I'm Liz, a wife, graduate student, mother of four (including my two step-sons), and my family's private chef. =) I love to cook. It's a relaxing a rewarding experience everyday. I can slip into the kitchen and let my husband take over with the kids. I love trying anything that will remind my husband of his grandmother's cooking. We've recently started changing our diets to more all natural and organic foods. I try very hard to read all labels and avoid highly processed foods, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and nitrites/nitrates. It's not easy, but it's gets easier every day. My weaknesses are my darling children and anything that's sweet and homemade...from apple pie to zucchini bread, I love it all! I am a huge crock pot dinner fan. We like BBQ and most southern food (although I don't fry anything except chicken-fried steak on rare occasions). I've decided this year that my son is not going to be eating school lunch very often. He really likes to eat pizza with his friends, so pizza day will be one of the few days he's not going to be bringing a lunch from home. So, I'm always on a quest to find yummy, healthy recipes for snacks and lunch boxes. I like to keep his lunch full of variety including fresh fruits & veggies, protein, dairy, whole grains, and a small treat. We do organic and homemade as often as possible. =) He's really enjoying being able to pick out what he wants to take for lunch every day. It's become a special time for us to talk about what & why foods are healthy for him. Chocolate gravy on Christmas morning!! Teaching my kids which foods are healthiest for them and why. I really enjoy giving them a behind-the-scenes look at why the food they love is so good for them. Anything I make (and everyone loves) when it doesn't seem like there's a thing to make in the kitchen. For our first anniversary I wanted to make something really special for my husband. I bought a couple of pounds of jumbo shrimp for about $30 and went about making a coconut curried shrimp dish (my husband is a huge coconut fan). It turned out terrible. I don't really know where I went wrong, but we ended up wishing we had steamed the shrimped and dipped it in garlic butter.