A Note from the Author

Welcome to the website for my previously published cookbook, LegalEats, A Lawyer's Lite Cookbook (LE).

The website is long overdue considering I first starting promoting the cookbook back in 2001 shortly after it was published and first launched at the State Bar of GA Annual Meeting held on Kiawah Island, SC. A lot has changed over the years but, the premise behind LE never changed - to cook quick, healthy recipes using the freshest ingredients (while never compromising taste), as my favorite Mediterranean based recipes were "tweaked" over the years to lighten them up. Hence the name, LegalEats, A Lawyer's Lite Cookbook! And as an attorney/cookbook author, LE was initially targeted to the legal community and other "lean and mean types" who enjoy quick healthy cooking.

I have also incorporated some new favorite ingredients into the LE website recipes that I hope you enjoy as I have added them over the years into my lifestyle. I discovered years ago the many health benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet - which everyone can benefit from (not just those of us with creaky knee joints) and the Mediterranean cooking I grew up with in my Italian- American family continues to be the basis of my cooking.

Check out the "Blog" section of the website for my monthly "Counsel's Corner" topics where you will find my personal take on different foods, recipes and healthy eating tips where I get to share what works for me and profile a different food topic, ingredient or cooking style (featuring a corresponding recipe and food photo).

For example, I've always (and still do) use extra virgin olive oil as my main go to healthy fat in most savory meals (in lieu of butter or other cooking oil). However, in recent years I've also added some new healthy fats such as, coconut oil in many things from my morning oatmeal and coffee, to baking up some of my favorite desserts. In monthly Counsel's Corner topics, I'll share some of my personal favorite recipes using coconut oil including, my Notoriously Nutty Grantor's Granola (a/k/a LE Granola), and my (lighter) lemon pound cake - all using coconut oil instead of butter.

Why you may ask, has it taken so long for the LE cookbook website to finally launch (a question I often asked myself over the years)? Let's just say life (and many family losses, two out of state corporate relocations for my spouse, a few too many house renovations and some past personal health issues) has gotten in the way over the years. It was always my intention to follow up my fun cookbook with a website of it's own so I'm thrilled that day has finally come (better late than never)!

And I am happy to report that my original fun loving, LegalEats, A Lawyer's Lite Cookbook is still widely available for ALL to enjoy - not just those lean and mean legal types!!

As some of you may know, my late mother, Josephine Tuzza, was actually the original inspiration for the healthy Mediterranean cooking style which formed the basis of my LE cookbook. She was also quite the health food nut (respectfully) with all her home based remedies. She gave new meaning to the words "food as medicine." She was a walking encyclopedia of natural (food based) home remedies (lots of garlic!) for whatever ailed you. And she was also one of my best promoters of LE after the cookbook was first published.  Thanks Mom for your great food and loving inspiration.

Many thanks to my husband, marketing guru Ira Gleser, who gets credit for his many fine food photos featured here on the website. He's been encouraging me for years to make the cookbook website a reality. 

And finally, a big thank you to the talented website designer, Lance Campbell, for bringing my cookbook website to life.

As the late great American writer and lecturer Joseph Campbell noted:

We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." He is probably best known to most for his "follow your bliss" philosophy. As he eloquently stated, "If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be."

     --Joseph Campbell

I hope you all enjoy the LegalEats cookbook website (as well as my monthly Counsel's Corner topics), as the journey continues and the next chapter begins.

And here's to following your bliss!

Flavia J. Tuzza