I love cooking and eating. I also love feeding people. Most importantly, I love the way food brings people together. Do you ever find that you can bond with someone just by talking about your favorite dish, or that new recipe you’ve wanted to try? Does it warm your heart to spend a day cooking, then gather your friends around your table and share your hard work with them? For me, there is nothing more satisfying than enjoying a good meal with good friends (and good wine doesn’t hurt either).
I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 10, and I’ve been cooking for even longer. My after school activity every Friday afternoon was to help my mom cook for Shabbat. My assignments ranged from soup to salad to that Duncan Hines brownie mix we always seemed to have in the pantry. As a result, I learned how to cook a lot of things. What I never learned was how to cook for small groups of people (so I apologize for some of my ridiculous portion sizes on this site).
More recently, I decided to make a career change and go into nutrition. Combine this with my addiction to Food Network and my love of cooking, and I realized that there are plenty of simple ways to make delicious, healthy, vegetarian dishes. I’m also edging closer to a vegan diet (it’s a process, don’t rush me). I like experimenting with cooking and recipes to see how I can make things healthy, satisfying, and without any animal products. This blog helps me record my experiments.
Here are a few other important things about me that I think you should know:
- I shoot with a Nikon D5100 (best birthday present EVER). For now I just have the standard 18-55 mm lens on it.
- I own way too many cookbooks. This has never stopped me from buying more.
- I have a kosher kitchen. Sometimes this limits the things I can make in it, but since I don’t eat meat, it mostly doesn’t make a difference.
- Want to be my best friend? Introduce me to a good bottle of wine. Wine makes everything taste better, whether that means you’re cooking with it or drinking it with your meal.
I've been at this blogging thing for over a year now, but it still feels new and scary sometimes. I appreciate any and all feedback. I also like friendly people who just want to say “hi.” I promise I’ll say “hi” back! You can contact me at theinventivevegetarian@gmail.com. Or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Can't wait to hear from you!
Cheers and good eating!
-Elana, The Inventive Vegetarian
