Hi! I'm 18 years old and the second oldest of nine children. I was homeschooled, and am very grateful to my Mom, who has encouraged me in my love of cooking. I make more than half of the meals now, which I enjoy a lot. I've been accepted at a local technical school, where I'm going to pursue my love of cooking and hopefully earn my degree in culinary arts. I love cooking, but baking is definitely my forte. I enjoy creating new dessert recipes, especially brownies. Several of my creations have won prizes at the Wisconsin state fair; I guess it helps that I have so many willing taste-testers! I also love to make healthy foods...whole grain breads, soups, and salads featuring different veggies and grains. Every Christmas, my family and I make stollen from a recipe my Mom has adapted over a period of several years. I also make lots of Christmas cookies and candy; for the past two years now, I've run a little home business making and selling Christmas cookies around the neighborhood. It was a huge success this last year; I made over 5000 cookies! I guess my greatest cooking triumph was this year, when I won five blue ribbons and six big awards on one day at the Wisconsin State Fair! It was very exciting! Another triumph was when I won second place in the Hershey's brownie contest at the state fair several years ago; there were about 20 entries, and it was the first time I'd ever entered anything! I think that is what really got me hooked:) I've had my fair share of tragedies! I can create my own recipes for multi-layered desserts from scratch, but I can't seem to make a box cake! I had to make two cakes in three weeks; the first one I didn't add the correct amount of water, and it turned out very hard. The second was even worse; I switched the oil and water measurements! Let's just say that deep-fried cake did not become a new favorite at my house! And then there was the time I forgot to put sauce on the pizza. However, it was good enough that no one could figure out what was wrong with it until they were on their second slices!