Autumn and I both enjoy cooking and dancing in the kitchen. My love for cooking started as a child. I would often wandered off into the kitchen during the holidays and asked my Grandmother if she needed help. Of course she didn’t, but to oblige the 6 year old little girl starring at the food with big eyes and a smile to match, she always had a ‘job’ I could do for her. I especially enjoyed this because as everyone else waited for the food to be prepared, I was always rewarded with a piece of whatever it was that we were making. (being able to preview the meal before anyone else was a big deal to me at the time haha).

My Grandmother was a great cook, but she often explained to me her feelings about the consequences of eating many of the meals that we prepared. Because my grandmother was French Creole, and raised in the south, many of her specialty dishes were things that could cause health issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes. She complained that she wished she knew of other ways to make delicious foods that wouldn’t be harmful for me in the long run. At the time, I didn’t understand the importance of her concerns.

Gradually over the years, I became comfortable enough in the kitchen that I began to create my own recipes based of ingredients that we had in the cabinet at the time. As my different family members begin to try my dishes, they were in shock that I actually created something new and tasty, so that encouraged me to try more. By the time I was 12 I was able to cook entire meals for an everyone in my family.

As a full grown adult, I have learned the importance of eating healthy and I am teaching these same principles to my children. I am a pescatarian, who started off as a full meat eater many years ago. I am currently contemplating about starting a transition into becoming a full vegetarian. I will keep you posted on my food journey in my upcoming blogs.

Although I have been cooking with Autumn since she was able to hold a spoon, we have only just started to become more focused on learning new techniques and preparing new types of meals.

Being Quarantined has given me the time and opportunity to learn how to cook from scratch. It has given me a boost to the motivation that I have had my entire life. Because of my health issues (Including IBS, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Migraines and Reoccurring Kidney Stones) food plays a major part in how well I feel on a day to day basis. As I learn about the effects on processed foods on my body, it drives me to learn how to create my favorite things to eat from all natural healthy ingredient. When I choose what types of food that I will consume each day, my mentality is…. “If this food will cause pain, then it is not worth eating.” For example, I know that salt can cause Kidney stones, and that wheat cause my stomach to bloat and ache, therefore I won’t choose to snack on a bag of chips or a wheat bagel.

While quarantined, Autumn and I have both started are own cooking series. (Cooking with The Azuls and Cooking with Chef Autumn). We each choose or create a recipe that we’d like to share and we post ‘How To” videos filled with cooking, dancing and all around fun. We want people to have fun in the kitchen and bring positive energy to their meals. After all, cooking with love will make ANY dish taste better!