Welcome!

Hello there, my readers.

My name is Lesley. I am a 26 year old full-time graduate student and employee working in medical research. I am married to my best friend and have the coolest kitty and rat in the world. I enjoy many things, but to note: cooking, baking, knitting, photography, playing sports, playing board games, and bonfires!

God provides us with such great food and the taste buds to enjoy it...so I'm all about learning how to take advantage of such an opportunity. That being said, I have decided to make this a food blog, designed for logging recipes of meals and dessert I make! I am new(er) to this, but I am a biochemist so I see this battle field (the kitchen) as an extension of what I already do--mix chemicals and follow protocols/recipes! I've never really been inspired to write on the internet before (except for complaining, and there is enough of that, so I'll pass), so this is exciting for me. I really enjoy trying  to cook different things. We have to eat every day, so there will be plenty of material to write about. I have been trying to make new dishes once a week, and this blog will inspire me to continue that trend.

I have started building my recipe book for quite a few months now, so some things I post will be things I've done before, but when I am beyond those things it'll be all new! Therefore, it's definitely a learning process for me AND those reading. :-P I will try to give descriptions, post pictures, and my thoughts on the recipes and the outcome. Hopefully this helps others out there wanting to try new and easy meals. I am in no way a great cook or baker; I just follow recipes. So if I can do it, you can, too!

I will focus on:
1. "meals-for-two": since I am typically cooking for just my husband and me, but of course you can always expand the recipe to fit your need
2. from scratch, as much as possible (but sometimes you just need a really quick throw-together and those are good on occasion, too!)
3. healthy. for example, trying to use more natural ingredients while still being practical with what's available. please also note not ALL things are going to be super healthy (especially desserts haha) but I say "all things in appropriate moderation". I am also not a nutrition expert so I'm sure there are a lot of tweaks to recipes to make them healthier. if that's the case and you know it, please feel free to comment to educate me! I will try your suggestions next time I make the dish when it's feasible. :)
4. cheaper options for tasty meals. I figure this shouldn't be too difficult because anything home made automatically tastes better than not. My husb and I are both students and don't make very much, so this is pretty much a must!

It's safe to say little-to-none of the recipes I post will be original, haha. But this will be a compilation of what I try to make and (hopefully) a review of it. It's important to me to add a little variety in our diet and remain healthy! So this can serve as a log of options on what works (and what doesn't) for my family and may perhaps provide some insight for yours. We always sit down and make a menu for the week before we go grocery shopping, so it's nice to have a big list of entrees to choose from so we don't get too bored, recycling the same things over and over.

I just want to give a quick "thank you" to my mom who raised me on amazingly delicious home made meals. Our family was blessed to have a mom who loved to take care of us all and raised us healthy, and inspires me to treat my family the same. She is a great cooker and baker, and you can bet several of the meals I post will be things she has taught me. I hope to have her guest on here at some point! Which brings me to my last point:

I would also like to have guest bloggers if anyone would like to help out OR if you have a suggestion for a dessert or entree I should try and make! :) So just comment me or email me: lesleycalo@gmail.com if you would like to.