packeyes

about me

New wonderful site I just discovered:


I am married to a wonderful man who gave me a premium membership for my birthday. As he said, he gets the biggest benefit from this membership, for $25 a year he gets to eat at a gourmet restaurant every night - our table

I love trying new recipes. During the day, when I have to be away from my kitchen, I spend my time teaching 8th graders math. This summer I am looking forward to making recipes from the veggies in my garden - especially tomato sauces. Last year I made quite a bit of spaghetti sauces. Now that I've made spaghetti sauce from scratch I can't touch that stuff from the super market! This summer I want to find some pizza sauce recipes. If you know of any good recipes for preserving fresh veggies let me know!

I have 3 cats who come running to the kitchen every time they hear a can open because they think it's cat food. The black one is Leila, The orange one is Sundrop (also known as Grover) and the gray one is Mist. Mist does not get along with the other 2 at all (she is old and set in her ways and didn't like to meet 2 new cats when my husband and I got married) so this picture is amazing that they are all that close and not fighting! They are very spoiled kitties.
http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/298757/IMG_6280.jpg

We also adopted a greyhound this past February. She is a rescue from the race track, though she doesn't have a racing history. If you are looking for a perfect, easy maintenance dog, rescue greyhounds are it! She was already crate-trained - so we don't have to worry about messes in the house. All she does is sleep and go out for walks with us. Even the kitties have warmed up to her.

I am always looking for new efficient tricks in the kitchen. My favorite kitchen "gadget" is my garlic grinder I got for Christmas.

Recipezaar has become my favorite website and 90% of the recipes I cook come from here. I am enjoying writing my recipes down. I am the type of person who just throws some of this and some of that in to cook together and it usually turns out good so it can be difficult actually narrowing down the amounts - if you use one of my recipes keep that in mind and please adjust to your tastes!

I am trying to get away from using the word "delicious", my husband pointed out to me that I use that word to describe every recipe I try. I can not cook without garlic, any recipe I try out that does not have garlic I add it in (except desserts).

The way I rate recipes:
5 stars - stellar, this recipe will be added into my weekly dinner rotation.

4 stars - very good, either my husband or I really liked it but the other one just thought it was okay.

3 stars - okay, I will make it very occasionally.

2 & 1 stars - I won't usually rate a recipe this low, I will just skip rating it. Different people have different tastes and I wouldn't want to upset anyone as I would be upset if I got that low of a rating on one of my recipes.

I usually try to put in my rating how I changed the recipe - this usually entails adding garlic.

I am trying to cook healthy and yet still delicious. I buy all organic meats and dairy and I try to on produce. I am very wary of all the hormones and additives put in food and ultimately would like to cook everything from scratch - although I know this is a pipe dream at this point in my life. I detest fast food, I really believe that fast food is ruining the health of the majority of America (that and T.V. - but I won't get started on that).

A photo of my husband and I prior to getting married. This was taken in Hocking Hills, Ohio - if you ever get the chance to go there - GO, it is beautiful, lots of hiking trails and beautiful scenery!
http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/298757/0856870-R1-039-18.jpg
One place to stay in Hocking Hills that has beautiful cabins and very nice ammenities: http://www.ashcave.com/index.htm

Favorite Foods:

My favorite dishes include Chicken and Rice With Bacon (my mother's recipe - a childhood favorite), recipes made with garden veggies, and yeast bread (when I have the time!)

My husband's favorite recipe that I cook for special occasions is Almond Crusted Salmon With Leek and Lemon Cream

My mom's page is: http://www.recipezaar.com/member/296050
Her recipes are good, usually heavy food that I think is great for winter. My chicken and rice recipe is actually hers - I just got around to publishing it before her!

http://www.recipezaar.com/members/home/298757/wedding.jpg