Half Hour Meals Member Marjorie lives in Michigan and authors a creative new blog with original recipes that are geared towards “the beginner, the curious, and the obsessive foodie.” Indeed, when you look at her recipes, they are so well-written and thorough that you can see where beginners will be able to achieve success, and those with more experience won’t be able to resist trying them! Accompanied by colorful photos to satisfy even the most obsessive foodie, these recipes make you want to get in the kitchen and cook! Read on to learn more about Marjorie and her wonderful recipes:
Your blog, Caramel Onion, contains “Original recipes and miscellaneous for the beginner, the curious and the obsessive foodie”. What is the inspiration behind your blog? Ultimately, my inspiration is my family. The only thing I love more than eating food is watching my friends and family enjoy my concoctions, and I sometimes go to great lengths to get my friends and my food together in my house at the same time. My husband in particular is a huge inspiration; he’s enormously fun to feed and a fantastic cook himself, albeit Southeast Asian style cooking (he’s a Pilipino). I learn a lot of unique techniques from him – like using coconut milk and ginger in dishes like “Hot Harvest Curry” – and he’s a wonderful sounding board.
Also, I think cooking is easier than most cookbooks make it out to be, yet it’s so important to our health. With a little knowledge and confidence, I believe anyone can improvise in the kitchen to make easier, more healthful meals. Caramel Onion is kind of my mission to share easy tips and substitution tricks with fellow cooks and beginners, in the hope that newbies will read by blog and say “hey, I can do that!”.
I love where you say that making recipes is taking control of your destiny. When you’ve had a really bad day, what is your favorite thing to make in order to turn things around? For some reason, there’s nothing more relaxing to me than making layered cakes from scratch. There’s no pressure to innovate a new savory dish for a hungry audience – cakes are just for sheer pleasure, aesthetically and edibly. I get to control the shape of the cake rounds and the consistency of the frosting, and when I’m done I have something beautiful and tasty to show for my work.
What is the one ingredient you can’t live without? Maple syrup. My family lives on a 40 acre sugarbush in rural Michigan, so we’re spoiled with a surplus of the real stuff. For sugar substitutions in pastries and sweet-and-sour dishes, there’s nothing quite like it. Plus, it’s incredibly nutritious!
Where does your inspiration in the kitchen come from? She will disagree with me, but definitely my mother. She comes from a long line of matriarchs who grew and cooked their own food for their families. My grandmother grew up farming through the depression here in Michigan, and I wouldn’t know anything if it weren’t for my mom’s training in practical, healthful Midwestern cooking.
Your Caramelized Onions look so amazing and I love how you include so many ideas for using them. What is your favorite way to use caramelized onions? Tarts! Puff pastry wrapped around cream cheese, basil leaves and caramelized onions baked until crispy – perfect.
Your Hot Harvest Curry is a seasonal feast for the eyes and palate! Any other seasonal recipes you want to share? Do you create your own recipes often? For seasonal recipes, you’ll have to visit my blog throughout the holidays! I posted my favorite pumpkin pie recipe last month, and I can promise recipes for cranberry stuffing, winter squash stew and old-world noodles in the upcoming season.
I often end up creating my own recipes by default, because I never follow a recipe exactly. There’s always something I want to add or enhance, although I definitely have some old family recipes that I never mess with. The rhubarb custard pie recipe on my blog is one of them.
How long have you been blogging and how has blogging changed your daily life? The Caramel Onion has only existed in its current form for about four months, but it’s definitely gotten into my system. Whenever I make a meal or dessert that turns out well, I won’t let anyone touch it until I take a picture. Sometimes my friends help my food pose for pictures, which I think is funny. It encourages me to make more frequent experiments in the kitchen than I might otherwise – which is great.
Do you see yourself still blogging several years from now? Hopefully. I’d like to see Caramel Onion build and appeal to a broad audience; but mostly, I enjoy it and see myself blogging for as long as I continue cooking.
Why did you join Half Hour Meals? When I was looking for recipe communities to connect with, Half Hour Meals struck me as an innovative and well-organized site. A smaller, friendlier version of AllRecipes.com.
When did you join Half Hour Meals? As soon as I found your site, which was about two months ago.
What’s your favorite thing about the site? I love how easy the site makes it for its users to engage in a community – and the quality of the content. Everyone here has something valuable to offer, whether it’s a great recipe, a useful review or a seasonal tip.
Have you tried others’ recipes from Half Hour Meals? Actually, I made Georgia’s Cheesecake (by Sarah) for my birthday party tonight. I’ll post a review as soon as I get feedback, but it looks beautiful. Thanks, Sarah!
If others were to ask you about Half Hour Meals, how would you describe the site to them? I would say it’s a great community for cooks of all experience levels – particularly those of us without a surplus of time on our hands. Five stars!
Thanks for sharing with us, Marjorie! I hope you all will stop by and visit Marjorie’s page at Half Hour Meals, and be sure to check out her wonderful blog as well!
Tags: community member, food blogging