Creating Happy Foods

Local chef Lisa Rovick has teamed up with local writer Susan Weintrob to create the e-cookbook HappyFoods365, offering a unique approach to everyday cooking that develops easy-to-follow and customizable recipes. Whether meat and potatoes are your thing or your menu is mostly fruits and vegetables, Rovick and Weintrob teach you to improvise on a daily basis. They also show you how most of their recipes can be adapted for raw, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-dairy-soy-allium free, diabetic, and kosher diets.
On Tuesday, May 5 the chef and author will officially launch the e-cookbook with a cooking demo, giveaways, and a tastings as part of the as Charleston Jewish Bookfest. The book features more than 100 recipes, from mouth-watering sweet onion and butternut squash soup, challah french toast casserole, crunchy raw sweet potato noodles with pineapple and mango, and the braised brisket with sweet and sour sauce.
Born and raised in Charleston, Rovick has always had a love for art and for food. She began working in restaurants from the age of 16 and never looked back. A graduate from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY with degrees in both Culinary Arts and Culinary Management, Rovick has moved around the food world over the years, including hotels, restaurants, and catering. Rovick still caters professionally and is a home cook.
With an eye for presentation as well as taste, Rovick creates recipes and develops chef’s tips for normal people. “I am the kind of chef who likes to cook recipes with easy to find ingredients that are simple and not intimidating to others,” says Rovick. “I like to teach people to have fun with cooking.”
While Rovick’s creativity shines in the kitchen, local author Susan Weintrob helped put that vision into words that everyone can understand with HappyFoods365.
Weintrob grew up around food and its preperation. Her father owned a deli and catering business, which taught her the key components of the industry.
“I have always loved to write and that led me to teaching literature and composition for many years in high school and college, as well as writing a newspaper column for over a decade,” says Weintrob, who later became an independent school administrator.
Weintrob writes full time now that she is retired from education. “Writing a cookbook with Lisa (Rovick) is an amazing opportunity,” she says. “Cooking and talking about food are simply fun and take me back to memories of my Dad.”
Lisa Rovick  and Susan Weintrob launch their cookbook HappyFoods 365 on Tuesday, May 5 at 7 p.m. at
The Charleston Jewish Community Center, located at 1645 Raoul Wallenberg Blvd. For more information call 571-6565 or visit sandrab@charlestonjcc.org.