Welcome to Sweet Salty Kitchen! 

My name is María, I am a pastry chef, a cook, graduated recently as a Holistic Health Coach and also the author of this blog. A space born out of the need to share all the information I learnt in these last years. The recipes you will find here are the vehicle through which I try to convey my passion for cooking and my life philosophy. Nowadays the food is so distorted, manipulated, processed and refined that I feel obligated to remind through this blog of the urgent need to use genuine food, whole, fresh and of the highest quality. This is for me an absolute priority. The food connects us all in an emotional and cellular level. We live in a fast pace world and cooking has become something secondary. And we forget that cooking at home is a really important experience in many areas! When you cook for your family and friends, whenever you share this activity with your children, you are creating unforgettable ties and building memories that will stay with you forever. Cooking is education. Cooking is love. Cooking allows us to connect with everything that surrounds us.

What you will find in Sweet Salty Kitchen:

– Healthy vegan and vegetarian recipes. Not because I consider myself vegan or vegetarian, but because there is too much animal protein in our dishes and I firmly believe we should increase the intake of vegetables in general. In this way, you will do a favour to your body, the environment and your pocket. You will find recipes with: vegetables, fruits, wholegrain cereals, legumes, seaweeds, seeds, nuts and sometimes, eggs and dairy products.

– Pastry recipes (my weakness) with non-refined sugars, different wholemeal flours, nuts…sweets that uses ingredients which provide something else than empty calories. Baked and raw sweets, with or without eggs, with or without gluten, with or without dairy products. My goal is to provide a great variety of options, using always natural ingredients. I don´t like neither the misleading marketing, nor the processed products which try to imitate others and look healthy. Here you won´t find vegan butter, soya yogurt or vegan cheese. In my opinion, that is not natural foodstuff. I rather prefer a good butter or a good goat cheese made with raw milk. I always think about the traditional stuff  and consider how far the food is from its initial state. The closest to the earth, the better.

– Ideas to help you organize yourself better in the kitchen.
– Nutritional information of different foods.
– Healthy and tasty go hand in hand. Something that is not so easy, and not so obvious. I have seen too many times how people sell foods as super-healthy stuff and then, when you taste it, you want to vomit right away…

My philosophy

I believe:
– In going more to the market and less frequently to the supermarket.
– In the genuine organic products (not in the organic processed products that literally imitate the non-organic) and in the seasonal products.
– That we should ALWAYS ALWAYS read the labels of whatever we buy. If you don´t understand the ingredients, get upset! If the label says that it is super healthy, light and without sugar, get even more upset!
– That we are responsible for our health and our environment.
– That we can cook simple, tasty and nutritious stuff without having to spend the whole day in the kitchen.
– That if you eat in a balanced way, you will feel better in a physical and emotional level.
– In  BIO-INDIVIDUALITY: we are all different, what it can be good for someone, it can be really harmful for someone else . That is why there is no universal diet. Search for whatever makes you feel good in a personal level.
– In PRIMARY NUTRITION: the food is not our only source of nourishment. Surrounding yourself with people who love you and support you, doing regular exercise you enjoy, having a stimulating job and a spiritual life that fulfills you, all of them are as a whole, an important nourishment for your body and soul. Learn to take care of all of them in the same level.
– In the exceptions, in breaking the rules from time to time and in enjoying life. Say no to the dogmas.

I can´t forget to mention in this section two people without whom SWEET SALTY KITCHEN wouldn´t exist.
My son Simon, big “guinea pig” of his mum´s experiments. A big master I learn from day after day.
Sergio, the dad, great partner in the good times and in the bad times and also the author of the photos of this blog. Without him, this wouldn´t have been possible. Thank you for always supporting me.
And thanks to you as well, because you have read till here.