Call me “Mom”. I have three amazing children, ages 3, 4 and 6, and I wouldn't trade a single minute of any given day for the time I have with them-well, maybe there are days I would trade a few minutes! For the past six years, I have driven carpools, attended play groups, planned party after party and volunteered as much as possible at school. I shop, I clean, I organize, I pay bills, I do hair, I keep a calendar, I counsel, I clean boo-boos and I am the family cook. That's the clean description of my mommyhood. I also changed diapers for 6 1/2 years (thank goodness that's over), wipe bottoms, use my shirt as a tissue, knowingly and unknowingly, I've been thrown up on, pooped on, peed on and just the other day at the grocery store, I held my hand under my daughter's chin to catch the blood that poured out of her mouth after a cart handle took her out. Still, I love what I do.

Like a lot of moms, I had a past career that I often fantasize about. After college, I went back to school to become a chef at the French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center) in the SOHO region of New York City. I had always loved to cook and thought, "Maybe I'll make a career out of this." Best and hardest decision ever! After I graduated from school, with honors (okay, I have to brag a little since this blog is about me), I worked in the pastry kitchen of Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. I learned everything from custards to caramels to cakes. I worked crazy hours but I loved it. On the downside, I would sometimes go four days without having a single face-to-face conversation with my husband and I made a miniscule wage. Something had to give. Soon after leaving Mesa Grill, opportunity fell into my lap. I was blessed with an opportunity to work in the Editorial Department of Food Arts magazine which changed my course in the food world. I worked with them for a few months and then headed upstairs - literally - for my next adventure with their sister publication, Wine Spectator. I helped Wine Spectator with the creation of their first (now defunct) food edition. It was, in fact, an encyclopedia of food. I loved working there and would quite possibly still be there today if life didn't shift yet again…baby #1. After doing the math and realizing that a one-bedroom apartment was not ideal to house a family of four (counting our 85-pound black lab-R.I.P.) but an upgrade would deplete our savings, we packed up and headed back to my husband's native Virginia.

I did a little more writing when we arrived in town and then decided to take a stab at teaching cooking lessons. I have been teaching cooking lessons for anywhere from 1-30 people for the past 5 or so years. I really can't remember when I started!

The one thing I keep hearing again and again from my inspiration, my confidants, my community-my mom friends-is they want to learn more of the basics of cooking. They want to know how to turn obscure ingredients into an edible dish, how to use the tools in their kitchens. For many it’s a confidence issue, while for others it’s having the time to figure it out. I may be a chef but first and foremost, I’m a mom. I care about what my family eats but I also don’t have a lot of time to accomplish that goal. I have discovered that it is possible to make delicious, healthy food in a pinch. Do I cook every night? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Do I buy chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese? ABSOLUTELY! I am, after all, a REAL MOM. I would love to do it all but as time and schedules permit, or not, I sometimes have to take shortcuts.

I do have a few rules when it comes to purchasing food: minimal processing, no high fructose corn syrup, no hydrogenated oils, no artificial colors (this is my new mission) and buy fresh, buy local when possible. Every meal should have at least one component that did not come out of a package, even if you just peel and cut up a carrot. That’s why I try to keep things on hand like green beans, snap peas, grapes, small apples and bananas, all of which require no preparation.

Alright, that was a lot of background so now let’s move on to my objective with this blog: to help parents do the best job possible when it comes to feeding their kids, their spouses, their friends. I will explore and demystify all of those ingredients we are told to eat but don’t know how to prepare. I want to help those moms out there with real cooking challenges because of the dietary limitations with which they are faced. With all of the allergies and gluten-free, dairy-free and other “free” diets, healthy cooking can still be delicious. Now let’s cook the REAL MOM way!