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About Zona

Hi and welcome. Here you will find over 400 small-batch recipes.  I’m Zona House and I love creating and downsizing recipes for easy dinners or desserts for two. I also post some larger meals that we love as well.

a photo of zona house.

This blog is for anyone who loves to cook and for everyone who doesn’t. My recipes are mostly easy to make and include simple step-by-step instructions and process shots.

3 images of zona in different settings.

1st pic is Jason from thebottlerun.com and myself, 2nd two pics are my husband and me.

3 images of zona in different settings.

1st pic is me, my husband, and my son, 2nd pic is my dad and myself, and the 3rd pic is myself, my mom, and my two sisters.

3 images of zona in different settings.

1st pic is me and my husband, 2nd pic is my Basset Hound and myself, and the 3rd pic is just me.

When I’m not browsing cookbooks and websites planning my next meal, in the kitchen making my next meal, or enjoying my most recent meal, I’m either working, hanging out with my husband, or playing with my dogs.

For fun, I love to learn and read. I also love golf, wine tasting, home decor, and organizing my home and finances. I know, crazy! Right? Who loves to pay bills??? Yep, me.  I also love traveling. I bring my taste buds with me on every trip and often come home inspired to recreate the fabulous new foods and flavors I just experienced.

Here are five reasons I think you’ll love my blog, whether you’re a seasoned chef or just starting:

  1. Great recipes. It’s a food blog, so naturally, you’re going to find recipes here. But I only share the recipes I really, truly love. You won’t find anything here that I’ve never made or would never make again. Every recipe I post has my stamp of approval—if I wouldn’t eat it or serve it, you won’t find it here.
  2. Step-by-step instructions with photos. When I first started cooking, I was unsure about so many things: How big should I dice the onions? How thick should I cut the vegetables? What should this look like halfway through the recipe when it looks nothing like the final photo? When I created this blog, my goal was to take away some of that uncertainty by including tons of photos to bring each step of the recipe to life.
  3. Helpful tips and techniques. I love learning any skill that helps me get the job done faster, easier, or with a better result. That’s why I sometimes include tips that I think might be helpful.
  4. Bloopers. Let’s face it – sometimes cooking just doesn’t go as planned. Don’t let that discourage you, though. It happens to me too! It’s just food…if it doesn’t turn out, salvage what you can, toss the rest and just try again next time.
  5. Fun! Food and fun come together in this blog because everything about food should be fun: eating it, making it and even making a mess of it.

If you tried one of my recipes or techniques and loved it (or even if you didn’t), let me know. Also, feel free to share links to my recipes and credit my blog. All of my photos and recipe techniques are copywritten and protected and cannot be used without my permission.

I work on this blog, and my other blog, Zona’s Lazy Recipes, as my full-time career and income (that’s why you see ads). Zona Cooks and Zona’s Lazy Recipes are owned and operated by my parent company Smoofy Joose, LLC. We create recipes for real people, whether you love to cook, hate to cook, or just don’t have much time to cook. Our recipes are mostly easy to make and include simple step-by-step instructions and process shots.

Follow me on Pinterest to pin and keep track of all your favorite recipes.

And if you “Like” my Facebook page, you’ll get a link to each new blog post and to some other content I post that doesn’t make it on here. But the best way to stay connected is to simply sign up for my newsletter so you’ll get an email whenever there’s a new post.

If you try any of my recipes I would love to hear comments or snap a pic and tag me on Instagram @zonacooksfortwo or Twitter @ZonaCooks

zona@zonacooks(dot)com

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