I started baking when I was four. Back then, baking meant decorating cookies with sprinkles and exploding cupcakes in the oven. I would help my mom with her baking, and she began teaching me more about baking (like how to not explode cupcakes). I learned how to make meringue and how to beat the eggs just the right amount. I learned how to make lemon sandwich cookies dipped in white chocolate, crinkle cookies that had to first be rolled in powdered sugar and then cane sugar, and how to make muffins and fill muffin tins without ruining the muffin’s structure.

 

At the same time, I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance, which almost 70% of people have to some degree. I began modifying recipes so that they no longer contained dairy; butter was replaced with oil, buttermilk became a mixture of lactose-free milk and vinegar, and milk-chocolate chips became chopped dark chocolate (dark chocolate doesn’t have dairy). This was how my journey of creating my own recipes began.

 

When I was almost eight years old, my mother got her health coach certificate, and we started eating much healthier. I remember sitting on the rug under my mom’s desk while she was taking classes on healthy eating, working on an activity called the Traffic Light Eating Plan. This activity divides foods by how nutritious foods are for you. I had a stack of magazines next to me—the ones that you snip out food coupons from—along with three pieces of construction paper. I cut out all of the little pictures of food from the magazines and decide where they belonged on the health spectrum. I would place foods that were healthy and nutritious on a green piece of construction paper, foods that should be eaten in moderation on a yellow sheet of paper, and foods that could be eaten occasionally on a red piece of paper. When I wasn’t sure where a food should be placed, I would poke my head out from under the desk to interrupt my mom and ask her where something should go. I learned a lot about what types of food were healthy and unhealthy from this exercise.

 

A year later, I discovered that my mom was sneaking oatmeal and spinach into my smoothies and putting the smoothies into non-see-through containers so that I couldn’t see the color. Smart move. No eight-year-old wants spinach in their smoothies.

 

I began experimenting with healthier recipes, testing different amounts of sugar and replacing regular flour with gluten-free, almond, and coconut flours. Along the way, I started dreaming of putting together a cookbook with the recipes I created. Becoming rich and famous along the way also wouldn’t hurt. Now I’m fourteen, and I finally decided to make eight-year-old me’s dream a reality. Bon appetit!