Introduction

This is a compilation of the recipes that I posted on facebook from 2013 onward. When I started organizing those recipes in 2015, I was quite surprised there were so many, enough for a really big book. I am publishing them in this website now in order to make them more widely available.

 

I never cared for cooking before. When I was working in hospitals, I ate their cafeteria food. I didn’t mind. I just didn’t care much about good food. It wasn’t until several years after retirement that I found some interest in cooking, and eventually even came to enjoy food preparation for its own sake.

 

These are recipes that I have cooked--and even cooked up--myself. I often experiment, to make the best with what I had in the refrigerator that day. The 2 most important influences are the Flemish/ French kitchen that I grew up with and the (New) Mexican kitchen that I became familiar with since moving to New Mexico and during the time I lived in Mexico. Some of these recipes are typically Belgian or Mexican. Some are even more international, or may be a mix-up from several countries.

This is home cooking.

Do not expect five-star restaurant chef cooking here. Delicate flavors and presentation are not my priority. This is about wholesomeness, BIG flavors, and trying to make the best of the limited food variety in small-town America.

 

I live in Deming, New Mexico, USA, a small middle-of-nowhere town near the Mexican border.
There is only one local grocery store Peppers that has survived Walmart moving into town some 10 years ago and it caters more towards the Hispanic population than Walmart does. About 3-4 times a year, we have to go to Las Cruces, NM, 60 miles away and make use of the opportunity to stock up on some goodies we can't get anywhere else in the area.

Between the three of them, the variety of fresh food still remains more limited than in big cities with a more international population mix. Many foods are frozen or canned only. My recipes reflect those limitations. I can’t cook what I don’t have. Although I admit that since 2016 I became so desperate for something new that I ordered some fish online to have it shipped in.

I have no professional cooking background at all.
I expect most readers of this book won’t either. There are huge gaps in this listing (e.g. drinks, desserts, baking) for the simple reason that hardly ever do those things. One criticism of professionals will likely be that my grouping of recipes is not according to the French or other established cooking schools. I couldn’t care less. Again, this is home cooking, not a restaurant chef’s presentation.

With computer editing, it is now possible to include many more pictures in the text than printed books could, to document every step in cooking a recipe. It makes following the recipe a lot easier and more pleasant.

I took most of the pictures in this site recipes myself while cooking. I did borrow some pictures from the internet when I forgot to take pictures or when mine didn’t come out well enough to my liking. I have credited the source of any recipes and pictures when possible. Information borrowed from the internet is included under fair usage, for educational purpose only.

NavigatiNG THIS SITE

  1. The recipes have been divided in 7 main categories, with an extra group for 'other' kitcheneering articles. Links to those main categories are available in the top menu and in the footer of every page.

  2. Each category is again divided in smaller sub-groups. If those sub-groups are still too large, they may again be subdivided. The next-level links are always listed in the white section just above the red footer of the page.

  3. This may be repeated a few times until I get a managable group size that will allow me to include direct links to the recipe pages.

next-level links