New contributor pt 2

Thanks for the great introduction, Jacque. I just wanted to add a few things about my cooking style and lay out some plans I have for what I'm going to contribute to this blog.

Like my sister said, we come from a food family. Not only is my dad a great cook and appreciates great food, but my mom is a huge inspiration to me. She spent a big part of her child-raising years making homemade bread and everything form scratch you can think of. She says there was a time when they were living in the country that if she couldn't make it herself, they just didn't eat it. That image of a self-reliant cook has given me the confidence that I really CAN do things myself instead of relying on the grocery store shelf and I've made many things from graham crackers to dried apple rings to potato chips to sauerkraut in my own kitchen.

Of the siblings, Jacque and I are more obsessed with food, but we all share an interest in healthy and socially and ecologically responsible food. That mostly means fresh, home-grown or local, natural food.

My #1 rule for healthy eating I've borrowed from Michael Pollan: If your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize it, don't eat it.

the #2 rule is like it: stay away from anything refined and highly processed like white flour, white sugar, and most things that come in a box pre-made. Whole food is the best food and the less distance and process it has to go through to get to your table, the better.

and #3... there's a time for everything, and everything in moderation. I'll eat a white-flour, white sugar cake at a birthday party, I'll make ramen when I'm too tired to cook, just not all the time. The more you fill your diet with good things, the less room there is for the less healthy things. And when you do indulge, enjoy it!

For this blog I want to share some favorite ingredients, recipes and techniques I have learned and also share my experiences with new recipes as i try them. My immediate plans include making ghee, curry, and substituting lentils for ground beef in some familiar recipes.

So there ya go. That's my introduction. Let's get cookin'.