Husband and wife duo Sonja and Alex Overhiser are the brains behind good blog A Couple Cooks. Here, they spoke to us about their inspiration to eat whole foods…
With an ethos for simple, seasonal and nourishing whole foods, Sonja and Alex Overhiser, a writer and photographer husband and wife team from Indianapolis, are on a mission to show you that cooking healthy and fresh food is far more satisfying than processed junk.
We spoke to the blogger couple about their decision to start eating healthily and what we can do to follow in their path…
What do you hope people will take away from your blog?
Sonja: We started our blog to inspire people to cook healthy food at home. When we first got married, we had no idea how to cook and no real interest in health. Little by little, our interest grew and a whole new world opened up. We became passionate about the health aspects of cooking and eating, and found that eating healthy, whole foods can be incredibly delicious! We'd previously thought that healthy eating was boring and tasteless, and we created our blog to try to change that philosophy. It's been an incredible creative outlet for us, and we believe anyone who is interested can: 1. learn to cook and 2. learn to be creative in the kitchen.
Which 5 things would we find in your fridge?
Alex: Leftovers! They're usually from recipes we're testing or have made for the blog. Also, carrots and celery for snacking, produce from our latest farmer's market run, Greek yoghurt and cheese of all sorts
What’s your personal food philosophy?
Alex: The healthiest recipes are those cooked at home with simple, real ingredients. Saying "yes" to delicious whole foods is much more fun than saying "no" to processed foods and sugars :)
Sonja: I couldn't agree more! We try to eat mainly whole foods, and generally eat around 90% vegetarian. We call it "flexitarian", a term that's been around for a while but hasn't seemed to gather too much steam, since most people tell us they've never heard of the concept! We limit our meat due to health and environmental reasons, but try to not to take an "all or nothing" approach. Instead, we focus on eating meatless at home and then saving meat for times of celebration or when we are out to eat, either at a restaurant or someone's home. The same goes for eating whole foods and eating sweets; we try to take a moderate approach, which makes it easier to navigate socially and mentally.
What’s your top cooking tip?
Alex: Cook with friends and family. A full kitchen is a happy kitchen, and a happy kitchen makes for tasty food.
Sonja: Embrace your creative side! We love cooking because it's a chance for us to relax, have fun, and be creative together. It makes eating healthy so much more enjoyable. Also, if you're interested in cooking: 1. Seek out others who are passionate and learn from them 2. Get a good chef's knife and learn some knife skills and 3. Don't be afraid of failure! Our recipes fail on a consistent basis, but each time we learn so much from the failure.
Where do you get your recipe ideas from?
Alex: We take inspiration from all over the place -- the latest find at the farmer's market, other food blogs, magazines, and cookbooks! We keep a running list of recipes we'd like to try and develop from there.
Sonja: We also love to go out to eat to get inspiration. It's so much fun to learn about new flavor combinations and techniques from experienced chefs.