This is the beginning of a wonderful new venture for me and I can’t wait to share it with all my current fans and clients as well as many new people I hope to reach all across the world who are HUNGRY for a change in their food lifestyle. But first, an introduction is an order.
I’m Jo Cessna, a natural cook with a passion to empower people to learn how to prepare and eat whole foods and learn about ingredients through education. The techniques that I have created are simple, easy and fun to implement, making every day eating enjoyable but most importantly healthy.
As a little girl I was fascinated with the process of putting ingredients together using only what was available on our family farm. But what really stirred my passion was sharing the food with the special people in my life and the great feeling it gave me knowing I could show how much I cared through the gift of food. I baked hundreds of hours under my Easy Bake oven light bulb to have stacks of cakes and cookies waiting for my family and neighborhood friends.
In 2008 I left my career in the food industry, ready to explore how I could make a difference using my gifts as an educator and cook. This curiosity led me to study in Boulder Colorado at “The School of Natural Cookery”, opening my palate to the amazing world of natural foods. This was the first major step on my journey—it tested my years of traditional cooking experience and methods and helped me learn to trust my intuition (we all have amazing inner knowledge we do not tap into). Upon returning home to the Midwest I decided to start my own cooking school from my home kitchen. The response has been tremendous, as the work from my kitchen counter has led me to working with cancer patients and caregivers, moms of preschoolers, high school students, factory employees, opera students at the local university and hospitals and health care clinics. The connections that are made around my kitchen counter are heartwarming. People are hungry for knowledge on how to eat cleaner but also hungrier for the community of gathering, learning and experiencing with surprise the wonderful taste of real food.
Also, I’ll let her introduce herself, but my niece Ann will be a regular contributor to the blog as well. Together, we hope to give you a wide range of exciting and interesting topics to discuss. I hope this blog will act as my virtual “kitchen counter” where we can all gather together to share food, love and life!
Jo’s style of cooking is all about improvising and making your meals work based on what you have on hand. On a recent trip to Michigan we stopped at one of those side of the road farmer market stands and bought some gorgeous produce, including half a peck of peaches. Eek! How did I think we’d eat them all before they went bad?! We’d eaten all but 5 and they were a little worse for the wear. Then I remembered that Jo has a simple recipe for roasting pears and thought, “Why couldn’t peaches work too?” So I preheated the oven, washed them gently, cut out the bad spots and the pits, left them in halves, drizzled them with a little honey and roasted them in the oven for 30 minutes. Talk about a treat! They were stunning while warm and made an even better addition to breakfast the next day chilled. I poured myself some high fiber cereal, put two halves of the roasted peaches on top, dolloped with plain yogurt, walnuts and some ground flax seeds. Yum!
