Meet Jessica & Nellie…
Here’s a brief look into who exactly is writing this blog…
Jessica
Hi! I’m Jessica, wife to that handsome man above and mom to those five growing kids aged 8 to 18 years old. My hubby and I both grew up in Northern California where we went to elementary school together. It was love at first site, there in the 2nd grade. Ha! No really, we dated, got engaged then moved to Utah where we could afford to live in something other than a tent in our parent’s front yard. 20+ years later we both still agree on one thing: The way to a man’s heart truly is through his stomach. I love to cook and my family loves to eat; it’s a blessed combination. A decade ago, I began Butter, with a Side of Bread to delve deeper into my fascination with food! I love cooking easy, delicious recipes and trying out new products. Welcome and I hope you stick around!
- What is your favorite food? Ooh- I love this one. Fruits and vegetables, particularly if they are in combination with bread or pasta. Margherita pizza. Fried zucchini. Spinach lasagna. I love soft, feathery breads like Challah, but also can’t say no to a really great sourdough. I’ve still got the Bay Area in my blood, so clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl literally makes me giddy! Dark chocolate in any form, really. Mint Milano cookies. Creme Brulee with fresh berries. Grilled salmon. Halibut. I’ll stop, but the list goes on and on…
- What is your least favorite food? I’m really open to trying just about anything, but will never again attempt to eat brussel sprouts. I like cabbage, I have no clue why I don’t care for them, but I’ve tried several times and trust me, it’s never a pretty sight.
- Any food quirks? I’m odd with consistencies. I can’t eat yogurt without granola on top. Shrimp feels weird when you bite into it, so that’s a no-go as well. {Which my hubby loves, btw. More for him!} I can’t do gristle of any kind in meat, so that makes me a weird meat-eater. Also, my food needs to look good. If it looks like schlop, I literally can’t eat it. So yeah, many casseroles are out.
- What is your favorite thing to make? I love to bake! Bread is a favorite. Years ago I made the most terrible breads you’ve ever tasted. No joke- they were awful! I was bound and determined to learn how to make bread so I spent hours and hours watching videos online, reading articles and lo and behold- I figured it out. Now I’m pretty good at whipping up all kinds of different breads! Pretty much any baked goods are fun to make!
Nellie
Hi! I’m Nellie, mom to 5 kids from 3 to 17 years old. I just got remarried about a year ago and have been busy navigating the world of blended families and being a newlywed with 5 kids! I grew up in Colorado and then moved to Utah for college and then moved 17 times after that. I’ve lived everywhere! I moved to St. George, Utah just over 2 years ago, and aside from the blazing hot summers, I really love it. And I’m hoping I don’t have to move again for a really long time!
From the time I was only 8 or 9 years old, I liked to help in the kitchen and constantly browsed through recipes to find new things to try. All these years later, I still love to browse recipes…which is sort of ironic considering I have always been an extremely picky eater. I have gotten a little more adventurous as far as trying new foods, and am trying to be a bigger fan of vegetables…well, maybe I’ll get there in a few more years!
- What is your favorite food? What a hard question! It used to be chocolate chip cookie dough or fresh bread, but over the last couple of years, I’ve developed a real sensitivity to gluten. So all the good stuff is out now. But I’ve always loved fruit and since I can’t have bread, I feel justified in eating it as much as I want! I could live a long time on just watermelon, strawberries, raspberries and pineapple! And apples…I actually eat an apple almost every single day.
- What is your least favorite food? That’s an even harder question since that is a pretty long list! I can’t stand any type of seafood though…just the smell makes me lose my appetite. Cauliflower is also at the top of the list – I had a traumatic experience with it as a child and can’t even look at it without gagging!
- Any food quirks? You can probably tell from the previous question that I have quite a few! Anything that requires a lot of chewing (i.e. raw carrots) or has a weird rubbery consistency (i.e. shrimp) is hard for me to enjoy.
- What is your favorite thing to make? Fondue! Nearly every time we invite people over for dinner, we make fondue. It’s fairly easy, everyone loves it and it’s something that most people don’t make very often. I also love baking…even if I can’t eat much of it anymore. I love baking treats for my kids and I love taking all the extras to friends and neighbors.
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We also have a team of assistants who help us with the back end of running this site.
Because I have 5 kids and Nellie has 5. Which means 10 kids total. Ten! That’s a lot of kidlets.
Yes we’re Mormon. No we’re not sister wives.
All those kids means a whole lot of responsibility.
So our assistants help us to get out of the office
and do what we have to do in real life.
I mean seriously, look at all those kids.
