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The Blog:

Hi!  I'm Libby...a seasoned military wife, published food columnist, and busy stay at home mom.  With such a chaotic lifestyle, dinnertime can be a chore.  Who wants to be stuck in the kitchen making 10 or 11 ingredient meals every night?  The goal of this blog=to share quick, delicious, and comforting meals that I have made for my family.  Let me help you spend less time in the kitchen and more time with the ones you love.  Pull up a chair and join me through this journey, from my family kitchen to yours.  

This blog features recipes that have been taken from the files of my own treasured collection.  Some of them are dishes that I have grown up on and others are ones that I have just recently discovered.  You will find mouth watering desserts, quick and easy slow cooker meals, deli worthy soups/sandwiches, scrumptious easy breads, and everything in between.  You will also find helpful cooking tips and hints, as well as ideas on kitchen and food organization.  

I am not a professionally trained chef, just a mother and a wife who loves to cook.  There are no 'fancy-gourmet style' meals on this site, simply because I am not a fancy-shmancy type of woman.  Keeping it real is what I'm all about, especially in the kitchen. 

The Photographs:

Almost all the pictures that you see on this blog have been taken by either myself or my husband (mostly myself since he is gone during the day). My lovely husband is an amateur photographer and has taught me everything I know so far about picture taking.  His passion for photography matches my passion for cooking ;)  We shoot our pictures with a Sony NEX-5N (mine) and a Cannon 5dmarkii (his). I still have so much to learn in terms of taking pictures, so bare with me as I try to improve on this aspect of the blog.

My Cooking/Baking Philosophy:

Life is all about sharing those special moments with close friends and family, and for me, those special moments tend to be centered around learning how to create and cook homemade meals. It doesn't matter whether you are young or old, a beginner or experienced, it is my goal to get you in that kitchen.  

I believe anyone....absolutely anyone can cook.  Like my mama always used to tell me, if you can read, you can cook.  I try to look at cooking and baking as a journey that never ends.  You are always learning something new with each recipe you try and it's that very experience that makes it all worth while.

My Life:

I am a Military wife of 11 years to a Master Sergeant in the Air Force and am also a devoted stay at home mother to 2 beautiful children.  We reside in the great state of New Mexico.  I am the wife who greets our single Airmen at the door on the weekends with a plate of homemade cookies or a bowl of homemade soup. I am the mother who rounds up her children and teaches them how to make simple and delicious meals. 

Cooking and baking has been a part of my life for years.  I grew up watching my mother cook and bake in our beloved family kitchen.  She never let me help her cook and always designated me as her permanent dishwasher, however, that did not stop me from taking notes and watching her work her magic in the kitchen. 

I started baking birthday cakes (the boxed kind...hey, ya gotta start somewhere) at the age 14 and by the time I graduated college, I was making 3 or 4 ingredient meals on my own.  It wasn't until I met and married Husband Man when my culinary skills really started to blossom and those 4 ingredient meals turned into 5..and 6...and 7. 

Moving to our first duty station (Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana) really helped me blossom in terms of cooking.  I was 26 at the time and was so far away from home.  My days were filled with sprucing up our new place and getting to know the new city that was so unfamiliar to me.  I started devouring cookbook after cookbook after cookbook to kill the boredom that crept in every so often. Before I knew it, I found myself making those same meals in the cookbooks I studied each night before bed.  

It all became an obsession with me.  So much so that our close Military friends would introduce me to their families as "the best home cook" around town...saying, "if you want a yummy homemade meal, she's your girl."  Things just spiraled from then on and like they say, the rest is history :)  In addition to being the owner and writer of this blog, I have also contributed to a few local and online publications as a monthly columnist and an online staff writer.  I also write for Military Spouse Magazine Online.

Why I Wanted To Start A Blog:

I started this blog on a whims notice back in 2009.  I had been an avid reader of cooking/recipe blogs prior to starting this one, and I thought, "how fun would that be to try my hand at starting one myself."  Not only this, I wanted to make a tool of some sort for all my family and friends to access all of my recipes.  

Becoming a stay at home mom also fueled my creativity into overdrive and before I knew it, I was teaching myself the ins and outs of blogging.  Writing and digital scrapbooking have always been a passion of mine so I figured combining that with cooking/baking would make for an interesting blog.  It is everything I love (family, friends, cooking/baking, writing, scrapbooking) all rolled into one :)  

This blog has come a long way since 2009 and if you look over the archives, you will see some pretty historic posts...lol.  I have worked hard on making it what is today.  I am very happy with it and it has a following that I am very proud of. It is truly a labor of love.  I feel very blessed and honored that I can share my creations with y'all and take you inside my little world for a few minutes each day.  

I consider my kitchen to be the heart of my home and am glad that I have this opportunity to open mine up and share it with all of you.

Thank you for visiting Cooking With Libby :)