Bring Beyond Chocolate into your kitchen with the Kitchen Fairy. I’ll show you how to cook good food and the art of menu planning. The result? Tuck in to some proper food, feel good about the way you eat, save money and waste less food – everyday.
Get the Kitchen Fairy to come round for a cook session and show you how to turn out simple, tasty, home-cooked meals that you love and will make over and over again without spending hours shopping or slaving away at the stove. I’ll introduce you to the secrets of menu planning and solve the never-ending dilemma of what to cook week in, week out. It’s simple. If you know how to plan ahead and make fresh, home made food for a week with just one shop, have a freezer full of meals waiting to be eaten and lots of good ideas for packed lunches and snacks then you’re well on your way to be sorted in the Kitchen Fairy department.
The Kitchen Fairy and Beyond Chocolate
When I decided to ditch the diets, I created Beyond Chocolate with Sophie. I worked on my relationship with food and unhooked myself from the diet mentality with its endless lists of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. After years of following other people’s rules on what I could or could not eat, after years of chaotic and emotionally driven eating, I gave myself permission to enjoy food and to make decisions based on what I wanted to eat. I started to cook more and experiment with new foods and recipes and food became a passion. When I cook a meal from scratch I can make sure that I am eating only the foods I love and that I am happy to include in my diet. These days, when I sit down to do my menu planning for the week ahead what I savour the most is the feeling of control and choice. I love the fact that food no longer has a hold on me, that I am totally in control and that I can make choices that work for me, day in, day out.
Why Kitchen Fairy?
Because over the past decade I have worked with hundreds of women who have transformed their relationship with food and rediscovered the joy of eating and I have seen many of them struggle with this new found freedom. After years of yo-yoing between cabbage soup and Cadbury’s, of restricted eating and relying on diet foods they are sometimes at a loss as to where to start in the kitchen. I created the Kitchen Fairy because I am passionate about showing women how easy it is to make tasty, wholesome meals without having Masterchef skills and how a little bit of menu planning makes it possible without chaining yourself to the kitchen sink.
Because unless you are called Nigella Lawson and it’s your job to breeze through life effortlessly turning out gorgeous, home cooked meals in a perfect kitchen without breaking a sweat – attaining Domestic Goddess status is near impossible for your run of the mill, everyday woman. Domestic Goddess is ambitious but we can all be Kitchen Fairies!
Where did I learn to cook?
I come from a family of women who love to cook. I was brought up by a French mother who juggled a career, a busy social life and her family and somehow always managed to put good food on the table. From her, I learned the art of forward planning, how to make the most of my freezer and the versatility of casseroles. My mum worked a lot in the evenings so I was cooking dinner for my Dad and myself from early on. She’d leave the ingredients in the fridge and step by step instructions on how to cook them. When I was 21, I moved to Rome where I lived for the next 15 years. Here I learned the secrets to cooking authentic, scrumptious Italian food. Italians love to socialise around the dinner table with some good wine so it’s here I learned how to cook for large groups of people which comes in handy when I cater for participants on Beyond Chocolate retreats.
What type of food do I cook?
I have a wide repertoire as I love to experiment. Nothing fancy, just simple, tasty, home cooked food. I cook a lot of Italian meals, of course. It’s easy, it’s cheap, it tastes good and children love it. My partner has an intolerance to dairy so we often eat Asian inspired dishes too – noodle soups, stir fries and zingy salads which are quick to make and taste fabulous. I love traditional English food like stew and pies which are brilliant for the freezer and nothing beasts a good Sunday roast. I have a very sweet tooth so am quite partial to a bit of baking, an activity I love to share with my 5 year old.
