Colorado Casey is COOKING!

Recently I realized that I am someone who has to always have a side project that I can persue.

In college it was lacrosse and writing poetry, and in grad school it was yoga and learning the guitar. While living in Spain, it was journaling (and trying to communicate in a language that I was extremely insecure speaking), and when I was back in Colorado and teaching, I found myself running again (this time with our new puppy) and writing when the Colorado weather had me hunkered inside.

Running near the Flatirons in Boulder, CO

But over the last six months, I have been a stay-at-home mom, and while this job is one of the toughest, I have found myself exploring a new hobby: cooking.


I recently did a whole food cleanse with Courtney at Glow Family Wellness and felt amazing. I have been learning a lot about clean eating and using food blogs like My Whole Food Life and Oh She Glows as my basis for trying to eat and feel better. But, I am also trying to watch my family's expenses, so using other sites like Budget Bytes and Fit and Frugal have also been extremely helpful.

I hate putting labels on my diet, but I am definitely not vegan (I love eggs and dairy, although I am trying to cut back on my cheese intake!). I'm not even quite vegetarian, because I do enjoy fish every once in a while. I love tofu and tempeh, but know that I should limit my intake given the debates on hormone levels and the ever-terrifying percentage of soy products that are genetically modified. I'm not gluten-free, even though I find a lot of the gluten-free meals just as tasty as their wheat counterparts.

But as I find myself cooking for not only myself, but also my little one, I realize that not knowing what is going into our food is unacceptable. Food labels with an endless list of ingredients that I can't pronounce, terrify me, and I know that I don't want these things building up and causing problems for my daughter.

Enjoying some Beet and Black Bean Burger!

So, here I am, combining my hobbies of cooking and writing, to put together some recipes that I have been using and share them with friends and family. As you can see, I have had no training with cooking, so any hints or recommendations are welcomed :)