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All photos by Jessica Janae Photography
This site has been around for almost 10 years and in all of that time we’ve failed to make something clear, this is a husband and wife team. I know! I don’t know how we failed to fill you in on that. Both Cade and I work on this site. I’m Carrian and I do the photography, a lot of the writing, and most of the emails as well as a lot of the recipe development. Cade is my sweet husband who does a lot of the recipe development, behind the scenes work, some emailing and commenting and other boring things, haha. Anyway, with a new year we thought it was high time we shared our story.
The Pizza That Started Our Love Affair With Food
Years ago, Cade and I went on a little vacation to San Francisco for our anniversary. It was in February, colder and windier than expected, but also one of our favorite vacations to date. We really explored the city and we ate a lot of good food. I wish I could remember everywhere we ate, but one particular night we ended up in an Italian neighborhood and sat down for some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. The Margherita pizza was recommended to us and it did not disappoint! That fresh basil inspired us to start playing around with different ingredients and recipes which is exactly what we started doing as soon as we got home.
Cooking together brought us closer together than we ever expected and it was so dang fun to create together! If you don’t ever cook with your family we really encourage you to try it. Take a cooking class with your spouse. I promise it will be so much fun and you get to eat, nothing wrong with that! Anyway, being the girl that I am I would often ask Cade if he liked a recipe, but I quickly learned that I was too tender hearted and would feel a little bad if he didn’t so we came up with something that would later lead to a blog of our own.
A Recipe Box Recipe
I didn’t like to hear if something wasn’t as good, so I started asking, “Is it a recipe box recipe?” In other words, is this one a keeper? I felt a little removed and not so sensitive if Cade said, “it’s good but maybe not a recipe box recipe”. Within a short amount of time we were inviting neighbors over to enjoy the yummy recipes we’d discovered and unfortunately when they would ask for the recipe I’d often fail to email it. So Cade thought up the brilliant idea of putting all of the recipes we tried on a blog so that anyone could grab them whenever. Little did we know that within a short amount of time people from all over the world and not just our friends would be finding and using our recipes.
Cade and I still love to be in the kitchen together. He’s a fantastic cook and so supportive of me and this business we’ve grown together. And in case you haven’t read our story, he’s an amazing husband and the only man that could have ever helped me survive Hyperemesis with three pregnancies. You can follow us along on instagram, facebook, twitter and pinterest (yes, he even pins with me!) and we hope that you’ll find your own recipe box recipes here.
A Few of Cade’s Current Favorite Recipes
Dulce De Leche Ice Cream (more like Gelato)
A Few of Carrian’s Current Favorites
Chocolate Chip Banana Zucchini Bread
How awesome!! Clearly you guys make a great team in addition to making amazing recipes! Such gorgeous photos too!
Thanks Holly!!!
Goodness gracious, you are so gorgeous. And I really do love so many of your recipes. Sometimes I wish blogs would stop posting for a while because I will never have enough time to make all the great food that is out there. But I’m getting good at picking and choosing what appeals to our tastebuds. I like that you post real food (and comfort food). Keep up the great teamwork!
Well you pretty much just made my year. Seriously, thank you so much!! And I totally know what you mean. I feel like we have this huge list of ideas for our own site but then bloggers post recipes we want to try too! haha!
I haven’t tried one recipe that I have not enjoyed, as well as my husband and 3 boys….WHEW. They are easy ingredients, don’t take a long time to prepare. Keep the recipes coming. Also you and hubby make a wonderful team, you truly look head over heels for each other.
Ahhhh!! Thank you so much!! We could not be more thrilled to hear that! And we definitely are blessed to still adore each other more and more each year. Cade makes it pretty easy though 😉
Well, hello you two!! I’m glad to see that there’s another husband and wife team working in the kitchen. As long as I can remember it has been that way with my Honey and I. When he worked full time he didn’t help in the kitchen but on the weekends it was a different story. Now that he’s retired we do everything together. Today he was fishing and I was there with him doing research on recipes and continuing my study of LR and PS and photography. Glad your hubby came out of hiding. My hubby is very camera shy and I can only manage a shot or two. Glad to meet you both.
Haha I totally know what you mean. Cade’s had a few jobs that took up much of his time so he only got to help on the weekends.
Darn auto fill got me again!! Meant to say, pinning and printing.Do not have a blog of my own, maybe someday.When I learn to type!!
Going to call you 2cuties,C AND C FOOD FACTORY!! Follow your blog and read every email, for some reason today was your day. Have spent over an hour just pinning and blogging from your recipe box!! Am now re-inspired! Thank you so very much! Since the New Year has been so boring on the blogs. No, that sounds mean. Has been so healthy. To me, too much healthy healthy usually means boring. What can I say,am french/italian/irish.Like fat, herbs, spices, meat, cheese… Really excellent recipes! So glad you decided to cook together!!
Haha!!! Thank you so much Teri!! I totally know what you mean, January is green smoothie after green smoothie haha!
They all look Great, Are they all pretty high in fat?
Watching our carbs. Love your site
We have fattening and healthy. Have you checked out our healthier recipes section?
I LOVE to cook! We very seldom eat out and only eat non-processed foods. My husband has diabetes, kidney disease and high blood pressure. Since I started cooking so much (I retired) his tests have come back so low the doctor asked him what we are doing. I enjoy your recipes very much and all I have to do is look at my hubby’s face to know it is worth making again. We just bought an Ipad so I can put all my recipes on it. Thank you.
Patty, that is wonderful!!! Cooking from home can seriously make such a difference in health and you guys are proof positive!
That pan fried tortellini sounds amazing and I have some in my fridge. It’s “inked” in the meal plan for next week; thanks!!
Ohhh we love that one! It’s so simple and easy!
This makes me smile. When I’m trying out a new recipe from a blog, I print it half sheet size , hole punch it, and stick it in a small recipe binder I keep in the kitchen. Once it’s served up, I ask my husband if it should go onthe “make-again” list. If so, I’ll copy and paste the recipe into Microsoft OneNote, reformat it, and print in on cardstock for the big recipe box. It cracks me up that I’m not alone in this sort of thing. I loved reading your story, Carrian
Oh we love that!! So glad to hear it isn’t just us! xoxo!