• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • All Recipes
    • Cakes and Desserts
    • Main Courses
    • Light Meals
    • Sides, Salads and Snacks
    • Drinks
  • Tips and Techniques
  • About
    • About Me
    • What is an Everyday Cook?
    • Privacy Policy
  • Sign up for the newsletter!
  • Everyday Cooks

Everyday Cooks

menu icon
go to homepage
  • All Recipes
    • Meals
    • Cakes and Desserts
    • Basics
    • Drinks
  • About
    • Everyday Cooks
    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • All Recipes
      • Meals
      • Cakes and Desserts
      • Basics
      • Drinks
    • About
      • Everyday Cooks
    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    Home

    About Me

    I'm Susie Collings, married to Keith and with two children and two step-children, so my family size has ranged from just two of us to six and now back again (mostly). We live in Berkshire, England with our latest rescue, Frankie, a French Bulldog.

    Cooking as a hobby

    I’ve spent 30+ years working mostly in the IT industry and some of those raising a family as well. For many years I would have described cooking as one of my hobbies. I certainly enjoyed it. When I was first married, every summer I would hold a lunch party for 30 for my husband's birthday. I loved it all - the planning, the shopping, the preparation and, of course, the actual cooking.

    I've always been particularly keen on baking. When I was a child my mother baked twice a week – three sorts of cake each time - and from the age of eight I took over the weekend cakes.  As I got older the cakes became more lavishly decorated. No family celebration was complete without an elaborately iced and decorated cake. I went on courses, bought all the equipment and spent hours creating.

    Transition to an Everyday Cook

    And then I went back to work after having my children and life changed. Cooking was no longer a hobby, it was about getting a meal on the table, that everyone would eat, after a day at work. I had less time and energy for cooking, as well as a different 'audience'. The children's tastes were much more straightforward - and anything elaborate was not welcome. My enthusiasm for cooking nose-dived and I began to resent having to cook every day.  There were even years when (whisper it quietly) I bought birthday cakes. (It took me some time to accept that this was not actually a crime, but something that many working mothers do). In short, I had become an Everyday Cook.

    The most difficult times were as my career progressed and work became more demanding but I still wanted to provide home-cooked meals because I knew this was the best thing for my family and I feel very strongly about eating real food. So I developed a repertoire of everyday recipes that I knew the family liked, that were good for us, and were easy for me to cook at the end of a busy day - or could be prepared in advance.

    My food philosophy

    • I want to know what I'm eating and I want it to be 'proper' food. I don't want lots of additives, but I'm happy to use shortcuts (and the odd tin of beans)
    • For everyday cooking, I want ingredients from my store cupboard or part of my weekly shop. (I've thrown away too many packets of something I've used only once)
    • Healthy-enough is good-enough. I believe that a balanced diet is the healthiest and I don't think that most of us need to cut out any food groups. (Having said that, I now have a coeliac in the family so I'm conscious that sometimes recipes need to be modified.)
    • I don't want to spend ages in the kitchen, but I am prepared to invest some time in batch cooking to make life easier at busy times
    • I think we can all do with cake now and then (weekends, holidays, treat days, Wednesdays)

    So this blog is all about good, basic food - recipes for meals and cakes, some new, some from my grandmother, and everything in-between. I'll also include anything I find interesting about food and cooking - about ingredients, equipment, techniques, tips and trends. In short, everything an everyday cook could want!

    Welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy it - do let me know.

    Susie x

    Are you an Everyday Cook? Find out here.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Susie. Mostly I love cooking and baking, but combining work and home life often leaves me feeling that providing healthy, tasty food for my family is a chore. On those days I am decidedly an Everyday Cook...

    More about me →

    Popular Recipes

    • Selection of cakes and cookies for Easter.
      Best Easter Cakes
    • Pieces of Easter Rocky Road on a plate
      Easter Rocky Road
    • 8 Easter Nest Cupcakes full of mini eggs on a grey plate
      Easter Nest Cupcakes
    • Light Simnel Cake on a patterned plate on a pinkcloth
      Light Simnel Cake

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    Privacy

    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • About
    • What is an Everyday Cook?

    Copyright © 2018-2021 Everyday Cooks