Hello friends!

After a two year break from blogging I am thrilled to be back and share with you my very own food and lifestyle site, Pantry Lane. My main focus in blogging has always been encouraging others to have fun with food, be creative in the kitchen, and make healthy and delicious homemade meals for their family and friends.

I grew up learning how to cook and bake in my grandmother’s kitchen. From a young age I can remember sitting on her kitchen counter, spoon in my hand, ready to help her when the opportunity came my way. “Can I stir that?” “Can I measure this?” Oh how I really wanted to crack those eggs!!! I loved watching her knead dough and talk about how there was only one way to do it, her way. Isn’t that so true of us kitchen pioneers? It’s our way in our kitchen, or we will have to politely ask you to get out, ha ha. Yeast smelling up the kitchen, flour dusting the counter and floor, bread rising in the oven, this was magical. I was determined to have my own kitchen one day, taking control over all things food related.

Pictured above is the aluminum mixing bowl I grew up using in my grandmother’s kitchen. This bowl was my great-grandmother’s, passed down to my grandma, who recently gifted it to me. It is the kitchen item that I remember using most growing up and it brings back so many fond memories as I use it today.

Here I am, years later, in a different and slightly more tidy kitchen … sorry grandma. I prefer to not work in utter chaos, therefore I run my kitchen a little differently than my food sensei. You will find that I love to cook and I enjoy baking even more, so don’t be surprised by the amount of baked goodies. I will be sharing with you some of the traditional New Mexican foods that I grew up on and other international cuisine with my own spin.

I am not professionally trained, these recipes are a reflection of my own personal tastes and how I serve my family and friends with food. I think that you will find my style simple and to the point. My background is in fine arts and I am a graphic designer by trade. I left the design world years ago to raise my three remarkable kiddos and now, in my ‘spare time’ I concentrate on making my house a home, DIY projects and interior design.

Thanks for stopping in, hope you enjoy my new site!

– Michelle