Meet Tina, The Mom in Mommy's Kitchen

Welcome to Mommy's Kitchen!
Hey y'all why don't you pull up a chair and stay while, there's always something yummy cookin in Mommy's Kitchen. What is Mommy's Kitchen you ask? Well it's just my little place in the blogosphere, kind of like my virtual kitchen sort of speak. You wont find anything frilly and nothing fancy in Mommy's Kitchen cause my kid's wont eat it. Just plain old family favorite foods with a little old fashioned recipes thrown in from time to time. Ya know, the foods your mom and grandma used to make, there's nothing better!

Who is Tina?
Well lets see, I am a wife, mother of three, penny pincher, domestic engineer , passionate food enthusiast, amateur food photog, and all around southern girl at heart. My days are filled with raising kids, cleaning house, endless loads of laundry and most of all doing what I love cooking, baking and blogging all about it.

I rarely have time to myself, but if I do get a moment alone then you don't have to look far. You can usually find me with my nose in a cookbook or in my kitchen baking. I grew up in the kitchen watching and learning from the best, My Mother. I was raised on home cooked meals and eating together as a family. Now that I am a mom I try my best to do the same for my own family.

I currently live in Texas and I have to admit my Heart ♥ is in the South and all the good Ole Southern Comfort Food that goes along with it. I have always been obsessed with recipes and cooking for as long as I can remember. As a little girl I remember sitting on the porch jotting down recipes from my mother and magazines, saving them to keep for the future when I had my own family. It was just something I loved to do. Food, me and recipes it just kind of went hand in hand.

Fast forward to today. My Children range in ages from 7 to 16 and share the same joy of cooking as I do. I try my best to get them involved in the kitchen as much as possible. I am thankful that my mother taught me how to cook at a very young age, so I want to do the same for them.

Our family relies on one income, so eating out to often can be an expense that we just cannot afford. I believe, some families eat outside of the home entirely to much. The amount of money you spend on fast food definitely adds up quickly. I think a lot of people have forgotten how important it is to cook at home and eat together as a family.


How Mommy's Kitchen started and who it's for?
Food blogging kind of just started as a hobby and quickly became something so much more for me. I take pride in being a frugal, penny pinching, home cookin stay at home mama. I quickly became passionate about my site and recipes. I wanted to share simple easy family favorite recipes with other moms out there in the Blogosphere.

I wanted other moms to know they too can cook great home cooked meals at home all by themselves. I wanted to help out others that were not as lucky as I was to have a mother to show them how to cook. I really wanted to get families back to the table sort of speak. I wanted to show everyone just how food and family can come together.

I want to get folks excited about cooking and not to dread mealtime. I wanted to let everyone know that if they are just willing to try, then they too can cook and prepare dishes to be proud of. I know myself, and I learn through visualization. So I have set up my site with step by step recipes in full photographic tutorial, this way anyone can follow along and learn.

The more recipes I added to my blog the more recipes people wanted. I couldn't believe that there was such a need for everyday family style cooking and recipes. I am so thrilled and tickled pink that people want to learn to cook. Because of this I am now such a passionate food blogger and doing what I love cooking, baking and sharing recipes. I'm not a professional cook by far and nor do I claim to be. I'm just a mom cooking in my kitchen trying to find my way and enjoying every minute of it.


A little bit about my photos & my kitchen:
I am not a professional photographer by any means, and don't claim to be. I also do not have anyone that takes my food photos. It used to be me and my cool pix, but now it's just me and my Cannon Rebel XS. Yep I finally got me a big girl camera, I feel so professional now. I'm still learning the in's and outs on picture taking but I am getting better.

Most times I just point and click and it all seems to work out. I think food is pretty and should be photographed as such. I mean if you want someone to eat it then it has to look tasty now doesn't it? My photos amaze me everyday at how great they turn out. Sometimes I cant believe I capture certain shots that I usually have to do a double take.

Now a couple facts about about my kitchen. Well, it is not very big and I'm limited on space so it's definitely not anything fancy schmancey. It may be small, but its all mine. I love my kitchen, but don't get me wrong I do long for something bigger. Don't all good cooks want a bigger kitchen. Oh well I know someday I will have the country kitchen of my dreams. Until then this is my small little place in the world and I love it.


The difference between my mother and I:
In Mommy's Kitchen I truly believe that the kitchen is not only where family meals are prepared, but also where memories are made with your children to last a lifetime. I remember growing up and cooking in the kitchen with my mother. Well more watching than cooking most times. My mom was the type of cook that never measured anything so jotting down recipes was kind of hard. My mother thought us kids needed to watch her cook more than help her cook.

Well in Mommy's Kitchen that's not how I do things. As you can see by the photos below, I always have a handy helper in Mommy's Kitchen. I want my kids to know that they too can help out in the kitchen and even mess things up a bit. It's all about keeping it real. Those are the memories that I want to pass onto my kids cooking and having fun all at the same time. Hopefully they will continue to pass on those traditions to their own children.

If anything I hope that my site will get you back in the kitchen and cooking. If you don't know how to cook or don't like to, I hope that you will give it a try. Cooking at times can be trial and error and sometimes you may even crash and burn, but that's OK. Just remember to pick yourself up, dust off your apron and keeping trying, I promise you will get it.

Everyone has to start somewhere there was a day that even I made a few disasters of my own and still do at times. I hope that my site and photos will inspire you to get into the kitchen with your kids and cook. I know one day they will thank you for it. Just give your kids a chance they will surprise you on what they can do.

Mommy's Favorite Reads!

Cookbooks of course! I have a huge collection, but my favorite ones have to be my Autographed Cookbooks from Paula Deen, Trisha Yearwood and The Pioneer Woman. I adore Edna Lewis and have a few of her cookbooks as well. Miss Lewis was the first original true southern cook.

I also have a soft spot for vintage cookbooks, soul food cookbooks and gooseberry patch books. I truly believe the way our grandmothers and mothers cooked is the best way to cook for your family. I know that they sometimes use fattening ingredients like butter. But you can always lighten up a dish by substituting. I just love cooking from scratch the old fashioned way. In the end you save so much money.


So grab a seat and something to eat!!! Cause there's always something good cooking in Mommy's Kitchen.



Gratefully,
Tina, The Mom in Mommy's Kitchen