Welcome! I am Lesley, a 20-something living in Northern Virginia who toils in an office job by day (and early evening), and spends nights and weekends indulging my passion for cooking and healthful eating. My fiancé, Jim, serves as a willing subject to my kitchen adventures, but doesn't seem to mind.

In my view, the key to healthy eating is variety (after all, it is the spice of life, right)? Who wouldn't be swayed by the food temptations that surround us (in dizzying quantities) if they weren't fully satisfied with what they could eat at home? I've found over time that by eating a wide variety of foods at home, cooked using various techniques and in the style of many different cuisines, that I prefer to eat at home and find restaurant foods to be less-than-satisfying (except in the sense that you leave so full that you feel like you have a brick in your stomach). Sushi, however, is one exception, which I'm sure I'll get to later (probably good that we go out for anymore). If a person were confined to brown rice and broccoli for dinner each night, they would naturally have cravings for other foods. But, if instead of going for fast food (for example), what if you swapped out quinoa for the rice (and added different flavorings) and tried some new veggies (in different methods of preparations and with new flavorings). It's a great mental exercise to keep things new this way, and it adds much excitement to home eating. As a couple, we hardly ever eat out any more. On our ideal Saturday night, I prepare the meal that I've planned while we share some fine craft beer (more on that later, too) and catch up after a soul-crushing week of office work. It's quality time and good healthy food (and fine craft beer, hmm).

So, the name of this blog is the healthy home chef. I am no chef. I am a self-taught and very passionate home cook who loves food and who also has a great interest in healthful eating. On this blog, I intend to post the highlights of our culinary adventures, some recipes (when I actually write down what I’ve done—I’m notorious for not documenting some of my greatest kitchen-triumphs) and general information and tidbits pertaining to food, food shopping, etc.

What types of recipes and food-chatter are you likely to find here? Lets see:

I fill our menu with whole grains and a wide variety of vegetables. I stick with lean meats (avoiding beef, not only because of the high saturated fat content, but also just because I find that I really don’t enjoy the flavor much anymore—I find buffalo to be much more tasty), and I adore seafood (if it was up to me, we’d eat seafood every day—I haven’t gotten Jim to agree to that one yet). And, I love to dabble in various cuisines, my favorites being Greek (owing to my lineage, half greek), Provincial French, Asian (Japanese and Chinese in particular—I haven’t done much Thai or Korean, but would like to) and Mexican (who doesn’t like Mexican). And I LOVE garlic. When I have time to cook every night, I probably go through 10+ heads of garlic a week (heads, not cloves). Every meal I cook probably has at least one entire head of garlic in it; it’s kind of a house joke now (“what, no garlic?”). So, that should give you some indication of what you’re likely to find here, once I get off my rear and start posting some actual content.

Having said all of that jazz about healthy eating…now to my indulgences. Beer, cheese and sweets.

Beer: Jim and I are craft beer fans. We read much about beer styles, do a little brewing of our own, and enjoy seeking out new and unusual beers to examine and compare with other beers. Beer is very much a part of our weekend food life, as we often have a little tasting while I prepare our weekend meals (little sometimes not being so little). So you’re also likely to hear a lot about craft beer here, too.

Cheese: ahh, cheese. Whole foods must be the most wonderful place on earth, with such a wonderful cheese selection. I often come home from the grocery store with “treats” for Jim (like candy if you had a child—but we have no children so we always joke that I’ll “mother” him instead), and they often involve some new kind of cheese that we’ve never had before (or, predictably enough, some kind of beer that we’ve never had before). But, being the healthy chef, I view cheese as an indulgence. If a dish calls for cheese as a primary ingredient, chances are that I’ll either use a lower fat cheese, or a cheese so flavorful (like a parmesan-reggiano or a Roquefort) that you don’t have to use much. Other, full fat cheeses are reserved for nibbling and tasting with beer or wine.

Sweets: Here, I really have a problem. I’m a little girl (5’2’’ and under 100 lb.; people wonder how, after they see how I eat and drink), but I swear that if you put a chocolate layer cake in front of me, I could take down the whole thing. If I finish one dessert, I immediately want 10 more. My first adventures in cooking were focused on baking and desserts (having become somewhat acclaimed among family members and certain co-workers for my cheesecakes). But, then I read about nutrition and the like and realized what eating that sort of stuff with regularity can do to you. Ouch. So, I rarely eat sweets out (because I know that they’re probably filled with butter and, even worse, partially hydrogenated oils, and lots of refined sugars). Instead, I make treats for us at home and try to use healthful oils (sparingly, still), alternate sweeteners (brown rice syrup for one), and whole-wheat flours (and other whole grain ingredients—oat flour, quinoa flour, etc.). These treats still pack a caloric punch, so you can’t go-to-town, but it’s not as bad as it could be. So, you’re likely to see some content related to slightly-more-healthful desserts in these posts as well.

Wow, that was a long first rant. So, welcome! I hope that you enjoy reading my blather as much as I enjoy posting it. Cheers!