I recently moved to the midwest this year and finally have a home of my own and a kitchen I can go crazy in. Hallelujah! It's been a long time overdue. My main cooking goal is figuring out which recipes are essentially vegetarian but can have meat added to them easily after the dish is made. I am married to a vegetarian, and I am trying to be a vegetarian, so it has been a challenge to figure out what works for both of us. He is also an avid gardener, and we have a pretty good sized garden, so the veggies he grows are going to be a very welcome addition to the kitchen. 

I love, love, love potatoes. We both love tomatoes, and pretty much every vegetable in existence. We are salad eaters, though we don't mind a big old pizza either!  I am a fan of hearty foods - chilis, casseroles... heavy stuff. He loves pretty much anything with fat, sugar, grease, and cheese (how he stays so skinny is absolutely beyond me). Due to back problems, I can't stand in the kitchen for a long time, so I tend towards fast and easy recipes. This limits my options greatly so I try to prepare the ingredients well in advance so they are at the ready. The crockpot gets a lot of use in my kitchen, but I want to explore past the crockpot. I am also pretty busy so it is an added challenge to do so.