About me.

You can become a Cajun in one of three ways: by birth, by the ring, or by the back door. From the Bay State to the Bayou State, I don’t qualify as Cajun by birth, but as Meatloaf sang, “Two out of three ain’t bad.”

My name is Sharon LaFleur, and I love to cook for people I love. This is quite a different undertaking than being a professional cook. As much as I’ve wondered over the years if a chef’s life would be right for me, in the end, I’d have to say it wouldn’t. If I’m going to be “in the weeds,” I’d much rather it be in my darling husband’s garden. Trying to crank out 300 omelets for Sunday brunch service would not be fun.

Where we are.

We live in rural St. Landry Parish. About 30 minutes down the road is Lafayette. According to The Wall Street Journal, it’s the happiest city in America. And it is happy indeed for us. We can take advantage of all the fun and diversity of Lafayette. And then we retreat to our little corner of the woods. We have a large garden, critters of all stripes and feathers, and a little house that we love. And, by the way, a tiny kitchen by most HGTV standards that I adore cooking in. Light filled and suited for easy prep, I wouldn’t trade my kitchen for any other.

Real food.

If you want to improve your health without going bonkers reading all the research, do one thing. Eat real food. Use single ingredients found around the perimeter of the grocery store. Shop at your local farmers market. And even better, “shop” in your own garden, chicken coop, fishing spot and hunters’ haven.

Cajun, Creole and New Orleans recipes are justifiably famous.

And we are home to many cultures that have enriched our ideas of comfort food. German, Italian, Latin, Vietnamese, Lebanese and other traditions find a happy place here. We love our sushi, barbecue, pasta dishes, tacos, pho and countless others.

Paleo Friendly.

When I started blogging nearly five years ago, I found paleo as an answer to several health problems. But the recipes I saw at the time were, to be blunt, like so much pet food. So I decided to create my own recipes and have worked happily to fill what I saw was a lack. A lack of color and variety and a lack of Southern-forward dishes revamped to incorporate real ingredients. This is still the foundation of my work. (With a few exceptions!)

An additional feature of my recipes is that they are also (mostly) low carb/keto. And this is an aspect of my cooking and recipe creation that we incorporate every day in our family. Our own MD recommends paleo and low carb for virtually all his patients.

Low Carb. Keto.

The ratios for a keto diet plan are usually 60% fat, 30% protein and 10% carbohydrate. Many keto experts (and I’m not one of them) vary these “macros,” but 60/30/10 is well within the range of suggested proportions. These proportions are generally considered over the course of a day. So any one recipe, if it’s low in carbs, is a start. You can use the guidelines of my recipes to determine how many grams of fat, protein and carbohydrates you would like to include in your daily totals. And then go from there.