Good Food Starts With Healthy Ingredients

When eating at a restaurant, people should know what the ingredients are. Julie Lassiter, owner of Juniper’s Fine Dining in Rawlins, said people should know the ingredients in the food that is being served to them. She said everything she cooks at her restaurant is made from scratch.

“We serve primarily scratch ingredients,” Lassiter said. “I am still looking for a baker. Everything I make comes from my recipes and I came up with scratch sauces, barbecue, and other homemade foods. What we are doing is creating an elevated type of dining.”

According to Lassiter, the lack of knowledge of food can lead to serious health issues. Lassiter was attending culinary school when she was diagnosed with cancer. She said she wanted to do something different in the way she eats and cooks by creating healthier solutions and avoiding ingredients. She said it can lead to cancer or any serious health conditions.

“I decided to do this type of dining three weeks into culinary school when I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s follicular lymphoma,” Lassiter said. “I knew something was wrong with me before I discovered I had cancer, so I was looking for ways to eat healthy and make healthier foods. I wanted to make a difference so people don’t deal with the health issues I have.”

Lassiter said her cancer is incurable because it was not caught in time. She said she was able to make it through school and took a break to go through chemotherapy. Lassiter graduated from culinary school in 2023 and she would cook off and on for three years. According to Lassiter, foods that contain unpronounceables must be avoided. According to U.S.Foods.com, unpronounceables are ingredients that could lead to health issues. Some examples are ammonium chloride, artificial flavor & color, bleached flour, and other potentially harmful ingredients.

“I have become passionate about fresh ingredients,” Lassiter said. “I wanted to cook food with fewer unpronounceables by avoiding bad preservatives and pesticides. Eventually, we are upgrading to a hydroponic garden and growing our organic spices and herbs.”

Lassiter said she wants to reduce and eliminate her carbon footprint. She said it’s a topic people can agree or disagree on, but because of her health, she feels it’s important to do her part.

“I know there is controversy on this topic,” Lassiter said. “But when you have terminal cancer you think differently about your future.”

Some may wonder how Lassiter came up with the name of her restaurant. She said it is named after her dog.

“I had an English Bulldog back in the day,” Lassiter said. “She went through foot surgery, hip replacements, and severe asthma and we later found out about her cancer.”

Despite Lassiter’s terminal cancer, she said she will continue to fight and find cures.

Lassiter also said she has plans to be in a Gumbo cook-off to raise money to fight cancer. According to the Wyoming Foundation For Cancer Care (WYOFCC), the Gumbo cook-off will be on June 1 at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds.

“I talked with my husband’s boss’s wife at a Christmas event,” Lassiter said. “She does a lot of work with the cancer treatment center in Casper. So we hope to be in the Gumbo cook-off to raise money for the cancer center there. It has been a rough road for me because it took about a year to get back on my feet after chemo. I almost died in 2022 and I got sick which led to one infection to another”.

Lassiter said she is always willing to talk to her customers about being health conscious. If anyone has questions about the ingredients she cooks with, she will answer any questions. She said it is her mission to bring awareness to customers about healthy eating. She also said she wants her customers to be satisfied knowing they had a meal made with natural ingredients.

“My first step in being proactive in changing people’s opinions on how they eat is at my restaurant,” Lassiter said. “You can talk to people all day long about how to eat healthy and to change their habits. The best way to do this is by getting them to taste it. Then eating it. For people on a budget, it might be expensive on the short end but it’s still healthier in the long haul.”

Lassiter said she is getting support from the University of Wyoming (UW) in getting her own organic fruits and vegetable garden. She said she got invited to take a look at their hydroponic garden.

“I spoke with someone at UW and I am hoping if we are successful here I would like to get some property at UW,” Lassator said. “The lady I spoke with told me to contact the UW agriculture department and I was invited to take a tour of the hydroponic garden system in Jackson Hole. So I am moving towards finding a place to build a hydroponic garden. In Jackson, you can purchase pesticide-free fruits and vegetables and I would like to see the City of Rawlins doing the same thing as Jackson.”

Lassiter said people cannot afford to eat healthily because of the cost. She said building a hydroponic garden is a step in the right direction to help people dealing with the same illness as her.

Juniper’s Fine Dining is located in the Econo Lodge 1801 E Cedar St, Rawlins, WY 82301

They are open Tuesday through Saturday. To get additional information you can call (307) 324-2783.