It’s said that life is more about the journey than the destination . . . Now don’t roll your eyes just yet – I know I’ve been in California for a few weeks but this statement is one I’ve been clinging to for a while. If I’m honest there’s been a lot of soul-searching over the past two years considering a wedding, significant career changes and a move that saw us leave our home of seven years to try to find our place in a city on the other side of the world. During this slightly tumultuous time I’ve been hanging my hat on this “journey/destination” talk; in fact, it’s helped form the inspiration to write my latest cookbook. With all this back-and-forth, it has meant my cooking style has changed somewhat. There’s been a need for fast-cooking meals, instant nourishment and recipes that strike that fine line between eating well and providing indulgent satisfaction. Despite the ongoing debate between the healthy eating army and the butter brigade, when it comes down to it, I believe that balance in our cooking and eating is what we should really be striving for.
Eat.Live.Go is appropriately titled in that it sums up the cooking and eating I've been doing during this time. The chapters are filled with hearty home cooking recipes sprinkled with quick-fix meals and desserts to satisfy a sweet tooth. A collection of lighter meals, heavy on the vegetables to satisfy the inner green juicing yogi, and the best street eats and foreign feasts to make at home from my food travels to over 20 countries.
The hope of any cookbook author is that their collection of recipes will be well used and I hope in finding my balance with food I can inspire you to find what works for you. To do that the book aims to arm you with an arsenal of recipes that take inspiration from cuisines across the world, covering healthy dinners and quick food fixes to leisurely meals to enjoy around the table. I’m excited to share these three recipes as a taster from the book which demonstrate the idea of striking that balance with our cooking: a simple-to-make chicken dinner, a light but hearty autumn stew beaming with sunshine, and a sweet and shareable banana bread loaf. The journey’s looking pretty good so far!
