READER ELLA SAYS COOKERY'S COOL!!!

Are you a domestic goddess or a kitchen disaster? We chatted to reader Ella, age 13, whose interest in cooking led her to begin a super-cool cookery blog... and helped her handle some serious health issues!

Cathy says:
I've been hearing amazing things about your food blog... what got you started?

Ella says:
I have always loved cooking. Mum and Dad taught me to cook and brought me up on homemade food - my whole family are keen cooks. I thought it might be cool to start a cookery blog, and Dad helped me to design and create it. I thought it would be a fun thing to try! I've always loved trying new recipes but I think the blog has made me more adventurous! Since starting it, I've learned how to make meringues (tricky!) and mashed potato, which I had never tried before! My family love that I'm doing this, but I think they wish I'd clean up the kitchen afterwards. Well, you can't have everything!

Cathy says:
How would you convince readers who may be hooked on frozen ready meals to try something different  and get cooking?

Ella says:
I'd get them to cook their favourite meal from scratch so they could taste how brilliant it would be homemade. Cooking is actually really good fun, especially pasta making - I love rolling out the dough! Cooking from scratch is much cheaper, too. It doesn't matter if things aren't perfect to start with, you're learning to try new things! Start off by helping your mum and dad, then do a little by yourself, then try making a small meal. Pretty soon you'll be a whizz in the kitchen! The recipes I cook for the blog are all vegetarian and pretty healthy, but for the desserts I go all-out for the flavour. Maybe I'm fattening up my family, but hey! Desserts are also a good way of getting a reluctant cook interested... it's fun, and you get a yummy treat at the end of it! My own favourite food is probably veggie kebabs with cashew sauce. My mum cooks them the best, although my dad might disagree on that...

Cathy says:
Have you ever had any culinary disasters?

Ella says:
All the time! Sometimes I forget to read the recipe right and miss out a vital step, and then I have to go back and do it later on. It doesn't always work when you do things the wrong way around! There have been occasions when I've spilled the ingredients all over the floor... my dog didn't seem to mind, though! I'm only in S2 at school so I haven't chosen my options yet, but I do get cookery every week and that's great. It should be on the timetable in every high school - we all need to know how to cook.

Cathy says:
Have you had any setbacks? And what does the future hold?

Ella says:
A few, I guess! I have diabetes and when I first found out, five years ago, it felt like the end of the world. I thought I wouldn't be able to have my favourite foods any more, but I was wrong. I have to be careful with my sugar intake, but that fact that I love cooking is a big help - I am more aware of what I am eating. I have to be able to count the carbs in my food to take the correct amount of insulin, so knowing what goes into the meals I cook helps a lot. In December, I was diagnosed with coeliac disease too - I thought, great, diabetic and coeliac! Coeliac disease means you cannot eat gluten, which is found in wheat and various other cereals. It wasn't too hard to adjust as I am used to being careful with what I eat, and I have great support from local dieticians and medical teams. When I cook for my family now I sometimes have to make two separate dishes so I can have a gluten free alternative - and some dishes are very hard to make gluten free. Gluten is what holds together bread, pasta and pastry together so it's a challenge! I've just learned to make gluten-free pastry and I know I will conquer these new challenges. My career dreams are to own a bakery or cafe one day - I'm going to make it happen!

Check out Ella's blog here!

Ella's blog has inspired me to try a few of her recipes - I even bought a recipe book that she recommended! Do you struggle with diabetes or coeliac disease? Or are you just a keen cook? COMMENT HERE to share your stories, or give some feedback on Ella's fab food blog.