I always enjoyed following Anupy Singla’s career over the eight years she worked for Tribune Co.-owned CLTV and WGN-Channel 9, and the four years before that she worked for Bloomberg News. You don’t forget a name like Anupy Singla.

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So I was delighted to hear that Chicago’s first Indian-American news anchor is getting back in business after taking a few years off to raise her two daughters and transform herself into a food expert and author. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see her turn up one of these days as a host on the Food Network.

For the time being, Singla, 41, is focused on the release this fall of her first cookbook, The Indian Slow Cooker: 50 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes. Along with blogging on her website, Indian as Apple Pie, she wrote the book to make Indian cooking easy and affordable by offering healthy crock-pot versions of classic Indian cuisine for busy families. Said Singla:

“I’ve always wanted to write a cookbook — from the moment that my grandfather visiting from a tiny village in India gave me my first cooking lesson. I was just 10 at the time. He and my father are the huge foodies in the family. The idea was to combine the love of traditional Indian food with my mom’s quest to make it easy by cooking it in a slow cooker. I loved writing it because it’s how I managed to feed my family healthy food on a reporter’s schedule — short on personal time and energy. I’m hoping with this book to help so many people who are scrambling to get through their days but still want to teach their children the importance of good, healthy, homemade food.”

Walking away from her career in television news after a dozen years turned out to be tougher than expected for Singla, who found she missed the action and excitement of daily deadlines and newsroom camaraderie. “At parties people would ask what I did, and often I’d test them by saying I was a stay-at-home mom,” she recalled. “They’d literally run in the other direction without asking any other questions — as if I‚ had nothing‚ more to add to the conversation.‚ So I felt like I lost my identity too.”

Channeling her energy into testing recipes and writing about food — including freelance pieces for the Sun-Times, the Tribune and the Wall Street Journal — proved to be a perfect entrée, so to speak, back into journalism. Added Singla:

“After leaving TV and a newsroom to be at home, reporting a full day is a piece of cake compared to keeping up with my kids. I really have a newfound appreciation and respect for any mother or father that makes the very difficult — but very rewarding — decision to be at home. I do hope, however, that my love of food and good TV will collide one of these days.”