I grew up in a small town in Colorado. When I say small, I mean we lived on a dirt road in the middle of town until they put blacktop down when I was in middle school. Our community was surrounded by miles of winter wheat fields mixed in with thousands of acres of cattle pasture. We had to drive 45 minutes to get to the nearest Wal-Mart or fast food restaurant. It wasn’t until I was in high school that a King Soopers opened up two towns over complete with our very own Starbucks!
There was only 1 restaurant in our town. The Country Burger is exactly what the name implies. A quaint diner offering home style cooking. During the winter months Mom would surprise us and bring home their giant cinnamon rolls (made in house every morning) and in the summer all my brother and I wanted were the swirled ice-cream cones. As our dining options were limited, my mom cooked most of our meals at home. It was with her that my love of cooking began.
My mom cooked 3 meals a day most days for my brother and I. We ate pancakes, eggs, muffins, breakfast casserole, you name it for breakfast every single day. Lunch was usually some spin off of leftovers from the night before, though she often would whip up tacos, quesadillas, quick rice stir fries or small pizzas. Then dinner rolls around and our house was filled with the gentle aromas of fresh baked bread, savory roasted meats, or made from scratch soups and pasta dishes. My mother made almost everything completely from scratch. From her bone broths to her flakey biscuits to cans of garden pickles and jars of jam my mother made it all. She has and continues to be the beginning of my love for cooking and my inspiration to continue trying new things.
Not to be overlooked, my Dad is also incredible in the kitchen. He prefers to tackle longer and more complicated projects like smoking homemade pastrami, pickling his own kimchi & sauerkraut, and baking endless pizzas until he developed the “perfect chewy crust.” He taught me everything from how to brew kombucha to techniques for creating the perfect flan without a single bubble in the custard.
Now before I get too much further I have to make something clear: my family loves food. We are those people that spend more time researching what restaurants we want to eat at on vacation than any other activity that we plan on doing. Other than abiding by Kosher restrictions, we eat almost anything. I will admit that I am by far the pickiest eater in my family. And if you’re following along, I hope you realize that, that’s saying something! We particularly like to try unique food parings – blackberry basil pizza? Got to try it at least once! Growing up in a family that was adventurous and bold in their food choices has been such a blessing that I did not fully appreciate until my adult life. It’s my hope that I can continue this tradition with my own family and inspire you as well.
We are additionally a family of scientists. Both of my parents hold degrees in Biology and I moved from Colorado to Tennessee to follow in their footsteps. After completing my undergraduate education I stayed in Tennessee to pursue a career in medicine with a graduate degree in Physician Assistant (PA) studies. During my education I fell in love with cardiac surgery and began working in this specialty as soon as I graduated with my Master’s Degree. It’s a demanding field and I often work 50-80 hours a week between our office, the operating room, ICU, and step-down unit. It requires multiple nights of surgical call and in-house call every month. All this to say, even without kids, my life is busy! My work schedule is demanding and my job is high stress. Combined that does not lend itself to spending hours in the kitchen every week.
Between the time of graduating from college and starting PA school my health and weight were at an all time low. I am 5’1″ and was 170lbs. I looked at myself in the mirror one day and knew I needed a change. I ended a longterm unhealthy relationship and joined a fitness accountability group. Gradually I started losing some weight, but it ebbed and flowed as I continued to stress eat and sporadically meal prep. Graduate school was stressful and as it went on I ate out more and worked out less. After some encouragement from a classmate I decided to train for a half marathon. As part of my schooling I also started working with diabetics and the disease process scared me so much that I started following a diabetic (low carb) diet for over 6 months. The end result was I dropped another 20lbs. But I unfortunately never addressed my relationship with food, my sugar dragon, or identified any foods that were triggers for me. This led to a gradual relapse over the following year after my race was over.
After moving to Asheville, NC for work my eating issues continued. Now I had a seemingly endless array of magnificent restaurants, a high stress job, and no exercise routine. The weight came piling back on. Hanukkah 2019 came along and I knew I needed another change. The family I lived with during school was big into Whole30 and I had actually bought Melissa U’s book on clearance for the recipes since I assisted with some of the cooking duties. I never understood the program then. I felt the rules were restrictive and arbitrary. But it seemed to work and I had seen their results. This led to me putting “Complete a Whole30” on my ‘before I turn 30’ bucket list. It was more of something I wanted to prove to myself that I could do – stick to this really hard eating program for 30 days, than anything else. But when I picked up that book and began reading about the theory, purpose, and reintroduction phase; I got excited.
First week of January I cleaned out my fridge and it was embarrassingly empty. But after shopping I filled it with plenty of veggies and lean meats to get me though the week. I discovered @whole30recipies on instagram and it changed my life. Literally. The whole30 support team is incredible and all completely free. I found so many amazing recipes that my first 30 days felt like a breeze. I lost 10lbs, my energy was at an all time high, my acne cleared up, my acid reflux was gone, but best of all my mood was finally out of the dumps. I’ve struggled with subclinical depression for years, and removing sugars and processed foods were a game changer for me.
Since my first whole30 I’ve definitely relapsed, but that’s ok. I’m growing towards my forever food freedom. I’ve done a second whole30 as a reset. The second time I did a much better job at reintroducing foods to find my triggers. It was harder because I didn’t have as much energy or excitement going into it, but easier at the same time because preparing approved food was more natural and took less research. I’ve traveled to several placed for weekend trips while on whole30 and each time has been a learning and growing experience.
But the most exciting thing? Whole30 has renewed in me the love I have for cooking. My families eating habits have also dramatically changed in the last few years. Back in Colorado my mother has transitioned to a plant based diet due to health reasons and I love sharing with her as we both cook new and delicious recipes to further our health. Working in healthcare I see what the Standard American Diet (SAD) does to people’s health first hand. The struggles I witness in my patients is a daily reminder to take time for my own health. But I want you to know that having a healthy lifestyle does not mean spending hours in the kitchen or having outrageous grocery bills. It is attainable for even those with the busiest schedules or the tightest budgets.
Here I’ll be sharing all my tips and tricks. An occasional family recipe probably won’t be completely paleo (but it’ll be worth it, I promise). However, I’ve modified a lot of my childhood recipes to reduce added sugars and modify for a gluten or dairy free lifestyle. I hope you enjoy everything as much as we do!
Final note: my baby girl’s name is Nyla. She is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and she has been with me 7 years now. She’s spoiled rotten as to date she is my families sole grandchild. She loves hiking, car rides, and any meat or cheese. Dislikes include: getting her nails trimmed, all vegetable, and bath time.
Lake Life 