Introduction: Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well
One of the first questions I ask a group of new cooking class students is, “What do you want to be?” And most of them have the same response: they want to feel positive, happy, sharp, energetic, light on their feet. Some of them want to return to their ideal weight, and pretty much everyone wants to have bright eyes and clear skin. That’s all reasonable—and doable, if we can eat to support that and not eat foods that work against how we all want to be.
Unfortunately, here’s the reality check: food and nutrition have become very complicated; there are so many “experts” touting conflicting ideas and lifestyles. And we have strayed so far away from simple, nutritious food that we don’t even know what that means anymore! Almost three-quarters of the country is overweight and junk food is the largest source of calories in the American diet. But it’s no fault of the average person that there is so much confusion around what is healthful and what isn’t, what to eat and what to avoid. Food manufacturers use deceptive advertising to dupe us into thinking their products are “natural” or “wholesome” when they’re anything but. Junk food is subsidized by the government to make it artificially cheap. Cooking is not a skill that is taught at home the way it used to be. Our lives are incredibly busy and hectic, leaving us with less free time.
I get it. I work full-time and I have three busy kids. But I had a pretty amazing foundation: my parents believed in cooking simple meals from scratch, growing organic vegetables in the backyard, and insisting on dinner together every night. We spent our Sundays surrounded by extended family and bright, vibrant platters of vegetables cooked straight from the garden, warm bowls of rustic pasta with homemade sauce, fork-tender meats, and crisp, colorful salads. I couldn’t stay out of the kitchen, whether it was helping with dinner prep or wearing out the pages of the latest Gourmet magazine. I taught myself how to cook by observing closely, reading everything I could get my hands on, and getting really messy in the kitchen. Everything we cooked was very simple, but always homemade. But we were certainly not perfect and ate our fair share of (not whole-grain) pasta, bread, and (a lot of) cheese. We had normal (sugar-laden) birthday cakes and soda on special occasions. We didn’t overthink food.
Getting married and having children was when I changed the way I looked at food. Once I had other human beings to feed, I started to connect the dots between food and nutrition. I went back to school to learn as much as I could about more healthful eating and slowly began to make changes in our pantry, how I cooked, and what we ate. The majority of my friends weren’t on the same journey; they had the idea that cooking—be it for one person or twenty—was intimidating. But they were curious, eager to learn, and wanted me to share some of my recipes. Soon, I was giving tips on how to sweeten with dates, swap unhealthy fats for coconut oil, and use lentils in place of ground meat; I shared how I organized my pantry and navigated the farmers’ market.
I knew then that I wanted to give other parents a fresh start in the kitchen and to help get their families eating well. My prospective students had one wish—to teach them how I did it. “It” was making three nutritious meals a day for my family, including a very picky son, without a lot of stress. This became the foundation for my cooking classes and my blog and eventually turned into a full-time business.
Over the last decade, I have taught people from all walks of life. I have been in hundreds of home kitchens. I talk to dozens of (mostly) parents every day, fielding questions about everything from picky eaters to allergies to how to boil water (really!). What has become very clear to me is that we all basically want the same thing: we want to live our best lives, be healthy, feel happy, connect with our children and one another.
My students have come to my cooking classes wanting to learn and do better. I have never criticized anyone for what was in her pantry or how many meals she cooked last week. Perfection is stressful, overrated, and unattainable. So, you made a frozen pizza for dinner last night? No big deal. So, you made a frozen pizza every night last month? Then I’m glad you have this book! The important point is that it’s what you do most of the time that really matters.
Every individual and every family is unique. There’s no judgment anywhere in this book, so don’t ever feel bad about doing your best.
I live and teach in Los Angeles, the home of what’s the latest, greatest new diet, health craze, and “it” food. In every single class, my students ask my opinion about this diet or that. Personally, I hate diets. Ironically, I can find data to support any diet out there, from Paleo to vegan, but that’s not what I teach. Whereas I think it’s pretty obvious we should be avoiding processed food and chemical-laden junk, there is a whole world of amazing foods you may not have ever eaten or cooked with before. It’s so exciting to find new flavors and recipes that are nutritious and absolutely delicious. And I am not talking about turning vegetable pulp from your juicer into a patty—you won’t find that here. Instead, you’ll find modern, accessible recipes, the majority of which have been taught dozens of times and have been tested on my friends and family.
My kids didn’t bounce down the stairs one day asking, “Mom, how come we never have millet in our house?” or “I saw a commercial for kale. Do you think we could try it?” Our unprocessed way of eating was driven by me since I knew that both my health and the health of my family were ultimately my responsibility. I believe with 100 percent certainty that what you eat matters more than anything else. The good news is that you have total control over that. You don’t have control over your genetics or the toxins in the environment. But you are the one who chooses what goes in your shopping cart and what goes in your frying pan. I tell my students that we should all try to eat well, live well, be well. They really do work altogether. If you want to be healthy, cooking as much nutrient-dense food as often as you can is a good place to start. Your health matters—and your kitchen matters. And that’s what this book is about.