Cookbook Author, Recipe Developer, and Co-Founder of Thriving Home
Main Jobs: Big Idea Dreamer, Chief Recipe Developer, Content Editor
Thanks for wanting to get to know me a little more. I wish I could meet you in person and get to know you too!
First off, you probably need to know that my husband affectionately describes me as “an endearing dork” because of my natural tendency to crack junior high-level jokes and make a fool of myself to get a laugh. (Yes, I’m an Enneagram 7, if you’re into that kind of thing.) I enjoy meeting new people of all ages, writing, cooking, biking and hiking, and sharing life with good friends.
Before Thriving Home
After graduating from the University of Missouri with a degree in English Education, I intended to sacrifice my life to reading, writing and grading late into the night. However, my desire shifted toward vocational ministry after becoming a Christian mid-way through college. I took a job at our church and worked there in student and children’s ministry either full time or part time for nearly 20 years.
My Family
Nathan’s the guy I became friends with (read: crushed on) my junior year of college, dated and broke up with twice, and eventually said “yes” to marrying while we were on a break. It’s a long but good story.
He’s a pastor at our church and one of the most loyal Royals fans you’ll ever meet. We’ve been married for 22 years and have a 10th grade son, 8th grade daughter, and 6th grade son.
Some of our favorite things to do as a family are bike on our local trail, coach/play/watch sports, and go out to breakfast.
My Food and Cooking Journey
You’ll notice on the blog my bent toward natural, healthy living. Although I’ve always cared about exercising and eating well, our family’s lifestyle changed when one of my children was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease at age 20 months.
After doing a research deep dive, I realized that we needed to cut out the processed junk food in our diet and start eating real food at home as much as possible. Freezer cooking and my Freezer Club have helped make that a reality for our family for well over a decade now.
I learned to cook and freeze meals over the past two decades by watching hours and hours of food shows (hat tip to America’s Test Kitchen, Rachael Ray, and Ina Garten), reading cookbooks and food magazines like textbooks (my nightstand is littered with them), cooking big batch meals for my Freezer Club for 7 years, and lots and lots of trial and error in my kitchen.
I’m in my happy place when I’m dreaming up, testing, and tweaking easy, healthy recipes for families.
Running Thriving Home
Thriving Home began in 2012 as a hobby and business idea with my friend, Polly. Our vision has always been to encourage and resource other moms with some of the things we are learning in our (very imperfect) homes. Eleven years later, this venture is still a labor of love and now a full time job that I wake up excited about each day.
One of my favorite parts of running this business is that we get to help support non-profits, like Coyote Hill, Love Columbia, and Compassion.
I hope to meet you in person or virtually on our blog or social media sometime. Our readers mean so much to us and are the reason we do what we do. Please reach out if you ever have questions, feedback, or we can help you in any way.
Press
You can see all of our public relations opportunities on our Thriving Home Press Page.
Speaking Gigs:
We’ve had the privilege of speaking at many events, where we share our freezer meal expertise with busy parents. Some of these include:
- VU
- MOPS
- Love Columbia
- Plus many other smaller settings in churches and moms’ groups.
Interviews/Podcast Appearances:
- The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey
- Food Blogger Pro
- Business with a Purpose
- All Mom Does
- Friends of a Feather
- Rising Stories
- Feed Your Family Tonight
- Realistic Habits
- Constantly Under Construction
- Sorta Awesome
- Liz’s Healthy Table
Printed Press
We’ve had many opportunities for printed press. Here are a few.
Cookbooks:
I’m also an author of 2 cookbooks through Penguin Random House. Both books are available on Amazon and other major retailers.
Products and Ebooks:
For those looking to dive deeper into freezer cooking, we have created 1 Hour Freezer Prep Sessions. Thousands of home cooks have benefited from these mini-courses that give you everything you need to make 6 meals in 1 hour.