The Recipe Redux is a group of like-minded food bloggers whose mission is to inspire the food lover in every healthy eater and inspire the healthy eater in every food lover.  Each month members post recipes to their blogs following a theme set by the group moderators. 

This month’s Recipe Redux theme is a fun one – First Cooking Recollections. It’s always interesting to hear how someone who is passionate about their work first became interested in it. For many food bloggers that initial spark of interest in cooking happened, as it did for me, at a young age. I have vivid childhood memories of a Charlie Brown cookbook that belonged to my sister. Between the pages, that over the years became encrusted with dried bits of batter, was a recipe for Lucy’s Lemon Squares. We made those lemon squares countless times and this is where my love for anything lemon was born. Later, when I was older, I remember making Italian stuffed shells from a recipe I pulled out of Seventeen Magazine. I used that recipe so often that the paper it was printed on started to disintegrate and I had to make a photo copy, which I still have today! But the cooking memory I have that is strongest, perhaps because of the visual it creates in my mind’s eye, is that of making pancakes – a big red mixing bowl and a box of Bisquick sitting on the counter with a dusting of this classic baking mix seemingly scattered everywhere. Although there were only a few ingredients to stir together, I nevertheless made a complete mess of the kitchen, but those pancakes sure tasted good. Traditional pancakes disappeared from my diet long ago and now, when a craving for pancakes hits, I make Baked Quinoa Chia Pancakes. (more…)