About - Into the Dish

Welcome to Into the Dish! If you are a passionate foodie struggling to balance your love of cooking with the wants and needs of an active (and potentially not as food adventurous) young family, then this is the place for you! In this site you will find great recipes, tips, and inspiration to help re-ignite your passion in the kitchen, fickle family and all.

ABOUT ME

Born and raised in Canada, I’m a Westcoast girl to the core. My background is in sales and marketing in the Tourism Industry. I’ve been fortunate to work for some great companies such as Westin Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Whistler Blackcomb and some other leaders in the industry, however my passion lies in the kitchen. I live in Vancouver, BC with my husband and two kids – daughter (10) and son (8) when I started the site in 2016. My husband is a great eater – as long as it doesn’t have mango (allergy – so sad!) or too much parsley, he’s pretty much game for anything. My kids are also pretty good eaters, however I think that they secretly wish I would make them frozen chicken nuggets and grilled cheese sandwiches more often!

MY HOBBY

Cooking is officially my “hobby”, and the day I realized that constantly preparing meals for your family was NOT the same thing as cooking for a hobby, things got fun.

hob·by
ˈhäbē/
noun

an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.

A hobby is something that needs to be nurtured. You have to create time for it. You have to prioritize it and incorporate it into your busy life. Cooking as a hobby is no different than photography, gardening or even skiing. If it feeds your soul, you need to embrace it and make time for it. Once I started doing that, I actually found that I enjoyed the day to day family cooking even more. Over the years I’ve developed some tricks and tactics to balance my hobby with my family’s requirements. Connect with me on Facebook or Instagram for ideas and inspiration, or better yet, let’s inspire each other. Because let’s be honest…

COOKING FOR KIDS CAN SUCK THE LIFE OUT OF YOU!

I love cooking for my family, but honestly, it can be challenging sometimes. When the kids were really young, it was easier to make a meal for my husband and me, and then just put a kid plate together for the littles. Little bits of what we were having plus some cut up apple, maybe a few carrots and yogurt. Perfect dinner! These days, my growing kids are starting to eat me out of house and home. I refuse to make separate meals so everything I make has to satisfy all four of us.

My tactic is to cook what inspires me, while making a few modifications or substitutions to respect my kids’ developing and ever changing palates and food personalities.

For example, son (8) no longer likes rice. Excellent. Thanks for the advance notice! But he’ll still enjoy my fish and vegetable red curry, believe it or not, but maybe with a bun to soak up the sauce instead of the rice. My daughter (10) has suddenly sworn off of all things pig. I get it. I remember being a young girl coming to the realization that my meat doesn’t just come from the grocery store. It’s a tough thing to come to terms with. But she will one day, and whether or not pork re-enters her food repertoire is up to her. So when I make my amazing pork tenderloin with peanut sauce, she’ll enjoy the rest of the dish with a scoop of canned chick peas on the side. Protein dilemma and food battle averted.

Keep an eye out on my posts for “Fickle Family Tips” – little time saving and battle avoiding tips that will help you get your food on the table with maximum enjoyment and minimal fussing. Don’t know what a Fickle Family is? You will find the definition in my Welcome to Into the Dish post.

MY EXPERIENCE

I have been obsessed with all things food ever since I can remember. In 2016, I decided to broaden my knowledge and step up my skills in the kitchen by completing a Culinary Master Camp at the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver. The course was a game changer for me. Not only did it enhance my passion for cooking, it really helped build my confidence and creativity in the kitchen, learning where I could substitute and where it’s best to leave a recipe alone. I learned some great skills and new dishes, and have been a crazy woman in the kitchen ever since. And mostly my kids like it. I think…..

SO WHAT ABOUT THESE RECIPES?

I am very grateful for all of the visual inspiration that I see online every day. We are absolutely flooded with recipes, inspiration and food porn every day… finding a recipe is certainly not a challenge. What is a challenge is being able to identify what is a GOOD recipe.

How many times have you been lured in by something online, only to make it and find it to be quite Meh? It is so disappointing! We all should have friends, cookbooks and sites that are flagged as our “go to” for soliciting good recipes – you can no longer rely on a simple Google or Pinterest search. There is just too much out there. Know who you are learning from. Bookmark this site as one you can trust. Here you are going to find quality over quantity. Recipes on this site aren’t created on a whim. Ok, maybe they will be but I’ll make that super clear! Mostly though they have been sourced or developed carefully, and they have been made again and again. Like this chocolate cake. Give it a try – it’s good. Really good. Trust me.