Welcome! I'm so happy to have you join me in this small cyber corner.
I'm Anya, and Prepare & Nourish is my space to share my favorite recipes I have the privilege of serving my family and friends.
I started this food blog in 2014 following a trip to my home country, Russia. Though I have no professional culinary experience, I enjoy cooking and baking (but mostly cooking). I love sharing nourishing recipes with other like-minded foodies, and my hope is that you'll be inspired to create nutritious and delicious meals for your loved ones.
What will you find on Prepare + Nourish?
Here, you'll find recipes that:
- Focus on seasonal fruits and vegetables.
- Include healthy fats such as butter, lard, tallow, and coconut oil.
- Focus on properly prepared ancient grains, such as soaked and sprouted rice and buckwheat.
- Include enzyme-rich ferments such as kombucha, kefir, and sauerkraut.
- Healing diet recipes such as Paleo, GAPS, Low-Carb, and Keto.
- Recipes that are conveniently and easily prepared with the help of modern-day appliances like air fryer and Instant Pot.
Who am I?
I’m Anya. First and foremost, a child of God saved by His grace and redeemed by His love. I’m happily married to my high school sweetheart, and we make our home in central California with our children, a dog, and chickens too many to count. And I’m also a modern-day traditionalist.
I believe in traditional methods of preparing nourishing and delicious meals you and your family will enjoy.
I believe in the goodness of food God has given us, in its most natural, wholesome, and unadulterated form to nourish and heal our bodies.
My roots are in Slavic culture, traditions, and foods and I love bringing that part of my heritage into American cuisine.
FAQs
What diet do you follow?
Inspired by the research of Weston A. Price, I have been preparing food using traditional and ancestral methods for nearly a decade. My family and I ate healthy ancient grains, slow ferments, healthy fats and copious amounts of seasonal fruits and vegetables.
I grew up on nutritious foods like beef liver, sauerkraut and pastured butter. So the philosophy of WAPF wasn't completely new to me and I quickly embraced it as I learned more about this way of eating.
Most of my recipes are paleo-inspired and low in carbs. All of my recipes are free from gluten, preservatives and processed foods. The emphasis is on natural, clean and whole ingredients!
You'll notice that many recipes overlap with different food philosophies. But at the core of all of Prepare & Nourish recipes is purposeful nutrition. I do my best to include two major superfoods in all my meals: bone broth and lots of vegetables.
Read this to get a better picture of what nourishing foods mean. {Hint: it does not mean eating organic kale.)
What are your favorite kitchen appliances?
Just because I love traditional foods doesn't mean you'll find me making porridge on an open flame in outdoors. I love using the convenience of modern-day kitchen appliances. My favorite is my beloved Instant Pot, followed by this fully stainless steel tea kettle (no plastic touches hot water and it's inexpensive!) and my Cuisinart Food Processor.
My other favorites are this Spiralizer, Kitchen Aid Mixer, and this handy tool. Summer is more enjoyable with an Ice Cream Maker gracing our counters and this popsicle mold is the best I've tried so far.
We ditched our microwave over a decade ago and haven't missed it a bit. I've learned to reheat foods on the stove top using my favorite cast iron skillets and stainless steel pots.
What do you eat in a day?
I get asked this a lot! I try to start my day with a cup of bone broth. I find it so nourishing and soothing, any time of the year.
For breakfast, I usually have one fried egg, topped with raw cheese and a sliced avocado generously sprinkled with Celtic Sea Salt. I follow that with a warm mug of unsweetened coffee with collagen and heavy whipping cream.
My lunches are super simple. Sometimes, I'll enjoy leftover soup from the night before, a simple salad, or even super easy one-person charcuterie board. I always finish my lunch with a cup of organic jasmine green tea - my choice of beverage!
Dinners are different since we always eat as a family. Every week, I sit down to create a meal plan for the following week. We have soup every other day (even during the summer). Sometimes it will be a large taco salad, or Crustless Pizza, or Lazy Cabbage Rolls. It really depends on what's in season, what's in my fridge, and what's in my head.
I'm not much of a sweet tooth and instead crave salty foods such as pickles, parmesan crisps and salami. Those are my favorite foods to snack in between meals. And green tea. Lots of green tea!
Anya's Favorite Recipes
How can I connect with you?
The best way is the current version of snail-mail - you can subscribe to stay up to date to all the happenings at Prepare & Nourish or simply shoot me an e-mail at anya @ prepare and nourish.com (no spaces). I can also be found on Facebook, Instagram and of course Pinterest.
So grab your favorite drink and browse around. I am happy to have you join me on this real food journey. 🙂