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About Diana
As a child of an ARMY officer, I’ve lived all over the world and experienced a myriad of cultures. In the beginning of Middle School, we moved to Oahu, Hawaii and my heart was forever captured by the people, culture and food of the islands. Being a haole (white person) in Hawaii had its hard times, but for the most part I experienced the incredible acceptance and warmth of the locals, once you’re in you’re ohana (family) for life. I had many “aunties” who taught me all sorts of wonderful Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino and Kapakahi (all mixed up) dishes I could make.
When I was 18, my family moved to Washington State. I insisted I would NEVER live in Washington, and stubbornly stayed behind in my home, Hawaii. Over the next several years, I learned the true meaning of hardship; realizing you don’t have enough money for food and rent, living off a loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter for a month, even sleeping in my car or on the beach sometimes. I was prideful, and it was hard to admit when I was struggling. I remember a year that I lived completely off of the dollar menu at Jack in the Box. Money was so tight that I thought I couldn’t afford healthy food, and didn’t really have much of a kitchen to cook it in either. I eventually got tired of 99 cent chicken sandwiches and moved onto Ramen, but I discovered that using a 10 cent package of ramen, I could add vegetables, chicken or other things to make a meal that would feed me for days.
Suddenly my days of learning to cook with my mother started coming back to me and I became brave and daring, buying whatever was incredibly cheap at the grocery store, or using whatever random food items someone gave to me, and trying all sorts of combinations. I was stunned that using my little electric skillet or a microwave, I was able to spend the same amount I was spending on fast food, and eat a variety of meals that were made from fresh food which I knew was a lot better for my body.
At age 25, I moved to Washington (yes, I know, never say never!) and married the love of my life. Suddenly I had a husband to cook for and, oh what an adventure! I’m fortunate that Eric will eat anything (except olives) so I can experiment as much as I like in the kitchen. I began studying food and cooking and learning about nutrition, food production, and the grocery industry. I quickly realized that any packaged food you can buy is cheaper and healthier if you make it from scratch. As I continued my experimental cooking, Eric began saying, “I loved that dish, can you make it again?” and I realized I couldn’t. So I started posting recipes on my blog to help me keep track of what I make and be able to reference it to make something again. Both Eric and I work part time, which allows us to volunteer as teen recovery leaders, but keeps us on a VERY tight budget. I’ve become quite skilled at pinching every penny in buying and preparing food.
We live in a low income area, and have realized that a lot of people around us have the same mindset I used to have. It’s easy to think that cooking is too hard, or too expensive, but a lot of the cheap foods struggling families try to live off of are high in calories but not in nutrition. We are seeing such a high rate of childhood obesity and diabetes in our area that it really saddens us. My goal for this blog is to help people learn how to cook healthy meals that are affordable and easy to make. I’m excited to use my experiences to help others avoid some of the same nutritional mistakes I made, and learn that cooking isn’t as difficult as it may seem.
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