I got married at 19, so I knew nothing about how to run a house. When I quit working to finish out my bachelor’s degree (student teaching) and then to complete my master’s degree full-time, I decided it was time to take up the role of house wife. I started cooking slow-cooker recipes that could cook while I was at school and then I discovered I LOVE to cook. It’s how I distress. My mother-in-law was a wonderful help and this website gave me lots of new ideas to try. Now I’m the best cook in both my family and my husband’s family! I love cooking old-fashioned meals. I inherited a recipe from my mother-in-law for chicken and dumplings that is 5 generations old. I love fried chicken and salad wraps and anything Italian. Recently I’ve decided I’d like to be a great baker too because until now I’ve only focused on dinner-type meals. This Christmas break from school I intend to keep the whole neighborhood stuffed full of my baking experiments. Just last Christmas my sister came over and we baked lots of gifts for the family. She has since moved away but will come back for two weeks at Christmas, so we intend to make it a tradition. Once I realized I loved to cook, I now host Christmas day dinner and Easter dinner. Definitely the chicken and dumplings. It takes a good two hours plus to make, but it’s soooooo worth it. I also make the best fried chicken anywhere (according to my husband). It took 5 years to perfect the recipe. Homemade truffles. I just can’t get them to work. I tried to make a truffle tree one year where you stick the truffles on toothpicks and put them in a craft cone so it looks like a tree and I couldn’t get the truffles to harden. Very sad!