I'm 39, single and cooking is my main passion! I'm a trained professional baker/pastry chef currently taking online college courses to become a licensed nutritionist/food counselor. I want to help others to cook and eat healthier, and do it in a way that isn't boring, expensive or impossible to buy(or grow), prepare and enjoy healthy nutritious food. To me, there are no "bad foods", and yes, that includes hamburgers, pizza and ice cream! It's all in the way it's made, not the food itself. It's possible to enjoy all those, not feel deprived and still be healthy. I love to cook foods in the "Mediterranean style", Southern, Latin food(Caribbean Spanish, Mexican and South American), Brazilian. I also love cooking Asian style stir fry. The roots of my family are Southern and Northeastern, so I end up doing the desserts from both places(sweet potato pie, peach cobbler, apple pie, pound cakes), and I sneak in the healthy stuff where I can (whole wheat flour, use less sugar, half and half mixed with skim milk, raw sugar instead of white). I also do diabetic desserts and vegan ones too, as well as dishes suitable for both vegans and diabetics. Unfortunately, I have several family members who are diabetic, so I've developed versions of things they love to eat and not feel deprived. I knew I "made it" when I gave my dad a taste of pound cake that used 1% milk, whole wheat flour, and a butter baking blend, and less sugar and he couldn't tell the difference between that and my "normal" pound cake! Too hilarious! I was 9 or 10 years old, and tried to make scratch brownies at home when my mom was out food shopping and I didn't want to go with her. They came out burnt, hard, thin and dry, like a salty chocolate cracker! My mom bought me a box of brownie mix, and suggested I practice with this until I knew what I was doing. A baker was born