I love food and I love cooking food. It hasn’t always been this way. As a kid I grew up in a family that valued good food with all kinds of interesting smells, tastes, and textures. But I was a picky eater. I made my mom crazy every morning with fights over what I was willing to eat at breakfast. Despite her best efforts at getting me involved with cooking and having a healthy relationship with food, I wasn’t interested (unless it was baking cookies). After college, I either cooked a big, intricate meal or I made ramen late at night after not eating well all day. It was a mess.

Then, my boyfriend (now husband) and I moved to Ann Arbor to study social work at the University of Michigan. Since we were students, there wasn’t much extra cash around, so we did a lot of cooking and I fell in love with food and cooking for others. Dinner parties, meals with leftovers, new recipes—all of it was fun! So by the time we got married and had kids, I was hooked. Cooking for (and with) my two young, extremely active, strong-willed boys has been a challenge and a joy.

Whether as a non-profit professional or as a mom, one of my greatest struggles has been finding the time. The time to cook. The time to get my work done. The time to fulfill all of my obligations. The time to really enjoy my family. And the time to take care of myself.

So after years of working in the non-profit world and struggling to find the right balance in my own life, I decided that it was time to combine my love of helping people with my love of food. I enrolled at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and studied a wide range of dietary theories, as well as a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods that help to build congruency between changes in diet with satisfaction with life. Drawing on all of this knowledge, I now help people who would like to integrate more home cooking or healthy living into their lives, without it becoming an added stress or burden.

So if you would like to be cooking more or eating better and don’t know where to begin or if you are feeling overwhelmed with feeding your family, contact me for a free consultation! I will help you to find the best, least stressful, and maybe even fun way to get back into the kitchen.