About Anastasia
HEY THERE!
I'm Anastasia, Aka Land Of Pleasant Eating!
If you follow my Instagram you've learned I'm a Baltimore native, raised partly in Greece, now living in Seattle! I have a fiery passion for dogs, food, travel, sustainability & my local community!
My motivation for beginning this blog adventure was to express my culinary creativeness. Eating is the most organic and natural thing a human can do; every living organism on our planet has to feed itself. I wanted to see what could be done with the food that fueled me, what foods & combinations of ingredients I enjoyed, or my body enjoyed the most. Eating healthy doesn't have to be dull and bland - the recipes on this blog display nutrient dense foods that are delicious, yes i’m tooting my own horn! Healthy looks different for everyone and thats perfectly fine.
MY FOOD JOURNEY:
Growing up in a small village in Greece, part-time, taught me the importance of quality, organic, locally grown plants & meat. Egg yolks were always bright orange, chicken feathers were always plucked the same day, feta was made from the goat in our back yard, and on the occasion where we ate lamb, it was honored, appreciated & raised on our land.
Fast forward to living in America most of the year, I became accustomed to yellow egg yolks, translucent chicken in wet plastic bags, and aisles upon aisles of packaged meat products with absurd expiration dates (sorry for the visuals).
Around the age of fourteen I became a pescatarian because of my beliefs & how animals, even the ones we choose to eat, should be treated. Over the next ten or so years I refined my vegetarian recipes, learned a lot about my diet, forcing me to open my mind to unique ingredient combinations.
After College graduation I began writing down the recipes I had developed during my vegetarian experience, and to this day I eat mainly a plant-based diet - with the occasional protein when my body needs it.
Bacon (GASP) is one of my favorite foods, I FREQUENTLY enjoy pizza from local restaurants, and will NEVER turn down a nice triple crème brie, if I do please alert the authorities.
It is all about listening to your body – never yuck someone’s yum - maybe their body is craving that burger, or that smoothie. Everything in moderation is key.
Welcome to my recipes, reviews & overall life.
MY FOOD GOALS
I try to purchase locally raised meats, local dairy and local produce whenever possible. I attempt to eat produce when seasonally available & try to only fuel my body on organic produce when I can - however local and organic can be difficult to find & expensive so I do as best as I can on a budget! Websites like Vitacost, Thrive Market, & Brandless help with keeping on track!
