Here we go!

There are some people in life that you become friends with because they are so totally different than you…they are the yin to your yang, and it just works.  Then there are other people that you become friends with because you just completely relate to each other.  Kelly and I are two moms who are constantly striving for balance between working, running, spending quality time with our kids and husbands, maintaining friendships, and maintaining our sanity.  Throw cleaning, meal planning, coupon clipping, grocery shopping, and cooking in the mix with our type-A personalities, and it can get a bit interesting.  Kelly and I are on the same page with most things, including our desire to cook healthy meals that our families will enjoy.  And neither of us is willing to trade much coveted family time for hours spent slaving away in the kitchen. 

Perhaps the key component to the lasting friendship that Kelly and I share is this:  Neither of us judges the other.  If the floor isn’t vacuumed, if the counter is cluttered, if the blinds haven’t been dusted for a year, if the lettuce is slightly wilted, if the play date is less than organized or goes completely awry…we understand.  It happens.  We also understand that sometimes you have to have pizza for dinner, or chicken nuggets, or hot dogs.  And when it comes to making that home cooked meal, there is nothing wrong with simple, or fast, or “not from scratch.”  In fact, those deliciously simple recipes are exactly the ones we are after.  And when we find a recipe that works, we share it.  Because we are busy moms, and adding “find new tried and true recipes that are healthy and easy to make and the family will enjoy” to the to-do list might just put at least one of us over the edge. 

So here we are, sharing our recipes with each other, trying to make things a little bit easier for one another, bit by tasty bit.  Only recipes that we have tried multiple times will make it from the scribbled on scraps of paper to the electronic recipe box, and being able to find the recipe later without spending precious minutes searching through books and papers torn out of magazines is key.  So, from one busy mom to another (and to another), enjoy!