HELLO THERE, AND WELCOME!

I'm Carrie, and this website was started for my kids who have begun to leave the nest. I wanted to provide a way for them to prepare their favorite meals from home, with a little help and instruction if needed, and this format seemed like a perfect fit. I have been compiling, personalizing, creating, and reworking recipes for over 20 years, and I'm thrilled to open my collection to you!  My Midwestern roots have me hard-wired for meat and potatoes, so you'll find plenty of hearty recipes here, and I'd like to think my "passion" for baking also shows up. There are some elaborate and time-consuming recipes I love to save for long, lazy weekends, but, I'm also a real person with struggles, life, and responsibilities outside the kitchen where it's a priority to get dinner on the table in under 30—and there are plenty of those recipes here, too!

One of my kids recently paid me a back-handed compliment while standing in the pantry, bemoaning the lack of convenience foods, "We're a house of ingredients only, Mom." Now, don't get me wrong, there are still (and always will be) potato chips and boxed brownie mixes that line those shelves, but as we learn more about the food industry and how manipulated and processed our foods have become, cooking from scratch to know from start to end what ingredients are in meals compels me. I'm also a firm believer in splurges and moderation, so beef, bacon, chocolate, butter, cream, and sugar are scattered about, as well. Convenience is also a factor, and you'll see that with my use of rotisserie chicken, pre-minced garlic, and pre-cooked bacon crumbles, to name just a few. If any of these ideals align with your "food philosophies" or palate, this is the place for you! So, thank you again for stopping by, trying out a recipe or two, subscribing to weekly emails, and sharing this site with your family and friends. Now simmer down, look around, and let's get cookin'! ♡c

​

       4/29/25 UPDATE: For the most part, we believe "change" is a good thing! The recipes you make from this site are the very ones I feed my own family, and as time goes by, flavors may change, techniques improve, or mistakes may even be caught (let's hope there aren't too many of those!). You may have recently noticed a little blue checkmark on a few recipe images and text at the bottom of some Category pages. This means I've updated the recipe with a new technique, a missing ingredient, a new ingredient, or I've modified existing ingredients. If you scroll to the end of the recipe, you'll find exactly what was updated and when.