About me and Life Currents Blog:
Life takes you many places. Ride with the current and see where it takes you. Good things happen around the table, and in life, just be sure to be open to seeing all that surrounds you.
I invite you to join me as I celebrate my love of life, and my love of food with recipes and stories. Pinky swear, I promise not to share too many stories, as I know it’s the joke that goes around all the time. And since I’ve been blogging since 2009 I have shared more than a few recipes!
I care about my readers and the food. And, I want to have some of my personality in the recipes that I share. So I won’t stop being me. I offer tips and suggestions. I also offer a jump to recipe button at the top of each page so that you can quickly and easily get to the recipe if that’s what you prefer.
I’ve included pictures of some of my favorite recipes and crafts.
Privacy Policy is here.
Vegetarian Recipes
A vegetarian for over 30 years, I recently started eating sustainable seafood as well.
Read more about my vegetarian story. Or, read about why I chose to start eating fishies.
So I had to learn how to cook for myself as a vegetarian. I also taught myself how to bake. And I’ve been cooking and baking for more than 30 years!
Life Currents is about those stories, healthy eating, healthy cooking, tasty cooking (that may be a bit heavy in calories sometimes), and my musings on life in general.
I’m really interested in healthy stuff, whole foods, preserving, and getting back to real foods and methods. I really try not to waste food (I compost, recycle, use as many parts of the foods I cook as possible, and conserve).
I prefer to eat at home (it’s tastier, better for you, and more customizable). I’ve mostly eliminated high fructose corn syrup from our diet as well (though I’m not as diligent about this as I am with trans-fats). And, I avoid GMOs as much as possible.
Learning and trying new things
I love learning new things, and will do research projects. I share what I learn.
Home cooking
I believe in home cooking.
I used to work lots of hours at a stressful job. When I did, we ate out regularly (like 4 times a week). Eating out is fine, occasionally, but it gets to be mundane. Boring. flavorless. Full of added sodium and fat.
But, at that time,I couldn’t even fathom throwing a box of mac and cheese on the stove, let alone make a whole meal from scratch.
Now, not only do I have the time to plan out a meal and do the shopping, but I get to experiment. Some things are great. Some things are not so great. I’d say we rarely have anything that just needs to be thrown away.
I believe that eating at home is very important, not only to our health – the food we cook at home is full of fresh veggies which have nutrients that surpass anything that we get out at a restaurant.
Eating at home allows us to spend time with our families that eating out just doesn’t provide. When you cook together and sit down together with a meal that you’ve created together, there’s just so much more of a bond with each other.
I mean, do you really have too many memories of spending dinner with the family at that local fast food joint?
The food we cook at home is tailored to our likes and dislikes. I don’t care for celery. So, I don’t use it. I replace the celery with onions. I love onions.
So, I get to make things the way that I want. Some days I’m feeling spicy! So, I add more spice. Some days are mild days. Well, you get the picture.
Make it the way you want.
Oops, high cholesterol
Me, I’ve been a vegetarian for over 30 years.
I’ve learned a thing or two about eating as a vegetarian. There’s only so long that you can replace all the meat in your diet with cheese before it starts to show up in your cholesterol.
You have to be smart about what you eat, that goes for everyone whether you’re a vegetarian or not. You have to be smart about what you eat.
Ice cream, after all, is vegetarian, but it doesn’t make a good staple meal.
When I first became a vegetarian all those years ago there weren’t as many options as there are today. So I really had to learn how to cook and how to be creative on my own.
I hope to share some of what I’d learned.
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In the past few years I’ve been adding seafood to my diet. There are many reasons for this. It tastes great. Fresh, well prepared seafood is pure bliss. I think I can really help people understand more about our oceans.
And, if you’d like to read more about my views on seafood, check out my Fish 101, Fish 102 & Fish 103.
Diet restrictions
I love the diet restrictions that people have.
Whether it’s due to personal choice, like vegetarianism, or due to physical medical reasons, like gluten-free eating, non-dairy eating, or low potassium diets. Kosher foods are also fascinating.
I love to learn more about food, and people’s relationships with food. I love to talk to people about food.
It isn’t uncommon for me to meet someone new, and start chatting about food. I think people can sense that I’m open to those discussions.
We have such a problem with diet related diseases, I feel that most of these could be cleaned up and solved through eating more healthful, fresh, home cooked meals.
Unfortunately, our work lives often don’t allow us to feel that we have the time or the energy to do this for ourselves. So, some of my goals are to give everyone ideas for how they can accomplish more healthful eating.
I want people to feel that home cooking is within their grasp. It is possible to make a tasty healthy meal in a half an hour after you get home from work.
educational background
My degree is in business management because I wanted to to own my own restaurant. Something that served great breakfasts and cozy meals. And lots of soup. A vegetarian cafe probably.
After I finished my management degree I went back to school to be a Registered Dietitian. I didn’t finish that schooling, but I did love it. In fact, I still read nutrition books and magazines for fun and continuing education.
I worked in restaurants for many years, and learned a lot from those experiences.
I think that my education and experiences all help me in my blogging and writing recipes that people can use in their entertaining and day to day cooking.
Seasonal produce
I believe in using seasonal produce. I believe in using locally grown foods.
However, that being said, I also don’t feel it’s wrong to occasionally splurge on something that isn’t local.
I believe trans fats are really bad for you. And, if there were only a few things that you are willing to do to stay healthier, give up all trans fats, give up fast food, and give up sodas. Yes, I have the occasional sprite.
Occasionally having something isn’t going to be bad for most people. But, having a six pack a day is.
I believe that GMO’s are bad.
I believe that fresh food that makes sense is the way to go. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional high calorie snack like chips or cookies or ice cream.
And, yes, I’ve been known to eat those cheddar and sour cream wavy chips straight out of the bag and (yes, I’m embarrassed to say it, I almost ate a whole bag by myself the other day).
No guilt
I also DON’T believe in guilt.
If you had a bad day and needed a whole bag of chips, or if you had a few too many cookies. So be it. Quit beating yourself up. Stop it.
I believe that anything can be improved with the addition of some avocado slices. I would throw them onto just about anything.
Guacamole – yep, that’s my favorite snack!
In a nutshell
Whew, I really didn’t have any problem writing that. In fact, that was really easy.
Those are, in a nut shell, my “abouts”. Healthy food. Tasty food.
My blog won’t always just be about food. I occasionally write about other things I’m up to.
Please feel free to ask questions. Make comments. And, give me suggestions. I really do welcome it.
Questions, comments, concerns? Or just drop me a line
I’d love to know your questions, comments*, or concerns about food, the kitchen, or dietary restrictions. I’m happy to help.
*Mean spirited, rude, unkind, or unhelpful comments won’t be approved. I’m cool with constructive comments or changes, but remember, this is a personal blog, and I do this to share my passion, not to get mean comments back. Thanks!
I love challenges and researching new things.
If you have a question, please feel free to make a comment on the blog, post the question to my Facebook page, or email me at Debi@lifecurrentsblog. com
I take all my own photos (unless photo credit is given otherwise). All copyrights reserved. If you’d like to use my photos, please ask. I will want photo credit. And I don’t use ghost writers.
Cupboard Cooking
Please take a look at my first publicly available cookbook, “Cupboard Cooking“. I’m very excited that it’s complete, and I feel such a sense of accomplishment having written it!