Kim's Kitchen

Welcome to my kitchen!

Pull up a chair and sit a spell. I’ve got a lot of great recipes, tips, ideas and stories to share with you.

Where did my kitchen adventure begin? Growing up (literally) in Ganna’s kitchen. My grandma was from the “old school” where you made everything from scratch, knew how to improvise, trusted your instincts, wasn’t afraid to experiment, could make something amazing out of nothing and she never, ever, ever measured anything. Oh! And NO ONE ever left her home hungry – friend or stranger. That’s how I learned to cook. In fact, when we started on this journey, it was quite the teeth-pulling experience for me to learn how to measure and write things down. I could do it, I just didn’t need to – I cooked by feel and it worked. That was, honestly, my biggest challenge in creating my recipe pages.

Part of that “instinct” was kind of a running joke in the house and, in fact, has led to some pretty remarkable recipes. My kids would laugh at me when they’d find me trolling through Pinterest reading recipes because they knew what would happen. I’d read a whole bunch of recipes, mull it over for awhile, shrug and say “I can do better”. Every stinking time! Not that the recipes on there aren’t good ones, I’m just that critical and my mind always looks for ways to take something good and make it better.

Unlike other recipe sites, the recipes on here are ones I’ve written, re-written, re-worked and done over and over and over until I was happy with it. They’ve all been tested in my kitchen on my family, my friends, my neighbors – lots of willing “helpers”. You will find some that are not mine and I’ve not changed (or changed only slightly) and those are ones that are family recipes that have been a part of my heritage long before I came to be.

Also, one thing that drives me nuts on other recipe sites is 700 pages of “story” to get to recipe. I get that there is a story with nearly every recipe, but don’t hide the recipe in the story. You will find a few little notes here and there, but for the most part the stories will be found elsewhere (primarily on my blog). I wanted this to be more user friendly.

Disclaimer: There are LOT of weird food allergies in this family so don’t be afraid to change things up a little. Like those cookies, but think they need walnuts? Go for it! Like the stuffed pork chops but think they’d be better with kale? Go for it! Need a little bleu cheese or quinoa on something? Go for it! For reasons like wanting to avoid death, I tend to leave those things out of recipes (among a few others). That’s one thing I love about cooking though – trying new things. Cooking, in many ways, is the greatest of adventures. Not everything will be a winner, but we learn, revise and move on. Much like life I suppose.

And if a recipe doesn’t turn out, don’t give up. I cannot tell you how many times I sat there and bawled (yes, for real) when I couldn’t figure out Ganna’s famous sugar cookies. If you’d ever eaten one from her kitchen, you’d absolutely know what I’m talking about. That original recipe has very little to do with the ingredients and a lot to do with technique. I’ve adapted it to make it easier to make, but many, many tears and profanities were shared trying to make it just right. So don’t be afraid of failures.

If you have a recipe you’d like to see or a question, as always, ask. My kitchen door is always open and I promise you won’t leave hungry.

Clickable Links

Click for Americano Foods SAVINGS CODE: KIMKULTURE