Hello there! I’m Alison and I’m just so very glad that you are here! There are many food blogs available for you to visit, and I consider it an honor that you would stop by mine! Whenever I visit a blog, I like to know a little bit about the person behind the curtain so I’ll let you peek inside my world a little if you’re so inclined. 



I love the miracle of taking different elements found in this world and having the power to put them together in different combinations to make a taste that makes someone’s eyes roll back in their head as they chew a mouthful of amazing food-happiness. I love that food has the power to sustain life with its nourishment, change our very make-up with its own, and just plain make us smile. I believe that food should be used from its most pure form — most of the time. 



In our home, I have always done my best to make the best food on a budget for my family and loved ones. When I learned that the quality of ingredients I use matters, I’ve done my best to source them well. We use mostly organic, whole foods here. And then sometimes we need some good old junk food, so we throw that in as well. We’ve done things the easy way and the hard way and have found that a balance makes us the healthiest and happiest in our minds and bodies.

Gone are the days of calorie counting like I grew up with and the thought that any food God made could harm us. I believe in good fats and red meat and dairy — I just try to find them as close to a farmer as possible.

I now live in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan which is a little-known place above the mitten you think of as Michigan. We are transplants to this wild and rugged land full of forests and wild animals, mountains and untouched land, raw and pure Lake Superior, and hundreds of inches of record snow each winter. We moved here from the mitten over 9 years ago seeking elbow-room and a new land for our tribe. Having road-tripped 48 states (and also visited several countries) with our kids we knew what we liked and found it all here. 

It is a mysterious place full of history and legends and very interesting people groups. Our children are now all grown and starting families and farms and settling in this place we can now never leave. Not for the faint of heart, this place wove its way into who we are as a family and we are proud to be a part. I plan to share more about that with you in the near future.

I’ve been cooking for just everyone I’ve known since I was very young and married. My recipes are the ones that have fed folks from around the country as they sit at our table, and hopefully they have left nourished and strengthened in their body and spirit, as has been our prayer as a family for some 32 years now. I keep making food, testing recipes, and recreating foods I’ve eaten on our travels since this place in the middle of nowhere requires that creativity with few creative food options for hundreds of miles. And I will keep sharing my food ideas with you as long as you’d like to make and eat it! My children are for the most part, grown now, but we all spend much of our time together (much of that time is spent around the table!), and the addition of grandchildren to our world inspires me to do all I can to pass what I’ve learned along. In fact, here and there you’ll see a post from my daughter, Addie who was a contributor for a while on the blog.

We have a pretty neat house on lots of acres with one neighbor for miles. We have a Great Dane, chickens, and bees! I was a piano teacher for more than two decades, I love to take pictures, and be a Mimi to our six grands. A passion of mine is deer hunting, and I’ll be in my stand as many days as possible each fall. Our property provides more apples than we can deal with, plums, grapes, cherries, raspberries…so we have learned to can our fruits and vegetables and enjoy the beautiful jars of food stored in our pantries.  

Thank you so much for stopping by! If you’d like to read more, please check out Outside of the Box — the story behind the food, or read some posts from 91 little things which is my attempt to write something every 4 days for a year and provide some food for thought.

Remember, every time you share or click a link or buy something in my Shop My Kitchen page, you are helping to support this little project of mine which makes us all happy, hey?