My name is Susan (aka Recipe Sleuth) and I live in Almonte, Ontario (40 km west of Ottawa).
I love to cook and one of my favourite pastimes is looking through cookbooks and food magazines for great recipes to cook for my family and friends.
I didn’t grow up in a household that enjoyed culinary adventures. In fact, we ate the same thing, on the same night, year in and year out (roast beef every Sunday dinner, pork chops every Monday night for dinner, you get the idea). Spices were a no-no and as for ethnic cuisine I didn’t eat pizza or spaghetti until I left home. It wasn’t that my mother was a bad cook, she just wasn’t adventurous, which suited my father just fine. And while her cooking repertoire was limited, she was a wonderful baker, spending every Friday morning baking pies, tarts and squares.
Once I left home, I quickly made up for lost time, enjoying many different types of food; the spicier, the better. But I still didn’t cook. Then I got married and realized that going out to eat every night with my husband and stepsons was not an option. This was not just for financial reasons: my husband has life-threatening allergies to food additives and preservatives, as well as artificial colours and flavours, so eating out is not easy for us to do.
So I decided to learn to cook. In addition to the no-additive-no-preservative requirement there was only one rule: I would NEVER get in a rut and make the same meals over and over again.
That was more than 20 years ago and I’ve had a wonderful time finding and making some great recipes. While I do repeat certain favourites, I try to make, on average, four or five new main course recipes a week. The week’s dinner main courses are on my Home page under This Week’s Dinners.
I’ve also learned a great deal about cooking with all-natural ingredients. While it can be challenging to avoid artificial ingredients, preservatives, colours and flavours, it is possible and I am happy to share what I’ve learned with you. Even if you aren’t allergic to these ingredients, I believe avoiding them is a much healthier way to eat.
I was inspired to start this blog by my friend Ivonne (www.creampuffsinvenice.ca), but had trouble coming up with a name. It was my husband who thought of Eye for a Recipe, since he says I have a good recipe radar. I’m looking forward to sharing my new finds (and some old favourites) with you and hearing what you think.
