Hi everyone, I’m back!
You must have noticed that I’ve disappeared for a long time from YouTube and social media. I had to do a social media detox but I really and truly missed you all! I’m super grateful to all the support you all have been giving me these past 10 years – some of you, even during this long break of mine.
But there were good outcomes from my social media break. I’ve been researching for the past 2 years about healthier baking ingredients, testing some baking processes and setting the best ratios and proportions for healthy baking, the best baking pans and temperatures, and so much more.
Let me first explain to you why I took this break…
Some of you already know that I have moved back to Portugal. Unfortunately, a few months after my arrival in Lisbon, Corona hit the world. My kids and I were isolated from everybody. The father of my children was in Germany, and my company was there too!
At 2.500km away from my school for a year and a half, many new thoughts filled my mind and my interests started to shift and change. My kids are the highest priority in my life, so I decided to focus my attention on them, as well as on myself.
That’s when I decided to focus on my new life and close my school and business in Germany and prioritize my new goals.
A shift to my eating lifestyle…
During this homey period, I also found out that I was at least intolerant to many of the ingredients that I consumed daily. I did a test, and I was shocked with the results! I then had to change all my cooking and baking recipes as well!
I had to keep cool and calm, keep the mood up, support the little ones in all the different ways I could, and cook as healthy as possible to keep our immune systems as strong as ever!
Because of my new need for gluten-free, dairy-free, and even egg-free recipes, I started to understand that no one was explaining in a clear way how to transform a traditional recipe into a healthy one. I didn’t feel like always baking recipes I didn’t know. I know there are delicious Scandinavian cakes! But I was craving for my favorite desserts and cakes, the ones I already know and love!
From that point on, I started learning and reading about each ingredient and experimenting with them all. My 10 years of experience as a baker helped a lot, but all these new ingredients I was now exploring reacted completely differently to those I knew. So, I had to analyze, try out, exchange, adapt, add, reduce, substitute, and compare all possible options to get as close to the traditional flavor and consistency as possible. It took me a while and many frustrating attempts, many trashed and failed recipes and ingredients, and many lost hours and money, to understand:
– How it works
– What are the best substitutions and perfect ingredient ratios
– What are the right baking temperatures
– Which pans to use, how to prepare them, and so on.
After several failures and successes, I was ecstatic with each successful achievement or recipe I received! The flavor was frequently better than the original! It’s incredible!
So, I said to myself: “I gotta share my new discoveries and recipes with my followers, friends, family, former customers, students, and everybody who is also going through some health issues and, indeed, needs this information. Whether it is food intolerance or allergies, including diabetes, or simply wanting to live a healthier life, staying fit without having to give up on the sweet side of life or feeling guilty when having them”.
Enough with my rambling. You’re now probably wondering, can sweets and desserts be healthy at all?
The answer is YES! It is possible to eat desserts guilt-free.
All the ingredients I’m using now are nutritious, unprocessed, full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that bring benefits to our health.
So healthy desserts are real and I am a living proof of that.
I’m planning on sharing with you all my knowledge, both as a traditional baker as well as a healthy functional expert-baker, in the form of blog posts, social media posts and a very comprehensive masterclass.
My wish is to build a healthy baking community, where we can all learn from each other and support each other in this journey of getting ourselves and our friends and family members healthier through eating better.
So, there you have it. This is what happened to me this last year and a half!
Let’s build this community together!
I am now back, healthier, super excited about my new project, and much more confident. And I also have confidence in you and that you will keep supporting me now as you have in the past – or even more, knowing that I am offering you an even better service now, by providing you with recipes that are not only delicious but nutritious and healthy too. And who would prefer unhealthy to healthy if the taste is similar, the same, or even better, right?
Please let me know if there is something specific you want me to write about or what topics you wish me to explain to you the most, and I’ll be glad to help you out.
Have a great, sweet week!
Leonor