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Food Blogger Interview: Becca of Quick Cheap Kitchen

becca-quickcheapkitchen-portrait Dishfolio.com has some of the best food bloggers around. They've got a ton of wisdom on creating great food blog content, which is why we love to interview them! Today, we're talking to Becca of Quick Cheap Kitchen who talks about making those easy, weeknight dinners on a budget!

Tell us about your food blogging goals: What are they? How are you accomplishing them?

Food blogging started for me because I really loved taking photos, and I cook for my sister and myself almost every night. The two just came together sort of naturally. I started posting food pictures on Facebook, and including little recipes with it. That was when I realized I might like to have a blog instead. My biggest goal with my blog is to reach out to people who are maybe a little scared of cooking. Sometimes the biggest hurdle when you're cooking for yourself is just what to make! Following the directions for a recipe is easy, and I want people to see that with my blog. That's why I always include ideas for how to expand on the recipe, or how to vary it. Most of my recipes are easy and fast to make, and you can't mess them up, because you might just end up with something different and still delicious!

What's your go-to literary tool and how does it make your food blog successful?

Because my blog is all about being easy and accessible, I sprinkle my writing with humor and easy-to-follow directions in plain language. My directions won't say things like "julienne" or "meuniere". I also like to include little stories about what I have learned from cooking, and some of my own foibles too! Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes it's really funny. When you have a favorite food, don't you usually have a story that goes with it? Like the time I almost was scared to eat pesto in Italy, because it was radioactive green! (but delicious anyway) Or how my grandmother made me vegetarian meatballs for Thanksgiving and they were so delicious everyone swore they must have been meat. Imagine you're at the dinner table. Food and stories and laughter just go together, don't you think?

How many cookbooks do you own and which do you reach for most often?

The Internet is my greatest cookbook! Lots of my recipes start out by just googling recipes for what I have in my fridge - for example, when I made Caramelized Mushrooms with Pesto Guacamole. I just searched for mushroom recipes until I found one I liked. Sometimes I'll hunt down specific combos like "what to make with parsnips and carrots". I also have a big binder full of Food&Wine recipes that I have pulled out of magazines, and that can be fun to flip through too. People give me cookbooks all the time so I probably have more than 10 of them at this point. It would be really hard to pick a favorite though.

If you had to choose a kitchen tool you couldn't live without, what would it be and why?

Do I really have to choose only one? If I'm being practical, I would have to say my carbon steel chef's knife. I use the same knife for everything, whether slicing big butternut squash open or peeling cucumber skins, or slicing fish for sushi! If I'm being decadent, I would probably say my microplanar. That thing is so much easier and faster than a regular grater, and saves me time on things like cheese, ginger, and lemon zest. I won't say how many times I've accidentally microplaned my thumbnails though. Sometimes speed isn't what's most important, and I really should try to remember that!

What's next? How will you make yours the best food blog in town?

Right now, I'm all about getting my blog out there for people to see. I love when people tell me they've tried my recipes and liked them, or even better, when they try my recipes and improve on them! If I don't like how something turned out, and if I serve it to people and they don't care for it, then that recipe won't make it to my blog. I want to be known for instructions that are easy to follow and meals that turn out great every time. I want everything on my blog to be something you can enjoy on a weeknight, and that you'd be proud to serve at a dinner party.

Thanks again to Becca of Quick Cheap Recipes for participating in this interview!