Hello everyone (let’s be honest, at this point, it’s probably more like hello Mom…)! This is my first blog post on Healthy Recipe Ecstasy. If anyone out there in the blogosphere does stumble across this blog in its infancy, please forgive the appearance as I’m still learning how to navigate WordPress and debating what food image best represents Healthy Recipe Ecstasy.

I’ve been dying to start a food blog for a while now. My daytime job doesn’t allow for much creativity, and I desperately need a writing outlet. What better topic than my number one love? Food! A close second behind actually eating, looking at, or talking about food is reading the recipes that go into creating the meals I love. While most people leisurely read fiction thrillers or non-fiction historical novels, I survive on a literary diet of rom-coms and recipe books. A rom-com with recipes included is the holy grail of literature for me. I spend as much time as I can perusing online recipe sites, Cooking Light magazines, Martha Stewart’s arsenal of cookbooks, and trying to recreate those recipes. Over the years, I’ve taught myself how to cook through trial and error. Fortunately, I’ve always been good at following directions! However, as I gained more confidence in the kitchen, those recipes became more of a guide than a rulebook. I began experimenting – waking up in the middle of the night with recipe ideas. Some better than others. Spicy mint mayonnaise sauce? Delicious! Burger stuffed with feta and topped with Romesco sauce? Not as good as it sounds.

I’m still very much an amateur in the kitchen, but I think my passion for food and my willingness to try any recipe even if it’s out of my wheelhouse makes for some delicious eats. More recently, as I crept towards and hit the big 3-0, I haven’t been able to chow down with as much vigor as I used to. My metabolism slowed down, I developed allergies, and my stomach weakened thanks to a family history of lactose intolerance – horrifying for someone whose favorite foods are bagels, brie, and creamy mac ‘n’ cheese. If I were trapped on a desert island, I used to think all I would need to survive were carbs and cheese. Now I know that some fruits and veggies might sustain me a bit longer. Because of my health issues, I went from learning to cook to learning to cook healthy in a way that suits my body. Instead of stuffing my face with alfredo sauce until I passed out, now I try to create a pasta dish that’s as sinfully delicious as a creamy fettuccine alfredo but makes me feel good mentally and physically. I’ve spent the past year altering healthy recipes to make them more palatable to my taste buds and altering unhealthy recipes to make them more palatable to my well-being.

I know I’m not the only one out there who wants to find recipe ecstasy while leading a healthy life, so I thought it was high time I shared my journey. Each week, I hope to make a few new recipes, some of my own creation, some alterations of others recipes, and some exact recipes because, as I said, I’m still learning. Not every recipe will be healthy because my mental well-being wouldn’t be very well if I didn’t allow for some indulgences. But, for the most part, the recipes I create or test will be healthy and/or altered for certain dietary restrictions. For the lactose intolerant out there, soy milk can make an excellent substitute in a creamy pasta dish. For the diabetics, we don’t really need all that toxic added sugar to make yummy desserts. And for the gluten-intolerant, cauliflower crust pizza is actually amazing.

I look forward to sharing my search for healthy recipe ecstasy with you. Happy reading and happy eating!

Michelle