It can be a challenge to stay on track with a healthy lifestyle. Stress, social pressures, time and energy all impact our ability to make good choices with our food, leaving many people feeling helpless or out of control in their own kitchen. Krissie Lee founded The Honest Plate with a mission to provide simple resources and effective strategies to give people their power back with their food. Rather than touting fad diets or endless protein shakes and bars, The Honest Plate switches the focus to a lifestyle that encompasses whole foods that satisfy. Krissie’s cooking classes and catering give you every tool you need to start enjoying food again and feeling good about it.
A Foundation of Whole Foods with The Honest Plate
Krissie’s newfound love for whole food nutrition and cooking began when she was living in Italy. Their lifestyle was completely different from the processed, fast-paced one she was accustomed to in the U.S. “I saw in Italy how meals are sacred,” she explains. “The quality of ingredients and the way they approach food is so different from the way we approach food as Americans.”
When Krissie and her husband moved home from Italy, they landed in New York City where Krissie had the amazing opportunity to attend the Natural Gourmet Institute. She graduated as a natural food chef and shortly after returned to Seattle to begin working in catering.
Krissie spent years in this industry and handled catering events for celebrities and some past presidents. She and her family later relocated to Austin, Texas where she worked as a private chef for 8 years. As glamorous as all of this sounds, Krissie really felt her passion was in helping local people and communities developing a healthier relationship with food, which prompted their relocation back to Thurston County. “It was so much fun to have those experiences, but cooking and creating in a community like Olympia has so much more meaning to me because it creates so much more connection,” Krissie says.
She founded The Honest Plate to provide cooking classes locally at organizations including Bayview Thriftway, and privately in your own home too. This creates a personalized experience to really dive into your favorite recipes and learn new ways to create healthy meals at home.
She still offers catering services for events and parties where you want a deliciously wholesome meal, or when you simply want to just enjoy yourself as the host. “In my catering, I don’t want you to have to lift a finger!” she shares. “Feeding people is what makes me happy, and it is so nice to see the joy in the people having the events where they don’t have to stress about cooking.” As she has continued to grow in the local community, Krissie has found her true passion with food in helping others discover delicious and healthy foods while alleviating the stress and uncertainty around healthy eating.
Cooking Classes in Olympia Teach How to Eat Well
With most diet companies and some nutrition coaches, clients are being told what to eat, how much and when. It becomes very stringent and immediately creates a relationship of dependency. Krissie discovered how much more impactful coaching is when she empowered her clients to learn cooking methods and basic nutrition so that they could manage their food on their own for years to come. “I didn’t want to tell people what to eat, but teach people how to eat,” she explains. “I want people to nourish themselves, eat well, and eat good food all at the same time. Our diet culture just doesn’t allow us to believe food should be enjoyed, so it is really about shifting people’s minds that you can eat real wholesome foods that taste delicious.”
Krissie has seen how powerful it is to give people the tools and knowledge to really take care of their bodies. Her top priorities in creating menus or recipes for people includes food that is nourishing, satisfying, and enjoyable using real, whole ingredients and avoiding processed foods. “You can still eat the foods you want by using real, good ingredients,” she explains. “I teach you how to make these healthy, nourishing meals that can easily fit into everyday life. Even as a busy family, you can still eat well and live well.”
With her cooking classes, Krissie loves to throw in an element of surprise in her recipes to give people insight into the wide variety that is waiting in the kitchen. By teaching people how to utilize different ingredients, they can begin to craft recipes that are more nutritious and delicious than what they may have been preparing out of a box or a can in the past. “I love doing things like adding avocado to mousse or broccoli and walnuts in a pesto sauce,” Krissie shares. “It provides an upgraded version of that food and tastes even better than the standard.” Giving people these fun and innovative recipes really shows them how to be creative in the kitchen and find new ways to gather and enjoy food together.
Bayview School of Cooking and In-Home Classes
If you’re ready to find confidence and joy in the kitchen again, The Honest Plate has all of the tools and resources you need. Krissie is currently teaching cooking classes privately in people’s homes and at Bayview School of Cooking with a class called Blenders and Bowls so you can easily fit cooking into your life. For those big events, Krissie is available to take the weight off your shoulders by providing a full-service catering experience with foods that are healthy and sure to satisfy. Contact her today and discover a whole new way of life with food!
