Carrie Oderman

I've been asked many times what my favorite thing to cook is and I draw a blank. Not because there is no answer but because I have so many favorites that I can't choose. I've thought about that very question many times and the only real answer is that it doesn't matter what I'm cooking as long as I can cook. When I can't cook I think about cooking writing down ideas for new dishes or things to bake.

Cooking has been my life since I was seven. I started making myself eggs by the time I was 12 I was making dinner and baking for my family on a regular basis. I grew up in a little town in New Mexico; where I found my love of cooking. When I'm cooking I get into this zone where everthing flows its peaceful and relaxing. Recently, I started eating a vegan diet and that changed the way I cook and of course what I cook. I went vegan for health reasons and have found that I don't miss meat or dairy products at all. I love it.

I have always leaned towards healthy food. I wasn't one of those kids who had to be bribed to eat their vegies. I would choose vegies over other choices. I always have looked for the healthest option among all the options. Don't get me wrong I eat junk food too and regret it later. But I savor every morsal even though I know I will regret it. But thats what guilty pleaures are those little things we enjoy even though we know we will regret it later. I love to make my gulity pleasures into no-so-gulity pleasures. My family and I have learned how to make the foods we love vegan, taking out the almost all the gulit.

What I want to do to is show people how to make their favorite foods healthy without sacrificing flavor. I spend my days thinking about new concoctions I can make and how to give the same old recipes a twist into a new dish. For me recipes are guidelines and can be changed, ingredients can be added or removed completely changing the dish. If I can succeed in changing how just one person looks at food and cooking then I really will have succeeded.