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).
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:
- How healthy is the soup by Soup Mistress standards (+slimming + low sodium)
- Presentation
- 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?)
LOVE IT!!!
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~!
Thanks Jean.

I have fun in the kitchen and that is all that matters!
Happy New Year to you!!
Inspiring!