Introducing..............

An anxious first hello to my fellow navigators of this crazy, wonderful, infinite-cheese-dip-recipe-at-my-fingertips world we live in!! I don't know about you, but it seems that ever since my discovery of a certain pin-teresting site, my hard earned collection of cookbooks has gone neglected. It just seems tedious these days to go thumbing through a dusty book when I can hop on the computer and access every recipe known to man with the ease of a click of the mouse. (Don't worry, I still stain up my stack of cookbooks plenty. There are some things even the internet doesn't have a record of ;) But with the gift of simplicity that Pinterest gave recipe-hoarders like me, also came the hidden, daunting task of organizing it all. This blog is my attempt at the peace of mind of knowing that my 50 different dark chocolate brownie recipes are safe and sound in their own category in my little corner of the interwebs. I'll be posting my twist on a lot of recipes you see on the web, but just as many Houston Kitchen originals. I love to improvise when it comes to cooking, it seems that I adapt every recipe I come across.

I've been playing with the idea of starting a blog for a looooooong minute now and here I am (finally) getting around to it. A newly walking (running) toddler makes for a busy day for this mom. My list of delicious recipes 'attempted and succeeded in flying, fudgy colors' has been growing seemingly out of control in the recent months, and in the spirit of productive Sunday afternoons, I give virtual birth to For The Love of Cheese - a cheesy, crispy, nutella-filled food blog.

In this household we believe in our taste buds not crying themselves to sleep for our lack of creativity in the kitchen. If at least half a dozen items from your spice cabinet aren't strewn about your counter while dinner is cooking, you haven't done your job. Overspicing is ALWAYS better than underspicing. I'd rather have a spice explosion in my mouth, than struggle my way through a casserole whose taste is reminiscent of cardboard. I believe that the spices in a recipe are simply a guideline, tailor your seasoning to fit your family. Remember, adding spices doesn't always mean adding spiciness.

I refuse to allow my son to grow up a member of the ' Burger King Club'. I WILL make all of the other kids in his kindergarten class jealous of his lunch box chock full of freshly baked Banana Brownies and the cheese-covered leftovers from last night. May macaroni-and-cheese from a box never make an appearance on my dinner table.

Crock pot meals speak to my soul. With dinner on 'low and slow for 8', it frees up time for me to bake. Which, let's be honest, is the only reason the husband agrees to the nightly foot rub requests. Home cooked doesn't have to mean stressful. Let your crock pot put in a steady 8 hour workday in the kitchen on your behalf. Your family will thank you.

Let your kitchen be your live in therapist. I've come to realize that on those nothing-got-done-because-the-baby-is-teething days, that the best thing for me to do to keep from pulling all of my hair out is to:

1. Pick a recipe from my ever-growing list of ones to try.

2. Hand Monkey over to his dad.

3. Bake my heart out.

More often than not, the oven isn't turned off before 11 pm in this house, late night is my time :)