooks and recipes. I try several new recipes a month, and Allrecipes is my favorite place to come to look for recipes and read the reviews. Some of our most favorite recipes come from here! Thanks to all the good cooks here for sharing their favorite recipes and reviews! I love good home-style cooking! Easy recipes with simple, fresh ingredients. I also cherish the oldies...recipes passed down through families with wonderful memories attached. Someday I'd love to write a cookbook based on that. I enjoy Southern-style cooking...hearty, stick-to-your-ribs dishes, slow-cooker recipes, roasting meats and vegetables to bring out their rich flavors, fruit desserts, and most of all, creating my own recipes, many of which I've entered and won in recipe contests. Cooking is my passion! It's my way of showing my family and friends how much I love them. Our traditions are based around food and holidays! Our Thanksgiving is the same each year, with my husband roasting his delicious turkey on the grill, and I have the whole oven to myself to prepare the rest of the meal, especially our favorite dressing...it's not Thanksgiving without it! And the Christmas season, according to the kids, does not begin until I make my version of Chex Mix...and average 8 roasting pans full each year! Family favorites, whether they be main dishes or desserts, all are special to the family. Each time I cook a family meal, I try to incorporate everyone's favorites. Having picky eaters is not easy, but I do try! Having some of my own recipes on the pages of many major publications over the years...what an honor! Once I was on the cover of a Slow Cooker magazine...front cover, story, cameras and make-up artist here and everything...I felt so special, and it was a day I'll never forget! Entering contests is a lot of fun and a real hobby for me, plus the ability to share a family favorite with someone else is a real joy! Oh, I've had many kitchen disasters, such as the couple of chestnuts I forgot to score when roasting in my oven and they exploded EVERYWHERE...or making caramel turtles and my pan popped...pecan "turtle feet" went flying all over the oven. With every disaster, I've learned something, and that's the most interesting thing about cooking to me...the learning process. I've been cooking 40 years and learn something new every day, and love every minute of it!