The Full Plate Blog: aiming for a month of dinners outside

Friday, August 10, 2012

aiming for a month of dinners outside

I think this is a family record: as of August 1, we have yet to have enjoyed a meal indoors. So fun eating breakfast outside in the light chill of mountain air, the sun beating on our backs at lunch somewhere out on a trail, and the mellow fresh air and tales of the day at dinner.

Children's dinner above: lamb, grass-fed beef & pistachio meatballs + Greek yogurt dip + roasted sweet potato + cucumber salad + organic strawberries

1 comment:

Michelle @ Eat Move BalanceAugust 10, 2012
I love eating al fresco!!! Yay!
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About Founder/Editor Eila DeBard Johnson

This blog has not been updated since 2015, but you are welcome to bookmark the recipes, so you can enjoy "bonus hours" with friends and family.

When I wrote this blog, I described myself as a happy, healthy mom of two young children, who has a knack for being able to whip up family-friendly, healthy meals with whatever I find in our fridge, freezer and pantry. In these years of motherhood, I have come to appreciate that there is so much intertwined in "being healthy" and feeling good as a mother, wife and friend. As a super busy mom who raising young children, juggled part-time work, volunteering, keeping the house in order, writing this blog and the elusive goal of “me” time, I understand the need for recipes to be simple.

While I’d love to claim that I cook everything from scratch, with only local ingredients, I don’t. One of my children is a vegetarian, the other is a self-proclaimed "meatatarian", so mealtimes are a constant juggling act around here. But, I do a swell job of getting healthful meals made quickly…that everyone around here enjoys. And if you open my freezer, chances are you'll find a bevy of homemade meals at the ready.

My love of cooking comes from an entire childhood spent in Southern California, where phenomenal produce was available (and offered up) year round... memories of homemade meals and family dinners throughout my upbringing... my incredible exchange student experience living on a farm in Austria in high school... and years of fine-tuning my cooking skills through numerous classes at The Institute for Culinary Education (then called Peter Kump's), private cooking lessons at night after my day job at an investment bank, and a Professional Certificate in Techniques of Healthy Cooking from The Culinary Institute of America. I have a BA from Colgate University and an MBA from Northwestern.

Before writing this blog, I ran a (wildly popular) Fairfield County, CT-based personal chef service; consulted on private label food products; and worked in new product development and brand management for a really big food company.

As my children got older, and I had the dinner gig down pat, I shifted my focus and expertise. You can find out more about what I am up to here.