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Based on the blog comments, I tried adding baking soda to the boiling water.  I also got tired of kneading flour into the dough so only made it through a total of 5 cups of flour (not 5 1/2).  :)  I ended up with a total of 16 pretzels.  When I make this recipe again, I'll probably give the sourdough starter and the dough a little more time to sit, just to see if the pretzels end up with a little more sourdough flavor.   Enjoy!

Yield: 20 pretzels, about 4 or 5 inches across, hard crust, soft center.

I grew up in Jamaica with my parents and younger brother. My mom has taught food and nutrition for over 30 years and my dad has taught agricultural science for even longer than that! From my mom I learned how to cook the food that my dad grew and raised. Most of my life was spent living on a farm with chickens, goats, cows, and pigs. As a child I used to get teased at school for being a "country girl" but I loved riding on the tractor while my dad was tilling the soil and watching him help animals give birth to their young. My first venture into business was starting a farm stand to sell fruit with my brother in front of our home in Bushy Park. 

The food we ate growing up in Jamaica was fresh and homegrown; looking back, it was all organic, but we didn't call it that. It's just the way things were. The memories of time spent with my grandparents in Brown's Hall are some of my fondest. Love, beautiful green trees everywhere and fresh, clean air. When we drove to "country" to visit, as we made our way through the mountains, I loved when we got closer to the district and people would stop my father's truck constantly just to say hello or give us some fruits and vegetables.

It was in Brown's Hall that I developed a love for food just picked from a tree (Jackfruit!) and also had my first ride on a donkey! My grandfather grew cacao (for making chocolate) and all kinds of vegetables. I know he would be surprised to know how much of expensive commodity raw cacao is right now. My grandmother I could always count on to have something good to eat and she taught me how to bake when I was 5 years old. I've never stopped, however, after years of practice and using friends and family as guinea pigs, everything I bake now is dairy-free and vegan, but still yummy!

Me at 5 years old in Brown's Hall, St. Catherine, Jamaica

After graduating from St. Catherine Primary, I received a full scholarship to St. Andrew High School for Girls and studied food and nutrition for the entire 5 years of high school. I also sat for the CXC examination in food and nutrition, conducting research and writing a paper on chickens and egg production. My father raised chickens and the "egg money" paid for many things over the years. It was in high school I learned cooking techniques and how to plan and prepare meals; always with the help and advice from my mom on how to make the food look as good as it tasted. Since I was a child I've been fascinated with food, how it's grown, and eventually how it affects our bodies. 

On a trip with my mom, grandma and brother to Washington, D.C. the pilot (Eastern Airlines!) allowed me inside the cockpit and I was smitten. At 5 years old I was determined to do 3 things in my life: be a teacher, sell ice-cream and be a pilot. When I was 16 and had ground school and a year of flight training under my belt at Wings Jamaica, my parents sent me back to the good ol' U.S. of A for school. In my final undergraduate year a friend showed me an ad in the school paper for law school scholarships. The only problem was that the deadline was the next day. I filled it out that night, dropped it off at exactly 5pm, took the LSAT a couple weeks later and the next thing I knew, I was off to the only law school I applied to, Florida State. I didn't even have time to attend my graduation ceremony at FIU.

While in law school, after a not so pleasant experience with some ground beef, I immediately became a vegetarian. Then as the years passed-vegan, raw food, macrobiotic...I've always used myself as a test subject with different ways of eating. At this point, I don't label myself anymore; I just eat what my body asks for, but mostly plant-based whole foods. Physical activity is also a necessary part of my wellness equation, as well as meditation and mindfulness. My genetic predisposition is to carry weight and I learned the hard way that proper nutrition was not going to be enough for me, so I have to move my body!

After giving birth to my now 6 year old son Kai and reading Martha Beck's "Finding Your Own North Star" I rediscovered my belief that one must follow their passion in life. I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York and travelled from Florida every month for almost a year to attend classes all the while raising Kai (as a single mother...whew!) and working full time (double whew!) Upon graduation from IIN I moved to Chicago and while still working full time as an attorney, I founded an organic catering company and vegan baking business. I've catered parties and events for individual clients, the raw food community in Chicago and companies such as Diesel Jeans and In Style Magazine.

The cooking is all fine and dandy, however, I yearn for the intimate relationship that I love with food and people. When I prepare a meal for you, I want to share with you where the food came from and how it was grown, the techniques used to prepare the meal and how the ingredients will be good for your health. Food, nutrition, organic agriculture, wellness, green living, sustainability and health are some of the things that I am most passionate about in this life. I am committed to being of service and helping people, especially in the ways we nurture body, mind, and spirit.