Mission Statement

Inspired by the film Julie and Julia, as well as the blog 101cookbooks.com and my own attempts to eat a larger variety of healthy foods while still catering to my particularly picky tastes, I have decided to venture out into the food world a little bit more and try new recipes from cookbooks I already own and from the internet.

Some ground rules, shaped by my particular tastes are as follows:

1. No fish. No matter how many times the nutrition and diet books recommend it, I don't like fish and have no interest in spending my limited calories on them.

2. No desserts or snacks. At present, I already like plenty of desserts, so I will be attempting to expand my main course, side dish, salad, and soup recipes, not desserts.

3. I would like to make sure at least half of the recipes are vegetarian or vegan.

4. Whole grains should be used in place of refined when possible; whole wheat pasta, brown rice, etc.

5. 95% of recipes should have calorie counting (as well as taste) in mind. I wouldn't mind learning some new special occasion or holiday meal every once in a while, but I'm already running as many miles a week as my knees will take. I want to create a sustainable, tasty, and healthy diet for myself.

I have lost about 5 lbs so far with my gowearfit and calorie counting, and I want to keep going for about 15 more, and then sustain my weight loss with healthy and tasty foods in the long term. I am not overly fond of vegetables, so I am hoping that this experiment will introduce new veggies into my diet, or find more ways of including veggies in general.

Since my husband also enjoys to cook, and since I already have a few healthy favorites, and since I'm in rehearsals for a play right now in addition to teaching 8 classes and running 18 miles a week and taking 4 kickboxing classes, you can expect that I will not be able to cook a new recipe every day of the week. My goal is 3 recipes a week, though I might share with you some of my old favorites, some weight loss and exercising experiences, and general life-ness.

Wish me luck! If you, too, have a favorite healthy meal or cookbook to recommend, let me know.