Hi There!

My name is Chelsea and I'm a youngish woman living in the great Northwest.  I love cooking, baking, and of course, eating.

Over the years I've had people tell me that should start a blog and write about what I make in the kitchen. I've resisted blaming laziness, apathy, and the fact that there are already a zillion food blogs out there. What would set me apart? Why would anyone want to read my rants and raves and musings about food?

After a final urging from a friend I decided why not. At the very least it will be motivation for me to write on a regular basis and to share recipes and culinary experiences with friends and family.

Loving eating and cooking doesn't set me apart. Many people, especially in this post-"Julie and Julia" generation, like cooking and experimenting with food.

What does make me unique is that I am a borderline shopaholic and deal-lover along with being a full-on food fanatic. I am always thinking about what my next meal will be. I even dream about food, namely bread and cookies.

These traits don't combine well. What happens is I tend to buy stuff that looks good without a specific plan to use it. If this item is on sale then I'll get 3. Heck, I'll use it sometime, right? The result if I have 6 bags of brown sugar in my cupboard right now. 5 varieties of pasta. Several jars of salsa. One time last year I counted 7 cartons of ice cream in my freezer. You see where this is going.

On this blog I want to share tasty dishes for you to try at home. Because I'm a deal lover (AKA cheap) I like to spend as little as I can while getting the maximum quality. And considering my full cupboards due to my shopping problem and love of a good deal I would like to try to create dishes while cleaning out what I have on hand.

Writing this blog will be a kind of therapy for me because I enjoy writing and cooking and need to work on minimizing waste and using what I have which is a good lesson for all facets of life.

While I love a creamy, rich, carb-heavy meal as much as the next person I aim to make most of my meals nutritious and of course, tasty. The dishes we'll be making will be generally healthy, affordable, and hopefully pleasing to the palate.

Did I mention I love dessert? Well, I do. So we'll be making desserts on here from time to time, too.

I also love going out to eat. I get inspiration from foods I eat in restaurants and then try to recreate them at home. We'll be doing some of that, as well.

Thanks for joining me on this food adventure!

Chelsea