Welcome to Healthy Girl Cooking!

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Healthy Girl Cooking! 

I created this blog because I love inventing healthy ways to eat that work with my busy schedule. I also wanted to make my ideas accessible and get YOUR ideas about improving my recipes! This is just the beginning for Healthy Girl Cooking; I have big plans for the future, and you're a big part of that! HGC can't go anywhere without your input.

     I often find recipes in books and magazines that are quick and cheap but not healthy, and sometimes healthy and budget-friendly but not quick or easy. Like most of my friends, I'm on a tight budget, but I don't have time to waste on a recipe that's super complicated, might not turn out right, or requires a bunch of ingredients I don't have in my pantry (one element of this website that's still in development is the Weekly Meal Planner, which will match up recipes that share ingredients, helping you to buy minimal items for maximum quick, delish cooking. 

My goal is to have that in place by the end of this weekend.)

     I'm committed to making Healthy Girl Cooking a resource that's easy to use, as well as one that fits your needs. Your feedback is very important, both in terms of the technical aspects of the website, and the recipes themselves. As i learn more about web design, i plan to expand the capacities of Healthy Girl Cooking's domain to maximize this site's abilities.

Where I'm coming from...

I'm an omnivore with 11 years of vegetarianism and almost 2 years of veganism behind me. Last summer, after a grueling trial-and-error project that involved obsessive food journaling, I discovered that an intolerance to soy was at the root of my many years of stomach problems. I sympathize with anyone who must always check the labels of anything they eat, because believe me, I've been there.

I also had the opportunity to become familiar with the gluten- and caesin-free diet when the lovely family I used to babysit for changed their lifestyle. With two kids under the age of 5, they really have their work cut out for them, and I admire them for all the challenges they successfully conquer each day (pureeing veggies to sneak them onto dinner plates and whatnot.) Their challenges have inspired me to include both gluten-free recipes and, as this website expands, a section entirely devoted to kids' interests (this is an area in which I'll need ALOT of help, especially from all you parents!)

...what healthy eating means to me:

I spent my teenage years battling an eating disorder. I realized, eventually, that in addition to changing some elemental aspects of the way I dealt with stress, I needed to change my relationship with food. That's a very tricky concept, I've discovered, especially when we live in a culture that simultaneously values the sensual experience of eating and encourages women to blame food for all our problems. I know this sounds like an infomercial from the 80's, but I have to say it: Listen up, ladies, FOOD IS NOT YOUR ENEMY. I'm here to encourage you to question the stealthily coded messages you see in commercials, on TV, in magazines, on billboards, and in conversation. We've been conditioned to speak a certain way about our bodies, eating, and GUILT (hello, we associate the word GUILT with eating!)  and I'm going to do my part to change that. The fact of the matter is, eating is necessary for survival. Eating is also a wonderful experience that engages our senses, and we have every right to enjoy it. We live in a culture that milks the concept of excess for all it's worth, so unfortunately, we have to work a little harder to learn what moderation really is, and to implement the concept in our daily lives.

Healthy Girl Cooking aims to foster a dialogue about everything I've mentioned in this entry, and anything else you might be interested in discussing. Please don't be shy about bringing your comments to the table; that's what we're here for!