Allow me to introduce myself...

Born and raised in Georgia, I am not the typical southerner. Okay, that is a lie. I suppose I am a pretty mainstream southern bell. Part of being from the south is having an affair with food. I love food- not just because it has the potential to taste so good that you enter a state of euphoria, but because of the ability of food to bring people together and make them feel good. Whether it is Thanksgiving dinner or a quick meal made during a hectic week, food is powerful enough to bring even the worst of enemies into the same room to enjoy a deliciously prepared meal.

I have loved food since birth. That being said, along with this obsession with food comes weight issues. My mother actually has a home video of me on my first birthday eating a piece of chocolate cake. In the background, as I am scarfing down this cake, you can hear her say, "Leah, this is where all of your weight problems begin." Well, if you knew that, why didn't you stop me??!!

About a year and a half ago, I made the decision to become a vegetarian. Have you ever heard of a vegetarian who struggles with weight gain? Hello, my name is Leah! Becoming a vegetarian has just made the obsession with food even worse. I now have a whole new world to discover and becoming a vegetarian forced me to really begin to hone in on my culinary skills. I had to begin creating meals that satisfied meat lovers, without meat. In my family, a meal consists of a protein, a vegetable and a starch. So, of course, my first venture to cook a vegetarian meal included those three things. Have any of you ever tried a slab of tofu that is supposed to taste like turkey? That was a Thanksgiving dinner I made, complete with tofurky, green beans, mashed potatoes and rolls. Everything was great except for the "turkey." That was the most unsatisfying piece of unmeat that I had ever eaten. So I moved on to plan B: trying to change the conventional way of thinking that every meal had to include a protein... The next meal was hamburger helper, minus the hamburger and a side of fresh steamed broccoli. Yeah, right. After cooking many meals that emphasized the unimportance of meat, I was ready to give up. Nobody got it. I would hear things like, "Oh, Leah, this is good. But, it would be better with meat."

These trial and error meals have now blossomed into a wide variety of recipes that are wonderfully satisfying and I don't hear, "where's the meat?" afterwards. I was forced to venture out and try things that I had never cooked. I had to learn the difference between jullienne, slice, dice, and chop. I learned what it meant for pasta to be al dente, the difference between steamed and boiled, etc. Knowing that I had an obligation to cook the meals (because I am a woman, and that's how southerners are supposed to act, lol) forced me to become very creative and brave.

Now, I am no chef. I am a self-taught, Food Network-loving, novice. I don't have a bunch of expensive cooking utensils and my kitchen is 21-years-old. When I am running low on groceries, I cook what I have and hope that it is good. I do plan out my meals every week, and there is always at least one or two new meals that I have never made. I just love food. That does not make me a chef or a professional, by any means. And I know this :)

I feel like I have come to a point where I have conquered the area of vegetarian meals. However, now I have to focus on healthy eating. Just one more hurdle to jump. Most non-vegetarians think that vegetarians are really healthy, and eat only vegetables. That is simply not true. French fries are not healthy, but they are vegetarian. There's no meat in cakes, cookies, pies or ice cream! Cheese is packed full of fat, but it is technically vegetarian. So there are ways to get around that whole eating-veggies-all-the-time issue. As a vegetarian, I still struggle with making sure what I am putting in my body is good for me. And that has got to change.

I don't really know what this blog will encompass, but I assure you, it will definately have yummy (and hopefully healthy) foods. And whatever non-essential details I throw in about getting married, my dogs and what have you. Happy reading!

Red Velvet Cake with Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting

Orzo Pasta and Feta Bake

Right out of the oven.

Easter Basket Cake

Vegetarian Chili

Banana Pudding