Hi. Let me tell you a little bit about Recipe Idea Shop. It’s Lois in the kitchen. My husband Don and I are both creative cooks and we love to share our recipes.
Lois & Don Crawford
All photos of Lois & Don courtesy of Swartz Photography, Harrisonburg, VA
Greetings From Don & Lois
Thanks for visiting Recipe Idea Shop, our website where you can find comfort food recipes with a healthy twist. Don and I developed the website because we love the whole process of creating meals and sharing them, and as we get older, we are trying to eat more healthfully.
I start with a recipe, but I seldom follow it exactly. Don is better at following recipes step by step; he’s an engineer so he thinks logically. He’s also much better at presentation than I am.
I’m a creative type so I have a hard time following things in the step-by-step manner. I learned to cook by watching my mom. She was a natural cook (not a good teacher, but a good cook), and I guess I am, too. I can generally tell from the ingredients if a recipe is going to taste good, and I can often tell what spices are in the foods we eat at restaurants.
Food Sensitivities
Lately, we seldom eat in restaurants because I have developed food sensitivities that make eating out difficult. Gluten seems to be the biggest culprit—although I’m not celiac—but I also have trouble with commercial milk products. I stick with A2 milk and goat’s milk or sheep’s milk products to prevent severe joint pain. So…we are cooking more gluten-free and dairy-free recipes, and I am busy converting all my cookies and cakes to gluten-free. Baking gluten free is quite a challenge. Getting the texture right is hard, but when I get it right, I share the recipe and tips on how to do it.
Nutrition Labels Included
Don and I initially created our website to save the recipes and stories for ourselves and our family, but our friends have enjoyed them too. We have also tried to update some of our family recipes that had processed food and tons of fat in an attempt to retain the flavor while improving the nutrition. This is an ongoing process. Each recipe has a nutrition label, which I personally find very enlightening because I have found that although I thought I was eating a healthy diet, I am not.
If you have a favorite recipe you want us to test, modify and post, send us a message and we will give it a try.
We hope you enjoy our recipes!
~Lois
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