About

Contact: sylvia@feastingathome.com

Hi! I’m Sylvia Fountaine – former restaurant owner, caterer, and chef, living in the Pacific Northwest sharing fresh and healthy, globally-inspired, veggie-forward recipes, grounded in the seasons.

Feasting at Home is a whole foods recipe blog celebrating all the fresh vibrant produce that surrounds us!  My hope is that this website will be a useful resource to inspire you to create your own simple healthy feasts at home.

Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo, pescatarian or flexitarian – we can all agree on one thing: Cooking meals from scratch, using fresh healthy produce is one of the most nourishing gifts we can give ourselves and our families. And I know how challenging this can be at times. 

Working in the food industry for over 25 years – starting and running an upscale vegetarian restaurant for 10 years (Mizuna) then starting and running a catering business for 10 more years (Feast Catering Co.) – I’ve learned a few tricks of the trade to help cooking become a little more simple and enjoyable.  It doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive or require hours of time. Wholesome meals can be easy and approachable, without compromising flavor or beauty. I’m so excited to share how!

Also know that I will never try to convince you to eat one way or another… what you eat is your business! I understand there are many paths to health and wellness.  We are all so different and have different needs. But because this is a personal blog, I do love sharing things I stumble on, but there is never any pressure- I really have no agenda here.  I just want your food to taste good. Haha! 😉

My goal is to help make your cooking at home easier, simpler and more enjoyable by providing you with options for your own particular needs.  Even though I had a vegetarian restaurant for 10 years and often eat vegan and plant-based during the week,  I’m also married to a wonderful carnivore, Brian. Sometimes I’ll adapt our meals so he can have meat, and keep mine vegetarian- one meal, two ways. 

Though I try to eat relatively “cleanly” (see my Clean-Eating Page), I don’t judge or label foods as “good” or “bad.”  I simply try to eat foods that make me feel energetic, alive, light and joyful.  These are usually plants! Most of the time, I try to cook simple, plant-based foods, using a lot of fresh, healthy produce, while allowing myself the freedom to eat whatever I want, because as a chef by trade, of course, I want to taste and experience everything!

With so many mixed households –  vegans and meat-eaters – both living under the same roof,  cooking can get so complicated. So I’ve started creating “adaptable” recipes to make everyone happy, and make cooking easier and hopefully fun again.  For more of these kinds of recipes – go to the “adaptable” category.

As a chef, what inspires me most is fresh, seasonal, local produce. This is because fresh produce, grown in its true season, as close to us as possible, always has the BEST flavor! This is because it doesn’t have to travel as far as conventional grocery store produce- so it’s allowed a little more time on the tree or vine to ripen and develop more flavor.  Picked at its peak, a peach tastes like a peach (heavenly) and a tomato tastes like a real tomato.

When you start with ripe seasonal ingredients at their peak of flavor, they can be treated so simply in the kitchen. Not only will the end result taste better, but it’s also a beautiful way to embrace the seasons and cycles of the earth. A very grounding way of cooking and being in the world. (Tip: It is the one thing you can begin doing immediately that will elevate your cooking. )

Many recipes are globally-inspired. I’m hearing that you are very intrigued by global cuisines, but are turned off by complicated processes or hard-to-find ingredients. I was raised in Los Angeles by a Finnish mother and Egyptian father, both right “off the boat.” We traveled a lot and they both loved to cook and entertain. They were also very frugal- every single thing was made from scratch yet somehow they created the most amazing meals. They showed me how the humblest of ingredients could be turned into a feast, utilizing a wide array of vegetables and herbs and spices. When my husband Brian and I travel these days, it always revolves around food. We love trying new cuisines and learning new techniques and I am so excited to share this with you! That’s why you’ll find a lot of globally-inspired recipes here.

AND YES, occasionally I’ll throw in a few recipes that may not seem very “healthy” on the surface, because I’ve found… there are times in one’s life when comfort food is actually comforting, on a soul level. When my sweet old mom passed away several years ago, my dear friend brought over her Four-Cheese Macaroni and Cheese. It was the only thing that would go down after days of not eating. To this day, I believe that was the most healing, nurturing thing I could have put into my body at that time – and I’ve never ever forgotten it.

Most of you have shared how short on time you are. I get it. Most of the recipes here in the last few years are geared towards you- time-saving, healthy recipes.  But there are days like Sundays when some of us truly enjoy spending time in the kitchen while something slow roasts in the oven for hours – and you’ll find those recipes here too because they are nourishing on a soul level. Cooking, if we allow it, can center and ground us, and bring us back to ourselves. In this day and age, we need this. 

Even back when I was catering, after big stressful events on my days off when I felt totally exhausted, I would often find myself back in my home kitchen simply making a pot of soup or baking a loaf of bread. Cooking can be incredibly restorative and healing when we allow ourselves the time to be present.

And for some, cooking is the one creative thing we get to do during the day. Soul-satisfying!  My hope is that you experience this incredible joy for yourself.  I like to think what we put into our bodies becomes a part of us. Not just the food itself, but the energy we put into the food. It can be such a loving thing… cooking. A place to start when the world feels as if it is crumbling around us.

My path has been a winding one. I worked in restaurants throughout college, getting a BS in Business, then eventually, an MA in Counseling Psychology. I practiced 2 years as a therapist, before shifting careers against everyone’s judgment, and opening a vegetarian restaurant.  This was a soul decision, and while I didn’t understand it at the time, I felt the need to listen and trust. For me, healing has always been about aligning with this part of myself. I have not always done this, but when I do, life flows.

This is why I share quotes here on the blog, little nudges to go within and simply listen because the deepest truths can be found inside ourselves. The act of cooking can bring us back to ourselves and help us reconnect after a stressful day.  In our world, it is so easy to neglect ourselves. Cooking has become a gentle practice for me- a way to still my thoughts, become present, and listen- a simple way to reset, restore and love myself. 

I always love hearing from you.  I also really appreciate it when you rate recipes and leave comments sharing how you’ve adapted them. This helps others to try them too. I value your feedback- it helps me figure out how to make this site the most useful for you. So feel free to email me at sylvia@feastingathome.com, or simply hit “reply” when you get your Saturday morning emails and tell me your thoughts on how to better serve you! Seriously!

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I’m so excited to have you be a part of our community!!! When you sign up, you’ll receive a gift (my Clean-Eating Guide)  then only one email, once a week, on Saturday mornings with my latest recipes. Be sure to check your spam folder or promotions tab, if you don’t see them. That is it! There is no cost, it is totally FREE to everyone. 

Here are a few comments from our community members…

“Your recipes have helped change the way I cook, shop, and eat. I used to love overly complicated French cooking—expensive, time-consuming, and a little risky when guests are coming. Now life is simpler, healthier, and far tastier! I love that I have things in my kitchen like miso, sumac, zaatar, dashi, coriander…and that I use them regularly. They used to be mysterious and “off-limits.” Not anymore. I think we (society) can be a little too precious about food. I love what you say about not moralizing it. It’s truly a privilege to have access to fresh produce and high-quality food items. I really do rejoice in food. It’s a thrill to prepare really healthy dishes and watch people I care for scrape their plates clean and marvel at flavors and combinations they never expected to like, let alone crave. That’s thanks to you!”

“Your blog has been most helpful in the following ways:

• • Sheet pan meals are a revelation.
  • The sauces make all the difference in the world. They are exceptional and beautiful and EASY.
  • The versatility and adaptability of your recipes are a dream.
  • The new flavors are exciting, like Indian and Asian.
  • You make it so easy to use tofu, which I love but used to have difficulty preparing in a way that tasted as good as at restaurants.
  • Your turmeric broth is a staple. I make it at least once a month. “

Susanna 

“I found you online 18 months ago and I love, love, love all the recipes I have tried so far and my husband can’t be happier.  My husband and our guests thank you over and over. Who thought I would get goosebumps from reading your recipes!  P.S.  I’m 71 years old and never enjoyed cooking until I found you! Love at the first recipe❤” 

“Thank you for giving your recipes life and bringing your creations out into the world! They bring back a new-found joy for cooking and I feel extremely inspired to try out many more and come up with new ideas myself.  May you keep on inspiring others along with you. You surely did with me.” Caroline

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SUBSCRIBE to my latest recipes (delivered Saturday mornings to your inbox) and get my simple, 7-Day, plant-based CLEAN EATING GUIDE (with recipes) as a FREE GIFT!

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