About
Hi, I’m Si!
A Bountiful Kitchen started as a hobby, and blossomed into a full time business that keeps me busier than ever! I also teach classes at Orson Gygi in Salt Lake City, make regular appearances on KSL Studio5 and wrote a cookbook in 2022.
My greatest joy comes while spending time with people I love and making meals that create memories. So glad you are here! If you have a question about a recipe, leave a comment on the recipe or contact me.
Hope to see you in the kitchen soon!
Si xo
My Background
I was born in Okinawa, Japan. My mom is Japanese and my dad from the U.S. I have been married to my best friend, Grant for 40 years and have four kids- two girls and two boys, a daughter-in -law, two sons-in-law and 8 beautiful grand babies! When I started this blog in 2008, we lived in Bountiful, Utah.
I learned to love cooking while I was going to Dixie College in the early 80’s. I took a bread and pie making class from a sweet lady, Mrs. Barton. She taught us how to make bread, rolls, cinnamon rolls, donuts and my favorite – PIE. I was hooked! I loved that you could start out with flour, sugar, fruit, and an hour or so later end up with something that was beautiful, smelled wonderful and tasted so good!
The Cookbook is Here!
A Bountiful Kitchen Cookbook is filled with recipes, photos, recipe stories, lifestyle photos and special notes from me throughout the book. I hope you will love this heritage collection of recipes gathered in one book. The book lays flat and has a total of 368 pages.
FAQ
Advice for new or young cooks, just starting out?
Don’t ever say “I HATE cooking!” If you say you hate cooking, it will taste like you hate cooking. Grant loves to say “Words have creative powers”. He’s right.
Do you have a recipe for… ?
The best way to see if I have a recipe on my blog is key in a recipe name or main ingredient into the search box in the main menu.
What is your favorite kitchen appliance?
My Kitchen Aid stand mixer (not all KitchenAids are created equal). I love this model, have had mine for over 25 years.
What kitchen-related gift item do you recommend?
See my SHOP!
Do you cook like this every night?
No, I usually cook about 2-3 nights a week, the rest of the time we eat leftovers or grilled cheese, or quesadillas, just like you.
How come you don’t weigh 300 pounds?
I was blessed with a great metabolism. I have started to gain weight the last few years…age. Being 5’8 helps. I eat small meals throughout the day, and I’m somewhat choosy about what I eat, if it doesn’t taste good to me, I have no problem passing.
Why do you blog?
I love sharing my love of cooking! It’s convenient to catalog recipes I love in one place. Family memories and traditions almost always include food. Taking time to create something delicious for loved ones creates a memory that will stay in their hearts forever. I hope to inspire you to “cook a meal and create a memory”!
Any advice for me if I’m just starting my own blog?
Write about what you love! It’s important to purchase the domain name for your blog when you start. Let’s say you start a blog with the name “Mary’s Marvelous Kitchen” and use another address. After while, you decide you love blogging. People look up your blog by using your name. All of your recipes are cataloged through this name. So you decide to buy www.marysmarvelouskitchen.com but someone now owns it. Sure they are glad to sell it to you… for hundreds, maybe more. It happens, all of the time. Read more about my nightmare with this.
How much time does it take you to do a post?
On average 5-10 hours this includes recipe development, photography, editing and writing the post. Oh, and the dishes.
Do you take your own photos? What camera do you use?
Yes, with the exception of a couple of early recipes. I initially used a point and shoot Canon, then a Canon T1i, and since 2012 a Canon EOS 60D. I know just enough about shooting photos to get by. I do know the best shots of food are taken in natural light.
