Getting to know me

I have been wanting to start a food blog for longer than I can remember but with the craziness of life and how busy things have been in the last year I haven't had the chance until now.

A little about me. My name is Meghan, I am married to my soul mate (who might just be the pickiest eater on the face of the planet-boo). I have the most beautiful 5 year old step daughter in the whole world. I am a registered nurse working 12 hour shifts in a busy ER. My husband and I recently relocated to the USA from Canada which I am super excited about because the grocery stores here are AMAZING.  I love all things nature, coffee, music, yoga, reading, red wine and reality TV, but most of all I love to cook. I love to try new foods, new recipes, new ingredients and new flavours. I love experimenting in the kitchen and making recipes that I find, more healthy, flavourful and delicious. I don't measure ingredients (although, I guess Ill have to start now) and its common for me to look at the base of a recipe and then do something totally different, which I have to say usually turns out pretty delicious (most of the time-although I have had a few epic fails). The rule I live by is pretty much the 80/20 rule- although sometimes, especially in the summer I feel like its more 70/30, which I am okay with.  I try to keep it healthy the majority of the time because thats what works for my body and my lifestyle, but I also indulge and I think thats perfectly okay too. If I eat healthy during the week, usually we do homemade pizza, pasta, burgers or something else not considered to be "healthy" on the weekends. My biggest rule of the kitchen? No processed foods. Or at least bare minimum. I hope that this blog shows all of you that delicious food is simple to make and does not take a lot of time to prepare. As I get moving along with my blog and posts, I will try and categorize my recipes so that you can easily find your perfect meal: whether its a quick weeknight dinner, a batch of something that you can make to meal prep for the next few lunches and dinners, vegetarian (although I am not a vegetarian, I do cook many vegetarian recipes because I feel as though there are many benefits to a plant based foods), date night or weekend food (the 20 part of the 80/20 rule). I am all about real food. I use cream, and butter and cheese all of the time, but I try and stay away from the processed food because I feel like even if something that I am cooking or eating isn't "healthy" that at least it is always good, real food with real ingredients.

If I have to give any new cooks in the kitchen some words of advice before they get started a new recipe, meal plan or just beginning to cook on their own, its have confidence. Don't be scarred of ingredients, don't worry about swaying from exactly what the recipe says. Add ingredients you love and take out the ones you don't. If you don't have everything in your house that a recipe calls for, most of the time thats okay. Taste as you go. Season according to your taste buds because at the end of the day the recipe needs to taste good to you. I promise that you will eventually learn the ingredients and flavours that go well together and before you know it you will be throwing meals together with ease.

Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions of recipes that you would like me to try and I will do my very best to make it happen. You guys will have to excuse my photos for the next little while. As I post more, I will try and really improve the quality of lighting and take multiple pictures while I am cooking so you can really see how the recipe comes together and what the finished product will look like.

xoxo