I’m Cat! I am well known in my social circles as a jack of all trades, I always have my hands busy with something and I am always learning something new. My core values are caring and independence, I am always there to lend a helping hand and never hesitate to take on a new challenge. But food has always been my one true passion.
At any given time in recent history between my husband, Rylan, and I; our house has fluctuated through a number of different dietary changes. From low FODMAP, low carb, dairy-free, high protein, low glucose, and several iterations of elimination diet cycles, we have worked through these modifications and restrictions without compromising the taste or quality of the foods we eat. I like to try new things, push our limits and play with ingredients that I know have aligned chemistry.
As Rylan and I develop our self sustainability and venture further into food independence we have gotten into hunting in our local area. This has deepened my appreciation for our home, the farmers around us and the amount of work that goes into providing for your family. Being able to go out into the wilderness, tracking an animal knowing that it will provide sustenance and nutrition. While developing an abundant garden at home provides us with fresh produce, the next big adventure is learning to can and preserve. Follow along for that!
My Mission
On Cauldrons & Cookies you will find a wide variety of recipes as my adventures with food never end. Each recipe will include a section on Modifiers and Substitutions so even if the recipe isn’t directly categorized for a restriction there will be a guide to adjust ingredients to fit your lifestyle.
I will never start a recipe post with a lengthy story about some scarcely related topic, because let’s be real, you’re looking for recipes. It’s 3:30pm on a Thursday, you’ve had a long day and you just want to find something to cook. I get it and I’m here for you!
My journey with food has evolved into the magical and medicinal as I deepen my practice in witchcraft, my recipes will also include the Cauldron Corner, a section touching on the meaning and properties of the ingredients, alignment to sabbaths, and more. I am by no means an expert, but these are things I have picked up over the years. Again, I am always learning.
My Life
To quote Shrek, my life has layers! I’m dog-mom two amazing goof balls; Tucker and Church, let me know if you get the reference, not many people do. I’m a military wife and so incredibly proud of my husband. I grew up on an alpaca farm of all places, and I gotta say; alpacas are the sweetest animals ever.
Growing up enjoying farm eggs, fresh fish from the pond, beef from the farm down the road and homegrown produce built the foundation for my appreciation of food. There is so much value in knowing where something comes from and how much work went into making it.
My journey since 2020 has been figuring out my diet in the hope to fix my skin. I have lived with acne since I was 12, which is more than half my life. For anyone with acne you know difficult it can feel. After trying everything I could think of; every over the counter cleanser, topical, mask, and treatment; all the naturopath, diy, homemade remedies, I landed in a place with my doctor and dermatologist where I had five prescription medications. And it still wasn’t under control. I knew there had to be something better. I started looking at a skin centric diet, was food having an impact? I sat down with my doctor, dermatologist and a nutritionist to get a professional opinion and all three told me diet wouldn’t make a difference. But I said screw it, I’m doing it anyways.
I started by cutting dairy completely and drastically reducing my sugar and alcohol. Within three months I saw significant improvement. I felt like I had plateaued a bit, so I dug deeper, what’s next? I took a food sensitivity test and did a 6 week elimination diet cutting everything that was flagged a possible sensitivity, and again my skin got better and I felt better. I haven’t cleared my skin completely yet, but it is so greatly improved from where I started, and now I will always listen to my body first.