Ten things I have learned from eating a sugar-free, soy-free, gluten-free, artificial-preservative-free vegan diet for three months: 1.) It’s possible to eat this way and still enjoy eating. 2.) Lots of other people are doing this too. Just stop by Whole Foods and you’ll meet most of them. 3.) I can eat as much food […] Read more
For most of the past 10 years, it has been my goal to get up early in the morning and write. Though I’m not a natural morning person — hopping out of bed before the alarm singing zippity-do-da — I do find that I do my best writing in the morning once I’m up and going. And it only takes about 15 minutes for me to wake up. Read more
This evening I had just a few minutes to make and eat dinner. Since my eating habits have left something to be desired lately, I decided to go as healthy as possible. I grabbed some leftover chicken from the fridge, mixed it with apples, walnuts, onion, and a little mayo, and made a delicious chicken […] Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about helping my sister make truffles and how in a moment of zealousness, I pushed my hand mixer over the edge by trying to whip four batches of cream cheese at once. Of course, things like that don’t happen in a vacuum, and as I watched my mixer […] Read more
So, it was just this past Thanksgiving that I wrote about a certain bread pudding experience in which my family was less than impressed with my culinary efforts. I won’t relive the pain here today. However, I was thrilled on Monday when I made the perfect cinnamon raisin bread pudding that even my sister, Sierra, […] Read more
I’ve been thinking about food a lot these past couple of days. Possibly because my life has slowed down enough to cook again. But maybe because with the holidays comes all kinds of special food. Over the weekend, my mom and my niece and nephew made peanut butter cookies with chocolates kisses. For the past […] Read more
The last few weeks have been a culinary challenge for me. This happens every so often; despite my love of food and cooking, I just don’t have it in me to cook or even eat the healthy foods I believe in. For a while, I found myself eating out a lot, eating leftovers, eating one […] Read more
Eating alone is a common occurrence in my house. After all, I live alone. But though I could easily slip into a habit of granola bars for breakfast, fast food for lunch, and cereal for dinner, I’ve decided that eating alone is not an excuse for eating poorly. With that said, what I eat when […] Read more
Recently, when I was telling an organic farmer how much I love eggplant, he asked how I usually cook it. “Ratatouille,” I told him. “It’s the only thing I know how to do with eggplant.” “What’s that?” he asked. I hesitated. I thought he was kidding. “You know, rat-atouille?” I said again, with the emphasis […] Read more
About this time last year, I visited North Carolina for the first time. I didn’t go to the coast where I’ve heard things are touristy and trinkety. I went to the mountains, where people are just simple and scrappy. During my visit with friends, I attended a mountain wedding, rode tubes down the river, and […] Read more
