ME; the convenient cook

i grew up on healthy foods, thanks to my beloved mom. she was amazing when it came to serving my brother & i the most natural foods she could find. it wasn't too hard, growing up in Santa Cruz - but i know she sacrificed much of her hard-earned money to create healthy meals. i guess you never really appreciate those kinds of things, until you attempt to do it for your own family (thanks mom!). when we were first married, we made lots of simple meals - trying to learn new recipes along the way. most of my cooking skills consisted of thawing out some meat, adding some spices/pre-made sauce, steaming/stir-frying some veggies, making rice/pasta out of a box (complete with flavors), or the good ol' barbeque! i thought i was an OK cook, but i knew there was more to learn! not until we moved half-way-across-the-planet did i realize how little i knew about cooking. herein lies the journey.