was raised in a small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills of northern California. My family owned a diner, so naturally I grew up in and around the kitchen. I began prepping food at the young age of five...

cracking eggs, stacking cheese and forming hamburger patties (cringing, now as a vegetarian). It was fast-paced and I knew if I entered the kitchen unannounced, below the cook's eye level, I'd quickly be knocked to the ground. 
    We ate there regularly but also gathered around our dinner table at home every evening. The contrasting slow-paced, quiet kitchen was what I enjoyed...food prepared in small batches, cooked to nourish and the gathering of family. But, even at home, I hadn't learned to truly appreciate the origin of food or feel my connection to it. 
    Growing up I had never showed much interest in cooking and, after leaving home, I could hardly bake a potato. My heart wasn't interested in the process. It wasn't until my husband and I grew our first garden that I really became fascinated with food and it's origin. I started to become familiar with the differences in flavors based on seasonal ingredients. Through trial and error, I taught myself how to cook. The food was basic and I wouldn't have called it a passion, but I enjoyed my time in the kitchen. 
    Fast forward to 2014. That was the year everything shifted. I experienced a severe allergic reaction that nearly took my life. One side effect was extreme dysphagia, which left me unable to eat anything solid. My doctors told me to live on store-bought "nutritional" drinks until they could figure out a treatment. I became weaker every day and knew there had to be something I could do differently to better nourish my still very young, 30 year old body. I couldn't live off of those drinks alone. My husband began preparing daily juice in an effort to give me back the strength I needed. Thirty ounces of organic, cold-pressed juice each day did just that and I was able to become creative with other substitutions for solid food. I started making puréed soups with fruits, vegetables, homemade broths and grassfed butter. I made protein drinks and kept my belly somewhat full. 
    With the change in diet, our grocery cart was stacked full with produce and we could hardly keep up with shopping. I was consuming so many nutrients but, with juicing there's waste. We fed the pulp to our chickens and also composted but I felt like there had to be a less wasteful way. I got creative and developed several recipes using the pulp. Because I still couldn't eat or taste test, I had to really use my mind. 
    Cooking for my family became more about the process. It became about thinking rather than rushing toward an end result. Preparing and photographing beautiful, freshly harvested food was my only connection to it. This was where my heart really entered. As I continued serving my family and preparing meals in a more thoughtful and wholesome way, my own body began to heal.

    I started seeing firsthand how food is actually medicinal. After seven months on a liquid diet, I was seeing progress. Maybe it was the extreme amount of nutrients I was consuming or maybe it happened through the passing of time. Whatever the reason, I had become fascinated with the art of cooking by heart and the way whole, seasonal foods nourish. We all saw my growth when the focus shifted to the process. 
    Health-wise, I've completely recovered and the way I see life will never be the same as it once was. Just when I had released the idea of living a "normal" life, I was given a second chance. Because I had found contentment in so much less, "normal" became sweeter than my greatest dream. 
    Our family now lives a simple life. We grow food and preserve it for later months. Chickens roam our backyard and provide daily eggs. We pick local summer fruits and freeze them to enjoy all winter. We work hard sowing seeds, maintaining crops, harvesting dinners, preserving all the excess and then saving seed for the season ahead. It's a simple life that's actually not simple at all. It's every day with attention paid to the process. 

    At the end of 2016 I finished writing Plants on the Table, a seasonal vegetarian cookbook. It's filled with wholesome recipes and photographs of beautiful food.