A Little About Me

Hello, and welcome to my blog, Pass the Plate!

My name is Leora Ellingson, but I'm more commonly known as "mom." I am the wife of a handsome firefighter and we have six children; one of which is married, one is on a mission, and the rest are at home with us.

If you were to ask any of my children what unites our family they would probably tell you about our kitchen table. Over the years I have gone from "can barely throw together lasagne" to "tonight I made you all stuffed mushrooms, shrimp scampi, and I even created a new lemon-garlic vinaigrette to dress the salad." My family has eaten every creation of mine, whether it was a success or....not so successful. They have seen a variety of my experiments and are always willing to offer their opinions. "Too much salt! Not enough salt! Is that rosemary? I think this sauce should be sweeter." And so on and so forth. Our table has been the place where we share the stories of our day, laugh together, play together, eat together, and create fond memories.

It has been my goal since my husband and I got married twenty three years ago to never feed my family frozen TV dinners, no matter how tempting they may be after a long day at work.  Throughout our marriage my husband has always been my “taster”, “opinion giver”, and overall “critique”; as I have learned and grown as a home cook.  He has also taught me some of his own tricks; as firefighters are known for being great cooks themselves.  And, of course, my journey began when I discovered Food Network and started watching their fabulous shows!! 

This blog is my way of compiling all my creations and sharing them with people who have a passion for cooking, like me. Not all the recipes are one hundred percent my own- sometimes I'll modify a popular recipe to better fit my taste buds. I will be sure to give the proper credit to the people who came up with the original recipe.

Someday (soon!) I hope to turn this blog into a real book! Until then, please enjoy trying out my recipes. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.