Today, I welcome Laura from Real Mom Kitchen for our blogger spotlight. Laura is a fellow Utah blogger, and I’m so glad I got to finally meet her at the Baking with Betty event. Laura is as sweet as can be, and I’m so honored to have her featured here!
“I am a mom of 3, two handsome boys and one beautiful girl along with my hubby. I have had a love of cooking since I was a young girl. I have a file of my favorite tried and true recipes. However, I am always willing to try new recipes with the hope of adding them to my tried and true file. I am in the process of writing a cookbook to help “keep things real in the kitchen”. I love taking photos of my food and my talented hubby is the fabulous photo shop editor who helps make all my pictures look their best.” (From her blog)
What inspired you to first start writing your blog?
My Kitchen Café was my inspiration. I followed her and decided to give it a try
What kinds of posts are your favorite to write? What do your readers seem to like the most?
My favorite post to write are when you make a dish that is so heavenly, you want to share it with everyone and tell them all about it.
Do you plan a weekly menu? If so, what inspires your menu?
I don’t have a formal written down menu plan each week. I usually have a pile a recipe I am wanted to try out and usually do a couple of those each week. Then I look at my schedule for the week. I put those on nights where I have the time to do those and fill in the rest of the week with family favorites. All of this is planned according what we have going on each night. I make sure to have simple recipe for those really busy nights.
What is your favorite kind of food to make?
I love to cook any kind of food, but I do like to bake the most.
What is your favorite recipe posted on your blog?
That is a hard one. I have lots of favorites, but my most recent favorite recipe is pumpkin nutella swirled bread/muffins. I love nutella and it works so well with the pumpkin. I mean chocolate and pumpkin are one of those perfect combinations.
Pumpkin Nutella Swirl Bread or Muffins
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 tablespoons Nutella (2 tablespoons per mini loaf) ***see note below
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 tablespoons Nutella (2 tablespoons per mini loaf) ***see note below
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 4 mini loaf pans with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs, and extracts. Whisk until smooth and combined.
4. Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Mix until ingredients are combined.
5. Pour the batter into the mini loaf pans, making sure batter is evenly divided. Drop 2 heaping tablespoons of Nutella onto each loaf pan. Swirl the Nutella into the pumpkin batter with a knife. Place the loaf pans onto a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Place the loaf pans on a wire rack. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then carefully remove the loaves. Cool completely before slicing.
*Note-You can make regular size loaves. This recipe should make 2 8×4 loaves. Adjust baking time to about 60 minutes. You can also make muffins, but I am not sure how many you will get from a full recipe since I did some mini loaves and some muffins. For muffins cook between 15-20 minutes. I also recommend doing additional nutella in the middle of you muffins or loaves. Just fill the pan half way and swirl in some nutella just like the recipe calls for on top.
Will you show us your kitchen? What is your favorite thing about your kitchen?
My favorite part of my kitchen is my long breakfast bar.
What is your best tip for getting dinner on the table?
My best tip for getting dinner on the table is to plan ahead. Planning can make life so much easier. Set aside a night that works to plan a weeks worth of menus and stick to it. Then you have 1 trip to the store. Plan quick meals for those crazy nights and more involved meals for when you have the time.
Where do most of your recipes come from? (Family favorites, you make them up, magazines, cookbooks, etc.)
My recipes come from everywhere – family, other bloggers, myself, magazines and cookbooks. I am always on the look out for a good one. My husband also gets annoyed with my large collection of recipes.
What did you have for dinner last night?
Last night was my son’s birthday dinner so the menu was planned by him. It consisted of chicken pillows, sweet carrots, fruit salad, Sarah Salad, and for dessert – my version of Chili’s Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie.
What is your favorite part about blogging?
My favorite part of blogging is meeting and getting to know people. I have been able to develop some great friendships through by blog that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. I now have great friends in other states who have similar interests as me.
What kind of camera/lens/equipment do you use?
I have a Nikon D3000 and I just use the 18-55 mm lens that came with the camera.
Any suggestions or hints to have great food photos?
Presentation is a big part of getting a good photo. It is a skill I don’t feel proficient at yet, but feel like I am definitely making progress. The other tip is good lighting. Natural lighting always works best but I do use an artificial photography light when it is dark.
What kind of food did you eat growing up? Do you cook the same kinds of things today?
I pretty much ate all the same stuff growing up that I eat now plus more. I enjoy more things that I didn’t as a child and am more open to trying new things.
What was the first dish you ever cooked?
That is very hard to remember. The first real dish I can recall making all on my own was a dish that included kielbasa, peppers, onions, and sweet and sour sauce over rice. I sampled it at the super market while shopping with my and decided to make my own version at home.
When you really want to cheat, what do you eat?
When I really want to cheat I am all over the sweets. I really like caramel popcorn or éclairs.
If you could travel anywhere in the world – just for the food – where would you go?
I would travel to Italy and eat away. I have always loved Italian food and would love to eat the real stuff there.
What are your favorite blogs to read?
I have a lot that I enjoy. Most of them are now my good friends. My top 5 would be Jamie Cooks It Up, Picky Palate, Your Home Based Mom, Mommy’s Kitchen, and Good Life Eats.
Take us through a typical day of eating in your house.
We start of the day with quick breakfasts like cereal, muffins, or smoothies. More than often I am found eating a chocolate chip fiber one bar or rice krispies with bananas and sugar.
My kids eat school lunch. Both me and my hubby work from home so sometimes we go out for lunch or we eat leftovers. Most of the time it’s sandwiches or a bowl of soup.
Dinner is where we have so many different things. We eat recipes that I am trying out but there are some standards that always make it in some time during the month like Hawaiian haystacks or tacos. Most Friday nights we get pizza and I get a break from cooking.
What is your best tip for saving money on groceries?
Best tip would be to plan your menu around the sales and the match up coupons with the items on sale.
What is your best tip to becoming a successful blogger?
To be a successful blogger you must have passion about what you are blogging about. The passion show through to your readers. It isn’t always easy and that passion will get you through those times that are hard.
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Thank you, thank you Laura! Want to see more from Laura? Here is where you can find her:
Website – Real Mom Kitchen
Facebook – Real Mom Kitchen
Twitter – @realmomkitchen
Is there a blogger you’d like to learn more about? Contact me at tasteandtell @ gmail . com and I will see if they want to participate!
So wonderful to read your Q and A. I love how candid the responses are. Those nutella swirl breads might very well become my favorite too after I try them.
Nisrine
I love Laura's blog and all those yummy recipes!
Wow, Laura's busy this week
She's guest posting over at my place tomorrow. I love the spotlights because it let's us know so much that we never would have otherwise. Thanks!
Thanks for the interview! Those breads sure look delicious.
Cheers,
Rosa
Love Laura's blog!
I enjoyed reading about Laura and do peek in on her blog a lot.
Great interview! Her bread looks excellent.
[...] live an hour apart!! Laura is a wonderful, down to earth person, and she even participated in my blogger spotlight series a few months back - if you missed it, make sure you check it out to learn a little more about [...]