Chef Spotlight: Michelle

Time for another wonderful chef spotlight! Today's featured chef is Michelle. She says, "Thanks for having me!". Here is her spotlight.


Name:
Michelle Hunter

Where are you from?
I was born in Utah, raised in Henderson, NV, and now I live back in Utah, Eagle Mountain to be exact!

Why did you join What's in {Your} Oven?
I think we all struggle with our minds going blank when it comes time to think of a plan for dinner. At least with this blog I have notice of some ingredient I could use and also many other ideas from fellow chefs like yourselves!

Who do you cook for?
Mainly I cook for my family, which consists of 2 (almost 3) kids 5 and under , and YES they can be picky eaters. Then there's the occasional potluck type get-together.

What kind of food do you like?
I love to eat Mexican, not very great at cooking it, however. I think I am better at stuff like casseroles, or baked goods like pies, and breads. Besides, they're more fun anyway.

What do you hope to get out of participating in What's in {Your} Oven?
I hope to get tons of new, fun, and EASY ideas for dinner. I love recipes with a minimal amount of ingredients. I very much do not like pulling 16+ ingredients out to cook with, an then putting them all away to clean-up. It is much easier to use less ingredients if you ask me, especially at the grocery store!! Keep it SIMPLE.

Thanks for letting us spotlight you! We are excited to see more posts from you!

Chef Spotlight: Jill

This week our featured chef is Jill. She seems like a fun gal. Oh, and about her picture she said, "When I took this picture, my 6-yr-old daughter, Irelynd, insisted on being in it too."


Name
Jill Henry

Where are you from?
I live in Spanish Fork, but I grew up in Provo.

Why did you join What's in {Your} Oven?
I thought it sounded fun to force myself to try new recipes, and glean some from others. And my sister-in-law Sallie told me I had to! I’m very obedient. lol. (Sallie is definitely a person to be obeyed. Ha ha ha.)

Who do you cook for?
Myself, hubby Scott, daughters Savannah and Irelynd, son Brighton, and 10 ½ month old twins, Keaton and Waverly. (10 1/2 months-- those were the days...) I love to cook for other people too, when I have the time. I’d be a habitual dinner-party hostess, if I had the time and money!

What kind of food do you like?
I love Mexican, Chinese, Italian; my favorite thing is gourmet pizzas. And I LOVE to bake, but I don’t very often because I eat it…all! (me, too!)

What do you hope to get out of participating in What's in {Your} Oven?
Some new recipes. I get really excited to try something new and different. I hate making the same things more than once. My cooking motto is Life is too short to make the same dessert twice. (Sounds like a good rule to live by!) My husband hates this! Oh well. It’s my kitchen and my rules. Lol.

We are glad you joined us. If you like to make things new and different, this is the place to be!

Chef Spotlight: Jenn

Welcome, one and all, to this week's Chef Spotlight. Today we are getting to know my good friend, Jenn. Our husbands are in the podiatry program together at Midwestern University and we hang out while the hubs study their guts out day in and day out.


Name
Jenn Larson

Where are you from?

Currently living in Glendale, Arizona (Amazing Place). But, I have lived almost everywhere on the west coast, and was born in Ontario, Canada. However, I AM a US Citizen . . . I promise!!!!! (sure...)

Why did you join What's in {Your} Oven?
Honestly, I wasn't going to join. I was too scared and thought I'd never be able to come up with good recipes - or even be able to find recipes using the challenge ingredient. But, Jillian has a way of making things sound really cool and fun, so I decided to try it. (So, wanna go jump off a bridge next week? It's going to be awesome!) So far I have only done 2 challenges by myself, and 1 I did with Jillian. But, I am glad I joined because it is forcing me to expand my recipe collection (which I am quite sure my Husband is appreciative of) (unless it has mushrooms or squash in it).

Who do you cook for?
Oh, I love to cook for my dear sweet husband, Nathan! When we were first married I wanted to sit on the couch and eat dinner in front of the T.V. Nope - not gonna happen. Nathan said that families eat dinner with their loved ones - not the T.V. (that's a nice quote. I'm going to stitch it on a pillow or somthing.) So . . . the first few meals were kind of weird with just the two of us sitting at a formal dinner table. I struggled to make meals small enough for 2 people, but now its a lot easier! Of course we still have leftovers!

I wish I could say I also cook for my daughter, Natalie (she is 2 years old) but I can't. This girl is a crazy eater. I swear she is a self-proclaimed vegetarian in a family that LOVES meat. So, she usually just eats the vegetables and bread that I put on the table to go with our meal. Someday - she will enter the dark side - and enjoy a nice, juicy, plump, DELICIOUS steak!!!!!!

What kind of food do you like?
Mexican Food is DELICIOUS (the real authentic Mexican food that my brother - who lived with Mexicans for 6 years - makes). Sooooo Yummmmmmmmy! But, I also love Thai Food - LOVE IT - LOVE IT - LOVE IT !!! (make sure you get some Jasmine rice!)

What do you hope to get out of participating in What's in {Your} Oven?
New recipes that are cheap, quick, easy, and fun to make (oh and maybe something that my daughter will eat). (cheap is good with the amount of money our hubbies get from student loans)


Thanks for letting me spotlight you at the last minute, Jenn. We hope to see more posts from you. Maybe one of your new recipes will strike a chord with Natalie and she will just start chowing down!

Stay tuned next week for another edition of "Chef Spotlight". And, look forward this Friday for our first ever "Question of the Week". Till then, happy cooking!

Chef Spotlight: Lyndsie

This week out featured chef is Lyndsie. We have been good friends for 6 years or so. We've been through multiple pregnancies together, and even stayed in the exact same room at the hospital, just at different times! Here is her spotlight.

Name:
Lyndsie Webster

Where are you from?
Springville, UT and I am currently living in Spanish Fork, UT

Why did you join What's in {Your} Oven?
Well Jillian invited me....... :) Because I feel like I am in a rut and want to get some new yummy recipes. Plus, I have always been a little afraid to try new ingredients, so this will be good for me.

Who do you cook for?
My 4 year old boy/girl twins, my 1 year old baby girl and my hubby!!! (just so you know, one of my daughters is betrothed to her son. Did you know that, Lynds?)

What kind of food do you like?
I love Italian food!!! Love it!!! I could have pasta every single night. I also really like salsa, and then of course anything sweet (cinnamon rolls, cakes, cookies). (ummm...pasta....)

What do you hope to get out of participating in What's in {Your} Oven?
New yummy recipes and hopefully I will get more daring and try different ingredients.

It's great to read your spotlight! Hopefully you will get what you're hoping to get out of What's in {Your} Oven?. (I hope)

If you would like to be spotlighted, send us an e-mail at whatsinyouroven(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Chef Spotlight: Angie R.

You thought we forgot about the chef spotlight, didn't you?! We didn't actually forget, the week just flew by so fast, and before we knew it Friday was already here!

This week our featured chef is Angie R., my best friend from eighth grade who I have had the pleasure to reconnect with online. Isn't the internet amazing sometimes? Here is her spotlight.


Name

Angie R.

Where are you from?
I grew up mostly around Utah Valley, but lived in Iowa for a few years while growing up. I went to college in Southern Utah, and now live in Southeast Ohio.

Why did you join What's in {Your} Oven?
I love cooking. I have always liked it, but lately I can't get enough. I thought it would be fun to have someone tell me to use a new and exciting ingredient and make something different. I was excited when Jillian emailed me about this blog. Funny enough, just before Jillian's email my sisters and I started a blog to share recipes with each other (you can see it at sisstonesoup.blogspot.com). My husband asked me a couple of weeks ago if we are ever going to eat the same thing twice ever again. (tell him he can have the same thing twice if *he* cooks it. Ha!)

Who do you cook for?
My husband, Brett, and my two sons, Skyler (4 1/2) and Wesley (3 in a month). (side note: I know Angie's husband's brother, because he served an LDS mission in my town in WISCONSIN. It's a small world, after all.)

What kind of food do you like?
The funny thing about me liking to cook so much is that I don't really like to eat. I know, I'm weird. I love Mexican and Italian food and most things sweet, especially ice cream. I have recently discovered Indian food and think it is pretty yummy, too. (You may be weird, but we still like ya!)

What do you hope to get out of participating in What's in {Your} Oven?
Some fun recipes made with ingredients I'm not too familiar with. Also, I love that it gives me another excuse to cook something new!

We are glad that you are so excited about the blog. We all need a little excitement in our lives. It's great that you enjoy cooking so much and are daring enough to try new things. Thanks for being one of our chefs!

Chef Spotlight: Esther

Welcome to this week's spotlight. Our featured chef this week is Esther. She said her daughter kept taking pictures of her, so she got annoyed and that explains her picture. I think it's cute, myself. :)

Name
Esther Faleafa

Where are you from?
I grew up mostly in Utah with a couple years in Virginia thrown in for fun, then lived in Oregon for a few years when my daughter was tiny, and moved back to Utah in 2003. (I love Oregon! My in-laws live up there and it is gorgeous!)

Why did you join What's in {Your} Oven?
Mary Ellen asked. hehe. Really, I love to cook and try new recipes, but have been in a rut. I keep finding things I'm allergic to, so it gets discouraging to try new things. Now I stick with mostly "safe" foods and ingredients, just prepared in a new way. (Preparing things in a new way can be scary. Kudos to you!)

Who do you cook for?
My husband and daughter. And I make milk for the baby. :P Sometimes I cook for my sister and her family, and whenever my parents are in town, we have them over for dinner. Oh, and my in-laws. We take dinner to them once in a while.

What kind of food do you like?
I like food. There is a reason I am fat, y'all. Mexican and Italian and pizza used to be my favorites, but they're not as fun without cheese or dairy at all. (No dairy..I can see how that could present a problem!)

What do you hope to get out of participating in "What's in {Your} Oven"?
more stuff to put in the rotation so we don't get so bored, as well as making my hubby and kids try something new every week. even if I have to bow out of a week's challenge, I decided I would still make something new that week. this week, I made the chicken waffle pot pie Mary Ellen posted during the chicken challenge (totally delish; I left a comment about it), and a couple nights later, a coconut cream pie that was dairy free and totally yummy.

Thank you for your participation in the blog. Getting out of a rut is exactly what we are aiming to do here at What's in {Your} Oven?. I'm sure your creativity and perspectives on cooking with allergies will be a great help to our other chefs. We are glad to have you here!

Chef Spotlight: Sal-my-gal

When I asked our avid poster & commenter "Sal-my-gal" to be this week's spotlight she said, "Oooo! I'm honored! Let's see if I can find anything interesting about little ole' me..."

Disclaimer: Sallie claims that she usually doesn't dress this way, but that this was for an 80s dance where she won best costume. Sure...

Name:
Sallie. My grandpa use to call me "Sal-my-gal", hence the screen name. (That's cool!)

Where are you from?
You could say Utah, since I've lived here for the past 11years with my hottie husband. Before that I was an Army Brat, so I guess you could say I hail from planet Earth. (There seem to be a lot of us in the group who have moved around quite a bit.)

Why did you join "What's In {Your} Oven?"
For fun! Adding more cyber-buddies to my social life is an added benefit. Plus, I was hoping to expand my culinary expertise, and pick up a few recipes along the way. A girl can always use more recipes.

Who do you cook for?
Who don't I cook for? At least it seems that way sometimes. I cook for me. Oh-- and the other people that live here; husband, 5 daughters ages 8 mos. to 9 years. Once a month my extended family shows up for the weekend and I feed them too. That can be 15-30 people depending on who shows up. I say I cook for me because, much to the dismay of my husband, I only cook things I like. Who wants to spend hours in the kitchen for something you don't care to put in your mouth? Sounds like a waste of time and calories to me. (Holla!)

What kind of food do you like?
Hmmmm...If I could I'd live on cookies, brownies, ice-cream and fruit. Hence the expanded waist line I'm currently sporting. (Heh, heh, heh. Me, too!) In terms of real food I love everything off the grill. I grill in rain, sleet, snow, or shine. Kind of like the mail man. On the rare occasion that I get asked on a date I like to go out for Mexican, Italian, Indian... anything I don't have to cook myself is almost always twice as delicious.

What do you hope to get out of participating in "What's in {Your} Oven"?
I'm totally prepping for Food Network's Iron Chef. Do they have an online version for suburban moms? Oh-- I guess we started it : )

Thanks for being our spotlight, Sallie. It was fun to get to know a little more about you. You have a fun personality and we look forward to seeing more posts from you!

Chef Spotlight: Janelle

Continuing on with our new weekly feature, we are spotlighting Janelle, my fearless blogging cohort. I told her she was next! Mwahahaha. Okay, here we go.

Name
Janelle (yes, we've established that. Just kiddin')

Where are you from?
Like Jillian, I'm from America. I have lived in six different states and currently reside in the Cleveland, OH area. (don't you just *love* moving?!)

Why did you join What's In {Your} Oven?
I love to cook. I love to blog. I'm kind-of obsessed with both. My husband, however, is probably bored with my kitchen repertoire, and I always enjoy a challenge, so I thought this sounded fun. Cooking + blogging = perfection!

Who do you cook for?
I do it for myself. By that I mean that I enjoy it and it usually doesn't feel like a chore. As for who the meals are for, that would be me and my husband. My daughter is exploring finger foods and eating off of our plates, so I'm trying to keep her in mind when I make dinner.

What kind of food do you like?
Mexican. I LOVE Mexican food. I also like Italian. Potatoes are good, although my husband doesn't particularly care for them. Did I mention Mexican food? (are you part Mexican?)

What do you hope to get out of participating in What's In {Your} Oven?
New recipes, new ideas, new friends. I've already got one. (Awww...) Okay, we'll tell the story. (you guys have been waiting for this, I know it) I used to be engaged to Jillian's husband. Within a month after I broke up with him, they were engaged. Needless to say, we didn't exactly hit it off right away. Things had been amicable between me and my ex, and we talked occasionally still, but things were really awkward between Jillian and myself. He tried to convince us that we'd actually really like each other, under normal circumstances. Fast forward seven years, and we happen across each other on Facebook and in the blogging world. What do you know? He was right. (In my defense, we weren't dating while they were engaged, so I'm not a homewrecker or anything. We were just friends who, in a matter of 2 weeks, became more than friends. And, I'm really happy that Janelle and I have become friends. (Dangit, he was right!!) She is awesome and I'm glad she has jumped into this blogging adventure with me.)

There you have it, folks, our latest installment of 'Chef Spotlight". We hope to be able to spotlight everyone...so you could be next!

Chef Spotlight: Jillian

Jillian and I thought it would be fun to spotlight one author/chef each week so that we can all get to know each other a little better. We're starting with her (hee hee).


Name
Jillian (Janelle note: obviously)

Where are you from?
America. (We moved around a lot as a kid) Currently I reside in Peoria, Arizona

Why did you join What's in {Your} Oven? (or in her case, start it)
Well, I felt like I was in a cooking rut and never knew what to make for dinner, so I had this crazy idea to form some kind of online cooking club/blog/thing with anyone interested in trying a new recipe every week. Then my buddy Janelle signed on as a co-conspirator. Some people might think it's weird that we are buddies, but...(Maybe we'll tell you the story next week.)

Who do you cook for?
My 3 year old triplets and occasionally my hubby, when he's not at school studying. (Jillian's husband is in podiatry school.)

What kind of food do you like?
All the kinds that are bad for me... carbs (I love bread & pasta), cookies, brownies, anything else made out of chocolate and/or sugar. And I wonder why I have yet to lose my "baby fat." Hee hee hee. Oh, and a Papa Murphy's Hawaiian pizza always hits the spot. (I miss Papa Murphy's pizza. We don't have take-and-bake in the east.)

What do you hope to get out of participating in What's in {Your} Oven?
I hope to become less afraid of cooking and become more comfortable in the kitchen, so that I enjoy making dinner for my family, rather than it being one of those things I *have* to do. Finding some great, new recipes along the way is a bonus. I also hope to help other people "break out of their shell," broaden their horizons and try some new things.

Jillian note: Janelle...you're next! Bwahahaha!