Over the last couple of years I've really taken to cooking and baking as a means to eat healthier. It's really shocking to see how many pre-made and packaged goods are laden with all sorts of chemicals, preservatives, and other unnecessary ingredients. Food marketers are leading us to believe their "diet" and "fat-free" products are healthy, when they really just strip out the healthful ingredients and replace them with chemical ones. We put so many questionable products into our bodies, yet we wonder why our society is struggling with so many illnesses at such alarming rates. I have seen first-hand how eating pure foods and exercising regularly can remarkably improve the health, energy, and happiness of someone recovering from chronic fatigue. It is truly amazing, but really, it is only natural. Anything that doesn't require a lot of chopping or touching raw meat. But I'm getting over that... slowly. I grew up on simple foods: meat, potatoes, garden vegetables, and basic salads. My mom would often make large batches of soups with leftover meats and although the ingredients were so simple, the soups always turned out so good! They were different each time because she didn't use any recipes and would toss in whatever was on hand. I haven't been able to make a soup anywhere near as tasty and comforting as my mom's homemade creations. I think the fact that I can actually cook something without ruining it now is a triumph. Up until I was 25, toasting bread was a triumph. I mistook salt for sugar when preparing a large batch of pancakes for a family breakfast. Of course, I didn't figure this out until after the pancakes were made. Yuck!