About Michelle Donn –
Update 2018
We are moving! We are relocating to a new horse farm in Loxahatchee, Florida! Follow the move and remodel of this new home on my blog, Facebook and Instagram. We might be crazy but we are planing a total remodel and big addition for the new farm. Ever wonder what happens to a food bloger during a kitchen reno? Find out this summer.
Before leaving the beautiful custom home we build in Palm City my stepdaughter and I had a bit of fun and shot a few pictures of me in the gorgeous kitchen. I am already missing my double sinks and 2 dishwashers!
Update 2017
For the last two years I have crazy busy working and helping my husband build our new home and farm so Cook Better Than was kind of ignored, but I find myself with more time lately and the fun of the holidays approaching so I am back! We are going to get this food blog back in shape; new recipes and how-to posts will be coming fast and furious, get ready!
In these two years my stepdaughters have both gone off to college and we moved to the 20 acre farm we built in Palm City, FL. We have my horses, three crazy dogs, one cat and my husband is raising Cracker Cattle, they are a heritage bred for Florida that is smaller and leaner than most beef cattle in America. Crackers as a breed have developed over centuries to be more tolerant to the environment in Florida and this heartiness makes them ideal organic all natural beef cattle, with no hormones, antibiotics or drugs needed. The lean all grass fed beef is more like the meat you get in Argentina than at Publix. We should soon have not only the beef from our cattle available for purchase but also from a few other ranchers in the area, can you say organic Florida Wagyu! Stay tuned for details on buying your share of a whole cow.
Another benefit of our new farm is that my mother has her own home on the property, multigenerational living is a new trend and I have to say in many ways makes life so much simpler. My mother is still pretty spry for her mid-seventies so she often helps with cooking and taking care of the dogs when we are swamped. She has her own full kitchen but she and I are happy to trade off the fruits of our labors, I make chili on Monday, she gets a big pot of it for her fridge. She makes a batch of cookies on Wednesday; we get a few dozen for our cookie jar. Maybe there was a reason humans lived like this generations ago.
Web Site Makeover
The upgrade and makeover to the blog is in phase one new fun logo and simpler design for the site live now. I just need to come up with a great new design for the home page and get my older recipe posts all formatted to the new style. With over 100 existing recipes that may be quite a bit of work, so please be kind if a few images are cropped funny or the comments are not displaying correctly, I am but a lone food blogger doing all this work from my kitchen counter. If you want to volunteer your tech skills in trade for a vat of Hummus get in touch!
Let the video revolution begin, haha
Next we are going to be adding videos. I have no idea why I agreed with my husband when he thought this was a great idea (I blame the wine), but here I go. Like the photos on my early recipe blog posts I am going to guess that over time I will get better at both the video editing and my presentation skills. Either way, check out my first how to video below “How to Get a Free Sunday Dinner” also known as “Save Money by Cutting your Own Pork Chops.” My goal with the videos is to have short videos not of just me in the kitchen cooking but also of cool food things on our farm and here in South Florida. A few of my ideas include a visit to the organic farm that is a few miles up the road and following the progress of my husband’s plan to grow pineapples. There is also a Cracker Cattle heritage auction in the fall and a local restaurant with a kitchen garden I have been dying to learn more about in Stuart, FL. Wish me luck!
Let’s Get Social
My loyal if neglected fans on Facebook number over 10,000 but it’s time to get working on some of the other Social Media platforms. So please look for us everywhere you like to get social online. We are pumping up our Pinterest, increasing our Instagram, growing our GooglePlus, and trying to remember to Tweet. We have also added a community Facebook group called “Helping Each Other to Cook Better than Most Restaurants” where I will be doing weekly and monthly themes like: tailgate favorites, thanksgiving hacks, great food destinations, and 30 minute meals. I hope that the group will take on a life of its own with people sharing recipes, hints, how to, foodie vacation ideas and more.
Thanks Everyone
I still firmly believe that if you passed high school chemistry you can learn to cook and cook well, and I know that $50 at a grocery store will yield you more delicious food than $50 spent at Applebee’s ever could. At my home the wine is good, the company great and the food is fabulous. There is no reason why it can’t be the same at your house!
Thanks for reading and cooking with me
-Michelle Donn
About Michelle Donn 2012
I believe that all home cooks should know that they can cook better than most restaurants. There is nothing coming out of the kitchens of large chain casual dining restaurants that home cooks can’t make better and often cheaper at home. Not only will the home cooked food taste better its healthier most of the time too. Empowering people to cook great food at home is also about building a family culture that revolves around sitting down to eat together and share more than just food.
I have affectionately called my situation the “insta-family” I went from single working girl to stay at home step-mom of two teen girls pretty fast. I have been learning a lot about managing a house and family in the last year or two and I love all of it. I try and feed my family well we have simple and quick breakfasts, easy to pack lunches, and healthy dinners. Much of what we eat you might see on a menu at a restaurant but in our house it tastes better and the wine is affordable. I try to use fresh and local ingredients when practical, but sometimes I only have time for a quick run to the grocery store to get the basics. I include whole gains in everything from pizza dough to oatmeal cookies, and have managed to lower my husband’s cholesterol over 70 points and counting. Eating well is a luxury that I think every family can afford; it’s also an opportunity to spend time together that every family can’t afford to miss.
Cooking should be a no stress endeavor in life, if a new recipe fails throw it away and call for delivery!!
Contact Michelle directly via email.