The Basics
I don’t claim to be an expert in either, but this blog combines two of my favorite things: food and photography! I like to cook, and even more so, love to eat! I hope to chronicle some of the better meals I create and enjoy, all while being mindful of making healthier choices to maintain a healthy weight. I am only an amateur photographer, but friends and family can attest to the fact that I can constantly be found snapping pictures and documenting meals on a daily basis.
My mission is to both share recipes that I test in the MegGoesNomNom kitchen with you, while the other half will be to share my food-related findings in the Ann Arbor area with you!
Meet Megan
Basically, I could start by saying that I am a twenty-something Midwestern gal, born and raised in a small Michigan city.
I’m a very goal-oriented person. Me & my BFF at our HS graduation…ages ago, it seems!
I attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in Brain, Behavior, & Cognitive Science, and a minor in Biological Anthropology.
College Life
College was a wonderful experience for the most part. I feel so grateful to have been able to receive such an amazing education at such an amazing college (though I did work hard to get there!). As a freshman, I “went in blind” with regards to housing, and ended up with three awesome roommates who I loved, in a giant quad dorm room which had been converted from a lounge. Pretty sweet!
After freshman year, I lived in a pretty wild 10 bedroom house for a year, which was quite the experience. Here is me and all my housemates, plus a few extra ladies.
After going from having four girls in one large room for a year, to living in a house with nine other girls for a year, as a junior I decided it was time to focus on myself. As a third-year undergrad, I lived by myself in a studio apartment and I simply adored it. Don’t get me wrong – as much as I loved my former roomies and my now-huz, I can’t lie – living by myself was pretty awesome for a year. Even with this TINY kitchen! I also became a brunette this year.
As a senior, I moved in with my then-fiancé, and now-hubby, whom I had met the summer following freshman year of college, via Facebook, and then shortly afterward, in person. Our initial meeting was the result of my Facebook search for others who had listed the band “A Perfect Circle” as one of their favorite bands.
2008 – A Huge Year!
In 2008 I graduated with my Bachelor of Science degree. A few months later, in July, I was married, followed by a honeymoon in Jamaica.
A week or two before my wedding I had a job interview (among many!), was offered a job, and then only a couple short months after the wedding, I started began working full time in clinical research, which I still do today.
The Start of the Blog
The day after my 24th birthday, I decided that I needed a new hobby. Something to do for myself and something to look forward to doing. I decided to start a blog. I can’t deny that I was somewhat inspired by the movie Julie and Julia when it came to the idea of starting a blog devoted to food. With that said, I have always been a lover of food..
As a child, I was more of a baker, having spent many an hour in the kitchen helping my grandma bake cookies (my favorite was pressing the fork tines over peanut butter cookies, and also wearing vanilla extract as perfume), or searching for the most complicated and ambitious cookie recipe in my mom’s cook books (chocolate and vanilla pinwheels!?). Another favorite was helping my dad make stuffing for the Thanksgiving turkey, by dipping dried bread into water.
Unrelated to food, I was also obsessed with Ariel from the Little Mermaid. You love my bangs.
Once college began, I found that dorm rooms and studio apartments weren’t exactly conducive to baking. In fact, they were more conducive to making boxes of mac ‘n’ cheese and ramen noodles.
After college, we moved into bigger places (see my house here!) that allowed for me to again get more creative in the kitchen. I am relearning my love of spending time in the kitchen, and have been spending increasingly more time cooking, especially while trying to incorporate healthier foods into my diet.
The month after I began my blog, I had doctor’s appointment, at which I stepped on the scale and realized that I had reached an unhealthy weight. Even my doctor suggested that try to lose 10 pounds for health reasons. Following my appointment, I started putting a bit more effort into trying to make healthy eating choices, but it didn’t seem to make much of an impact. I realized that I needed to come up with a plan, a strict regimen, and stick to it. What worked for me was calorie counting. I strictly stuck to a calorie-counting plan for several months, during which I consistently lost 4-5 pounds per month. I had no goal weight, I just wanted to see what would happen. Now that I have lost 25+ pounds, I am at a healthy body mass index and am working to maintain my weight loss and continue to eat healthier. You can read more about my progress here.
Other than creating this blog for fun, my other goal for this blog is to be more accountable for and conscientious of the foods I eat. I hope to fewer processed foods and hope to eat more healthy, fresh, and natural foods, when possible. Of course, I’m only human, and there are days when I indulge; but overall I seen a positive change in the foods I choose to eat. Because of this blog, I have felt more accountable for the food choices I have been making, and I think that has really helped motivate me to stick with my plan, lose the weight, and keep it off – it worked!
Contact Me
You can contact me (Megan!) at meggoesnomnom@gmail.com
Or leave me a comment – I love reading your comments!
All the recipes looked delicious. I will be checking it a lot; need the recipe for cajun nuggets; enjoy your veggies; mom
Your taste in food is almost exactly the same as mine! I thought about starting a food blog years ago since I also love food and photography (have a photo degree) but I just got into yelp and foodspotting instead. I really like your blog! Keep up the great work!
Thank you for stopping by!🙂 I have recently gotten into foodspotting too, I will have to check out your posts!
Meg, Your photograghy and recipes are outstanding!! I also love photograpy and cooking good food. Soup is my favorite too. Your are creative like your grandmother. I really enjoy your blog. You will be great in whatever future career you choose! Love, Aunt Anne
I loved your Re-vamped blog ! I read it very throughly (twice) ! MOM
Hi Megan! Nice to see another local gal! I added your blog as a link to mine, if that’s ok. Looking forward to reading more!
Awesome, thanks Lauren! One of these days I am going to make a blogroll of my favorite local and other food blogs so you’ll show up there too🙂
Are you by chance a member of the Michigan Lady Food Bloggers group? If not, send me an email; you should join in.
I am not! Sounds enticing – I will shoot you an email!
Hi Meg! I just discovered your blog. I love foodgawker, and I happen to be from the metro Detroit area too! I’ll definitely be reading🙂
Awesome, thanks for stopping by! Can’t wait to check out another local gal’s blog too – I’ll be stopping by yours!
Meg how do you season and make your brussell sprouts in the oven-thanks
Hi Lorenzo, I wash and thoroughly dry the sprouts after slicing the hardy ends off and slicing them in half, drizzle 1-2 T EVOO over them and toss in a bowl, and seasoning generously with salt and black pepper. That’s it! I typically bake for about 30-35 minutes at 425 F, stirring once. Hope that helps.
็Hi Megan,
I am accidently saw your blog and I loved to cook. I am a house wife in Beijing and always experiment new food at my old kitchen and I also share all my food to my friends to tested it!
Thanks for checking out my blog Kita! I love cooking with new foods too!
Hi Meg – I just came across your site and it’s great to see another Ann Arbor blogger! I just started a few months ago and am always looking for inspiration from others. Looking forward to more posts!
Hedonist
http://www.foodandwinehedonist.com
PS – does the hubby work for TR? He and the vantage point from the lux box look familiar…
I too love checking out other A2 bloggers’ sites so I will definitely check yours out! Thanks for stopping by! The huz is indeed a TR employee.🙂
I just nominated you for a Liebster Blog Award. I just got it and I’m so-so about the award itself. But it’s nice to be acknowledged and I think you deserve the shout out, too… http://foodandwinehedonist.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/i-won-an-award/
Awesome, thank ya!🙂
Always love finding another local!
Thanks for stopping by🙂
I guess even though you are a U of M grad (I am a big Buckeye fan that used to live in Ann Arbor), I will say you have a great blog here. Keep up the good work!
Hahaha, many thanks🙂
Heritage Media is looking for blogging partners. If you would like us to share your blog on our site, please let us know. Here’s more info: http://communitymedialab.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/become-a-blogging-partner-with-heritage-media/
Hi Megan,
I was reading through your page and seen you completed the 30 day shred. I actually am on Level 2 Day 1 today 09/27/12 and it really kicked my buttt big time. I’m so close to just completely stopping the 30 day shred because level 2 is crazy hard. Any suggestions or tips for sticking through it?
Thanks,
Teresita.
Level 2 was definitely my least favorite! If you stick with it you will be rewarded with Level 3. While it is challenging, the moves didn’t seem as well, painful, to me as Level 2! If you need a break from Level 2, I say there’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with a repeat of Level 1 for a day! Some “shred” is better than no shred. Good luck!
LOVE your blog and story on how you became a blogger,,, I’ve been posting reviews on Urbanspoon for 3 years and just started a blog finally. Photo’s are my main focus and I had posted to both Foodspotting and Yelp over the years and have left both. I’m friends with Seoung and Joe from the Hungry Dudes. Keep up the posts and photo’s I enjoy them all.
Thanks for reading!
I think I saw your husband and you today at the Food Gatherers cookout today at the fair grounds, were you guys there?
We were indeed!
Nice! I saw a famous couple!!
Haha, thanks for making me feel like a VIP.🙂 Hope you enjoyed the event!
Hey there! I’m happy to have found more Ann Arbor bloggers🙂 I hope you don’t mind, I nominated you for the Liebster Award for bloggers! Check it out here: http://nextstoptbd.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/the-liebster-award/
-Hannah
Awesome, thank you! And thanks for stopping by. I added you to my Blogroll. High five for Ann Arbor bloggers!
Hey there! I’m also an Ann Arbor blogger. I got my B.A. in psych and women’s studies at Michigan, and then my MPH in human nutrition. I look forward to following you🙂
Awesome! Thanks for stopping by and saying hello! Go Blue!
I loved your blog😄
Thank you so much!
Wonderful blog!