F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions
I made this FAQ because I’m often asked the same questions over and over again through email, so this might be easier. If you don’t see your question listed, feel free to contact me though.
**NEW** Was this blog on another website before?
Yes, it was. About 17 months ago, I registered this website and then found today.com which offered at the time, to pay me $5/post (a very easy $150 extra per month). It was much more than I was paying for the domain and the hosting combined, so I jumped on the deal and did not re-register the domain when it came due. In April 2009, today.com started treating their VIP bloggers terribly. You can read my review of the whole situation here. I quickly re-registered the domain name again, I was extremely pleased it was still available. So here we are, and I think this website is much better than where it used to be.
Where are you from?
St. Charles, Missouri
Do you really have five kids?
I’m the mother of five kids – two of them are mine, three of them are his and so together it makes for one nice large family of five kids. And one of those kids is honestly the pickiest eater I have ever seen in my entire life. That proves to be a real challenge when preparing meals, and of course because I love to cook. I was also very surprised at the amount of foods these kids had been exposed to when I moved in. Their lives consisted of Hamburger Helper and Bagel Bites. *sigh* I had to fix that. So with my love of all things cooking and baking and my desire to see these kids grow up experiencing good foods, I got to here.
How did you start cooking?
I actually cannot remember a time I wasn’t cooking. From a very early age, I received my own childrens cookbooks and my mother taught me how to follow a recipe. My favorite recipe as a child was for Ronnie Rooster Sugar Toast, which is honestly still a favorite with my kids today. I definitely need to add the recipe here.
As I got older, I found out how much fun baking was, and I enjoyed baking cookies, brownies and any other sweet treat for my friends and family. When friends spent the night, I loved to use cooking or baking as something for us to do together. My mother used to get Gourmet magazine so she did a lot of cooking from that, and I was exposed to many foods that children typically aren’t. While I did not like all of it, it definitely exposed me to foods I might not have otherwise eaten. I ate frog legs at 3 and requested them several times as a child. Escargot was a favorite when I was a teen.
When I got married the first time, I learned a whole new style of cooking – Cajun, as he was from Louisiana and they just cook differently, and I still often make those foods today. In my marriage now, I felt the immediate pull to introduce those three girls to a wide variety of foods, no matter how picky they were. I happen to love food, and I wanted to see his girls love food too. They were so used to bland, boxed and canned food – and that just wouldn’t do with my love of cooking.
What are your favorite cook books?
My favorites are the entire Taste of Home series. I use them often. Sometimes I even find a recipe that I change and make my own by adding or omitting ingredients to suit our taste. I’m also hugely addicted to cupcake cookbooks now, as its something fun to do with my kids and can make a boring old weekend afternoon, suddenly a whole lot more fun.
Do you read any cooking magazines?
Yes. I am slightly addicted. Taste of Home and Simple and Delicious are my favorites, but I tend to pick up old issues of others from the library from time to time.
How often do you cook?
Every single day, three times a day! I’m a mom with five kids, what do you expect?
What’s your favorite food?
That’s a hard one, because frankly, I love food. But honestly I really love seafood, so probably something with crab or lobster… Or anything chocolate for dessert…. especially chocolate cheesecake.
What’s your favorite thing to cook?
Appetizers I think are my favorite thing to cook. I love to make appetizers into whole meals, and often we do.
Will you post a link to my blog?
I am usually happy to exchange links if your link is relevant to my blog. If it has nothing to do with cooking and baking however, I am sure there are better places for you to find link exchanges. I will admit that I frequently go through my blog roll and remove blogs that are inactive. If you find a blog in my link list that is inactive, consider that I might have kept it for the content or recipes offered.
Will you review stuff for me?
I’m happy to do reviews for products that relate to the kitchen, baking and cooking. I have done everything from kitchen gadgets to small appliances to cookbooks and foods and spices. Feel free to contact me.
Can I post your recipe on my blog?
If you have tried the recipe and would like to share it with your readers, you may certainly share the recipe. I would however, appreciate a link back to the main page of my blog in the post somewhere. Please do not hotlink to my photos though.
I’ve tagged you with an award or a meme, are you going to post it?
Memes: I don’t usually do any on the blog unless they are specifically food related. Please don’t be upset if I decline to do one that you send, since this is primarily a recipe and food blog. Awards: I appreciate the awards, I really do – however I don’t know that I can accept every one. I like the blog to be very clean and full of recipes, so please again, don’t be offended – it is not personal.
Do you have a button so I can link back to your site?
I do. Yes. Here ya go.
