I am a mom, a student, and a musician. I love to cook for my family and friends, and I am always looking for ways to make our favorites healthier. I've had IBS since I was about ten or so, and finally came to the realization that in order to live with it comfortably, I had to make some major changes to my diet. That meant cutting out all the fried, greasy foods, coffee, most red meat and dairy. I still am able to enjoy those things every once in awhile, but only in very small quantities. Which is okay with me - and my waistline! I love making Mexican dishes as this is one of my favorite kinds of food to eat! I am also always looking for ways to make any dish healthier and lighter while still tasting fabulous. I absolutely love fresh veggies and fruits, fresh salsas and salads are wonderful. I think the coolest thing I've ever made was a three dimensional Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake for my son's third birthday. My best girlfriend and I stayed up until about 4am the night before the party making it. I think all told it took about 16 hours to make. He will be four here in a few moths, so I've gotta come up with something to top it! I was once making spinach artichoke dip (which I've since perfected) and the recipe called for 8 cloves of garlic. For some reason I interpreted it as 8 heads of garlic! The dip came out tasting absolutely wonderful (I LOVE garlic!!) but I smelled of garlic for a couple weeks afterward... I didn't realize my mistake until my boyfriend came over and was sitting next to me on the sofa and said, "Uh... Have you been eating garlic?" I was mortified! And of course will never live it down!