About

Welcome! I'm glad you found me!

I’m Mandy and I live with my husband (he’s cute) and our two children (they’re cute too) in the Midwest. We bought a 100-year-old American foursquare in the summer of 2021 and are working on making it our own, one project at a time - with so much food to fuel us!

Making home sweet is what this blog is all about, from the food on the table to all the little touches of thoughtful homemaking that make home a place you want to be. 

Here, you’ll find recipes for everything from breakfasts to quick and easy dinners to desserts, as well as home improvement DIY’s (that, if I can do, you can totally do), and all the ways we’re making our home just how we want it.

I hope you leave here ready to tackle a new recipe or project! Be sure to subscribe below if you’d like to be updated of new posts. I’m so glad you’re here!

FAQ’s

Since I’m of the opinion that really the best way to get to know somebody is through a series of rapid-fire questions, here are answers to commonly asked ones!

So, do you REALLY like to cook?

I do like to cook! I find the process fun and the result satisfying. My love for cooking began when I was a kid when my kitchen experience mainly fell in the occasional experimenting/just for fun category, and I bore no responsibility for the mess left behind. Now that cooking is the means to the end of feeding the people I live with, I’m well aware of the drudgery that seemingly non-stop food prep and kitchen cleaning can induce. 

So, while I do love a meal that’s carefully planned out, that has ample time for preparation and can be beautifully presented and leisurely enjoyed, I’m also very aware that sometimes you need to eat breakfast in the car or have dinner on the table in 30 minutes.

All this to say that yes, I do love to cook, but I mainly love feeding people thoughtfully and that can look all sorts of different ways. Which is why you’ll find recipes for easy dinners and more drawn out affairs here.

What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever made?

Such a hard question to answer! You should know that the recipes on the blog are things I’ve made and eaten and enjoyed enough to put on here and basically say, “you should eat this because it is so good!”. But if I must pick favorites, I’ll say chili lime flank steak, scotcharoos, and this whole-chicken chicken noodle soup.

Do you ever make anything bad?

YES. One of the fun things about cooking and testing new recipes is sometimes things all work perfectly and your end result is exactly as you envisioned it would be. It is so satisfying, but that’s unicorn-level special outcome. 

More often, something needs tweaking like a longer cook time or more salt. Something small and easily fixable the next time around. 

Occasionally, things flop past the point of no return. Could be a combination of ingredients that sounds good but ends up being off-putting, or a method that just does not work. Sometimes these flops go to the back of the recipes-to-make pile to try again later. Sometimes they’re completely scrapped and thrown away, never to see the light of day.

Were you to ask Josh this question, he would kindly tell you that everything I make is good. He then would bring up the lentil loaf of 2015, and you would undoubtedly hear some guttural noises that you DO NOT WANT TO HEAR.

So, yes. I have flops!

Where do you get recipe ideas?

Everywhere! Cookbooks, commercials, billboards, magazines, restaurants, the internet, friends, my Mom, that thing I remember really liking growing up… There just is no shortage of delicious things to make. If a recipe on the blog is particularly inspired by someone else, I always credit it in the post!

You can find a whole post about finding new recipes and avoiding a food rut here.

What’s the best way to get in touch with you?

If you have a question/comment about a specific blog post, it’s best to just leave a comment on that specific post. All other inquiries can be sent to mandy(at)mandyjackson(dot)com.

Do you make money from this blog?

Yes! I make money mainly via ads and affiliates. This blog participates in several affiliate programs, which means that if you click on a product link and proceed to buy something, I may make a small commission off your purchase - at no extra cost to you.