I am a Holistic Nutrition and Health Counselorwho is completely terrified of the kitchen!

Okay, “terrified” is a bit extreme….perhaps I could go with intimidated. Yep, that’s about right. I’m intimidated by the kitchen. And even more intimidated by the thought of cooking in it!

I mean, there’s so much planning, shopping, prepping, soaking, sprouting, pulsing, pureeing, and steaming to do when cooking…how do my clients do it?!

The real question, you may ask, is how I can ask my clients to get in the kitchen and cook, when I can’t bring myself to do it? Yeah…that would be the real question…

And that question haunted me after my interview with Holistic Health Counselor Andrea Beaman the other day for my upcoming Ebook. She was talking about the cooking classes she teaches, and the importance of getting in the kitchen, rolling up your sleeves, and creating beautiful food for you, for your friends and for your family.

I hung up the phone after that interview, and couldn’t get her words out of my mind. Now, I had gotten around the health-counselor-that-can’t-cook issue by co-teaching a cooking class series with a bona-fide chef, Bonny Giardina at Hipcookshere in Los Angeles. I’ve been watching her make delicious, whole food, gluten-free recipes for months now. And with Andrea Beaman’s “get your butt in the kitchen!” message ringing in my ears, I decided to break through my kitchen fear and make an entire three-course meal for my appreciative (and very tactfully so - thank you, Eric!) boyfriend.

I rocked out a Roasted Butternut Squash soup, a Zucchini Mint Quinoa Salad, and a gluten-free Orange Almond Cake that was so beautiful it took my breath away. Now, I’m not going totally June Cleaver on myself, but surprisingly….I can’t wait to get in the kitchen again!