Welcome to Jeanie and Lulu’s Kitchen! This blog is a love letter to my two incredible grandmothers, both of whom I think about every time I’m in the kitchen. Jeanette (Nana Jeanie to me) is my mom’s mom, an amazing, beautiful and classy woman of Lebanese descent. She could cook or sew anything and she introduced me to Middle Eastern cuisine. Louise (Nana Lulu) is my dad’s mom and the most adorable, warm Italian grandmother. Weekly dinners at her house are some of my happiest childhood memories. They instilled my love and passion for food, which I now want to share with you all. I even use a lot of my Nana Lulu’s dishes and the pinecone napkins my Nana Jeanie made in almost all of my photos.
I am a culinary school graduate from the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) and also graduated from Rutgers University with a double major in History and Political Science. After culinary school I worked for the wonderful website The Chef’s Connection doing freelance interviewing, writing and editing. I’ve had the privilege of interviewing and writing about some of the top chefs in New York, including Cronut inventor Dominique Ansel and cake master artist Ron Ben-Israel. I’m also the proud wife of an amazing man named Marc.
In my own cooking, I tend to gravitate heavily toward Mediterranean flavors that reflect both my Italian and Lebanese influences. One of my favorite things to do is meld those two cuisines together! I’m going to be developing and writing about recipes inspired by my grandmothers and family, the seasons and my own silly whims. There will be lots of features on some of my favorite places that I love to go to for great meals and ingredients for my recipes in the Favorite Places section. I will also write all about life happenings in my Kitchen Diaries. Oh, and I’ll be doing more and more giveaways of fun things as well! Follow along on my life-long love affair with food here on Jeanie and Lulu’s Kitchen!
What an inspiring blog! Great way to pay homage to what were obviously amazing grandmothers!! They live on in their food and it’s awesome that you’re sharing it. Good on you! I can’t wait to explore more…
Great site. Enjoying the recipes. Especially like those chicken roll up thingys with the sausage stuffing.
Hi, The love you share in this blog for your grandmothers is beautiful, and such wonderful recipes!
I just added your site to my board on Pinterest ‘Food Blogs That Rock!’ I’ve tried to follow you on my bloglovin account, but you aren’t listed. It may not be your thing. If not, just disregard. I will keep a post it on my desk…maybe you’ll join. Thanks again for this wonderful blog.
Janelle =^..^=
Janelle, thank you so much!! You just made this rainy day brighter with your kind words! I actually have never even heard of bloglovin before, I’m going to have to check it out. I’m glad you brought it to my attention. Keep coming back and let me know what you think of the recipes if you try them! 🙂
Leigh, Thank you for the response. I will be visiting and I am following the blog too. I will keep that post it on my desk though…you may want to join bloglovin!
Janelle =^..^=
Janelle, I just did! So glad you pointed it out. I’m still a fairly new blogger, I started this labor of love this past October. Still learning so much! Thanks again!! 🙂
Lovely homage to your Grandmoms Leigh! I have been meaning to visit your blog for several weeks and as usual got side tracked! Glad to see you are a Rutgers Grad. Many of my relatives in New Brunswick, Piscataway, Somerset, are grads. In fact my 1st cousin works on campus in administration; her name is Alex Bachmann and has been there forever! Her Mother and my Father were brother and sister (a family of eight children) and sadly most are buried at Van Lieu Cemetery in New Brunswick. Although born there and roots are New Jersey I was raised in Florida where I currently reside. Keep cooking these wonderful dishes and I will continue to try them out!!! Your TK Friend, Cheryl.
Cheryl, you make me smile!! I’m so glad we connected. Thank you so much for checking the blog out and the kind words. Go RU! 🙂
Dear Leigh,
Such a wonderful idea for the food blog you have, filled with precious memories 🙂
Thank you for sharing all these amazing and truly delicious recipes! We’d be happy to build a partnership with such a dedicated food blogger and get you promoted at our official FB with over 22K followers. Please visit our website to learn more about the opportunities you may get with us: http://talktochef.com/howitworks/affiliates . Feel free to contact me at kamila@talktochef.com for any additional information.
Thank you!
Kamila
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These look delicious! My problem is right now I am grain free and dairy free. So hard to resist this kind of stuff.
Oh I totally get it. Thanks very much for the kind words!!