Moreno - More with less: whole food cooking made irresistibly simple

My mother was incredibly hardworking, more so than anyone else I have ever known. Despite the long hours she would work as a nurse, she somehow managed to serve us a home-cooked meal every single night. Dinnertime was the meal at our house and was something I always looked forward to. It wasnt until I went away to college that I realized how much I took my mothers cooking for granted and that it was not necessarily easy, fast, or convenient to cook for yourself or your family every day. Fast food and cafeteria food ruled my life through those years, and I often yearned for simple comforts of home like my moms nourishing lentil soup or her delicious eggplant rollatini.

It took a few years of living away from home to learn that, if I wanted to eat home-cooked food often, I needed to learn how to cook for myself. I would call up my mom to ask for recipes like stuffed artichokes and attempt to make them in my tiny, ill-equipped kitchen. Even though my food was not very good and certainly never tasted like my moms, I discovered that the kitchen was my happy place.

Years went by, my love for cooking grew, and my culinary repertoire expanded beyond my mothers tried-and-true favorites. I became obsessed with reading recipes and particularly intrigued by unique flavor combinations. When I got home from work, I would spend hours re-creating elaborate recipes from a cookbook that I picked out the weekend before. The next day, I would bring the leftovers in to my coworkers, who would always jokingly say that I should be working in a kitchen, not an office. One year I brought a crispy Brussels sprout dish for a holiday office partyit had sauted apples and shallots and some toasted walnuts, and was tossed in Dijon mustard, olive oil, and a splash of red wine vinegar. So many of my coworkers asked for the recipe that it set off a spark inside me to create more of my own original recipes. Very soon after, I started my blog, enrolled in culinary school, and here we are.

I get great joy from thinking outside the box when I cook, and I strongly believe there is a powerful connection between food and our overall health and well-being. When you take the time to cook for yourself and your family, you realize the importance of selecting the very best ingredients to use in your kitchen. By cooking with whole, local, organic produce whenever possible, you are doing your very best to nourish yourself and those you are feeding.

After a hectic day in our busy lives, it can be tempting to pick up takeout or to pop a packaged frozen meal in the oven. My hope is that this book inspires you to cook more often and gives you the tools to make simple, wholesome, delicious meals almost any day of the week.

My culinary training is in natural foods with an emphasis on plant-based cooking and nutrition. Of the many things I learned in school, focusing on how the ingredients and the cooking techniques we choose can enrich our life and directly affect our health and well-being has had the greatest impact on me and the recipes I create.

Prior to my training, even though I considered myself a healthy eater, I was someone who thought that a meal was not complete unless it had some form of cheese or animal protein. I became fascinated by what I saw as a challengeusing less cheese, bread, and meat when creating recipes for flavorful meals. What I quickly learned was that using fewer of those ingredients opened up a world of tasty, exciting, and more nourishing foods that I never knew existed. I loved learning more ways to incorporate vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds in every single meal. I also became much more in tune with eating with the seasons, and discovered that is it less about avoiding certain ingredients and more about taking advantage of the amazing colorful array of whole foods I encountered year-round at the farmers market. Even in the deep winter, when all I can find at the markets are root vegetables for months and months, my creativity thrives on making the most out of what is available.

Through embracing seasonal produce, healthier ingredients, and overall simplicity, I have discovered that there is a beauty in highlighting one main ingredient or just a couple of ingredients that pair together in perfect harmony. When you try to make more out of less, something magical happens. Quality ingredients get to do what they do bestshine and complement one another as they were meant to. You really can get the most out of everyday cooking when recipes are simplified and pared down to only the most essential ingredients and preparations.

While there is certainly a time and place for more advanced techniques, or recipes with a long list of ingredients, there can be an elegance found in simplicity. As much as I love to spend hours wandering aisles in the grocery store or experimenting in my kitchen, busy everyday life does not always afford us that luxury. I truly believe that when cooking is as delicious as it is approachable, we are all more likely to incorporate it into our regular routines.

First and foremost, I adore quality ingredients that are sourced as close to my home as possible. If it is not growing in my backyard, I head to the farmers market to get as much as I can there, and later fill in any odds and ends at the grocery store. I am fortunate enough to live near year-round farmers markets, which is something I do not take for granted.