"If we are fortunate enough, some of us grow up in a home where we learn that real, fresh food, cooked by you or me or him or her is best."
This was a quote from the cookbook of one of my favorite food bloggers, Jessica Merchant.
I've learned that you don't fully appreciate home cooked meals until you are the one cooking the food, in your own home.
I was raised by a mom who cooked real meals most nights of the week (and a father who loved to cook breakfast anddd breakfast for dinner, often).
Mom was also raised by a mom who cooked nearly every meal, from scratch.
My mom, aunts, and grandmother have an uncanny skill to make everything taste great.
Like GUHHHHREAT.
Our holidays and family get togethers are basically a never ending feast of greatness.
Because of the incredible examples these women have provided, I've always wanted to be a great wife who cooks fresh, new, great meals often.
Josh cooked a lot in college.
He somewhat slacked off over the last few years saying he would start cooking once we had a "real" kitchen.
Although, he didn't let our lack of a real kitchen stop him from making a meaaaan steak (and also getting a second degree corneal grease burn in his eyeball)
Josh is a dabbler.
He comes across a new activity or feat and goes all out to learn every single thing he can about it.
He even learned Mandarin once.
Just for fun.
He has to have ALL the gadgets (which is why we have TWO entire closets of our house dedicated to Josh's hobbies and his latest dabble of the day).
I think it's sweet.
My current favorite dabble of his is his beer brewing obsession.
He's five years strong, so maybe it's more of a long leisurely dip in the pool than a simple dabble?
The last few months (thanks to our brand spankin' new kitchen) he has been hardcore dabbling in the art of fine food.
He's not making easy mac.
He's slaving over recipes that take hours of prep work and recipes that call for many hard to find (not cheap) ingredients.
We have polar opposite cooking styles.
I like great food that doesn't involve much prep work and includes few, cheap ingredients.
I can't complain one bit because he has yet to make something that I didn't like.
Seeing his enthusiasm and his love for the art of food makes me happy, but most of all I absolutely love how proud he is of his work.
After a meal he will ask at least 10 times, "Sooooo on a scale of 1 to 10 . . . "
I get it.
It truly makes you feel good to bake something "from scratch".
His long winded, complicated recipe ways are rubbing off on me.
Although, baking my first buttermilk pie from scratch recently didn't quite rub me the right way.
It was primarily my waistline that was hurting after realizing the insane amount of butter, eggs, and sugar involved.
Ignorance was bliss.
I know it can easy to get in a lull and feel like you are running out of things to cook.
I love sharing new recipes and finding other's recipes online, so if you are in need of some new easy meals then check out these links to some of our favorite meals and snacks:
Remember my food blogger girl crush Jessica Merchant?
I've made a bazillion of her recipes but I'm 99% certain this one takes the cake
I tinkered with this recipe for the sake of my carnivore husband and my cheese loving self.
I cut the spinach in half, added two shredded chicken breasts, and added extra goat cheese.
I'm really not kidding.
It's my mom's recipe and we've gifted it out for Christmas for the last million years.
The only descriptive term I have for this is crack-like.
Don't let the name or the intimidating recipe fool you.
This pizza involves roasted butternut squash, apple cider sautéed onions, bleu cheese, bacon, apples, cheddar cheese, thyme, and pumpkin seeds.
In the infamous words of my mother (who gave me this recipe):
You will eat it and you will like it.
It's no secret that our favorite local brunch is Smoke.
The chef Tim Byers isn't stingy with his recipes either.
His cookbook includes a recipe for every single thing in the restaurant.
I thinkkkkkk these pancakes are my favorite of all time.
Now, this recipe falls in the Josh category of slightly complicated and time consuming but well worth the time and effort (if you have it in you)
It's paleo/gluten free/sugar free/Whole30 blah blah blah
Basically, there's hardly any ingredients.
Pork, lemon & lime juice, chopped onion, some spices AND a crockpot!
How healthy of me.
I make this far too often.
It's so great because you can use it on tacos, nachos, or even on a slider with sweet potato "buns"
I now refuse to ever eat salmon any other way.
P.S. I don't have a photo because frankly, it looks kind of gross and I literally inhaled it before I could take decent photos.
Two of my absolute favorite things Josh has made lately are his shrimp & grits and chicken & waffles.
He's not quite ready to share his recipes soooooooooo until I can blackmail him, I guess you'll just have to stare at these pictures instead.
Clean the drool from your keyboard and try not to yell at me.
Just so we don't end on bad terms . . .
Did you know you can shred chicken in less than five seconds using your kitchen aid mixer?
Until a few weeks ago I didn't know this fun fact, and I'm kind of angry thinking back on all the hours I have wasted of my life.
Do you have any kitchen tricks or favorite recipes to share?
I'd absolutely love to know!
