WELCOME TO THE KEWLBITES™ KITCHEN, BY WAY OF MY VERY FIRST COOKBOOK! I’m so excited to share with you more than 100 delicious, healthy recipes that I know you and your family will love.
If you’re looking for tasty, nutritious, and easy-to-make recipes, this book is for you. If you want to eat better and make smarter, more purposeful choices when selecting your ingredients, this book is for you. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just getting acquainted with your kitchen, this book is for you. And if you want your time in the kitchen to be super-fun, this book is definitely for you.
My desire to create simple and healthful dishes stems directly from my personal relationship with food. Up until a few years ago, my eating habits would have scored around a C+ on a nutrition report card. That was back when I didn’t really realize the importance of eating healthfully and how a poor diet could affect my body. I thought “healthy” meant boring and dull. Needless to say, I was wrong!
Even though my eating habits weren’t spot on (to be honest, far from it), I’ve always been a major food lover! I love to cook and create recipes, I’m a huge fan of cooking shows, and my family and I love discovering new restaurants. But it was only a few years ago that I realized that there was a connection between how I was eating and how I was feeling, which was not great. I was often tired, lacked confidence, and, overall, didn’t feel my best. It took me some time to uncover the culprit, but gradually I began to make the connection between my out-of-control eating habits and my health. I needed to take matters into my own hands and overhaul my lifestyle, in particular the foods I was choosing.
After tons of research, I discovered that there were no solutions out there that were coming from a teen’s point of view, no strategies that seemed to fit my life. So, I got to work in the kitchen and turned it into my laboratory, a place that I could experiment with my favorite (fattening) foods and make them healthier. I focused on the ingredients I was using, always looking for more nutritious options and healthier ways to infuse a dish with flavor. I ended up recreating my favorite comfort foods (and I bet they’re yours, too) including pizza, meatballs, and apple pie. I was able to cut out some unhealthy elements and I discovered I could do this without sacrificing flavor and texture. It took some work—okay, a lot of work!—but I developed a huge array of recipes that passed muster with the most discerning audience of all—people just like me. Of course, my family was on the receiving end of many of my creations. I cooked most of these dishes for them and they loved the results! This made me want to share my new cooking style with more people and, of course, to end once and for all the lack of truly kid and family-centric healthy recipes. As a result, I created my Web site, KewlBites.com, a super-fun, interactive online hub that allows me to connect with readers and visitors from all over the world. I never could have imagined the great response I received! I hadn’t realized just how important this topic was for so many other people who were searching for ways to cook better for their families and build healthy habits early on.
So many amazing opportunities followed, from cooking live on national television shows—in both English and Spanish!—to developing nutritious lunchtime recipes and menus for thousands of schools across the country with President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, to being invited to team up with First Lady Michelle Obama on her Let’s Move! initiative, collaborating with the leaders of the USDA in Washington, DC, and more. Along the way, I’ve worked with extraordinary mentors, such as Food Network icons (and my big inspirations!) like Rachael Ray, Sunny Anderson, Melissa d’Arabian, and Ingrid Hoffmann. It has been an incredible journey that has truly enriched my life, as I hope it has for all of the people with whom I’ve been able to share my recipes, tips, and lessons learned, along with my KewlBites™ insight. And now, in the following pages I’m able to share all of that with you!
In this book, you’re going to find recipes for every part of the day, and for nearly every occasion. All of the dishes have been fastidiously put to the test by me (and my hungry family members). I promise that they are easy to make, delicious, and good for you. Some of my personal favorites include Dark-Chocolate Banana Marble Bread, Mini Chicken Parm Meatballs, and Vegetable Dumplings with Lemongrass Dipping Sauce. My hope is that they’ll be among yours, too. Here’s to healthy, happy cooking, and eating.
