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When I Hit My Wall:











I'm sure all cooks, at some point in their lives, hit a wall.  An I don't want to cook another meal wall, and it's a hard reality (pun intended).  Day after day after day of cooking meal after meal can be daunting, and adding the pressure of creating alternative meals with the not so available option of running out to the grocery store and picking up a frozen lasagna and fresh loaf of sour dough bread.  Out of the question!  Can't do it.  Going out to eat is also a struggle and I'm not just talking food-wise, but financially.  In my experience it's expense for a family of four to go out to dinner...so I can imagine what the bill of a family of 4+ looks like (I don't want to look).  So going out is reserved only for special occasions.  So, what's the answer?
INSPIRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Inspiration creates motivation...or at least it did for me.  I hit my when my son was 6 months old.  Sad and frustrated are two words that described my feelings about cooking.  At the time I was a dedicated alternative cook, nut-milk maker and gluten free baker.  Despite my best efforts to stay positive and motivated, I reached my creative max.  And an important point to mention, and many of you can surely relate to this, the world of alternative cooking can feel quite lonely.

With the exception of a couple like-minded folks, I was alone with my food convictions.  Understandably, friends and family looked upon my culinary lifestyle as more of a skeptical, something to be analyzed or viewed from afar.  Sure some thought it was interesting, but had no interest in the recipes nor an understanding of my love and passion for food and alternative cooking.  But who can blame them?  I was once on the other side of the food fence.  As once a ravenous cheese, gluten and sugar eater I shook my head in disbelief when I learned about my graduate school buddy's dairy/gluten free diet to manage her debilitating asthma.  What in the hell does she eat, I wondered.  So I get it to the complete and largest extent.  That being said, the wall found me sad, frustrated and lonely.

So one night I went on-line and searched "dairy free/gluten free recipes."  Why I didn't do this earlier is a mystery to me or why I didn't do this when I started alternative cooking is equally perplexing.  Perhaps up until that point I had adequate culinary momentum. So upon searching the internet on that desperate night, do you know what I found to my squealing delight?  A plethora of fabulous blogs with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of alternative recipes readily available.  Best part was we used the same ingredients.  I wasn't alone!  I found my people...I found my people!!!!  Others used grapeseed oil, brown rice flour, almond flour, coconut EVERYTHING, arrowroot powder, quinoa, stevia and other alternative sweeteners, made their own nut milks, yogurt, nut cheeses, etc,.  I was like a drooling insane maniac reading through the blogs with butterflies of joy flying around in my tummy with an equal feeling of disbelief that I had gone on that long without these bloggers.  I printed recipe after recipe and put together a beautiful cookbook, then began, like most of us, changing and modifying recipes here and there to meet personal needs.  I'm no culinatry guiness, I'm but a simple cook that loves great tasting alterntaives but I gotta tell ya, there are some culinary works of alternative art out there and I'm so in awe of what some of these folks whip up.  It's truly, truly inspiring.

The authors you'll find in my "inspirational foodies" section feel like friends and confidants...and I'm okay with this one-sided relationship because it serves me well.  I value their dedication to food and family and admire their love for all things alternative.  I found my place in the culinary world.  Without this large community of bloggers I would no doubt still be a sad, frustrated and lonely alternative cook striving to make it over that miserable wall.  I rise to their new and exciting recipes and retire with a sense of peace and comfort.  A personal thank you to all of you out there dedicated to the art and beauty of alternative cuisine.

I started a family blog in 2007 so our friends and family can be a part of our lives and watch our children grow, and I very much enjoy my weekly postings.  So you can imagine that it felt quite natural for me to start a food blog of my own chronicling recipes born from and inspired by other recipes and to share new kitchen revelations.  With the hope these revelations will reach a wider audience and spark a sense of joy and excitement in others.  The process of receiving and giving back is a personal motto turned practice by the power of blogging.