Let me introduce myself

Update February 2020: I’m so amazed and excited to be able to say that as a direct result of having this blog and then creating my sourdough site, I now have my first ever book coming out in September 2020. I’m amazed, and grateful, and so very excited. Thank you to everyone who has ever commented and liked my posts, thank you for your wonderful support xx

Update January 2019: as a direct result of this blog I have now created a whole new website and a whole new world…foodbod sourdough shares everything I have learned about sourdough, hints, tips, my master recipe & process, plus lots of other recipes using sourdough starter. This blog will continue too, albeit that I might not be posting as regularly as I used too..

Update January 2016: I wrote the introduction below when I first started my blog in October 2013; everything that I wrote still stands, and I am now cooking more than ever, I appear to have discovered a fearlessness in the kitchen that I never knew I had and I love it! I love playing and creating, and sharing it all with my lovely blog family and readers. The most amazing thing about having this blog, and so completely unexpected, is that I have met a whole new world of wonderful people, made some truly special friends and learnt endless things, and cooked many many new dishes from many different parts of the world, all from starting this blog.

I have now definitely found a really strong path for my food and recipes, so you will find a huge collection of vegetable based recipes, lots to satisfy vegetarian and vegan diets, lots of ideas for side dishes or light lunches, plus lots of healthy dishes, lots of gluten free options, sugar free options and dairy free options. You will also find lots of Eastern influences, lots of great spices, lots of focus on flavour and goodness.

I hope you like it 🙂

Original intro: I was introduced to the word ‘balaboosta’ recently, which means ‘the perfect housewife’ in Yiddish, someone who loves to feed and nurture her family. So, I’ve decided, that when people ask me what I do, that will be my answer, rather than saying I’m at home full time or that I’m a Mum, as some people seem to struggle with how to respond to that answer! I am a balaboosta and proud of it.

In April 2012 my beautiful best friend died of a vicious, rare cancer, aged only 43 and leaving four year old twin boys without their Mum. It was the most heart breaking experience of my entire life and lead me to look at my priorities.

All Caroline ever wanted to be was a Mum and I decided that I would do what she now couldn’t, and concentrate solely on my family. I’m so lucky that it works for my family, I know not everyone is as lucky.

So, as of the start of 2013, I am a full time Mum and wife and I am so lucky that I am able to spend lots of time cooking and baking and creating and trying out new foods and recipes and my son and husband are loving it!

I had always been interested in cooking but in previous years, hadn’t had the time or inclination to get truly involved with making everything from scratch and spending hours in the kitchen – when my son was a baby I used to make everything from scratch for him but then life got busy with work and being a Mum and things changed – but now I did have time and lots of inclination, so I started reading recipes and stocking up on ingredients and haven’t stopped cooking since!

I used to live in the Middle East and have always said that my favourite food was Lebanese food and that my last meal would be a Lebanese mezze, and now realising that any day could be your last day, why not eat Lebanese food everyday?? So that’s where I started perfecting my own homous and baba ganoush and shish taouk for my boys, all the things we love to eat every time we visit the UAE.

And I haven’t just stuck to Lebanese dishes, although they are probably may favourite collection of flavours, I cook a lot of other Middle Eastern dishes, as well as Indian, Mexican, Spanish, Italian and lots of others.

I am vegetarian and I prefer healthy choices, enjoying food full of goodness and fresh ingredients; I like to eat foods that I know are doing me good and looking after my body and mind, so my blog includes a variety of recipes, including vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, sugar free, gluten free, fat free, super healthy, happy food; I also cook non vegetarian, more typical dishes for my family, so will be posting a quite mix of recipes on here!

I hope you enjoy my blog
Elaine x

Email: foodbodATicloudDOTcom