By Michelle M. Sharp, Founder and Content Creator of Meet the Minnesota Makers
Everyone has to make dinner. Why not make it fun?
Through her recipe blog Land of 10,000 Recipes, instructional cooking videos on social media, and as a Guest Chef on Twin Cities Live, Eagan’s Jenna Gorman 
shares her love of food and cooking together.
Jenna’s recipes are adaptable, flexible, and designed to help families eat fresh no matter their schedule. Her go-to appliances—the crockpot and the Instapot—allow her to create tasty recipes that work around her family’s active lifestyle. “It is really neat that I can do something I love, provide dinner for my family, and include my kids. It’s a perfect trifecta of my world,” enthused Jenna.
Jenna is a former chemistry teacher who now works part time as a substitute teacher in District 196. Before she taught chemistry, she worked as a food chemist at General Mills.
“I love the joy of cooking and I love spreading that joy to others. I think it is important (and fun!) to involve kids in the kitchen. As a former high school chemistry teacher, 
I recognize the ample learning opportunities that cooking in the kitchen can provide. You can practice fractions while measuring, you can practice patience while baking, you can practice addition by doubling a recipe, the list goes on. Not only can kids learn all these great lessons in the kitchen, but families can create wonderful memories together. Time spent together in the kitchen can create traditions, connections and fun memories.”
Creating community opened a unique opportunity to support St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis. Jenna lost her brother Mikey to leukemia when she was eight and he was four years old. Impressed with St Jude’s work to improve childhood cancer survival rates, she partnered with St Jude to raise funds, “I knew I would be able to make an impact working with St. Jude. If one child can experience the life that Mikey couldn’t, then it’s all worth it.
Sunday, April 21 marks Jenna’s second annual “Cooking for a Cause” benefit. This family-friendly event at St Paul’s Holman’s Table is a special in-person opportunity to cook with Jenna and her boys. The event includes bouncy houses, face painting, beer from Urban Growler, cocktails from Tattersall Distilling, and two delicious recipes—a main course and a dessert—developed and tested by Jenna for the Land of 10,000 Recipes Food Blog. Find more information at landof10000recipes.com.
Jenna’s go-to meal is any dish that involves her crock pot because it’s just so easy. “I work hard to show people that you can use your crock pot as a base. Take that base to create a meal that is fresh—the opposite of the heavy, soggy meals that some people associate with slow cooking and crock pots.”
To show you how crockpot can still be spring and summer friendly, try Jenna’s recipe for Crockpot Chicken Gyros with Homemade Tzatziki Dressing. Everyone will enjoy 
choosing their toppings. This recipe can be weeknight friendly or weekend fancy.
Future goals for Jenna and her Land of 10,000 Recipes? “I still need a hot dish recipe. It feels like something that every Minnesota food blog should have,” laughed Jenna.
Follow @land.of.10000.recipes on Facebook and Instagram for family-friendly meal inspiration.
Follow @meettheminnesotamakers on Facebook and Instagram to discover the local makers who make Minnesota amazing!
Full Feature published in the Sun ThisWeek.
