Welcome to Mum grub! My name is Lana and I am a wife, mother of 3, recent grandma and food lover. I love to cook and to feed people and so when I decided I wanted to share what I know, Mumgrub was born. Here you will find tips, tricks and recipes from the very basic to the more advanced and everything in-between. Whether you’re a university student living in a dorm on budget or a family of 4, you will be able to find recipes that will fit the bill. As a mom myself, I understand both the demands of feeding a family AND of teaching young adults to cook independently so that they can feed themselves.
If you comment, I will try and respond to the best of my ability. If you want to see a specific recipe, just ask. I might just have it! Welcome foodies and non-foodies alike, and here we go.
As I mentioned, I am a wife and a mom of 3, and I have a very large extended family and many friends. Family, friends and food just go together! Whenever there is a celebration or significant life event, people gather and when people gather, the natural thing to do, is feed them, well at least for me it is. If you’re one of those people who show their love language through feeding people, then this site is for you. I am a feeder, it’s what I do and how I show the people that I care about that I am thinking about them. Whether it be my own immediate family, my friends, or the neighbors who just moved in!
I grew up in a restaurant family. My mom owned and operated restaurants for many years, sadly she is no longer with us. She taught me (and my siblings) how to cook (especially for large groups) and I believe feeding people was her love language as well.
In this blog I will share recipes for my favorites and maybe even a story or two. My recipes are the kinds of recipes that anyone can make. If you’re a beginner just learning how to cook, or someone with tons of cooking experience, I hope that I will be able to offer some new insights and ideas.
There isn’t just one type of food that I and my family enjoy. My kids have different palates and like different things. I do try and cook so that everyone is happy come dinner time, but this is not always possible. Sometimes you just have to make what you like, and hope they like it too. Picky eaters beware…. I will try and get you to at least take a bite of something you think you don’t like. Sometimes I can change their mind, oftentimes, not. I have one picky eater out of three, he doesn’t like spicy food and the rest of us do. He likes ketchup with things that I think should NEVER have ketchup anywhere near them (like on macaroni…yuk). My apologies to the ketchup lovers out there, but I am a purist when it comes to that. I like ketchup on fries (and hashbrowns) and that’s about it. Not on a hot dog, or hamburger (unless I forget to order it that way). We are a fairly adventurous family when it comes to food (except the picky one)! We have all eaten things like escargot and frogs legs, and all enjoy a good curry or bowl of Pho (again, not the picky one). He’s more of a meat and potato kind of guy! He loves salads as long as there is no CILANTRO anywhere near it! I love Cilantro, herein lies the dilemma, leave it out or portion out his serving before adding (I usually choose the later).
My kids are older now, so I definitely cook differently then I did when they were little. I introduced spice and new foods gradually as they grew up. They have all travelled and have become adventurous in their own food tastes. My oldest loves Unagi (Japanese freshwater eel), I must admit, I have never tried it.
My daughter has recently moved away to attend University, so in her absence I wrote a cookbook for her consisting of many of her favorites and also many budget friendly (student budget) recipes for her to make while she’s away. She is more of a baker than a cook, she started baking when she was 3 with Mom’s help of course, and although she “can” cook, she would much rather bake! So by choosing a University that wasn’t in our city, she had no choice but to put her cooking skills to good use. And that she has! She is an excellent cook (I had no doubt she would be), but baking is still her favorite. Not a week went by during her first year where I didn’t get the call with her asking “Mom, how do I make ____?” That is what prompted me to write a cookbook for her. It is currently in digital format, and I may put it out there for all of you, once I am happy with the final result. I will be adding some of those recipes to this blog as we go. I am sure that a few of you are “starving students” looking for good food that doesn’t break the budget!
With all that being said, Welcome and I hope you enjoy and try some of my recipes.