Let's go back to the beginning...

Hello there, foodie world!

I have desired to begin a healthy foodie blog for quite some time now and finally got the push to begin it. Let me begin with my background and my desires for beginning this food blog...

My food background really began when I was about 15 years old and I was beginning to think about college and what I was going to do. My mom randomly handed me a Johnson and Whales postcard that came in the mail one day and asked what I thought about culinary. This was the spark that began the wildfire of passion for food and cooking. I began looking into culinary schools and visited some, but finally ended up settling on an apprenticeship program. Once accepted, I moved down to St. Simon's Island and was an apprentice for about 9 months at Sea Island Resort. It was the most educational 9 months of my life as of yet. Working, being mentored, friend who were chefs, fellow apprentices, school, and wine tastings all brought to life the foodie in me. I learned everything I know about cooking there and then grew the individual aspects over the years.

I did not, however, finish the program. I realized that I enjoyed people and their opinions too much to be a chef. So I packed up and moved home (After a short stint of trying to convince my parents that working as a waitress at the Waffle House would be a good life choice. They shot it down as you might imagine. A couple of years later I began pre-requisites for nursing school as I was working at a hospital. Never my ideal job from the beginning, however, when I became friends with a girl finishing her dietitian internship I began looking into dietetics. This made sense to me. I enjoyed healthcare. I love food. I enjoy educating people. I liked the idea of healthy food. Why not?

But then came the chemistry. Oh, chemistry. This threw a major wrench in the whole mix. 4 years of chemistry = 4 years of tears. Maybe not so much. So then dietetic technician came up. Drop the chemistry class. 2 years instead of 5 years of school. I win over there, I win over here. I'm bi-winning. Thank you, Charlie Sheen. Therein began my actual pursuit of beginning to mix nutrition with the culinary skills I had learned. It has been a wonderful road and it will continue to be.

My family has lived through whole wheat pasta, "bark" muffins, grainy pancakes, bean cupcakes, Mediterranean diets, little red meat, kale obsessions, runny pies because of cutting out sugar, and many other things. Finding the balance and the ability to actually make healthy food taste good has been a long road and I am continuing on it. I am always thinking up new recipes to try or seeing new concepts to put a spin on a recipe, so this will be the outlet and the feedback for that. I welcome questions, feedback, suggestions, or links to things you all find. I look forward to posting recipes I create, Pinterest recipes I find and try, kid-friendly foods, holiday foods and drinks, and nutrition education in all of it.

I hope you will join me in this journey of cooking healthy, but surprisingly good food and improving your life. It is a lifestyle worth pursuing.

Good Food, Good Life, Good Day To You!