Have you wondered who that lovely lady is behind the camera in the photo above? The one responsible for giving us those wonderful Sugared Cranberry Pecan Shortbread cookies above, which are a delicious cross between Pecan Sandies and Walkers Shortbread? Well, wonder no more. Today, we’ll all get to meet Nicole, known to us here at Tasty Kitchen as Noshings.

Nicole describes herself as “thirty-er … something and mother to a wonderful daughter who also loves to cook.” That she and her daughter share a passion for cooking isn’t surprising, since Nicole derives inspiration from her own grandmother, who she says could make great food with almost nothing. In addition to sharing her recipes in her Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box and her food blog Noshings, she also owns an online fashion accessory shop on Etsy named Accessoire. Nicole tells us that it keeps her very busy, but that she loves it.

Her first love, though, is cooking, and fortunately for us, she loves taking photos of food, too. She admits that she’s a perfectionist when it comes to recipes, and insists on posting only those that she considers “totally yummy.”

One look at her Biegnets below, and obviously, that’s working to our advantage.

 
 
 
Her recipes clearly show her creative side, from using a mason jar to make frappuccino (a recipe surprisingly called … Mason Jar Frappuccino) to re-purposing a disposable cup to make delightful, calcium-rich Yogurt Popsicles that both kids and adults will enjoy.

 
 
 
Her favorite ingredients are sugar, butter, chocolate, and vanilla (she insists that it must be GOOD vanilla), and looking at what she can do with them, as seen in her Cheesecake Fudge below, I’d say I’d always want to make sure she has those in her cupboard.

 
 
 
As much as she loves those ingredients though, it’s sour cream that she absolutely must always have on hand. She says she uses it for anything from pound cake to mashed potatoes.

Although her recipe box does contain a lot of sweet recipes (double meaning intended), don’t miss her equally-delicious savory dishes, like her Chicken Mexicali below. Doesn’t that just look absolutely mouth-watering?

 
 
Okay, enough of making each other hungry. At least, for a few minutes. Let’s ask Nicole some questions, and maybe even get a culinary confession out of her.

 
Q: What’s your go-to dish or meal?
A: Green chile chicken enchiladas, hands down, no contest.

 
Q: What is your favorite kitchen tool?
A: My pressure cooker. Pinto beans in 20 minutes, are you KIDDING ME??

 
Q: What gives you the most trouble in the kitchen?
A: Getting fondant smooth on a cake. I tend to get those aggravating air pockets underneath! ARRRGGGGGGH! Don’t you hate it when your cake looks like it has the mumps? So, I’ve been making bakery style cakes. No one cares if your whipped cream icing is a little messy.

 
Q: Most memorable kitchen flop ever?
A: Ok, so confession time? I removed a glass casserole dish from a hot oven that I had melted butter in for a “Dump Cake” and … um … dumped the can of pineapple in and it just exploded. Yeah, that was one of my crowning moments.

 
Q: Give us one of your favorite kitchen tips that you wish you’d always known.
A: In order to cut fudgy brownies with almost no hassle whatsoever, use a plastic knife. It glides right through the brownies without ripping them to pieces, even when they’re still hot!

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Thank you for answering our questions, Nicole! I think there might have been two confessions in there, but don’t worry. No one’s counting.

To see all of Nicole’s recipes here at Tasty Kitchen, check out her Recipe Box and prepare yourself for all the yumminess in there. You can also visit her food blog Noshings, and her Etsy store Accessoire, where she has, among other things, handmade soaps that look almost good enough to eat.

 
It always comes back to food, doesn’t it?

 
She’s a food writer and recipe developer whose passion for food is unmistakable. So is her creativity, as well as her pursuit of authentic Italian recipes, like her Chicken Marsala that you see above. Her name is Paula Jones. We know her here as bell’alimento, and today, we’ll all get to know her a little better.

Paula, as you probably already know, loves any and all things Italian. She was born in Georgia, but with a father in the military, she had the great opportunity to travel wherever the Air Force sent them. One of those assignments was Italy, and for her it was love at first sight (or love at first landing). After years of living there (she’s fluent in Italian) and subsequent trips to visit, she’s learned quite a bit about authentic Italian cuisine. She shares her recipes with us here at Tasty Kitchen and in her blog, bell’alimento. (Bell’Alimento is Italian for “beautiful food.”)

Her approach to food is anchored in the belief that beautiful food doesn’t need to be complicated. She loves using simple, quality ingredients, which is evident in some of her simple recipes below for common homemade items.

Clockwise from top left:Limoncello, Homemade Vanilla Extract, Lemon Curd, Homemade Ricotta, and Mascarpone.

 
 
 
Paula loves the creativity in cooking. She says the process of preparation, bringing ingredients together, stirring, simmering and cooking that results in something that the entire family can enjoy together is both therapeutic and rewarding. I say that if I had any of the main courses below, even just the eating part would be therapeutic and rewarding. She has more than the typical Chicken Marsala and Chicken Cacciatore in her recipe box. Believe me, she’s got much more.

Clockwise from top left: Pepper Encrusted Steak, Roasted Leg of Lamb, Lobster Risotto, Chicken with Olives, Chicken with Rum, Lamb Stew, and Veal Chops.

 
 
 
She also has the sides and starters to complement any main course. From soups to salads and vegetable sides, any one would make a light meal in itself.

Clockwise from top left: Peas with Pancetta, Polenta Cakes, Tuscan Onion Soup, Spinach Salad with Walnuts and Craisins, Cauliflower au Gratin, and Stuffed Mussels.

 
 
 
Of course, an Italian recipe box wouldn’t be complete with pasta. She’s got an impressive selection there too, ranging from elaborate seafood linguine to a spaghetti dish so simple it only calls for four ingredients.

Clockwise from top left: Fettucine Profumate, Spaghetti Aglio Olio e’ Peperoncino, Seafood Linguine, Pasta alla Norma, and Pasta au Gratin with Vegetables.

 
 
 
Paula also has a wicked sweet tooth. Although her Microplane grater is hands down her favorite kitchen tool (she grates a lot of cheese), her KitchenAid stand mixer is a close second. Which is a good thing, because then we get to enjoy some of the delicious desserts below from her recipe box.

Clockwise from top left: Cannoli, Struffoli (Honey Balls), Lemon Gelato, Crostoli, and Panna Cotta

 
 
 
But do you know what she loves most of all? That one thing that she always has to have on hand? Nutella. In fact, if she were starving and only had 3 minutes to make something, she’d make a Nutella Strawberry Panino. I, for one, am glad she’s a self-proclaimed Nutella-holic. Just … just try to look at the collage below and tell me it doesn’t make you want to grab a jar yourself.

Clockwise from top left: Nutella Creme Brulee, Nutella Caramel Hazelnut Brownies, Chocolate Torte with Nutella Mousse and Raspberries, Chocolate Nutella Molten Lava Cake, and Panna Cotta alla Nutella.

 
I rest my case.

Paula shared a few other interesting personal tidbits about herself, so let’s hear from her directly and get to know more about the awesome lady behind all these wonderful recipes!

 
 
Q: Tell us a little more about yourself.
A: I try to convince my family daily that we need a vacation home in Italy. I am addicted to my cell phone, I love Cinnamon Altoids, and don’t ever leave the house without lip gloss! I have a shoe and bag problem. I am fascinated by all things hot pink (both my laptop and cell phone are hot pink). Something that few people know about me is that I am enamored with the PBR (Professional Bull Riders Association). Gasp. Yes, it’s true. Really. My favorite bull is Chicken On A Chain! I would love to secretly go to the PBR Finals to cover what the cowboys are eatin’, but don’t tell.

 
Q: Do you have any favorite chefs or food celebrities? Who inspires you?
A: My mom and grandma were huge cooking inspirations. I learned what a pinch, a smidge, a dash and a little bit were from them!

 
Q: What is your go-to dish or meal?
A: Spaghetti alla Carbonara any day of the week.

 
Q: Do you have a memorable kitchen flop?
A: Well, I try to put those out of my mind, but my family assures me there have been some. Most recently, it was a fish dish that they made me promise not to ever make again.

 
Q: What gives you the most trouble in the kitchen?
A: Making gravy. I just can’t do it, much to the dismay of my very southern mother.

 
Q: Is there something that you always make at home and never buy at the store anymore?
A: Pesto, and now jelly! I have recently started canning and am hooked! Who knew it was this easy? Clearly my grandmother’s generation was on to something. Next up, I’ll be tackling canning tomatoes from my garden.

 
Q: Give us one of your favorite kitchen tips that you wish you’d always known.
A: Don’t be afraid to experiment! Some of the best meals are accidental.

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Thanks, Paula! And now, I’m off to Google “Chicken On A Chain.”

 
Take a peek into the bell’alimento recipe box here at Tasty Kitchen. It’s bulging with mouth-watering recipes that your family is sure to love. Then visit her blog, bell’alimento, for even more of her cooking. Oh, and in her spare time, she also freelances as a contributor for another Paula: Paula Deen.

 
Having this lovely lady at Tasty Kitchen gives us real street cred and it means we get some pretty amazing recipes like the one you see above. She’s multi-talented, a world traveler, and we’re happy to introduce her to you today. Say hello to fujimama!

Rachael is fairly new to food blogging, though it certainly doesn’t show. She started her blog La Fuji Mama while in Tokyo, after her first “Fujiling” was born. It wasn’t a food blog until they moved back to the U.S. about a year and a half ago. She has a BA in French, studied in France, and graduated from law school here in the U.S. She loves to travel and has lived in many places around the world, including Southern California, Salt Lake City, Memphis, Paris, and of course, Japan.

Her girls are known on her blog as Squirrel and Bug, and don’t worry, those aren’t meant to be food references, although she confesses that she’ll eat anything and has eaten some pretty “different” stuff. Her children’s blog names are a result of having grown up with a dad who loved the outdoors and animals. “As a result,” she says, “we always had a menagerie at home that always included a healthy assortment of reptiles.” This included a 6-foot gopher snake that once escaped from his terrarium and found its way onto her bed and in her hand as she pulled up the blanket in the dark. “I’m proud to say I did not scream.” But she adds, “In contrast, if I see the teeniest little spider, I will scream.”

The list of “different” foods she’s tried is quite impressive indeed: pig’s blood jelly in Hong Kong, sweet and sour camel meat in Beijing, and hachinoko (bee larvae) and zazamushi (stonefly larvae) in Japan, to name a few. (Yes, she said those were just a few.) She loves spicy food and declares that she has yet to eat something that is too spicy for her.

You won’t find a killer spicy dish below, and in case you were wondering, there’s no larvae either. What you will find, though, is pure deliciousness.

Clockwise from top left: Slow Cooker Kalua Pig, Grilled Chicken with Tangy Miso Honey Mustard Sauce, and Tofu Steak.

 
 
 
One thing I really enjoy about Rachael’s recipes and posts is that she de-mystifies many Japanese dishes that we might find too daunting to attempt in the kitchen. From sushi rice to egg crepes to Japanese pickles, she lets us know how simple they really are to make.

Clockwise from top left: Sweet & Sour Mushrooms, Quick & Easy Edamame Dip, Sushi Rice, Usuyaki Tamago (Japanese Egg Crepes), Carrot Sesame Salad, and Kyuri Asa-zuke (Japanese Lightly Pickled Cucumbers).

 
 
 
Rachael’s recipe box here is also stocked with wonderful soup recipes. Not only does she explain how to make great miso soup but she also has a post on how to make dashi stock, which will take your homemade miso soup to new heights. As for me, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the oyster soup below ever since I first saw it.

Clockwise from top left: Hamaguri Ushio-jiru (Japanese Clear Clam Soup), Miso Soup With Butternut Squash, Poached Eggs, & Spinach, Kaki Zosui–Oyster and Rice Soup, and Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup.

 
 
 
Rachael’s repertoire isn’t confined to Japanese cuisine and she has the Spaetzle and Lentils to prove it, a recipe handed down from her German grandmother. When Rachael and her husband lived in Memphis, Tennessee, she fell in love with Southern cooking and Memphis-style barbecue. Her go-to meal is a simple roasted chicken stuffed with a quartered lemon and rosemary, served with steamed vegetables and homemade bread.

 
When it comes to sweets, she’s a chocoholic all the way. “I know something has gone horribly wrong if I have actually run out of chocolate.” When pressed for time, she’ll snack on slices of banana spread with Nutella. Lots of Nutella. (She made sure she specified that.)

Clockwise from top left: Churro Wontons with Salted Butter Caramel Dipping Sauce, Orange Blossom Sables, Coconut Honey Rice Pudding, Gold Kiwi Cream, and Hug & Kiss Cookies.

(Sometimes, late at night, I still dream of those churros.)

There’s so much more to learn about Rachael and I’ll let her do the talking this time. Floor’s all yours, fujimama!

 
 
Q: What do you enjoy most about cooking?
A: The whole process. I love doing anything that involves creating something using my hands, like knitting or playing the piano, so cooking fits right in. There’s something about chopping, stirring, kneading, and watching as a dish comes together that brings me joy. I find the cooking process to be invigorating and therapeutic all at the same time.

 
Q: Any favorite chefs or food celebrities? Who inspires you?
A: The three people who have had the biggest culinary influence on me are my mother, my paternal grandmother, and my dad. My mom and grandmother are both amazing cooks and constant sources of inspiration. If I need a good recipe, I can always rely on one of them to supply me with one. My dad has always challenged my palate by encouraging me to try new things and is always good at thinking outside of the box. As far as other favorites, I love Julia Child because of her determination and spunk. I also love Elizabeth Andoh, who has been a huge source of inspiration over the past year as I have worked through her book, Washoku, and have had the privilege to get some feedback from her.

 
Q: Do you have a memorable kitchen disaster to share with us?
A: My first solo foray in the kitchen was in elementary school. My mom was out of town and I wanted to cook up something special to serve upon her return. I flipped through her red and white checked Better Homes & Gardens cookbook and found a recipe for petit fours that I decided to make. I made the cake without any problems, sliced it into little squares, and then looked at the recipe for the glaze that was supposed to cover each square of cake. The recipe called for both granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar and I was stumped. I had no idea what confectioners’ sugar was. I was young enough that I had only ever heard of powdered sugar and had no idea that there was another name for it. So, I decided to just use granulated sugar twice. To make matters worse, I decided to make the icing a horrible Pepto-Bismol pink. The result was a horrible slushy grainy icky pink goo that I then slopped onto my squares of cake. Of course the “icing” did not set, it just oozed down the sides of the cake and soaked into the cake making it mushy and unappetizing. I knew that I had a problem but had worked so hard that I proudly served my creation to my mother when she got home. She praised me on my work and proceeded to eat several pieces. To this day I have no idea how she was able to do so with a straight face.

 
Q: What is your favorite kitchen tool?
A: My wooden spoon. I don’t know what I would do without it. I use it for everything important like making bread and toffee.

 
Q: What food item do you always make at home and never buy at the store anymore?
A: Miso soup, including the dashi (sea stock)—no instant granules for me! Making dashi is so much easier than people think. It’s way easier than making any other kind of stock, whether it be chicken or vegetable stock. It only takes 15 minutes and 3 different ingredients!

 
Q: Give us one of your favorite kitchen tips that you wish you’d always known.
A: Use a thermometer when baking bread to see if it is ready to come out of the oven. Bread is ready to come out of the oven when it reaches an internal temperature of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Thank you to Michael Ruhlman for teaching me that one. I always love seeing the needle on my thermometer hit 200 and knowing I can pull it out and not worry about cutting into it and having it be a doughy mess.

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Thanks for answering our questions, Rachael! I knew my thermometer had to have another use other than testing my home water heater.

 
Rachael has a Tasty Kitchen recipe box that’s full of wonderful recipes and, as you’ve seen, they’re not all necessarily Japanese dishes. There’s more in store for you in her blog, La Fuji Mama, where you can find more delectable food and also see pictures of her adorable girls, Squirrel and Bug.

 
This week, our featured member is Rebecca, who not only is a food blogger but also a part-time cooking teacher, occasional caterer, a writer of a food and family column for the Traverse City Record-Eagle, an avid do-it-yourselfer in the kitchen (as evidenced by her Homemade Cultured Buttermilk seen above), and a homeschooler of her five children, all of whom are boys.

I’ll pause a moment and let that sink in for a while.

Rebecca Lindamood, known here simply as Rebecca, refers to herself as a former full-time cook. With five perpetually hungry boys, she can probably drop that “former” tag. In her blog Foodie with Family, she shares that her first venture into “experimental cuisine” involved serving her parents Cocoa Krispies in orange juice, reasoning that orange and chocolate pair well together. That she was inspired to serve her parents what she believed to be a “gourmet snack” is testament to the fact that they were the ones who, as she says, “ignited her passion for adventuring with her food.”

That passion can be seen in her list of favorite ingredients, a list that includes garlic, onions, basil, thyme, habaneros, jalapenos, cilantro, dark chocolate, yeast, flour, and anything sweet that she can hide in her apron pockets to eat while the kids aren’t looking. Given that she refers to herself as a self-employed baker and cheesecake artist, I’m trying hard not to envy those apron pockets if they get to hold some of the sweet delights below.

Clockwise from top left: Hot Chocolate on a Stick, Baby Grand Marnier Cheesecakes (talk about cheesecake artistry!), Pumpkin Pots de Creme, and an incredible-looking Blueberry Tiramisu.

 
 
 
Rebecca takes it as a personal challenge to replicate store-bought items, and make them better. Some of the items that she never purchases anymore are pickles, jam, buttermilk, barbecue sauce, ricotta cheese, beer, and bread.

Given that she lists yeast and flour as some of her favorite ingredients and bread as one of her always-homemade items, it’s interesting to note that making quickbreads (like banana bread and zucchini bread) is what gives her the most trouble in the kitchen. She calls it her “eternal shame,” confessing that she simply cannot master them. “I think my trouble is that I overthink them. Or overmix them. Or over-something them.” But one look at her non-quickbread recipes below, and it’s clear that when it comes to yeast breads, this part-time bread baking instructor is in her element.

On the left: Garlic Butter Crusty Bubble Bread. On the right, from top to bottom: Asiago Herb and Garlic Bread, Spicy Chicken and Extra Sharp Cheddar Calzones, and Bread: Fully Loaded.

 
 
 
You might wonder what a busy mother of five boys likes to make as a go-to dish, and for Rebecca, it’s either Cuban Pork made in the slow cooker (paired with mango salsa), or homemade pizza. And if you might assume that cooking for a household of guys means that her Tasty Kitchen recipe box is filled with mostly man-food, you’d be pleasantly surprised. Check out some of the wonderful appetizers that you can find in her recipe box.

Clockwise from top left: Mediterranean Hummus Pizza, Recession Caviar, cute little Spanakopita Dip and Mini Spanakopita Phyllo Cups, Chicken and Pork Potstickers, and South Carolina Barbecue Sauce, Kansas City Sauce and Pulled Pork Sliders. Okay, that last one can pass as man-food, too.

Getting hungry yet?

 
 
 
Outside the kitchen, Rebecca says that she spends her spare time “reading, running (slowly), playing piano (badly), and figuring out ways to avoid doing anything resembling housework.” Yep, she’s funny, too.

So now it’s time for us to turn things over to Rebecca, and have her answer some questions. (Maybe we’ll find out if there’s something that’ll trump that Cocoa Krispies with orange juice incident.)

 
 
Q: What do you enjoy most about cooking?
A: I love that my grand obsession allows me to be both precise and artistic at the same time that I’m nourishing my family. Talk about multi-tasking. You can’t beat that with a stick.

 
Q: Any favorite chefs or food celebrities? Who inspires you?
A: I learned to cook by hanging out with my grandma, mom, dad and aunties in the kitchen. My parents ran a Christian camp where we cooked three meals a day (and snacks) for about 150 campers all summer long. It was a fantastic education and my culinary teachers were the best. As for celebrity chefs, I might just have a little food nerd crush on Alton Brown.

 
Q: What is the strangest food or food combo that you really, really enjoy?
A: Gorgonzola cheese and chopped black seedless grapes on hamburgers. I’ve been banging the drum on this for ages. It is my all-time favorite burger combination. Don’t laugh! Just try it once and you’ll be convinced.

 
Q: And what if you had to eat something RIGHT NOW, and had only 3 minutes to get it ready? What would it be?
A: Sourdough pretzels dipped in cream cheese. I’m easy.

 
Q: Do you have a most memorable kitchen flop ever?
A: In a word: durians. We bought a durian for my mother as a 50th birthday gift. (My mom likes food adventures and it was a fruit none of us had seen before.) We broke it open in the middle of the party and passed pieces around to anyone who stayed after smelling it. I think I was the only one who actually swallowed a bite of it. It remains the only food about which I’ve ever had nightmares.

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Thanks for answering our questions, Rebecca!

 
You can browse Rebecca’s recipe box here at Tasty Kitchen to see more of her delicious recipes. And although getting warmer outside, don’t miss her Loaded Baked Potato Soup or Taco Soup if an unexpectedly chilly day comes upon you. Those soups are hearty, filling, and warm you inside out. While you’re at it, check out her food blog as well, Foodie with Family, which is packed with great recipes and some interesting stories behind those wonderful dishes.

  Shaina Olmanson, known to us here at Tasty Kitchen as foodformyfamily, is mother of four who knows a thing or two (or twelve) about cooking from scratch. Growing up very close to both sides of grandparents, she has many fond memories of watching her Yugoslavian-born grandmother work her magic in the kitchen. Her first […]

  She’s a beautiful lady, inside and out, and we’re so glad she shares her recipes with us in our little cooking community. Let’s meet Shelisa, known to us here at Tasty Kitchen as big2beautiful! Shelisa comes from a huge family. Her grandmother had 9 children, and she is the 6th of 27 grandchildren. “Of […]

  We’ve got another lovely southern lady to introduce to you and although she hasn’t lived in the South her whole life, she’s a country girl through and through. Let’s all give a warm welcome to Tina, known to us here as Mommy’s Kitchen! Tina, who has this wonderful blog called Mommy’s Kitchen, lives in […]

  Her recipes are inspired, and her photography is clean and classic, as seen in her Butter Cookies, Classic Napoleons, and Pumpkin Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies seen above. If you’ve been wondering who’s behind that cute little wedding cake avatar, here’s our chance to get to know her better. Everyone, say hello to Tracy! Tracy (sugarcrafter),…