Cooking has been a great love of mine since I was twelve years old. It was then that I made my first family dinner all by myself. Before that, I would help my mom all the time in the kitchen, pulling a chair up to the counter when I was too short to reach it. I got my first children's cookbook for my 8th birthday, and it still sits on my shelf to this day. I grew up watching the Food Network and everything about cooking appealed to me. When I was fourteen, I began avidly collecting cookbooks and have continued to do so to this day. Cookbooks are one of my loves. I love cooking from them just as much as I love flipping through and reading them like a novel. I especially love to read the little stories and memories that people share with a special attachment to that particular recipe.
I am a home cook. I believe in the careful preparation and cooking of the family meal as much as I believe in the sitting down together to enjoy it. I am of the belief that restaurants and eating out should very much be the exception and not the rule. I believe that there is something far deeper and more meaningful to food than just simply what appears on your plate on the table in front of you.
My ideals and standards when it comes to food and cooking have evolved tremendously over the years. And that has much to do with my studies in holistic health and nutrition. I read books on this topic all the time as well as having taken some courses on these topics. Needless to say, it is something I really love learning about. Everyone has different ideals and standards when it comes to food, and I am certainly not here to try and sway you to the way I have come to believe. My philosophy of cooking and food has evolved over time, and it did, indeed, take time. Each person needs to evolve in their understanding on these topics on their own accord. I am simply sharing some of my thoughts as well as a few of the cookbooks and recipe resources that I enjoy using.
I do not aspire for perfection, but rather I aim for a peaceful approach to our eating lifestyle. While we do eat meals prepared at home with wholesome REAL ingredients 95% of the time, the other 5% of the time, we do enjoy treats or little outings. Though I will say that we do rarely eat out...maybe twice a month. That is mostly because we honestly prefer our home cooked meals and eating at home, as well as for the fact that we prefer knowing exactly what goes into our food. We do also occasionally get snack foods that are processed and packaged, but again, that makes up such a minimal part of our eating. I can honestly say that after implementing the things that I share below over the past few years, and having those ways grow and evolve as I have learned so much, I can tell a HUGE difference when I do eat those less healthy options. Personally, for me, I do try to minimize that sort of thing tremendously. My body can definitely tell the difference, and I listen to what it tells me. And it tells me to stick with what I have learned and to be as consistent as possible, but also approaching these things peacefully and gently, without shame or guilt when I do have something that I typically wouldn't eat. I have learned to just get back into eating the way that makes me feel my best the next day.
My Food Philosophy:
~ I believe in eating meals at home and home-cooked food. For us, this means that we very rarely eat out, and lots of times, we prefer getting a treat like ice cream instead of an entire meal out.
~ I believe in true home cooking. This means that we cook with ingredients and not simply empty boxes or packages of food into a pan and heat them. We do not buy hardly any pre-packaged foods, and very nearly never buy frozen foods. Simply put, I believe in cooking.
~ We try to buy the best quality foods we can. We cannot buy everything organic because we do not have a money tree in our backyard. We purchase organic for some items and aim for natural versions of nearly everything we can. The least amount of ingredients, the better. Again, we shop for ingredients, not for food products. There is a difference.
~ I believe in the memories and traditions behind homemade holiday and celebratory meals. I grew up with homemade birthday cakes and holiday dinners. We never go to a restaurant to celebrate birthdays, holidays or any other special occasion, nor do we cater anything in. I firmly believe that restaurants and such should be closed on holidays and that the workers should be at home with their families and loved ones, not at work serving others. I find choosing to be served on holidays to be very hypocritical. I think families should gather together, and welcome those without any loved ones nearby into their homes and celebrations as one of their own.
~ I believe in eating and cooking whole REAL foods. Nowadays, there's a powder for everything. I've seen people make an entire meal out of powders and not a single actual, REAL food on their plates. I am a rock-solid believer in REAL FOOD. Period. As my grandpa always said..."don't eat anything manmade". And I abide by that wholeheartedly. I want the REAL food, not something manufactured in a factory or messed with by human hands or machines.
~ I believe in baking delicious treats using healthier sweeteners and without sacrificing flavor. We haven't baked with regular white sugar in so long, I can't even remember the last time I used it in a recipe. For a long time, we used pure cane sugar. However, at the start of the year, I did some studying on this topic, and we have since changed to only using maple syrup, honey, dates, and coconut sugar as our sweeteners of choice. I also always try to greatly reduce the amount of sweetener in any recipe I make. Once in a very great while, we will get a "regular" sweet treat out and about, but let me tell you, I can feel the difference. I try to avoid conventional sugars and sweeteners as much as I can.
~ I believe in making cooking fun and enjoyable. Being in the kitchen has never felt like a chore for me. I simply love cooking. But to make it an "experience", I love lighting a candle, playing some music, and really enjoying myself when I'm preparing ingredients and cooking.
~ While cooking may not be everyone's favorite thing, I do believe that in order to eat healthy, you've got to cook at home, with wholesome ingredients, and take the time to do so. It's got to become a priority to and for you. You can make it a fun experience and there are plenty of really simple recipes out there that are both healthy and flavorful. You don't have to try to be Julia Child.
~ In our home, we do not cook or bake gluten free, but we aim to cook and bake gluten less, if that makes sense. Again, this is something that I have studied, and this is where we feel our best.
~ I believe that enjoying delicious foods and not restricting any food groups can be done healthfully. You don't have to be miserable to eat healthy, nor do you have to avoid certain food groups. It's all in how you cook and eat your foods that makes the difference. I also don't think you have to eat piddly little amounts and still feel hungry in order to be healthy. Thankfully, there's tons of really great information out there about these things that are dispelling the dieting culture myths, lies and toxic messages.
~ Finally, our goal is to make more and more things from scratch. We already do a ton of this. Somethings are easier bought at the store, such as sauces and cheeses and such. We do try to get the healthiest option out there. Things like bread, for example, are the sorts that we want to get more consistent at making ourselves at home, from scratch. For over a year, we didn't buy any bread. I got into a really good rhythm of making a couple loaves a week and oh my goodness! Were they tasty! We want to get back into this rhythm soon.
My favorite cookbooks that I use on a regular basis must align with a few things:
1. I prefer cookbooks with photos of as many recipes as possible.
2. The recipes must use ingredients that we keep on hand. I don't want to have to order something special online or pick it up at the store for just one recipe only to have it sit on my shelf for a decade after that.
3. The recipes must line up with my food philosophies, or at the very least, be easily tweaked to fit my standards.
4. I'm not a fancy cook, nor do I want to eat fancy food. So, no fancy cookbooks.
5. In order for me to purchase a cookbook (which I nearly always only buy secondhand, because cookbooks are expensive brand new!), there must be a good number of recipes that appeal to my family. I'm not going to have a cookbook take up shelf space for one or two recipes. Before I purchase a cookbook (even used), I always check it out thoroughly either by borrowing it from the library or perusing it at the bookstore. I want to know that it will be well used if I were to purchase it. My bookshelf space is precious, and I also don't want to waste money.
While I have a huge collection of cookbooks, there are a few that I rely on for daily use. And those, hands down, are anything published by Taste of Home, some Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and Hope's Table. These are the ones I turn to when I am meal planning. I have others that I will use for specific recipes, but they aren't quite everyday favorites. There are quite a few that I use semi-regularly, but those are the ones I pull from my collection first. I have also borrowed a stack of cookbooks from our library over the last few months that have really inspired me, so those have gone on a list of books that I keep to look out for the best price. Eventually, I hope to have them in my personal collection.
I do use online searches and Pinterest for recipes as well, but I admit to being old-fashioned, and totally unashamed of that, and much prefer sitting down, with paper and pen, and sticky notes to mark the pages, and flipping through actual, physical cookbooks when looking for recipes. The internet searches can get overwhelming...over 100 results for one recipe search...that can feel too much. I do use the internet, but I much prefer cookbooks.
And finally, as I mentioned earlier, I have been collecting recipes since I was fourteen. That's over half my life! Over the years, I've simplified my collection to line up with my standards and such. I have created a binder that is divided into sections where I keep all my recipes. I also have a few small spiral notebooks where I also keep some of our very favorites, as well as new-found recipes that I hope to try soon. I find meal planning fun and love challenging myself in different ways, and all of these methods and resources play a part in doing so.
In my family, we all agree that we feel our best when we eat home cooked meals and baked goods, and when we follow these food philosophies. Learning about food and cooking and everything under those categories greatly motivates me. I love trying new recipes as well as experimenting with my own creations in our kitchen. We need food to live, so you might as well make it delicious!