I absolutely LOVE to cook. Creating yumminess in the kitchen is one of my very favorite things in this whole entire world. When we built our home, I made sure to have an open-concept kitchen to living room so that I could spend all day in the kitchen and still be involved with my family–especially NFL Sundays!

Time was, I would make huge, elaborate spreads of all kinds of awesome foods to enjoy throughout the day for gatherings, or just family days spent at home (again, football Sundays). Of course, not always of the healthiest or low-calorie variety.

So, when my husband and I began our health journey, our of necessity for his knees’ sake, I just stopped cooking, pretty much altogether. I had no idea how to replicate what I had done for so many years.

Enter CLEAN EATING. After learning about alternatives for fat-laden, nutrient-deficient, overly-processed ingredients, the rest all fell into place. Through clean eating, I learned that much of what I was eating, seemingly healthy things, contain things that our bodies either can’t break down and use for fuel, or cause our bodies to react through bloat and inflammation.

So, I took to my collection of favorite recipes and started substituting. And reading ingredient labels like it’s my job. (Because it kinda is…) If it has soy, starch, sugars other than raw or cane, dairy, peanuts or processed flours or oils of any kind, it’s not in my pantry or fridge and it’s not going in my recipe. It’s been a lot of trial and error, but the successes far outweigh the failures and the reward has been great meals to nourish our bodies, while I’ve been able to spend hours on end back in my happy place, my beautiful custom gourmet kitchen!

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we have. And I’m just getting started!