Hello! My name is Becky Brown. I am a cook, gardener and crafter. Most importantly, I am a wife and mother. My roots are in Southern Illinois where I grew up on a family farm where I rode tractors with my dad, helped my grandfather in the garden and helped my mom and grandmothers in the kitchen. (Oh and I made mudpies with my sister.)
I grew up with a great appreciation for homegrown food, canning and preserving the summer’s harvest for the off season. I picked juicy, ripe berries in the strawberry patch, picked fresh dewberries on the bank of the Mississippi River, and I helped my grandfather grow the biggest, juiciest watermelons you’ve ever seen!
As with most families, food has always been the center point of our family gatherings. Whether a fish fry, barbeque or a potluck dinner in the church basement, memories of those delicious foods come to mind. I remember so many delicious dishes that each family member would bring to the gatherings. My mouth waters, just thinking about my Aunt Myrtle’s Oriental Rice Casserole or my grandmother’s Angel Food Cake with fresh strawberries.
Food has been not only been my passion, but it has been my career for the past 30 years. I have been a catering manager for a restaurant, for a university and for a hotel. In 1996, my husband and I took a giant leap of faith and opened a natural food store and operated it until we sold it in 2023.
After we sold the business, I felt lost, not being in the food business anymore. Since my favorite part of owning a natural food business was teaching people about natural foods, I quickly realized that I have many years of experience in the kitchen and that my knowledge could possibly help others who are just getting started in the kitchen or inspire seasoned cooks to expand their horizons. That’s the inspiration behind this blog.
I want to share with you the recipes that I prepare for my family and some of the foods that I grew up with and share my story about them. I hope you find this blog to be not only informative, but also a little entertaining too.
