My Story
Hey friends! My name is Jacqui de los Santos, a 33 year old wife of VERY handsome video game artist Christian, stay at home mother of 3 kids (5 year old Ellie, two year old girl/boy pterodactyls I MEAN twins Austin and Scout) and of course our fur baby Nacho. Born and raised in Alaska and my cooking reflects this AKA give me all of the moose meat. Some people might describe me as a circus ring leader who loves a good glass of wine (but not Malbec), who’s dinner music consists of all things trap and 90’s R&B, and a person who would rather pick up the phone and talk to you over texting you. I might describe myself as someone who is extremely sarcastic and finds joy in the most inappropriate type of humor (“I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT SHE’S DOING BACK THERE”) while still maintaining family values and teaching my children that attitude is everything.
Recently, my family and I made the big decision for me to quit my career, which I held for 10 years as an HR manager, and stay home as the new CEO of The delos household. Since then it’s been a wild ride!! There have been highs and lows of course but something that has always stayed consistent is my passion for feeding my family and making time for us to sit down and eat together. My love for cooking I know to believe stems from my late grandmother Betty who had 4 boys, including my father, all within a year of each other. Talk about patience! She didn’t have all the gadgets, Google, Netflix, and all of the luxuries of today’s technologies but somehow she made the effort and put amazing meals on the table for her family on a daily basis. Every time I get frustrated or want to lock myself in a closet and scream curse words (full disclosure: I do this at least twice a week and it helps), I channel her and try to think about what life must have been like raising a herd children in the 60’s in Alaska.
I’m calling my blog Green Juice and Donuts because our lives seem to be just that – balance. While most everything I cook is made from wholesome ingredients, I still allow my kids and I some good old fashioned SUGAR or some fries every once in a while! I have this idea that if you don’t allow your kids “special” foods, completely band all sugar and junk from the house, that they will most likely grow up abusing such foods as they were never allowed them and not taught how to approach them. In our household, we do our best to live in moderation. Im elated to have a place to share my recipes, my journey as an amateur gardener (this is year two for me), a place to discuss parenting tips and share products that really work for us slash cannot live without, and of course, of course of course – there my be a word or two about my relationship with SoulCycle;)