My passion for food and nutrition began as a teenager. One of my first jobs was at a fitness club where a registered dietitian was on staff for nutrition education and food advice. That’s where I began to make the connection between body and health.

When I went off to college to study nutrition, my emphasis was primarily in clinical nutrition. This focus took me down the path of hospital and nursing home work opportunities. At a health fair in the hospital is where I conducted my first cooking demonstration and I really found my niche.

I began cooking classes as a way to bridge the gap between nutrition education and eating healthy. Having clients cook and taste food was significantly more effective than providing nutrition handouts in the hospital. I then took the step into the local food scene by getting involved in my communities farmers’ market. Seasonal, local and farm fresh products easily connected to healthy and good tasting food. At the market is where I really began writing recipes for the bounty of produce and published a small farmers’ market recipe collection.

As the local food scene jumped into popularity, a food magazine called edibleWOW emerged in Metro Detroit. I became the food and recipe editor and became fully immersed into Southeast Michigan’s growing local food movement.

Today, I continue to explore and celebrate all that is Michigan food and develop, test and edit recipes for magazines and on my self-published blog http://www.michiganfoodfinds.com.