I love to cook. When I was little, I had a dream of going to pastry school in Paris. My husband, The Doc, loves this and encouraged my passion in the kitchen by giving me a full chef’s uniform for a gift one time. And yes, I did love that. I’m the type who encourages people to give me appliances and cooking gadgets for gifts. When I was 18, my parents gave me a set Calphalon pots and pans that I still use to this day (lifetime guarantee!).

In my love of cooking, I experiment a lot. It’s rare for me to use a recipe twice. I mean, there are sooooo many recipes out there, why should anyone settle for eating the same thing twice? Even if I make the same dish a second or third time, it’s only the same dish “in theory” because I inevitably tweak by adjusting spices, ratios of ingredients, etc. I will still post recipes. Why? Because I realize not everyone is as experimental as I am and might want to follow something exactly. It just doesn’t mean that I will follow my own recipes ever again!

Over the past couple of months, I’ve switched my diet completely, from being a vegetarian to eating completely Paleo. Why? Health, mainly. For years, I’ve believed that a vegetarian diet with whole grains, veggies, and fruits were enough. But that meant eating processed foods and I never really liked that. (That’s why I cook and we eat at home most of the time…I know exactly what’s in the food and how fresh it is.) Going Paleo and eating meat isn’t so easy after 20+ years of being vegetarian, but it seems to be working out. The Doc is trying to be supportive, but Big A and Little A still want their mac and cheese, crackers, and oatmeal or cereal for breakfast. I’m in the process of converting them (little do they know…) because I’m the grocery shopper and if food isn’t in the house, they’ll have to eat what’s available!

I will post Paleo recipes that I make for my family, so that you can get an idea of the variety of things we try. With a 5-year-old and 4-year-old, I want them to be exposed to as many tastes and cuisines as possible. You will find some pre-Paleo recipes here for a while, but eventually I will take them off the site.

Speaking of those wee beasts, even though they aren’t babies anymore, I will also post some recipes for homemade baby food. I made all of the food my kids ate as babies, mostly from modifying recipes that I was trying out on myself and The Doc. After all, kids in other parts of the world don’t grow up eating rice cereal and gray-green jarred peas, so why should mine? My kids’ food was so yummy that their daycare teachers would “accidently” spill some on their fingers at lunch time so they could lick the food off themselves. Seriously…it’s that good.

If you try some recipes, please post how they turn out and give them a rating, 1-5 stars. And don’t be shy about sharing your recipes, too. I’m always on the lookout for something new to try.