About me

I'm Lori.

I never loved being in the kitchen.

And if you're like me and don't want to spend a minute more than necessary with meal or dessert prep, you've found the right place! Whether you're a busy parent, cooking for one, someone who likes to entertain without the stress, or a student in the dorms, these easy, low-maintenance recipes are for you.

A Little Background

I never appreciated complicated recipes with a lot of ingredients or instructions. When I was single, I made the quickest things possible: grilled cheese, cottage cheese with crackers, pasta, or sandwiches. And I never baked. Ever.

And when I had kids and they were young, they didn't care if I served them the same few things over and over. But as they got older, I had to learn to make something other than basic pasta and simple chicken meals. So, over the years, I learned to make many mains and sides-and I even learned to bake!

And while my family loves everything I make-truth be told-I still don't love being in the kitchen. So, I make sure that pretty much everything I make has simple prep and is overall easy-shmeezy.

My Learning Experience

Along the way, while collecting recipes for new dishes, I ran into two major frustrations:

• Too many tiny ingredients: A lot of recipes had a mile-long list of ingredients with quantities so small I was sure one couldn't even taste them. Also, they weren't items I normally kept in my pantry, so I would've ended up with a lot of random spices I would rarely use again.
• The "authentic" gimmick: I would often see recipes for dishes I was familiar with that were titled "authentic," but they included a ton of personal-preference twists that weren't necessary for the dish to be authentic at all. I thought that was completely unfair. How is someone new to a recipe supposed to know they don't really need to buy those 10 extra spices?
• Complicated instructions and steps: I don't do complicated.

I figured that I can't be the only one who feels that way. There have to be other busy people who don't want to take a ton of time with meal prep or those who just don't appreciate being in the kitchen or even beginners who are still trying to navigate the meal prep process.

That's exactly why I started this blog.

The recipes are typically simple and mostly use everyday ingredients you can keep in your pantry and use over and over again. Also, I try to share basic, straightforward recipes with additional ingredient ideas for adapting them to your own taste.

Kitchen Tip:

I always keep a wide variety of dried seasonings, spices, basic pantry staples, and freezer/fridge items on hand. Keeping a stocked kitchen allows me to prepare an incredible variety of low-stress meals without having to run to the grocery store or borrow from a neighbor.