I'm retired after more than 21 years in the U.S. Coast Guard. I have a daughter who is currently smack in the middle of the Terrible Twos and a husband who's retired Army and an Iraq War veteran. Thankfully, we're finally done traveling and have settled ourselves in mostly rural Illinois, not far from the state capital. My current career: raising our daughter. Desserts, casseroles, soups/stews, generally traditional Midwestern fare My mom has been making "7Up Salad" for summer family get-togethers for as long as I can remember. And for the past several years, my youngest brother has been injecting and then deep-frying the family turkey on Thanksgiving. I've developed my own delicious vegetable/hamburger soup! But I'm not sharing the recipe yet, because I'm still tweaking it. I can't make good pie crusts or dumplings to save my life! And it took me forever to learn to make crispy fried chicken properly.