I am a semi-retired English teacher by trade, a wife to the most patient guy I know, a mother of two beautiful children–a 3 year-old girl and a 3-month-old boy, and a foodie by heart. I am thrilled to be able to combine my passion for words that being a student and teacher of the English language has lent me and my passion for food that spending year in a trade culinary program has lent me into writing on Bountiful Baskets’s blog. My food philosophy is that cooking from scratch can be just as easy as opening cans of super processed condensed soups and packets of MSG-laden seasonings, and a whole lot healthier too. I love Bountiful Baskets because the wide variety of ingredients forces me out of my culinary box and gives me cooking challenges every week–it’s the closest I’ll ever get to being a contestant on Chopped. Many of my recipes feature Basket ingredients that I’ve never purchased but that I was determined to make something yummy out of. You can read more of my recipes at newlywedscookbook.blogspot.com .