I’ve been cooking for as long as I can remember. Like many little kids, I would always follow my mother around the kitchen and “help” as much as she could.
Starting when I was about 10, it was one of my chores to completely plan and cook dinner one night every week. The dinner had to be a balanced meal – no getting away with saying we’re having ice cream sundaes for dinner! At first, it was a little overwhelming – I still remember the first time I tried to manage a stovetop full of boiling pots – and there were failures when mom had to come to the rescue for sure. But the excitement and pride that came with pulling off a successful meal couldn’t be matched. It was this early experience with cooking and menu planning that contributed to my love of cooking today. Cooking was never scary to me – it was a chance to create what I wanted to eat.
In the summer of 2015, I completed the Plant-Based Professional Course through Rouxbe Cooking School in order to build on the skills I had learned on my own. Although I’m not a vegan, the plant-based techniques I learned in the course have helped me incorporate more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains into my recipes in unique ways.
My work has been featured by Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Parade Magazine, Yahoo! News, Buzzfeed, and The Huffington Post, among others. I also have a second blog called The Busy Foodie.
What is healthy?
I feel like every time you turn around there’s new information about what’s “healthy” and what isn’t. I’m not a doctor or nutritionist by any means, so please don’t take my word for what’s healthy.
If you read back in my archives far enough, you’ll see that I started this blog as a Weight Watchers blog. I started Weight Watchers after I graduated from college. Back then, there weren’t nearly as many prepared options made with natural, whole foods available as there are now. It was the era of Snackwells, and “health food” was either hippie food or tasted like cardboard. I love food, and don’t want to waste time on things that don’t actually taste good, so I had to learn to make my own! Just because something is healthy, doesn’t mean that it can’t be enjoyable! Before I eat anything, I try to ask myself “is this delicious?” because if it isn’t delicious, it isn’t worth eating. I’d much rather eat 1 really good cookie made with natural ingredients, than 3 not so great cookies that are full of artificial chemicals.
New to Healthy Delicious? Here are some of my favorite recipes to get you started:
- Lemon-Parmesan Gnocchi with Mushrooms (Sheet Pan Dinner)
- Chicken Cauliflower Rice Soup (Whole 30)
- Taco Casserole
- Baked Chicken and Spinach Flautas
- Dill Havarti Turkey Burgers
Short on time? You love these 20 Make-Ahead Breakfasts and 20 Healthy Sheet Pan Dinners for Busy Weeknights and well as my extensive collection of healthy weeknight dinner recipes.
You can also check out my cookbook, Healthy Eating One-Pot Cookbook, available on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble.
What a great blog! We love healthy cooking and recipes at Livingbetterat50.com.
Very beautiful well put-together blog! Thanks to FoobBuzz, I’m discovering so many amazing sites. Thank you for sharing.
Great philosophy on eating. I have two rules I go by:
1) Eat when I’m hungry. Don’t eat when I’m not, and stop when I’m full.
2) If I’m really craving something (anything, cookies, cake, whatever), eat it. But if I’m not REALLY craving it, make the healthier choice.
I love the photos. Food photography is notoriously hard! What are you using, how did you get there?
Thank you! I use a Canon Rebel XS and usually shoot with a 50mm lens.
I don’t know that I would say “I’m there” yet, since there are always things to improve but: practice, practice, practice! A lot of it is trial and error and learning from my own mistakes.I also spend a lot of time looking at other people’s photos and trying to figure out what it is about them that makes them speak to me… composition, colors, props, etc.
your healthy living philosophy is so much like mine. love it. i’ll be checking in here often!
Hi Lauren,
I came across your blog through foodbuzz tonight. I actually live about 3-1/2 hours north of Albany – but will be moving there in the future. Hubby starts work there next week. I think you are about the 3rd blogger that isn’t too far from me. I too have gone through weight loss (several times) and I really love your about me – and how you cook! Sounds very much like me. The good and the bad. ;o) (meaning not so healthy. lol) I too for the most part like to cook healthy though! I look forward to keeping up with your blog!
Hi Lauren, was reading your article on Spicy Asian Noodles with interest as i am working on a new noodle dish myself. Your noodles bowl looks interesting and nice. May i ask what’s the size of the bowl diameter (7″ or 8″) and where did you get them from
thanks
thomas
I can’t find a tape measure, but they seem to be about 6″ across the top – they’re on the smaller side but are pretty deep. I got them as a gift, but I’ve seen similar bowls in small artsy type gift shops
Left you a message on the BloggerAid changing the face of famine site.
Lauren is AWESOME!! With the most fantastic and practical view on health!
That’s all! 🙂