About Me
A Kitchen That Keeps the Light On
My name is Caroline “Carrie”, and I live in North Carolina, where the summers are humid, the basil grows faster than I can use it, and dinner still manages to sneak up on me most evenings around 5:47 p.m.
Cooking Guide began the way most of my favorite things have begun: quietly, at the kitchen table, with a stack of recipe cards and a question, What if I kept these stories from disappearing?
Before this site, I spent years as a public library program coordinator. One of my favorite events was something we called “community cookbook nights.” People would bring handwritten recipe cards, creased, splattered, sometimes barely legible, and tell the story behind them. A peach cobbler made every July for a father who worked night shifts. A slow-roasted chuck roast that saved someone’s first Thanksgiving as a newlywed. A casserole that showed up at every church basement gathering for thirty years.
I tested those recipes at home. Some worked immediately. Some needed a little clarity beyond “bake until it smells done.” But almost all of them carried something bigger than instructions. They carried memory.
Cooking Guide exists to honor that.
Why This Website Exists
The purpose of Cooking Guide is simple: to help everyday home cooks make reliable, comforting meals without second-guessing themselves.
You’ll find recipes that are practical and tested in a real household, scaled for potlucks, adjusted for picky seasons, and flexible enough for the night you realize you forgot to thaw the chicken. I focus on dishes that feed families, welcome neighbors, and reheat well the next day.
Here’s the part that matters: the recipes here are written to work. Measurements are clear. Steps are specific. Substitutions are noted because life rarely lines up with a perfect grocery list.
When I say “this one is forgiving,” I mean I’ve tried it three different ways and it still turned out just fine.
The Experience Behind the Apron
I am not a professional chef. I don’t have restaurant training. What I have is years of cooking for groups, library staff potlucks, neighborhood gatherings, school events, and a family that gets very honest about what they like.
I’m comfortable with the rhythm of casseroles that need to travel, soups that improve overnight, roasts that stretch into sandwiches, and pantry baking that saves a weekend morning. I’ve learned how to double a recipe without ruining the texture, how to make something ahead without drying it out, and how to pivot when an ingredient is missing.
Much of that confidence came from testing other people’s “this always works” dishes and figuring out why they worked. That’s what I share here, not just the recipe, but the reasoning.
If you’re like me, you don’t just want dinner. You want dinner that holds up when the doorbell rings.
A Real Memory (The Night I Understood Why This Matters)
One October evening years ago, during my library days, an older patron named Mrs. Delaney handed me a handwritten card for her baked macaroni and cheese. She insisted the secret was stirring the eggs into the warm milk before adding it to the pasta, “so it sets creamy, not stiff.”
That weekend, I made it for a neighborhood potluck. There were folding chairs in the driveway, paper plates balanced on knees, and a toddler who declared it “too cheesy” before asking for seconds. The top baked into buttery edges, the center stayed tender, and three different people asked for the recipe before the night ended.
It wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t trendy. But it gathered people.
That was the moment I understood that cooking, at its best, is memory-keeping.
Our Story So Far
I focused on dependable meals that worked with pantry ingredients and didn’t fall apart if dinner started late.
How This Website Works
When you read “I,” I’m referring to me, Carrie, the recipe developer and writer behind Cooking Guide. When you see “we,” that includes my family, who test, taste, and offer honest feedback, as well as the small technical support team who helps maintain the website’s functionality.
You’ll see me in my own kitchen, not a studio. The stovetop behind me is the one I use. The countertops are often mid-project. That context matters, because the food you see here is made in the same kind of kitchen you likely have.
Every recipe is written with the intention that you can follow it confidently. If something needs clarification, I revise it. Accuracy and clarity are part of how I build trust with you.
What You’ll Find Here
You’ll find recipes meant for real tables, weekday dinners, weekend baking projects, dishes that can sit out at a gathering without stress. You’ll find notes about storage, reheating, doubling, and freezing because leftovers are part of real life.
You will not find perfection for perfection’s sake. You’ll find meals that feel steady.
This site is not about showcasing a single cuisine or trend. It’s about cooking in general, reliable, generous, everyday cooking that supports the rhythm of a home.
Let’s Stay in Touch
If you have a question, a doubt, a suggestion, or simply want to say, “I tested and loved it” (or even “I tried and it failed—what did I do wrong?”), I would truly like to hear from you.
You can write to me directly at contact@cookinguide.com.
Cooking is a conversation. I’m grateful you’re here to be part of it.