From an early age I’ve had a great love of food and cooking. As a child I’d watch the cooking shows on PBS; the only cooking shows around back then, and they’d inspire me to run into the kitchen and create some sort of mess (usually just after my Mom had finished cleaning up from the previous meal). After decorating my creation with leaves, flowers or whatever adornments I could find, I would take photos of it with my Kodak Instamatic camera. I’m not sure whatever happened to those old photographs. Back then it took about a week to get photos developed so I’d probably moved on to some other project by the time my Dad picked them up from the store. I can see him now, looking at the blurry images of a purple iced cake decorated with flowers and branches, then probably rolling his eyes as he looked at the receipt showing just where his hard earned money went!
My penchant for food and cooking has grown along with me. When we were first married, my husband, Trey and I dabbled in catering and briefly considered opening a restaurant, but other interests took hold and we began different careers. Through the years my love of creating recipes, cooking and hosting friends has never diminished. When I cook for other people someone is always asking me how I made a particular dish or if I would share a recipe or two. Only problem is, my way of cooking is unscripted; I think of what sounds good to me then I just dive right in, creating and shaping the recipe as I go. I’ve never actually written down my recipes (as a matter of fact there’s a running joke between me and my husband where if I make something he likes he says “write it down…now!”, knowing I’ll get busy doing something else and he’ll never see that exact meal again). So several years ago I started thinking that creating a food blog would be a great way to simultaneously record my recipes and share them with friends. Of course, the aforementioned career always seemed to get in the way but after four years of thinking about it, I’ve finally found my way to the food blogging party, as it were.
Over the years my food philosophy has evolved, in the past I’d use canned soups or other processed foods to make a recipe easier, now I prefer to make a simpler dish with fresher, more nutritious foods and let their flavors shine through. 
I grow a lot of my own vegetables and herbs and get the rest from a local farmers market. My focus now is on real food– it’s unfortunate this is even a term, yet I am surprised at the number of people who eat a diet mainly consisting of fake, processed foods and don’t even realize it. Happily, real food education is becoming more widespread. Nowadays you’d have to be living under a rock to not know what kale is, but just the other day when asked by a coworker what I’d brought for lunch, I found myself explaining what lentils were.
I don’t always eat perfectly, but I believe if you eat mostly local, seasonal and non-industrialized foods the occasional take-out pizza is not going to kill you. I do believe, though, if this last theme is reversed, it just might. I try to remember this mantra when it comes to food…
What you put into your body will either help fight disease or will contribute to it.
The recipes you will see here are mostly plant based. Personally, I don’t eat a lot of meat, but when I do I choose meat that I know was raised in a healthful environment (i.e. not stressed out in a stockyard or jam-packed in a building) and certainly not treated with hormones, antibiotics or other junk.
The name Lettuce Flourish encompasses both my inclination towards plant-based foods as well as my desire to create a bit of flourish in various facets of life. In addition to my recipes, you will also find a collection of my creative endeavors.
Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoy what you find here.
