22Jun

Do you ask yourself – “What can I eat?” too many times a week because you or your family has a unique diet with multiple food allergies?

The Problem:

  • Multiple food allergies, celiac disease and many other digestive related illnesses are on the rise in both children and adults today.
  • Most prepared foods contain common allergens such as:  wheat, dairy, gluten, soy, eggs, corn, nuts, fish and other common allergens.
  • Prepared foods are usually processed and contain chemicals, pesticides and preservatives.

Therefore…

  • People on limited diets have a difficult time finding premade food they can enjoy.
  • People need to cook most or all of their meals because of their restricted diet.

But…

  • People don’t have time to plan a week’s worth of allergen-free meals.
  • Many people don’t know where to start with allergen-free cooking.
  • It’s easy to get in a cooking rut and get bored with your diet.

and…

  • Everybody’s diet is different:  while many people can’t eat gluten, many others have multiple foods restrictions.
  • Some people have children who have different food allergies, making it more difficult to plan meals.

A Solution:

  • Having an easy and delicious meal plan every week saves people time and money.  The question, “What can I cook?” is put to rest and people have less stress.
  • People start to feel healthier and happier when they follow a diet that works for their body.
  • Having an organized shopping list saves time and money.  People don’t impulse-buy as much because what they need is on the list.

But who has time to create an allergen-free or limited diet meal plan every week?

We do the work for you! By becoming a Heart of Cooking member:

  • You gain access to over 1000 allergen-free recipes for limited diets.
  • You gain access to menu planners for many different diets and limitations.
  • You receive a new menu planner each week in your inbox.
  • You receive an easy to read and organized shopping list for each menu planner.

Get instant access

100% Guarantee! Be satisfied with delicious, healthy, and allergen-free recipes or receive a full refund within the first 30 days!

Try out a menu planner that works for your specific diet:

Get your free menu planner

Ready to eat delicious food?  We put the “yum” back into allergen-free meals!

Still unsure? Find out more about How This Works.

Looking for someone to do all the work? I also offer Personal Chef Services for people with food allergies and food limitations in Baltimore, Maryland and surrounding areas.

Consultations available for people who may have specific questions about different allergen-free diets and help them find recipes they will love.  I offer 20 minutes FREE!

What is the HeART of Cooking?
HeART of Cooking was born out of the desire to serve people by helping them cook healthful and delicious meals that also work for their diet.  I have personally spent the past 12+ years researching, learning about and experimenting with different diets out of my own desire to have a healthy body.  Because of my own food sensitivities, I specialize in cooking for many different diets.  Because I love to cook, preparing a meal is like creating a piece of art that will nourish the body as well as the heart.

If you want to prepare delicious food for your family that is free of common allergens, but don’t have time to plan new meals each week, you’ve come to the right place. Envision yourself coming home to a table spread with food that is delicious as well as catered to your needs.

06Jul

Vegan personal chef meals + Celebrating 13 years in business!

Beets, papaya, raspberries, sprouts, celery and field greens with lemon tahini dressing. YUM!

I never would have imagined that when I began cooking for people at a retreat farm in Pennsylvania 14 years ago that I would end up starting my own personal chef business and cooking for families for the next 13 years. While there have been ups and downs in my business, I’m happy to say it’s been a great run! And I’m still here, cooking for people locally in Baltimore, Owings Mills and as far as Washington DC as a personal chef. Over the years I have made a lot of different kinds of dishes and I’ve learned something new each time I’ve been asked to branch out of my comfort zone. I’m a self-taught chef after all and in my perspective, trying new things always makes life more interesting!

I think it’s true, however, that every chef has a favorite kind of food to make. I get asked this often and sometimes I don’t know what to say; my food preferences have changed dramatically over the years and I also enjoy making a lot different kinds of food. Over the past year though, I’ve begun to realize that my favorite kinds of food to make are vegan plant-based meals. I have always loved making creative vegan dishes out of vegetables and legumes, and dairy alternatives using nuts and seeds. These things usually take more time because there is more chopping and prep involved but I love doing it.

About a year and a half ago I started following the Medical Medium protocol, which is a plant-based healing diet that is mostly vegan. This was a huge change for me after following various meat-based, starch-free vegetable and fruit –free diets over the years in hopes they would help heal my digestive and other physical issues.  I never thought I would be vegan (I honestly didn’t think I would survive without meat protein) however, it was clear to me that something needed to change because I no longer had a real appetite for food.

The Medical Medium protocol is not so strict that you can’t eat meat on occasion, but over the many months of eating mostly fruits and vegetables, I simply have lost my desire to eat it. I am enjoying some fish every now and then so I can’t say I’m a complete vegan (plus I love honey!)  But other than that, I haven’t eaten meat for quite a while.  So while I still prepare meals containing meat for personal chef clients and my son, I have to be honest that I am less thrilled about making it now that I’ve begun a love affair with vegan plant-based and often raw meals.

I once thought that eating too many raw veggies would give me digestive problems and eating too many fruits (or any fruit for that matter) would raise my blood sugar and cause havoc in my body.  But the opposite has proven to be true. My digestion continues to heal and my blood sugar is more stable than it’s been in years.  I still need to eat regularly but I can now go on an errand without feeling like I need to bring something to eat in case I have a blood sugar crash.

My healing has not only occurred on the physical level; I have also found that my anxiety and PTSD issues have also drastically improved as well as my sleep (insomnia has not been my friend for many years). Because of the shifts in my health, I now have a sense of freedom in my life that I simply didn’t feel before, and it’s only getting better!

So while I still prepare meals containing meat for personal chef clients and my son, I have to be honest that I am less thrilled about making it now that I’ve begun a love affair with vegan plant-based and often raw meals. I once thought that eating too many raw veggies would give me digestive problems and eating too many fruits (or any fruit for that matter) would raise my blood sugar and cause havoc in my body.  

But the opposite has proven to be true. My digestion continues to heal and my blood sugar is more stable than it’s been in years.  I still need to eat regularly but I can now go on an errand without feeling like I need to bring something to eat in case I have a blood sugar crash.

My healing has not only occurred on the physical level; I have also found that my anxiety and PTSD issues have also drastically improved as well as my sleep (insomnia has not been my friend for many years). Because of the shifts in my health, I now have a sense of freedom in my life that I simply didn’t feel before, and it’s only getting better!

I know that the kind of diet I follow is not for everyone. And I am leaving out a big part of the diet which includes drinking celery juice every morning and taking specific herbs and supplements to aid the body in healing. Even if it’s not for everyone, I know it has helped and healed countless people. And I also believe that people are missing out on many of the amazing healing qualities of fruit because it has become trendy in the diet world to think that it causes inflammation, blood sugar imbalances and other physical issues.

As a personal chef who loves making vegan food and plant-based meals, I am not necessarily in the position to recommend diets to my clients because I am not a nutritionist. I also want to respect their right to follow the kind of diet that works for them.  At the same time, I want to begin to gear my business towards working with clients who want to eat plant-based and vegan personal chef meals because that is where my heart is right now.

Thirteen years ago I came up with the name “Heart of Cooking” for my business for a reason: I loved cooking and preparing meals for people, and I believed that when I stayed with my intention “to bring joy, creativity and inspiration and love to what I do,” my clients would feel these qualities in the food they enjoy.

I want to continue to carry on this intention by cooking and preparing more meals that make me happy: plant-based, vegetarian or vegan dishes. For, I truly believe that when we are in line with our heart’s truth and desires, our lives can transform in ways we didn’t expect.

Are you thinking about having a personal chef cook for you?
In celebration of my 13th anniversary as a personal chef, I’m offering $25 off your first cook day. Simply mention this blog post when you contact me.

I hope you have a wonderful day!


20Mar

What you can eat when you have soy allergies or soy intolerance

Homemade Dairy and Soy-free Cheese

Update March 2018: This post was originally created in 2009. A lot has changed in nine years and there are so many more soy-free products available on the market. So I’m updating the post to include some of the new choices for people who avoid soy products.

Soy is one of the top eight most common food allergens.  Yet, soy products can be found in many foods in restaurants, fast food, manufactured breads, cereals, mayonnaise, salad dressings, in non-dairy milk products and many other foods.

Continue Reading »

01Mar

Plant-based Meals, Fruit and Veggie Salads and Homemade Lemon Tahini Salad Dressing

Something somewhat miraculous has happened in my life. After avoiding almost all fruit for two years and starchy and sweet veggies for over nine years, I am eating them again. My food choices had become increasing grim and unappetizing last year where I found myself eating the same limited foods each week: salmon, chicken, turkey, some beef, non-starchy veggies including spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, etc, some cheese, eggs, coconut, nuts, chia seeds…not sure what else. I basically was bored with food and tired of eating because life in the land of food had become so pathetically unpleasing to the eye as well as the palette.

How I started this journey ten years ago when I embarked upon the GAPS diet and how I ended up where I am today eating a (mostly) plant-based diet is quite a long story and I’m still working on writing about about this journey. So in the meantime, I will share what is nourishing and filling me up these days.

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20Feb

A photo story of personal chef services in Baltimore, Maryland

personal chef Baltimore MD

A sign out front of the Common Market in Frederick, MD.

Until you’ve had someone cook for you as a personal chef, it can be hard to imagine just what it’s like and how the process works. When I tell people I am a personal chef in Baltimore, Maryland, they often say, “Oh! I need you to come cook for me!” They aren’t usually serious but who doesn’t want meals made specifically to their tastes? Their next question is usually about how it all works.

It’s really not that complicated, though it can be if someone has a lot of food restrictions. I usually work with people with some kind of allergy or restriction, however I also work with plenty of people who simply want to eat more healthily.

After we’ve conducted the client consultation over the phone where I have asked plenty of questions in order to create a menu based on the client’s likes and dislikes, we schedule a day for me to come to their home a do a “cook day.” You can read more about the specific ins and outs of how my services work on my Personal Chef Services page, but in this post I really wanted to SHOW you what it’s like!

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01May

What is it like to have a personal chef when you have food limitations?

Four Bunches of Rainbow Swiss Chard Stems at a Farmer's Market with $2.00 Price Tag --- Image by © Foodcollection/the food passionates/Corbis

The other day I was spotted by a cashier at the Mt. Washington Whole Foods in Baltimore, MD. He said, “You’re a personal chef, aren’t you?” I was a little giddy to be singled out because I don’t think this has happened before in the eleven years I’ve been cooking for people. So I said, “Yes, how could you tell?” He then named a few things that made me stand out: I had two separate food orders, I had a detailed printed grocery list, I brought my own shopping bags and I asked to keep the receipt. Why two orders? I almost always buy some food for my family while I’m shopping for clients!

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24Jul

How to make dried watermelon

dried watermelon

The idea to make dried watermelon came to me through a friend. Watermelon isn’t something you normally see in the dried fruit section in stores. But it tastes great dried and is great for traveling. My son loves it!

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06Jul

How to Meal Plan for a very limited Grain-free, Dairy-free, Soy-free and Egg-free diet

I receive a lot of emails from people who have found my site and are looking for ideas for their very limited diet.  Some of these people are at a complete loss as to what to eat because their diet is so limited.  I received one of these emails from someone last week inquiring about a diet for her daughter.

Here was her list of foods that her daughter was told to avoid:

gluten (wheat, barley, oats, spelt, kamut, tricale, and all products containing gluten such as soy sauce, etc)
grain (includes rice, millet, teff, and other gluten-free grains)
dairy
egg
soy
corn
banana
kiwi

This is a similar list to many of the people who come to me.  There are definite variations and more limited diets like those without any meat or fish, legumes, nuts, all fruit, etc.  But I thought I’d start with this diet to give you some ideas on where to start.

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08Mar

Artichoke Pesto Recipe (dairy and nut-free)

Being a personal chef who specializes in cooking for people on limited diets, I am always meeting people who follow different kinds of limited diets. I’m different from most personal chefs who have set menu items. Instead, I work with my clients personally on the diet they follow and with their dietary restrictions. Because of this I’m always learning something new. My latest new client has been given a protocol to follow to help heal her Lyme’s disease. And she gave me the book that her doctor recommended, Recipes for Repair by Gail and Laura Piazza. I’ve been trying some of the recipes and they are really delicious.

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23Jan

Paleo Egg-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

What does one do when stuck inside during a blizzard? Make cookies of course. And if you live in the mid-Atlantic region of the country, you know what I’m talking about. I’m just hoping I can go to work sometime next week. If not, I guess I’ll just make more cookies:) I hope that if you’re also in the middle of the storm, you are home safe and cozy with heat and a batch of fresh baked cookies yourself.

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