Introduction to CornerStore Cooking

I have always had a different relationship with food albeit it has been more of an unhealthy one and sometimes toxic than it has been healthy. Raised in the South, Alabama, near grandparents that had two ponds stocked with all kinds of fish, enough land to have all kinds of vegetables and chickens you would think that I had all I needed to have a healthy lifestyle. My Great Grandmother also lived nearby, and she too had a garden stocked with plenty of veggies.

Living near them, there was lots of fishing memories with my Great Grandmother and I would always have to clean what we caught, which could be why I am not as big of a fan of fish today. During the summer we would harvest all sorts of veggies such as squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, corn, turnip greens, okra and potatoes.

Yet, being raised in the south around lots of vegetables doesn't always mean that you are eating healthy. Anyone familiar with the way things are cooked in the south will know that we had plenty of lard and Crisco and used them often to fry our batter laden vegetables. Plus, you had to have fried chicken or fish and don't forget the biscuits and cornbread covered in butter.

What we didn't eat, we would can or freeze for the winter, so we had even more veggies to fry up to an unhealthy crisp during the cold winter months. Don't get me wrong, I totally enjoyed access to a garden and love the fact that I now have land to have one of my own and I know that it laid the foundation for eating veggies but just not in a good way.

Then as I grew older and started to cook on my own, I carried many of the same traditions of cooking with me. Some of them did change however one thing that didn't was the use of spices. I only used salt, pepper and later Italian Seasoning was added to that mix.

John, on the other hand, was born in the Midwest and raised differently. He was introduced to cooking at a young age by accident. He had an incident with the foil on a Hershey's kiss and spent a large amount of time home recuperating. During that time, he started watching "Yen Can Cook" and Julia Childs and developed a love for cooking. Working with pastries and desserts in the beginning (his Mom baked cakes as well), he experimented with layering of flavors and turning nothing into something delicious to eat.

When we first met, I had canned chicken and beenie weanies in my pantry and my freezer was filled with more alcohol than food. The extent of my spice rack was a can of sea salt, a can of pepper and some Italian Seasoning. Since that time, my horizons have been expanded tremendously and our spice rack now has 13 different kinds of salt, at least 5 different peppers and numerous shelves of various kinds of spices.

Often we will have what we call a "purge" where we will let our food get down to nothing and not shop until we are out of pretty much everything. There have been some pretty good meals that have come out of very simple ingredients. It is amazing what can be made with a box of macaroni and cheese and a few spices, meat and vegetables.

It is out of this practice that Corner Store Cooking was conceived. John has always wanted to share his love of cooking and the use of very simple ingredients and flavors to create a gourmet meal. We will be sharing recipes, tricks and shortcuts in the kitchen, spice must haves and all kinds of tips that he has picked up over the years, maybe even something that he learned new.

Glad that you are joining us on this adventure!