Hello and welcome to Spoon in a Saucepan. If this is your first time here, I hope you enjoy browsing. Besides Home (which leads you to the most recent recipes, newest one first), and About which is this page, you will see some other tabs. Cooking with Kids, is a kid-led page where I have trial tested some recipes with my nephews and nieces. It’s not an exhaustive list but, hopefully, if you are new to cooking with your own kids or other kids in your life, it will be a starting point. In My Kitchen is a great group of wonderful bloggers, many of whom encouraged me when I first started this blog and still encourage me now. It’s a lovely monthly series where you share the things you have in your kitchen and garden. Lastly, is the Recipe Index where you can find the recipes sorted into two sections – main ingredients  or categories (brunch, breakfast, etc). I’m hoping to open a new tab soon with links to some of my favourite small, local cafes or shops, or other Irish-owned places related to the kitchen. I will, also, link to some other small business that are more world-wide that I think you might enjoy.

So, my name is Maggie and I love to cook.  When I began this blog I was living in Jochiwon near Sejong-si in South Korea. I had a tiny kitchen with a one-ring stove top and a toaster oven. Over time, I added a slow cooker and it was a life-saver! My very first recipe was one of my favourite dishes based on Kimchi Bokkeumbap. To that end, I had contributed to a cooking blog on a local Blogazine in Korea (The Sejong Dish) that was founded by my friend Salgu and is managed by a number of expats in what was my community. This blog, What’s Cooking?, focused on creating meals using only a one-ring stove.

I moved back home to Ireland, where I am from, in 2015. I am currently sharing an apartment on the southside of the city (I’m a Northsider, so it’s controversial for my soul) with very lovely Italian and Polish housemates. From really simple sandwiches to more complicated curries, I love being in the kitchen and I constantly try to challenge myself.  In fact, I am doing a Vegan month in November 2020, which after the year we’ve had might sound crazy! I’ve been doing intermittent fasting to some extent for almost a year and I’ve seen some results I’m happy with. I don’t do it 100% as it should be done, as I do drink my tea and coffee with milk, and if I am visiting someone and they offer me food, when I should be fasting, I don’t really say no unless I’ve just eaten.

A couple of years ago, I found out that I have slightly high cholesterol and I am trying to balance living healthier with all the good (and lots of bad) things that I love. Consequently, I’ve been trying to eat healthier by choosing more heart-healthy food like beans. Luckily for me one of my favourite foods is baked beans (my absolute favourite is a toss-up between potatoes and avocados) which are actually heart-healthy! Yay!

In terms of how often to expect posts, well I took a break from this blog for years because I found that it overwhelming trying to post every single week. I work full-time, have family I love hanging out with, and I like to travel. So, my commitment for Nov 2020 to Nov 2021 is to do around 12 recipes which should average once a month. But, that’s not a promise and if  I find I am able to I will post more.

Beyond cooking, I love pandas, teaching, travelling, reading, drawing, and writing, my family, Charmed, Psych, and Doctor Who.

Happy reading and cooking.

Unless otherwise stated all photographs are my own taken either with a Nikon Coolpix L820 or a Samsung Galaxy S2 or an iPhone 5s. Unless otherwise stated, all recipes are my own.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in health or nutrition. However, I have a huge passion for food, eating and cooking. I love to cook and to share what I cook. My mam was my teacher and from her assistance I built up the confidence to cook myself and create my own recipes or to amend those in beloved cookbooks.

Sponsorship/Ads: If I recommend or link to something, it’s because I like it. I am not sponsored and I have no intention at this time or in the near future to change that. This is very much a “home cook who posts when she has time” blog.

Copyright: All original content is copyright Maggie O’Driscoll of Spoon in a Saucepan including all photos unless otherwise stated.  Please do not reproduce any content without permission.  Please contact me at spooninasaucepan (at) gmail (dot) com if you’d at like to use any pictures or other content.  If you’d like to share a recipe originally from my site, your are welcome to but please give me credit if the recipe is originally mine.   If you want to pin my recipe or share on your tumblr, Pintrest, Instagram, go ahead but the above rules still apply. Thank you!