Hey there, my name is Christina and I am the main recipe developer, writer, and photographer here at A Gluten Free Plate! I have been getting a lot of questions about myself here lately so I figured I would publish this Q&A to let you all know a little more about me!
Do you prefer cooking or baking?
This is a difficult one because I love both. While I do love a warm cookie straight out of the oven as much as the next gal, I would say that I have always favored salty snacks over sweet desserts. For that reason, I would say that I have a slight preference for cooking.
What is your favorite meal to cook?
I keep myself busy, so when I am cooking for myself I like to make meals that are relatively simple and don’t take too long to cook. I particularly love to take simple comfort foods and add a few extra servings of vegetables to them to get some extra nutrients in there. For example, I absolutely love to make this spinach grilled cheese with fresh spinach, shallots, garlic and lemon juice. This poblano quesadilla with fajita-style poblano pepper and onion strips is another favorite of mine.
What is your favorite meal to eat?
Now this is a different story. If I am talking about my favorite meal to eat, regardless of the amount of time and effort it takes to prepare then I would probably say that my favorite meal to eat is a poke bowl. I particularly love vegan and vegetarian friendly poke bowls like this watermelon poke bowl. I love all of the fresh ingredients and flavorful sauces in poke bowls, but I don’t make them for myself as often as I would like because it takes so much time to prepare all of the ingredients.
What is the best cooking advice you ever received?
What is the best cooking advice I have ever received? I would say understanding the importance of acids was a big game changer for me. I like to make a lot of salty, cheesy comfort foods that can be heavy at times so adding a little acid is so important! Whether it is a dash of hot sauce or balsamic vinegar, a little bit of acid does so much to brighten up the flavor of a rich, heavy dish.
What are your absolute favorite kitchen essentials?
This is a fun one! I would say that the absolute most important thing that a home cook can have in their kitchen is a high quality chef’s knife. A good chef’s knife is just so versatile and can be used for anything from chopping vegetables to cutting meat. Since I am a vegetarian, I slice a lot of vegetables throughout the day and having a good, sharp knife reduces the amount of time it takes to slice vegetables by so much. I am currently using this Victorinox chef’s knife and it is my all time favorite knife! I originally picked this knife up because I heard that it was used in a lot of restaurant kitchens and I totally see why it is so popular!
I would say that these stackable mixing bowls are a close second. They save so much space and are so easy to store. Before I had these bowls, all of my mixing bowls were haphazardly strewn about in a large cabinet and it was always so hard to find the bowl I was looking for (and remove the other bowls balanced on top of it). Now that I have these stackable bowls, that struggle is a thing of the past!
What is your favorite thing about food blogging?
My favorite thing about food blogging is the balance that it strikes between art and science. I have always had a creative side and loved creative activities like photography and writing, but I am a scientist by trade and spend more time working on scientific problems at my day job. Developing recipes and testing out which ingredients perform best in recipes allows me to exercise the methodical, process driven side of my brain whereas food photography and writing gives me more room to let out some of my creative energy.
Do you have any tips on following your recipes?
We have a whole page that contains tips and tricks that make it easier to follow our recipes. It includes information about calibrating the heat setting on your oven, choosing the correct cookware to use for a recipe, and more. Check that page out here!
