Time to learn new things - Young health enthusiast uses f ree time to start food blog

Story and photos by Julie Ann Lemire 
Like many others during this global pandemic, I found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands, and unsure what to do with it. I decided to take a leap and start something I had wanted to do for a long time.
I have been passionate about living an active lifestyle for as long as I can remember. I have played just about every sport you can think of, starting with soccer at the age of three, followed by basketball, golf, track and field..., the list goes on.
I am also equally as passionate about food. My parents have always been what you would call “foodies” and introduced my brother and me to all kinds of different foods growing up. My dad is a phenomenal chef, and I have been lucky enough to have learned from him. Along with all the cooking going on in the kitchen, my mom emphasized the importance of healthy eating choices. These influences have helped develop my passion for healthy living.
When I was fourteen years old, I joined 902 Athletics, my local CrossFit gym. My mom and grandmother had joined a few months prior and I was inspired to join too. I immediately adored CrossFit in a different way than how I loved any other sport. More than just improving my fitness, CrossFit also made me want to treat my body the best I possibly could; including how I eat and sleep.
Fast forward to March of this year. Finishing up my grade eleven year, the world is in lockdown mode, and I am at home, spending lots of my free time cooking and baking many different healthy meals and snacks. I would always take pictures of my food for the hypothetical food blog I had talked about starting. Enough was enough with all the hesitation. 
I finally decided it was time to go for it and start my blog. I wanted to create this blog to share the healthy recipes I have developed along with teaching others about nutrition in a fun, light-hearted way.
I believe that food is one of the biggest contributors to living a healthy lifestyle. Contrary to popular belief, healthy food 
is so much more than chicken breast, rice and broccoli. This is exactly why I made a website to share that with others. Since starting my blog, I have had two recipes published in magazines, and I have started my own business making and selling my healthy bagels, muffins, pies and so on.
Eating healthy is not boring, nor is it complicated. My goal is to create recipes that are easy to make and delicious to eat. I would like to see everybody experience great food, whether they love to cook or just love to eat. I want others to feel inspired to treat themselves well by eating well. I do not come up with a thirty day cleanse, a strict meal plan, or a fad diet that happens to be on trend this month. I simply post recipes that I love to make for myself and others, that help me feel my best, perform my best, and enjoy my food.
Try this meal out (one of the first recipes I ever posted) and impress everyone who is lucky enough to enjoy it with you! To see a collection of delicious, healthy recipes, check out my blog! www..athl-eats.ca

Lemongrass Chicken 
Serves: 4 Prep time: 10 minutes Marinade: 2-8 hours 
Cook time: 15 minutes 
Ingredients
4 Chicken breast
5 cloves of garlic minced
2 stalks lemongrass finely chopped
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
Chopped cilantro to serve (optional)
Method
1. Place chicken breast into ziplock bag.
2. Mince garlic and chop lemongrass
3. Put in ziplock bag along with all other ingredients and place in fridge to marinade or at least two hours.
4. When you are ready to make heat large pan to medium high with 1 tbsp olive oil or non-stick cooking spray.
5. Place chicken in pan along with all the juices from the marinade.
6. Cook chicken fully through. Roughly 6 or 7 minutes per side. Time will vary depending on the size of the chicken breast.
7. Serve with side dishes of choice (I highly recommend making this with my Asian Style Sweet Potato and Zucchini Noodles).
Nutrition
Per 4oz chicken breast
Calories:172 Total Fat: 5g Saturated fat: 1g sodium: 1 075mg Carbohydrates: 5g Fiber: 1 Sugar: 0g Protein: 32g
​
Asian Style Sweet Potato Noodles
Serves: 4 large side dishes Prep time: 10-15 minutes Cook: 7 minutes Total time: 23 minutes
Ingredients
5 medium sweet potatoes peeled and spiralled or roughly 5-7
cups.
2 zucchini spiralled*
3 stalks green onion finely chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp minced ginger
For the sauce
1/4 c almond butter
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c chicken broth
1/4 c rice wine vinegar
Juice of one lime or about 3-4 tbsp
1 tbsp chili sauce(optional if you like a slight spiciness)

Notes
*Zucchinis are optional, but I really like to add them to give the dish more depth and I find it really lightens it up as well.
Method
1. Start by spiralling your sweet potato and zucchini into noodles if you do not have store bought.
2. Mince and chop the garlic, green onion and ginger.
3. Prepare your sauce in a medium size mixing bowl.
4. Add all sauce ingredients and stir together.
5. Heat up a large stir fry pan to medium hot with one tbsp of oil. (Sesame oil provides amazing nutty flavour and aroma, but olive oil works as well.)
6. Add the garlic, green onion and ginger to the pan and sauté for 2 minutes.
7. Add sauce to the pan.
8. Right after sauce, add sweet potato noodles and toss with the sauce. Cook for about 4 minutes before adding zucchini noodles as they take much less time to cook and you don’t want them to get mushy.
9. Once you add zucchini mix it all up and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
10. Make this the perfect Asian inspired meal by serving with my Lemongrass Chicken Recipe.
Nutrition 
1 of 4 servings 
Calories: 254 Total Fat: 9g Saturated fat: 1g Sodium: 1059 mg Carbohydrates: 38g Fiber: 7g Sugar: 10g Protein: 9g