Welcome! I’m Julia, the woman behind the curtain here at Swirls and Spice.
If you ask me where I am from, I cannot offer a simple answer. I was born and raised by Yankee parents in Oklahoma. My husband and I fell in love and started our family when we were teaching in Asia. For the past three years I have lived in Saskatchewan with my family, where this blog was born. This summer we moved back to the Chicago area. I definitely miss the Saskatoon berries we left behind in Canada.
In order to nourish children with MSPI symptoms, I have been cooking and eating (mostly) dairy free since 2005. My Swedish Christian heritage means I especially love to bake; my grandmother and mother taught me well. I am further blessed to have three four sous chefs in my kitchen whose repertoire includes eggs, pasta, and shortbread cookies.
Though I’ve made a few forays into recipe contests and writing projects, mostly I just enjoy eating and sharing what I create in the kitchen. I hope you like what you see and make what you like! If you get as far as tasting one of the recipes here, I would love to hear your feedback!
You can also find me on Pinterest and Facebook. Thank you for taking the time to stop in and explore Swirls and Spice!
Swirls and Spice 
Thankyou for visiting my page and liking my recipe 🙂 I’m looking through yours now 🙂
Congratulations Swirls and Spice! You have been awarded: Shine On Award
I do not expect any action to be taken, or for you to generate a post (unless you wish to pass on the award nominations). Nevertheless, your blog has been awarded at:
http://fae-magazine.com/2013/05/29/awards-may-2013/
Enjoy the Award! 😀 Fae.
Thanks for checking out my blog!
Thanks for checking out my blog and my Chicken Parmesan with Zucchini Noodles. I hope you get a chance to try a recipe or two out for yourself sometime as well. I look forward to following your posts in the future!
-Christine
Hi there, thanks for visiting my blog & liking my Fresh Cherry Cake with a hint of Cinnamon. Much appreciated xx
Congratulations Swirls and Spice! You have been awarded: Versatile Blogger Award
I do not expect any action to be taken, or for you to generate a post (unless you wish to pass on the award nominations). Nevertheless, your blog has been awarded at: http://fae-magazine.com/2013/08/28/award-august-2013-part-2/
Enjoy your Award! 😀 Fae.
Thank you, Fae. I appreciate all you do to make the world a brighter place. -Julia
Thanks so much for following the Jenn stories! Also–here’s to Swedish Christian backgrounds! 🙂 I don’t know how you manage dairy free with that pedigree, but I admire it . . .
My secret is coconut milk, and the like. Also, I enjoyed your book. I saw that my review was reblogged on your website. 🙂 -Reflective Woman
Oh! That was you? Thank you! (Do I know you in real life?)
Hi there! I love your blog and have nominated you for the Liebster Award. Here’s my post in case you’d like to participate & pass on the recognition: http://theseasonedtraveler.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/thanks-giving/comment-page-1/#comment-314
Congrats! -Laura
Hi there! I’ve enjoyed reading your blog the past few months and have (also!) nominated you for the Liebster Award: http://putonyourcakepants.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/liebster-award-nominations/
Lovely website!! Thanks for visiting enSALADes and liking one of my dairy-free recipe. I understand better your interest now 🙂 Have a lovely Sunday!
Thanks you for stopping by and for your kind words. You are welcome back any time!
🙂
Hi ! I’ve nominated you for a Liebster award! You can read a little more about it here:
http://mstsdinner.wordpress.com/2014/04/05/liebster-award-thank-you/
Thanks for stopping by my blog, so glad I visited yours today. Great Easter ideas!
Hi Julia! Thank you for stopping by our blog. I see you cook diary-free, the thought of which makes me worry if i’ll be able to bake at all. So i look forward to exploring your blog more! 🙂
Glad to have you here! Coconut milk is a dairy-free baker’s delight. And it’s amazing what can be done when a person is motivated and hungry!
Nice to meet you Julia. Your blog looks very interesting and would love to follow and learn more from you! 🙂
You have such a lovely blog! I’m thrilled I came across it through Fiesta Friday. 🙂
Thanks so much! Glad you were here!
Hi Julia! I lived in Winnipeg for 10 winters as I like to say but live in the UK now. I was curious about the illness you mentioned and looked it up – ouch! Not nice and how lucky that you are able to go dairy free – I couldn’t imagine how I would cope! Nice to meet you via Fiesta Friday!
Hi Selma! Winnipeg is even colder than here! Brrr! This year I’ve been easing back into dairy, but I find that I enjoy the challenge of cooking dairy free, so my recipes here are still developed that way. I look forward to exploring more of your creations as well. 🙂
thank you for visiting my page and liking my post. I love your blog. Interesting and fun recipe;-) I have been trying to insert the recipe page on my bog too, how do you do that?
I found a code to do it on a wordpress help page. So far only my newer recipes have the format. Here’s the link to the page with the shortcode: http://en.support.wordpress.com/shortcodes/recipes/
What a beautiful blog! I can’t wait to try some of your recipes! I can’t resist wild berries either, one of my most favorite things to “hunt” for!
Thank you for visiting my blog. I am enjoying looking at your blog and look forward to more posts!
Welcome, and thank you! 🙂
Thank you for stopping by my blog and liking my post. I’m enjoying reading through yours and look forward to more posts 🙂
Well, it looks like you’ve already been nominated several times, but I enjoy your blog so I’m nominating you again 🙂 http://justwhiskedaway.com/2015/04/29/a-few-thank-yous/
Thanks!
Thank you for coming by and liking my posts. I have enjoyed reading your blog. Great recipes!
I love the look of your blog: food placed on maps. Very clever. (Tasty, too!)
You have a lovely blog, and I love the mix of recipes. I will be popping in often to see what recipes I can try. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by my blog too.
Thanks! You are always welcome!
Hi there! I’ve nominated you for the versatile blogger award. Acceptance is purely optional, but if you’re interested come and check out the rules for acceptance at my blog!
https://ineedafeed.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/versatile-blogger-award-2/
Julia, sad to see you are no longer in sk. Thought we might meet up some day since it’s such a “small” province. best of luck down south! Tricia
Yes, we were sad to leave our friends and relatives there. I felt more at ease there than I do here. As our parents get older, however, it’s probably for the best to be closer to where they are.