Chef Jill

I think for the first two to three years of my marriage, my mother was certain that I never cooked. And she was mostly correct. Why would I? I worked and went to school full time and it was so much easier to just go out for something. Also, my husband had years and years of catering experience – he even owned a catering company for awhile – and he seemed to have a knack for creating delicious things out of the few groceries I forced myself to buy. The only problem was that Kenny’s cooking experience was rooted in preparing meals for small armies (i.e. wedding receptions or even just his ridiculously large family). This ultimately meant we would have leftovers. LOTS of leftovers. Leftovers that started to go bad because I eventually refused to eat the same meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all week long. So in an effort to stop wasting food and to achieve some dietary variety, I began what has been a roller coaster of culinary experimentation. By experimentation, I mean I’ve learned to slightly tweak tried-and-true recipes to suit our tastes, appetites,and health objectives. Plus, my awesome math skills have come into play and I can chop that recipe-for-eight down to a recipe-for-two like that (snapping my fingers). So while I can’t take credit for the actual invention of a dish, I can at least tell my mom that, Yes, I made it. And it’s edible. And sometimes, if I'm lucky, it even tastes good.

My go-to’s for culinary genius/inspiration include The Rookie Cookie (who, if you’re nice, will even custom craft recipes to your requests, like spring rolls especially for Jill!), The Pioneer Woman & Kayotic Kitchen (both of whom include step by step photos-genius!), and The Glutten Free Goddess. Well, I have a new go-to: Gwyneth Paltrow. I'll admit, I’m a little obsessed with her weekly newsletters via her site “Goop.” Last night I said to myself, “Self, here’s a women who was raised on five-star cuisine and who probably has some pretty accomplished chefs giving her tips...why not try one of her recipes.” So I did – tweaking her "Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Frittata" only slightly. It was surprisingly easy. More importantly, it was delicious. You should try it - it won’t disappoint..unless you hate sweet potato, egg, and goat cheese - in which case you're outta luck. Sorry.

Thanks Gwyneth!

Note: My personal tweaks included adding spinach and green onion to the egg mixture, sauteeing garlic with the shallots, using egg whites only (12 eggs total - vs. 6 whole eggs), and using garlic & herb goat cheese (rather than plain).

Note 2: oddly enough, The Pioneer Woman posted a similar (albeit more...country western) recipe today. Find it here.