Once upon a time, I used to have a little food blog.

I grew up learning to cook from my mom, who is an incredible cook, thanks to her mom and 6 years living in Rome and Florence, Italy. In our house, we ate pasta at least once a week, with salad straight from the garden in the summer and pizza in the brick pizza oven my dad built in the backyard. I had no idea how how lucky I was. Food is a part of my family's DNA and once I moved out of the dorms in college, I realized I had to start learning to cook for myself. As an adult, I've come to love cooking to feed myself and my friends. Cooking is a spiritual practice of learning, of hospitality, and of slowing down.

This recipe blog came to life in Seminary after friends suggested I make a blog of my favorite recipes. I ignored the suggestions for a long time since there is no shortage of food blogs on the internet, but I eventually decided to go for it, with the intention that recipes always be:

1) delicious
2) relatively simple to make
3) accessible for those with food sensitivities and restrictions
4) adaptable from single people to families

While I was in Seminary, this blog really came to life with the help of my friend Leslie. Leslie is a photographer and storyteller (and is gluten-free!) and she was looking for a fun creative outlet and together we had a blast. I haven’t updated the blog in years, nor do I expect to in the future, but I still like keeping it up, even though some of the old posts make me cringe a little, if for no other reason than to use it as a quick reference for myself. I hope these recipes bring you the same joy they’ve brought me!