Maris Callahan: Recipes for Young Professionals

Maris Callahan is the author of the In Good Taste blog, a home cooking guide for young professionals, newlyweds, and anyone who is looking to create tasty home meals despite a busy schedule.  We interviewed Maris about her blog and thoughts on home cooking.

Could you tell us about yourself?

I love to read, write and cook - and ideally, do some combination of all three. I've loved to eat for as long as I can remember, but it wasn't until college that I started learning how to cook and pay attention to the quality of the ingredients that I used.

What was the inspiration behind creating ingoodtasteblog.net?

I started my blog, In Good Taste, in 2008 as a way to share what I was cooking with my family and friends, but in doing so I discovered a passion for helping other young professionals, like myself, cook delicious, healthy recipes when they're short on time or resources.

What can readers find on the blog?

Hopefully, readers will be inspired by what they find on In Good Taste. Because a lot of my readers are just beginning to learn how to cook, I try to share recipes that are simple and straightforward. My dad is my litmus test; for the first twenty-five years of my life I'd never seen him cook anything but spaghetti and scrambled eggs, but once he started making some of my recipes, I knew that they really were accessible for anyone!

What are your favorite things to cook/bake?

I love to make pizzas; there are so many flavor combinations that you can play with. They can be as simple or as elaborate as you want them to be. I also love to make chocolate chip cookies - because who doesn't love fresh chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven?

If you could summarize what home cooking means to you into one quote, what would it be?

Home cooking should be comfortable and unpretentious. For me, there is no better way to spend an idle afternoon than in the kitchen creating something. Some compare cooking to other fine arts like painting or sculpting, but I think it's even better - when you're done, you get to eat your creation! Most importantly, home cooking should be fun, and if that means keeping it simple, that's okay.