About

Hey there, I’m Brooke McLay.

Food blogger, life writer, recipe developer, piano lesson carpooler,  food photographer, long walk lover, professional cooking show host, and feisty wife & mama who believes in living a technicolor life.

Food is my playground and I am constantly trying new incarnations of cooking in my kitchen. I believe in vegan eating, and am transitioning my fam into a plant-based diet this year. This may sound like an impossible task, considering how much they like chicken, but I’ve discovered that good food done right appeals to even the pickiest of palates.

If you’re new to vegan eating, good news! So am I! I’ll step you through all the things you need to know to get started, from grocery shopping tips to insanely delish meat-free meals. And we’ll learn the rest together from there. We can do this, you know. We have to do it, for the health of our own bodies, our children’s bodies, and the future of this beautiful planet of ours.

I support the current focus of eating local, sustainable food, but am too budget-conscious to shop that way exclusively, so you’ll see a focus here on realistic food you can actually make, no matter where you shop or what your budget is. 2012 will find me particularly focusing on following Michael Pollan’s fabulous Food Rules. If you don’t yet have the book, promise me you’ll go get a copy today.

I am sassy and stubborn, love a good fight, and am given to fits of gratitude over the beauty of humanity, family, and acts of generous kindness. I hate bread, shun pasta, avoid meat, and love brussell sprouts. Though, given the option, I’d eat chocolate mousse cake for every meal. I try very hard not to look at gossip magazines and force myself to pore over classic literature. I never have to force Shakespeare. Loves.

My practical sensibilities are often at odds with romantic whimsy. I’m too practical to be absurdly artistic, and too absurdly artistic to be sensibly practical. I love guest cottages, good books, and adventure. I believe fears are meant to be faced, and hard things are for living through.

Someday very soon, our family will contribute to the needs of countries and children throughout the world. First stop? Villa La Paz, Peru, where we’ll work alongside Dr. Anthony Lazzarra, caring for medical needs of some of Peru’s most impoverished children. Do learn more about this incredible foundation and consider a trip yourself. In the meantime, I’ve also got a few other projects in the works which celebrate topics my husband, children, and I care dearly about. As these continue to come to fruition, I’ll post about them in the Extras page of Cheeky Kitchen, because there might just be something there you want to get involved in, too!

Ultimately, I believe a room full of people I love is the highest form of worship. I believe in parties, temperance, and abstinence. The joy of children, the peace of a good, brisk walk.  I have a ridiculously handsome husband, four of the wisest and most delectable children ever, a clever best friend, and a naughty chihuahua, all of whom I love dearly.