About

Hi there! I’m Shannon Yelland, a Digital Web Analyst by day, aspiring cook by night, and this is my blog. I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA and I LOVE healthy and tasty soups (and making them too).

I prefer to called myself a “flexotarian” and I detest processed food of any kind. My choice to cook mostly plant based meals is for the taste and variety of wonderful plants as well as making me feel healthy and energized for my next half marathon. I occasionally stir up fish/seafood dishes and convinced that that bacon and proscuitto are just vegetables on Sundays. 

I can be found in the kitchen all day prepping a themed dinner for a large dinner party with friends or stirring up a super fast gourmet meal out of sparse ingredients in the kitchen when others may say “we have no food!” – “hogwash on that”, I say. I find my peace and meditation in the kitchen when I am learning new techniques to make yummy concoctions from scratch.

It’s all about SOUP baby!

I will be sharing very healthy souptastic recipes that I make myself. I am also going share my experiences and ratings for soups from restaurants, cafes, food trucks, carts and friends homes that I visit. I’m on a souptastic hunt!

Gradings for soup will be based on 3 criteria:

  1. How healthy is the soup by Soup Mistress standards (+slimming + low sodium)
  2. Presentation
  3. Taste

If you have any suggestions or recommendations of any souptastic places or recipes anywhere in North America, feel free to share on this site or contact me here.

I have plans to do soup recipe makeovers, where I will try to:

  • cut calories and trim fat from some favorite recipes
  • cut down on sodium
  • adjust so they are mostly vegetarian
  • adjust dried herbs for fresh herbs
  • adjust processed foods for natural and/or organic GMO free
  • adjust highly acidic forming recipes to be more alkaline forming (healthier for you)

I love cooking so much that I have the Food Network TV on all the time.

My favorite (past and current) cooking shows are:

  • Chopped
  • Food Network Star
  • Guy Grocery Games
  • Cut Throat Kitchen
  • Mexican Made Easy
  • Iron Chef America and The Next Iron Chef
  • Giada at Home and Everyday Italian
  • Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals
  • Diners, Drive-ins and Dives
  • Glutton for Punishment
  • Throwdown with Bobby Flay
  • Hells Kitchen

I read cook books cover-to-cover digesting techniques, food combinations as well as presentation styles. Some of my closest friends have given me recipe books as gifts and I thank them all for that! I like to get ideas on recipes, but hardly ever follow a recipe exactly – most fatty ingredients are axed (IE cream, meat stocks, butter) or substituted with healthier alternatives.

It all started when:

My love for cooking started when I was a young teenager. Back then, my older brother and sister paid me to cook for them to impress their dates (btw – they pretended they cooked the meal themselves on a few occasions).

Stuff I have to laugh about that will not stop me from cooking are:

  • Received third degree burns from bacon fat around 11 years old when making my mother breakfast in bed
  • Sliced off two tips of fingers when trying to learn how to chop better (and yes they grew back!)
  • Charred my arm from the top of oven when taking my first roasted turkey out of oven
  • Slipped on spilt liquid on kitchen floor and hit my head on corner of counter (got stitches)
  • Have served up some really bad recipes to friends and family that were not properly executed (you have to learn from mistakes right?)

3 thoughts on “About”

    • I love the bad things that have happened in the kitchen – even though you got hurt sometimes you made me giggle as I read them! Keep smiling – keep cooking~!

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