Lichty Maria - Two Peas & Their Pod Cookbook: Favorite Everyday Recipes from Our Family Kitchen

Come on in, pick out something tasty to whip up, then roll up your sleevesour kitchen is always open!

From the moment I met (my now-husband) Josh, cooking together was a natural part of our relationship.

W hile we were datingafter a year of being best friendsinstead of going out to eat in restaurants we would stay in to whip up a batch of something like pasta, tacos, or from-scratch pizza. It certainly helped us save what little money we had, but that was almost beside the point. We both just loved to get in the kitchen and dream up new, delicious takes on standby dishes that were simple to shop for and easy to prepare, and yet used whole, fresh ingredients. Not a small challenge! But we were both cut out for it. I grew up watching my dad turn our rural Illinois house into the go-to spot for a tasty meal and even tastier baked desserts. Josh learned to cook out of necessity, feeding his three younger brothers, but then continued feeding just about everyoneroommates, dorm mates, neighbors, everyone. We developed a great dynamic in the kitchen: Josh was the scientific one who loved to figure out the why behind how certain ingredients work together (coming a long way from Frito pie and from-a-can sloppy Joes), while I was usually standing over his shoulder going, Just make it already! (I guess you could say Im more of a creative spirit!) So, you can see how we ended up catering our own wedding, complete with a giant Mediterranean spread of chicken and veggie kebabs with lemon rice, Greek salad, homemade hummus, and fresh pita bread; plus an over-the-top dessert bar with some of my signature confections that coordinated with our black and white theme: classic chocolate chip cookies, chocolate crinkle cookies, chocolate-dipped Oreos, and hazelnut macaroons. Oh, and did I mention this was for 300 people?

Being in the kitchen was our happy place; its where we felt the most calmeven when we were feeding hundreds of people. (Which weve continued to do and we will give you our secrets for pulling offbut more on that in a bit!) But most importantly, our food was a success, so much so that many of our wedding guests asked for the recipes. At the time, Josh had a Blogspot account (it was just the beginning of the blogging craze!) that he used to keep in touch with family and post updates about things like hiking and skiing trips. So I posted some recipes there, along with pretty terrible photographs of the food (who knew you shouldnt use the flash?!). Lo and behold, people loved itand demanded (okay, asked nicely for) more recipes. Since we were already cooking at home all the time, I was able to share new recipes every week. And because friends and family were following along, I could pepper in all kinds of stories that related to why we made the food we didfeeding our community, including our neighbors, our congregation, and our families; feeding friends whenever the mood to entertain struck (which, as youll see, is often!), and eventually, feeding our two little boys, Caleb and Maxwell. At one point, we noticed that complete strangers had started checking out the siteand a steadily increasing number of them. At that point, we both worked full-time jobs and had no idea where this blogging business could possibly go. But we were intrigued, so we started going to conferences, meeting other bloggers, and getting tips on how to build a site, fill it with accessible recipes and tantalizing photographs, and most importantly, give it a name. Two Peas & Their Pod was born, and about two years later, we both quit our jobs to make what was once our favorite hobby our very favorite career.

Ive spent a good amount of time trying to wrap my head around what makes people love our blog so much because, at the end of the day, were a couple of folks from Salt Lake City who are usually just trying to get dinner on the table or racing to pack up something to eat on the way to soccer practice. Maybe its because there arent many husband-and-wife teams who can say that they truly and honestly love to cook together. We really do believe that four hands are better than two! If were making pizza, Josh is kneading the dough while Im simmering the sauce and chopping the ), while Im the writer of the family (though hell be popping his head in throughout the book to offer his two cents!).