September 1, 2015 – Chef Paola Mikes served up creamy lemon custard topped with a sprinkle of shaved coconut, encouraging her guests to eat up, and even lick the spoon. Based on a traditional pudding recipe whose ingredients would have sent anyone running to the gym, Mikes’ version removed all the guilt and replaced it with avocado, coconut milk, agave, lemon juice, and a dash of comfort.
Growing up, Mikes wasn’t interested in learning how to cook. But she was taught early that acquiring cooking skills was a rite of passage in her culture, an essential part of becoming a woman. So she trained in her mother’s kitchen, learning to cook from scratch, with fats and flour, meats and creams; traditional foods that were rich and tasty, to satisfy a large and hungry family.
She cooks differently now. And Mikes recently contributed her healthy recipes to the book “Eating With Grace: Learning to Feed Your Body and Nourish Your Life” by Monterey health counselor W. Grace Nicodemus.
Mikes was born in Oaxaca, Mexico and moved with her family to Seaside when she was 7 years old. Resources were scarce, and school was a struggle, but she studied hard, determined to be better than everyone just to measure up to anyone. And she continued to cook.
Once Mikes became a mother, she devoted herself to providing for her child in ways she had not known, herself. To refine her cooking skills, she enrolled in the Monterey Culinary Institute, where she paired native, traditional dishes with a more sophisticated style of food preparation. Upon graduation, she became a chef at the Intercontinental The Clement hotel on Cannery Row. She went on to cook in the main kitchen of Carmel Bakery, which provides food for several Carmel restaurants. And there were more. Through each different kitchen, Mikes both honed and expanded her skills.
Her food was good, and her family and friends loved it. But it wasn’t necessarily good for them.
“Working in different restaurants,” says Mikes, “I cooked so many different cuisines and specialties, always putting my own touch on it. But I got to the point where I also wanted to cook healthier foods my family could enjoy every day, and actually eat every bite of it without feeling guilty afterwards.”
So she began to experiment, replacing corn oil, canola oil or lard with olive or coconut oil. Eliminating refined sugars, she shifted to honey or agave, and replaced white flour with almond or brown rice flour. Eschewing cow’s milk, she went for almond milk, eventually switching to coconut milk. She reduced meat consumption to twice a week and upped her family’s intake of wild, fresh-caught fish. She replaced conventional produce with organic fruits and vegetables. Her husband lost 40 pounds. Other family members lost more.
“I, too, had struggled with weight and got so tired of going up and down like a yo-yo,” says Mikes. “I tried all kinds of diets and eventually got tired of each. Once I started cooking differently, once I got the processed and junk food out of the house, my weight stabilized. Now, if someone wants a snack, they throw fresh fruit, ice, and coconut milk in the blender to make a smoothie. We keep the weight off effortlessly.”
It took years for the girl who didn’t want to cook, to learn that cooking is her calling. She simply had to learn how to do so, healthfully. Inspired by her healthy family, Mikes has made it her mission to motivate and teach others how to use fresh, organic, nutrient-packed ingredients to cook nutritious meals for their families. This past fall she founded “Passion for Health by Paola,” through which she provides not just alternative recipes, but also training on how to create a healthy lifestyle through the kitchen via cooking classes, lectures and demonstrations.
“My recipes are not the same as people are used to,” says Mikes, “but they are good—better—in a very different way. Once I set up my kitchen with my spices and the things I need to cook from scratch, my weight went down, my food budget went down, and my cooking time went down. Now I shop mostly at farmers’ markets. I like talking with the farmers, knowing where my food comes from, and learning that it was harvested that morning. You can’t get any better than that.”
For more information about Passion for Health by Paola, contact (831) 644-9614. The book “Eating With Grace” is available on Amazon. Click here for info.
About the author
A fifth-generation Northern Californian, Lisa Crawford Watson has enjoyed a diverse career in business, education and writing. She lives with her family on the Monterey Peninsula, where her grandmother once lived and wrote. An adjunct writing instructor for CSU Monterey Bay and Monterey Peninsula College, Lisa is also a free-lance writer, who specializes in the genres of art & architecture, health & lifestyle, food & wine. She has published various books and thousands of feature articles and columns in local and national newspapers and magazines.
