When I started writing on this site in 2005 (I am not! going! to count how many years ago that was!) I chronicled dinner parties and simple recipes I came up with. When I started really cooking, back in 2000, in the fifth-floor apartment in Washington, DC, I shared with a friend for a year, I also cooked pretty simply — salmon steaks pan-fried in olive oil, salt and pepper, a sort of spinach alfredo with a splash of whole milk to make it creamy but not too rich, omelettes with mashed potatoes, lots of fresh, vegetable-forward dishes. I still do cook like this and now the whole foods philosophy is transferring into my baking as well. There are so many great, solid recipes on this site and in my cookbook that I’ve developed or used, and that I’m proud of! But a lot of them call for a lot of sugar, and in this new season of my life I’m starting to navigate away from processed sugars. Once in a while, as a little treat – sure. But in my home kitchen I’m trying to lean on maple syrup, fruit, or coconut sugar (sparingly), when I bake.

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