Hi there! My name is Julia and I am the creator, cook, photographer and videographer behind Julia’s Green Kitchen. So excited you came to my blog!
I was born and raised in a small town in Russia that is surrounded by mountains and hot springs with a huge variety of mineral waters famous for their healing properties. My former home is filled with the freshest ingredients and most delicious foods from the Caucasus and multiple other regions of Russia, along with a variety of other international influences. Unmatched hospitality and amazing regional cuisine from my hometown gave foundation to my passion for food and entertaining.
I started cooking at a very young age to help my mom and grandma with daily chores and I quickly fell in love with it and soon was testing my culinary ups and downs on my family, friends and neighbors. We didn’t have a lot of money and ingredients from recipes weren’t always available, so I learned from my mom how to cook from scratch, stretch a buck, make ingredient substitutes and sometimes make a completely different dish than was originally intended.
I moved to US after graduating from college and found an abundance of world cuisines! Some were totally different (Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Indian, etc), some were very similar (Eastern-European, Middle-Eastern, Italian, French, Korean, Greek, etc) to my Russian-Caucasian food-accustomed taste buds. I’ve been studying the art of cooking ever since. Farmer’s market is always my happy place! I love creating recipes that use fresh, organic, simple ingredients that do your body good.
My husband and I have always eaten what we thought was healthy foods. There was always some sort of a salad, protein, carbs and a glass of wine on our dinner table (minus the days we craved fast junk foods, alas, these days didn’t happen too often). We exercised, cared about animals and recycled. We thought we were very healthy. The reality hit when we started developing issues numerous doctors had no idea how to cure. They were able to help with the symptoms but not the root cause of the issues. First, it was hand eczema. Then it became different allergies of our kids. Then stomach issues. We had to get it under control! I couldn’t accept a pediatrician telling me my son would outgrow his issue by the time he turns 2, then 3, then 4, then 5… The number was being pushed and it wasn’t getting any better. I was tired of doctors telling me that I worried too much about my kids and since they were doing well in school and making friends that their health was fine. The logic behind giving small amounts of allergenic foods that creates inflammatory response in the body to help ease allergies in the first place made no sense to me. Dermatologists, fertility specialists, family doctors kept saying the same thing- nutrition had nothing to do with it, changing our diet would not help. We just needed to change that hand soap. Or detergent. Or wear cotton gloves at home. Use steroids. And keep doing expensive tests and procedures. It was getting ridiculous.
So, I decided to change our diet to remove sugar, gluten, dairy and processed foods. I came home one day after work, took out a big garbage bag and cleaned out half of my pantry without plan B. The same food that created the problem couldn’t help solve the problem. I had to relearn everything I thought was healthy food. Food is information, not just calories. It has biological effect independent of calories; minerals, vitamins bio-available to humans, nutrients…
I started reading, learning, monitoring nutritional aspect of the foods we eat. I am not a nutritionist, but I base my recipes on the wholesome, holistic, nature-made, garden to table approach and I will do my best to show you the logic behind the ingredients and the food prepping and cooking that I use.
I choose not to use sugar and gluten in my recipes and the only type of dairy I use, occasionally, is raw and organic A-2 type. Otherwise no dairy at all (but plenty of substitutes). I use A LOT of leafy greens and vegetables in my cooking (hence green kitchen!) and will show you how to make meals that are fresh, delicious, nourishing and quick.
All my recipes are tested on my family and friends. I want to teach my kids about the importance of eating well, taking care of our bodies and making good healthy choices. They love helping mommy, playing around in the kitchen while waiting for the latest yummy table scraps. You will see them in my videos getting their hands dirty and bellies filled with healthy deliciousness while sometimes helping mommy.
Another reason for my blog is that I believe the best way to connect is with an open heart and vulnerability. What does it have to do with a cooking blog? First and foremost, I want to find a connection with my readers, gain understanding and give back. I believe the best way to achieve this is through caring about our bodies, minds and spirituality. We, as society, became so self-absorbed in self-improvement and looking good to the outside world that we forgot the main purpose of why we are doing this- we all want to connect and belong.
There is no place for judgement and bullying here. I want you to know that it is possible to start fresh any time. I encourage you to take charge of your health and your mindset. I don’t want to tell you what to eat. I want to show you what worked for my family. One recipe at a time.
