Welcome to NeighborFood’s front porch, a place filled with great food and friendly neighborhood chats. This space is an extension of my other internet home NeighborFoodBlog.com, where I’ve been sharing approachable, family friendly recipes for 13 years.

Here, you can expect a lot of the same things you love about NeighborFood with a more personal bent.

Along with my favorite easy recipes, I’ll also be sharing personal recommendations, books I’m reading and loving, tips for hosting without losing your mind, as well as the occasional essay on parenting, an expanding faith, or social justice.

I’d love for you to grab a seat and a cookie and join me!

My Approach To Food and Cooking

I’m a self-taught cook, meaning I’ve learned everything I know from reading cookbooks like novels and then practicing, failing, succeeding, and then failing again in the kitchen, over and over again.

My approach to food is both practical and aspirational—we all need to eat AND I want everyone to eat well, meaning joyfully and freely and with gusto.

My recipes are designed for busy people who need to get dinner on the table in 30 minutes and who also occasionally host their big, boisterous families or friends for a holiday dinner. I make recipes for your REAL LIFE—the nights when you have 20 minutes to cook between soccer practice and bedtime and the weekends when you want to linger over a loaf of Donut Bread.

The recipes you’ll find here do not follow any specific diet, but I include ways to make things gluten free or vegetarian as often as possible. I also aim to create recipes that won’t require a special trip to the grocery store OR have you wondering what the heck a chiffonade is.

My goal is always for you to feel like you have a friend in the kitchen, walking you through the steps and sharing a bit about life along the way.

Why Upgrade?

I started this space as a way to reclaim the community aspect I so deeply missed from the dinosaur ages of blogging (ie: 2011-2015). This is a space where I can show up as a whole human being, and not just a recipe factory. I hope it’s a safe place for other hungry souls to show up and connect through food as well.

All subscribers receive:

• 1 free recipe/month, delivered the first Tuesday

• 1 round up of my favorite seasonal recipes

• 1 recommendation, which could include books, TV, music, beauty products, really anything!

Paid subscribers will also receive:

• 1 exclusive recipe/month, delivered the last Tuesday- This recipe will not be available anywhere else!

• 1 monthly meal plan, delivered at the beginning of each month, with 20 seasonal dinner ideas, divided into four week increments

• 1 Grab Bag Essay, on topics ranging from spirituality to parenting

• Access to community discussions, Ask Me Anything, and the full archive of Substack posts

Who’s In the Kitchen? More about Me!

My husband, Will, and I have been married for 15 years and been business partners for 5 years. We have two boys, ages 9 and 5, and live in Columbus, OH, where we are connoisseurs of the local ice cream and sandwich scene.

I’m an enneagram 9 who deeply loves books, cozy blankets, and walks in the woods, but breaks into hives at the smallest hint of conflict. I’ve lived my whole life in the Midwest and have roots in the Amish and Mennonite tradition, which means casseroles and baked goods are my native language.

I became a Christian before I could ride a bike, but my faith has changed and expanded dramatically over the last 30+ years. Despite my complicated relationship with big-C Christianity, I am still grounded in Love and stubbornly hopeful that all things will one day be redeemed.

Before I became a food blogger, I was a community organizer, and much of my love for food is tied to its power to bring people together across all kinds of social barriers.

I believe food is the greatest reminder of our common humanity, a thread that both ties us to one another and honors our vast and splendid diversity. Cooking is both deeply personal and communal at the same time; it animates our celebrations, comforts us in our grief, and surfaces a memory or connects us to our ancestors with a single bite.

Food has been the backdrop of the story of my life, which I share here in recipes and words, a love letter from my kitchen to yours.

To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.