About

Leni Reed Nazare

Hello and welcome to my blog! I am happy you landed here! My goal is to introduce you to new foods and simple recipes that inspire you to make your food life more healthy and delicious, while minimizing the time and effort you put into food prep.

I have always loved food and eating! To me supermarkets are museums, menus are manifestos, and cooking is where my creativity thrives. I love to experiment in the kitchen! So I’m constantly making and sharing food with my family, friends, neighbors and the local shelter. All told, I have cooked for 50+ years for myself, my family and others, including a brief stint as a private “chef” for a very wealthy family.

I am a nutritionist with a masters degree in public health nutrition (MPH) from the U of Michigan (1973). I worked as a registered dietitian for about 25 years, until the late-1990s. During that time, I was a faculty member teaching clinical dietetics at the University of Texas South Western Medical Center (Dallas) and the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center (Oklahoma City).

Later I was an entrepreneur who gave Supermarket Savvy supermarket tours to the public. These tours were also recorded (in VHS) by a professional producer and he sold them to drug companies who distributed them to doctors to educate their patients about eating for better health.

In addition, over many years, I wrote a nutrition column for Shape magazine, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Dallas Morning News. I also taught cooking classes and was one of the co-authors of the recipes for the first edition (1989) of the American Heart Association Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook. (That was a long time ago when we used to think a low-fat diet was ideal…)

Today, I follow the basic principles of the MIND Diet (which is a combination of the Mediterranean Diet and the DASH Diet) and the Portfolio Diet. Research has shown that the MIND Diet helps to prevent mental decline and the Portfolio Diet helps to lower blood cholesterol and LDL. So on this blog, you’ll find suggestions for including an abundance of vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes (lentils and beans), nuts and seeds into your meals. But this is not a vegan blog. Here you will also find inspiration for cooking with fish, chicken, beef, pork and dairy, in small quantities.

With food (as in life), I try to be flexible. A tiny bit of sugar? It won’t kill you! But a lot of sugar or maple syrup? No way! A little coconut milk or butter (high in saturated fat)? OK! A full can of coconut milk? No thanks! A small portion of red meat to flavor a dish? Great! But a large  portion of red meat? No! So I’m not a purist. I’m more of a realist, and you’ll see this attitude reflected in the pages of this blog.

Starting now, January 2024, when I write a blog post, I like challenge myself to write for people who “mostly don’t cook,” and today that’s a lot of people. My goal is to offer suggestions that will tempt those who don’t cook to do some simple food prep in their own kitchens. If I can do that, then I know I can also help those of you who like to cook, too!

No matter whether you “don’t cook” or are a cooking fanatic like me, I am so glad you are here! Welcome, and let’s get started! The gifts of nature are awaiting!

~Leni