First up on the Guest Post Lineup is my very good friend, Kristi from Cooking Unbound!
Kristi and I have been going to church together for the past 3 years or so, and Wade and Davis are almost exactly the same ages as her two little girls, so we have lots of fun together. :)
Our friend, Sara and I threw a shower for Kristi in June last summer, and she and Sara threw a shower for me in August! We keep joking with Sara {who has three boys of her own} that it’s our turn to throw her a shower! :)
Kristi is one of the most genuinely NICE people I know, and she honestly MUST be a true saint for putting up with that hubby of hers, he he! Just Kidding! Calm down, Adam! :)
She is one awesome pianist as well as an incredible cook. She’s one of those people that is just annoyingly great at putting delicious and HEALTHY meals together!!! I only wish I had her skills!!! :)
She has a great new concept for a blog and is doing fab! You would never think she just started two weeks ago!
Thanks for sharing, Kristi!
Since I’ve been married (for 7 years now), I have developed a passion for cooking. I love to experiment with all different kinds of foods and flavors, but my favorite challenge is to cook from scratch with the freshest and healthiest ingredients possible in the amount of time that I have (with two little ones running around) and within the boundaries of a budget. The only way for me to accomplish that challenge was to read and experiment, learning how to take healthy recipes and substitute ingredients that I have in my pantry (so I don’t have to spend money on exotic items that I’ll only use once)while tweaking them even more so that I don’t have to spend more than 30 minutes in the kitchen. In other words, I had to be okay with unbinding myself from the printed recipe – hence the name of my blog,“cooking unbound.”
Recently, Renee asked me for a recipe, and I really didn’t have anything to give her except for a list of ingredients with the words “pinch of this,” “handful of that,” etc. That’s what got me thinking about starting a blog. The problem is that I very rarely measure – so I don’t always have exact numbers to give in my recipes – but I think that’s a good problem because I want to help other moms learn how to concoct their own “pinches” and “handfuls” to fit their pantry and their lifestyle, rather than being bound by the individual ingredients and measurements on the printed page. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to look in your freezer and pantry and come up with your own concoction on a whim?!
For example, as long as you have a few of these important ingredients in your pantry, you’ll be able to concoct delicious dishes such as spice-rubbed salmon and honey-mustard chicken.
Whenever I post a recipe, I always try to include notes about substituting and changing things up to suit your tastes or what’s in your pantry. I don’t ever want you to have to feel like you have to run to the store to pick up one thing that you don’t have.
It’s all about experimentation!
Here are some more pointers to get you started on your journey of being recipe-free, or at least a little less recipe-bound. Most importantly – remember to have fun in the kitchen!
I love that reading Kristi’s blog makes me almost feel like I can be an AMAZING cook like her!! I have learned a ton already! :)
Now go check out her great new blog and her facebook page and you’ll be inspired in the kitchen tonight!!!! Starting a new blog can be very overwhelming and discouraging at first… especially when you’re putting tons of work into posts without much feedback. Soooo… why don’t you all go make her day and leave her TONS of comment love??
