How I became "Chef Teebs"

Hello there, My name is Tabitha. I grew up with a fairly large family who loves food and fortunately my mother is an amazing cook. Dinner time at our house has always been very special. We sit around the table, pray before our meal and pass the dishes back and forth, share about our day, laugh, my brothers would lean back in their chairs and accidently come crashing back to the floor... we had so many great times growing up.

Since I was a young girl I was always involved in what was going on in the kitchen. My mom definitely inspired my interest in cooking and baking. I remember being upstairs and hearing the pressure cooker whistling and smell the savory spices of her famous roast beef sandwiches. I wanted one day to be a chef.

For career day in elementary school I borrowed my mom's uniform from the bakery she worked at and wore it proudly to class. In junior high I joined the after school cooking club and ended up getting the Home Ec award. I was so honored! In high school I began baking cookies regularly and would bring tupperware full of cookies and hand them out to everyone. Everyone told me I should be a chef. I was sorta shy in high school and found this to be a way to connect with the people I always wanted to talk to. Junior and senior year I completed the Culinary Arts program they offered at the local community college. It was an interesting experience... After trimming the fat off huge slabs of meat, I knew i had no interest in becoming a typical chef. We did a lot of cake decorating and pastries and I always enjoyed that the most. I also joined the Cooking Club of America and am now what they call a "lifetime member." which means I got an apron with my name on it, their magazine subscription for life, a bakeware set, and other cool stuff. I recommend it. www.cookingclub.com

My mom and i loved watching Martha Stewart together and seeing all her "good things." I noticed she often had children as guests on her show and so I thought maybe I would write her a letter and see if I could make my much loved Pizza Cookie recipe as her guest on her show. Sent the letter. Got one back. Told all my friends. Come to find out, I ended up being added to her "files" in case she needed me someday.. sad. So I formed my own cooking club in high school to respond to all the requests from friends, "Teach me how to cook!" And the adventure began... I was Chef Teebs. 

Nowadays, I'm busy busy in the kitchen, concocting vegetarian recipes of all kinds. I'm on a kick right now going through all my cut-out-of-magazine recipes i've been collecting all these years and tossing them if they are no good and discovering variations and twists to make them even better.  Join me as I embark on this flavorful scrumptious journey.. mmm.. mmm. mmmmm!