Chef~V

about me

I live in Central Valley California and love the small community town. I have been married to my best friend Ric for almost 20 years. We were blessed with 3 boys that keep me on my toes. My boys play football and are very active, which means, they're ALWAYS hungry!


I don't think there's anything better than spending time with family and friends and enjoying delicious food together.

I joined Zaar Sept 06' and have become addicted to the website ever since! My husband totatlly supports my addiction to Zaar as I am a stay-at-home Mom and work from home as a Web designer. I have made many wonderful friends whom I communicate with on a daily basis. There are so many terrific recipes on this site. If I'm looking for something, I'm sure to find it here. I do have stacks of my own favorite recipes which I am slowly but surely getting in my cookbooks here on Zaar. You can usually find me in the games forum tagging other recipes and reviewing them. I have had so many awesome reviews and photos taken of my recipes that is so much fun and exciting!


I was honored when the Beverage Forum asked me to join their team. I've been having a lot of fun hosting the Beverage Tag game. It's not just beverages, we're swapping recipes with a different theme every month. You can join us by clicking here

I also have the honor of starting up and co-hosting the Caribbean Forum Come join us as we will travel the Islands and experience the fabulous cusine.


I dedicate my homepage to my Mom and Sisters, whom I love dearly and equally share a passion for cooking and entertaining!


Everyone has something that they do best and for me it's cooking and baking. I can remember as a child standing in the kitchen watching my mom and grandmother making fresh cream corn. My sister's and I would get to help shuck the corn on the cob and watch as they made this favorite recipe. It was one of those family favorites that had a little bit of this and a little bit of that that made it extra special. I would eat it till I got sick and still didn't get enough. My whole family loves my aunt Phyllis' homemade bisquits and chocolate syrup made every morning to get us kids out of bed. To this day I will not buy canned bisquits because I know the satisfaction my family gets when I make them from scratch, rolling them and cutting them out still using my grandmother's favorite cookie cutter.


Extra good cooking (and baking) was an everyday occurrence as I was growing up. But without a doubt my sisters and I were accustomed to good cooking and baking. We all agree the best of the best was watching as my dad make his famous goulosh with ground beef and potatoes, how he got the texture just perfect was amazing. My dad loved cooking, he was always experimenting and enjoyed watching us girls and his grandkids eat up whatever he made....when there seemed to be nothing to make for dinner, he would go in the pantry, pick out a few ingredients and whip something up that was sure to please.


My Mom is no slouch in the kitchen either and that goes for all of my sisters and Aunts also. Mother was (and still is) my teacher, giving me many of the basics I use today and so much more. In my family, I guess it just comes naturally. My sisters love to cook and entertain, we enjoy getting the family together from anything from a fancy family hoe-down or luau to a simple backyard barbeque.


Some family favorites have been past down from generations and are still enjoyed today. Like my grandmother's "Nana's Thanksgiving Dressing or Strusal Yam casserole. Every year it is looked forward to by my family at thanksgiving. I remember watching my grandmother, my mom and dad and Aunts make this and I have become the expert now. They are the best recipes and one that my grandmother came up with herself. I invite you to look at these recipes and give them a try, you'll enjoy the many raves as I do every year making them for my family.


Everyone is so busy these days with getting the kids off to school to football practice and so on, who's got time to cook. I love my crockpot. It has become a lifesaver on time. I'm always looking for and trying new things with it so be Sure to check out my Easy CrockPot Recipes.


I love to experiment with recipes and make them my own. I've also been on a health kick lately and have tweaked recipes so that they are lower in calories and fat.

Cooking has been a passion for me for many years now and I would like to share my adventure of cooking with you. I am a member of an exclusive cooking club. One of the many benefits of this club is to test and review recipes, or to try out new gadgets coming out. My hope is that you will find recipes that will be to your liking, recipes that could be served at a family outing, when friends come to visit, holiday time or any time of day or even become a new tradition.


Hope you find something that sounds good and becomes a family favorite. Here are a few of my recipes other members have reviewed and photographed!















Chef I Am's Cake-A-Thon Recipes Memorial Thread

Favorite Foods:

I will only post recipes tasted by me or prepared by me. Another useful thing I do with my recipes is to name them. If you find a recipe that has someone's name on it, it is sure to be a hit. I do this so that I can remember whose recipes are shared with me and would like to give them credit where credit is due. Also, it helps me remember it was something special shared with me that I really enjoyed.


My all time favorite food is italian. I've come up with a lot of pasta dishes that my family loves, such as pizza casserole, italian meatball sandwiches and parmesan chicken that is awesome. I do love mexican food too! Check out my Enchilada Soup or V's Mexican Lasagna .
http://recipes.bestsimplerecipes.com/eRMS/Recp.aspx?recid=34915&r_d=y

http://recipes.bestsimplerecipes.com/eRMS/Recp.aspx?recid=34915&r_d=y