Hiya!
The Inspiration
Dorcas and Randy Wood here and we are the Feel Good Food Blog team. What a pleasure it is to have you at the Feel Good Food Blog. You see this picture? This was taken during a monumental point in my life- I had just turned 40…..ok, this is where you say, “40? Oh my gosh, you look so young! So thank you- in advance! Hubby and I flew to LA for my birthday and took that pic at the Santa Monica Pier. It was during that trip that I realized I was meant to do something with my:
Passion for Food
Love of Writing
Gift for Teaching
It was a major breakthrough for me because I couldn’t see it before- there was some sort of mental block. Have you ever been there? So that year I wrote a book to help others breakthrough their mental hurdles and realize their passions in life too: The Little Book of Breakthrough: Breakthrough Thoughts for Manifesting Your Heaven on Earth AND then a few months later I bought a food truck!! Peace of Pie Café. The food truck would feature all of the foods I love and be a bit of a sweet-savory mix. Fresh scratch-made, comfort food from different cultures: Puerto Rico, Indian, Mexican, Cuban and good ol’ Southern Soul food. This food concept plus freshly-churned ice creams and fresh-baked goodies- yep it was perfect!
that year I wrote a book…and bought a food truck!
I discovered food blogging as I was developing my food truck menu, testing the recipes, styling and taking pictures of the food. It was the perfect vehicle to combine all the things I love and generate some start-up money for the food truck biz.
At Feel Good Food Blog you will find:
- Feel-Good Food: Let me just say this: I am 100% positive God was thinking of me when He invented garlic and cilantro 🙂 On my blog, you’ll find food that is rich, absolutely flavorful, fresh, comfort food like my Creamy Cilantro Garlic Chicken. It can be comfort food from different cultures like my Pumpkin Lentil Soup – Dal Fry, some of my family’s favorites like Coquito Ice Cream, dishes that I’ve eaten at a restaurant and am replicating or ones that we grew up enjoying as children like Sancocho , even Vegan Feel Good Food.
- Shortcuts: Get on the fast-track to starting your own blog with my How to Start a Blog page. Why do you have to take the long road when I can show you what I did to get started.
- Ways to Improve: Take advantage of the training, tips, tutorials and techniques all proven by me. Ways to do things better, faster, smarter.
- Gadget Recommendations: Review recommended gadgets and tools to make cooking easier and help your kitchen run more efficiently
- Always a Good Vibe: Find inspiration to chase away the cooking hum-drums and a little funny to give you a feel good.
My Family
This blog could not have been possible without my husband and children’s support. They keep me going and help me to see me for who I really am. I am blessed to be surrounded by people that encourage me to follow my dreams and are a positive force in my life.
That’s me with my boys (Julian on the left and Jordan to the right and Randy behind the camera). This was the game where University of Miami literally decimated Duke by more than 20 pts- one of the biggest upsets in Division 1 bball history. Jordan wasn’t too happy about that..lol
Randy’s got a great way of seeing food, having come from a Venezuelan/Ecuadorian background and we’ve collaborated on many occasions- me cooking and Randy eating. We love the same kinds of foods and are always down for new foodie experiences. The first year we dated we decided to try different restaurants from a different country every time we went out for dinner. It was awesome because we literally went around the world in food! Yeah, except we picked up like 25 pounds- no bueno..lol..so we had to moderate that fer sure. My hubby is notorious for eating anything I cook without even asking what it is. Blind food faith I call it..lol Sometimes dinner time goes like this:
Me: Babe, dinner’s ready!
Randy: Ok, I’ll be right there. (5 minutes later he sits down at the dinner table with us). Picks up his fork, looks down at his plate and starts eating as I am watching him.
Me: So?
Randy: It’s good (nodding his head) and stuffing his mouth still looking down at his plate.
Me: You don’t even know what it is.
Randy: Stops chewing..What is it?
Me: I don’t know, what is it?
Randy: Well, I taste some kind of meat, apples and some kind of nut and some kind of lettuce. It’s good though. (keeps eating)
He’s the best guinea pig ever..xxOOxOOXX
As a family we love to:
- take walks around the lake near our home
- go bike-riding
- play basketball
- go to the movies (sometimes up to 3 per month!)
- hit up food truck events in South Florida
- watch the Miami Heat play (Go Heat!)
- joke around way too much
- spend time at the beach
- go thrift store shopping
- visit Mickey and Minnie in Orlando
- check each other when we get too complainy
- have long talks about how grateful we are and how good God’s Grace is
- lift each other up when we need it
Daily Inspired Feel Good Cooking
Do you ever feel like you have NO idea what to cook for dinner? Do you almost dread how boring dinner time can be sometimes? That was me at one time in my life and it wasn’t a good place to be. Dreading anything is not healthy and can even creep into other areas of your life. I decided I wanted dinner time to be special and I didn’t want to keep cooking boring dishes. So instead of dreading the dinner time blues, I started asking myself, “What can I make that my family will love?”
That began a new journey in cooking. I began experimenting with different spices, upgrading my usual chicken dishes, integrating a variety of vegetable sides to our dinnertime meals and even cooking Vegan for 21 days.
I began planning my meals and really taking the time to make dinnertime an exciting and memorable time for my family by finding an inspiration for every meal whether it’s something I ate on a vacation or something I saw on the Food Network, Pinterest or from some of my favorite food bloggers or even something I’m craving. Sometimes my hubby or boys will ask for something in particular and I’ll make it but modify the original recipe a bit for variety. I no longer wait until Thanksgiving to become adventurous and try some new recipe. Read more about that here at my Pumpkin Banana Mousse Parfaits post which is by far my most popular post.
If you haven’t already guessed, I love to cook – a lot…and by that I also mean a lot of different dishes which is probably why my two boys, Julian and Jordan are total foodies and really help to inspire me to keep creating new and delicious recipes that are flavorful and multidimensional. I love that they’ll try just about any food I make, usually without even knowing what it is! Everyday, I can expect, “What’s for dinner Mom?”. So I make sure they are always happy with my food. Now if I could only get them to tell the difference between chicken and pork! Gosh!
Most of my dishes were created to make the 20-something days per month I cook exciting. So you’ll see an eclectic fusion of Puerto Rican- style, Middle Eastern, French, South American and Caribbean dishes plus a fair share of sweets. We absolutely love ice cream and always have a fridge full of it so you’ll see a lot of freshly-churned ice cream recipes like my favorite Chocolate Monkey Ice Cream made with bananas and chocolate. Oh, about bananas- I am nuts about bananas and always find a way to add it to some lonely, neglected dessert recipe to make it sexy whether it’s cookies, ice cream, cakes or pastries. I am a self-professed binge baker. At times I can be found baking to the wee hours of the morning as a way to relax and unwind.
Food and Childhood
My earliest memory was a food memory. I was laying in my bed as a toddler and I realized the chocolate milk in my bottle had finished. Then I remember asking my mom to get me some more. Imagine that! I also remember walking hand-in-hand with my Daddy on the way home from Kindergarten in Alphabet City, New York City and stopping by a local deli for a cheeseburger and fries. I still remember that irresistible smell of French fries and fried onions in the air. Also as a child, I remember being captivated by the smell of Sofrito, garlic and pork belly while watching my grandmother sautée them before adding them to her homemade beans- the best beans I’ve ever tasted. I consider myself blessed for having grown up in a Puerto Rican household. The rich flavors and spices and exotic fruits and vegetables, the elaborate Sunday dinners and holidays with pasteles, alcapurrias, arroz on gandules (rice and peas). Oh man. It’s a cultural thing that Puerto Rican girls, when I was growing up, knew how to clean and cook- it was just a requirement. For me, cooking wasn’t another chore, it was an escape and it came pretty easy to me.
I really started taking my cooking seriously during my first pregnancy. I was put on bed rest for the last 3 months of my pregnancy which gave me a chance to watch the Frugal Gourmet, Julia Child, the Great Chefs of Chicago and France, non-stop for 3 months! I learned how to “sear” meat, roast pork, make rice and make London Broil among other things. Then 2 years later when I was pregnant of Jordan, same situation- bed rest and non-stop cooking show marathon. Man, I’ll never forget those wonderful experiences.
My dad cooked every day for us and I grew up seeing his passion for food. I’m happy to be able to pay that forward to my family. I think cooking wonderful meals for your kids is a great way to positively impact, not only their health, but their childhood memories, their sense of security and expand the world they live in.
YOU
And YOU – how do you fit into this whole thing? Well, a journey is more fun when you have friends to share it with and success even more meaningful when you can help someone jumpstart theirs. So thanks for being here, learning, sharing, taking the time to read, trying our recipes and also laughing with us.
We thank you.
To your Feeling Good Foodness!
Randy and Dorcas