A stay-home mom of eight sweet kids (yes, all mine!), I don't cook as much as I'd like to. However, everyone's seemed to catch the cooking bug and I'm beginning to have some great help! New food allergies in one child have brought me into the "Gluten Free" world as well...always learning and experimenting... Dessert for my toothpick husband ("the way to a man's heart..."), but healthy stuff mostly. My ideal foods are whole-grain, all-natural, and low-fat, but colorful and zesty. (Of course most of those criteria go out the window for dessert, but I try!) Yeast breads, colorful vegetable dishes, varied cuisines, and homemade-rather-than-storebought foods--such as tortillas, gnocchi, crackers, yogurt, granola, etc.--seem to intrigue me most. I'm the one reading labels or appearing pensive at restaurants--I'm trying to decipher the recipe so I can recreate it at home! Other than that, I think I most enjoy turning "Cinderella" foods into "royalty": tofu, eggplant, and several other ingredients have turned into favorites...but still not liver, blechhh! The fluffiest whole-grain pancakes on Saturday mornings at our house. We love to entertain guests for breakfast too, pulling out all the stops for pancake variations with special toppings and fruit. Stop by sometime! Nearly everything from this site! =) My favorite memory is the year we hosted Thanksgiving for a change. Absolutely everything was from scratch and very savory. The roasted rosemary sweet potatoes were so delicious that my down-south in-laws quietly remarked, "we could've brought the marshmallow casserole..." Guess not everyone enjoys a break from tradition :) Plenty enough to keep me humble! Green Chile (not jalapeno) brownies, just awful, no matter what the Frugal Gourmet promised...picture-perfect Roasted Turkey sliced at the table and dripping with bl--uh, yuckky red stuff... an eight-loaf batch of pumpkin bread batter crashing to the floor (she was "only trying to help!"... mistaking powdered sugar for instant flour when adding generously to my GRAVY!!!... and, just two nights ago, setting off the smoke alarm numerous times as my handmade butter pastry dripped off the pie and onto the oven floor -- did I mention it was midnight, and I was the only one up?