Kelly Lenihan

We read a lot about intuitive eating, but just as important, and the first step in the process, is intuitive cooking.

Cooking by availability and intuition – shopping the market, choosing produce that looks fresh and appealing, and then combining it with ingredients on hand, according to taste and personal preference – is perhaps the oldest and most authentic way to prepare food. Our grandmothers cooked this way, without recipes or elaborate meal planning. They simply gathered vegetables from their garden, combined them with ingredients on hand, adding a pinch of this and a dash of that until it tasted good, making meal preparation less laborious and a lot more fun!

Cooking Intuitively is a culinary exploration chronicling a year-round feast of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Sprinkled with multicultural food lore and interesting side notes, the recipes are simple, encouraging experimentation and innovation with a focus on seasonal, organic, and local ingredients, as well as some ethnic and exotic ingredients that are more readily available – creating dishes that not only entice all the senses but also provide a vicarious international experience.

With an emphasis on eating simply, a diversity of foods, we not only practice cooking; we make cooking a practice that benefits not only what is on our plates and in our bellies but what is in our hearts.