My husband and I met when he served me in a bar in 1999. A year later, we were married with a baby on the way! we lived with his family for a few years before we got on our feet, but I never cooked anything past grilled cheese sandwiches and the like. For Cinco de Mayo of 2002, I thought Sangria might be a nice touch for dinner (they're irish, I'm 1/2 mexican), so I searched the web for a recipe. The recipe I found here was a huge hit and I've been a loyal user ever since! I've made several differeent foods regularly for party contributions, and my husband is now boasting about my cooking instead of my photography! This from a guy that won't eat anything creamy, cooked vegetables, seafood, mayo, pasta salads, or desserts. My cookbook is a binder stuffed with page protectors for printouts from the pc. Sometimes I open my 1950s BHAG red plaid book. All my favorite recipes I've found here on Allrecipes.com. A few of our favorites include: Baked Chx Nuggets (tersa); Bud's Potato Salad, (Diana); Florentine Artichoke Dip (Stephanie S); 7 LAYER TACO DIP (Sue Case); Caramelized Baked Chx (Sandy); BEER BUTT CHX (Barrie Tapp, a friend told me "I should kill you for making chicken skin so good!"); Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie (chris); Chicken and red wine sauce (Robin); NORTH CAROLINA-STYLED PULLED PORK (Doug), Charley's Slow Cooker Mex Style Meat (Charley Bishop); MARINADE FOR STEAK I (kat); American Lasagna (rosemary Stoker); LAYER TORTILLA PIE (Karen c greenlee) AND THE ONE THAT STARTED IT ALL: CLASSIC SPANISH SANGRIA from Beth Campbell. We never really did a lot when I was growing up, but now that I'm a mom, my 5 yr old daughter and I will make dessert from scratch about twice a month. Whenever we travel to visit family, I bring a few recipes to share, so we can have some time in the kitchen. But I really love Christmas because I take my in-law's older kids for a sleepover and we make a ginger bread house (thanks again allrecipes!) and on a another night, i take the younger ones of the family overnight (including mine) for a train gingerbread (this is from kit though, cause the pieces are stronger). we take them to g-ma/pa's for x-mas eve, and after presents the kids get to destroy them. This is what my husband's aunt did while they were growing up, but eventually it fizzled out. I like knowing that my nieces and nephews will have gingerbreads memories from their Aunt Rachel when they get older. The capitalized titles in "my favorite things to cook" are the ones that people will request from me. My mother-in-law once asked me to make the 7 layer dip for her to bring to a party that I wasn't even invited too! I love that! It really makes me feel great when I look at an empty dish on the buffet knowing that's the dish I brought. Vegetable Primavera. I let the noodles cook to long and didn't realize how horribly mushy they were until after I'd added the sauce and the vegetables. And I barely had enough time to make a new batch. Unfortunately, I have to admit, I cleaned the veggies (the recipe called for fresh) and recyled them into the second try. I don't even remember if it was eaten, it was so long ago. Brownies/cookies. Mix or from scratch, I always seem to over do them. They become hard as a rock 10 mintues out of the oven.