Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land
October 6, 2026
Today, after two years of writing, testing, revising, photographing, editing, second-guessing, and wondering if this thing in my brain would ever be “real”… …the Old-Fashioned on Purpose Cookbook is officially out in the world. And in very on-brand fashion, I’m not on a glamorous book tour today. Rather, I’m doctoring a horse, running to grab wood so I can finish my bedroom makeover, ordering a (literal) dump-truck load of …
October 5, 2026
I changed my mind about homestead and it changed how I wrote cookbook #2. When I wrote The Prairie Homestead Cookbook in 2017–2018, I was in a very different season of life. Same core person, yes. But a different kitchen. Different rhythms. Different ages of kids. And a different version of homesteading. Needless to say, I’ve changed a lot since then, even beyond the few more wrinkles and grey hairs… But I think that’s …
October 3, 2026
Why falling-apart cookbooks make me happiest. When my first cookbook came out, I wrote in the introduction that I wanted people to ruin it. I wished for flour in their bindings. Dog-eared pages splattered with gravy. Scribbles in the margins. Bent corners. A cracked spine from being opened to the same recipe 75 times. My biggest fear was writing a beautiful cookbook that lived untouched on a shelf. Thankfully, my fear never …
October 1, 2026
Pondering the cookbook graveyard + why “pretty” isn’t enough. You probably don’t need another cookbook. There. I said it. Most of us already have plenty. Whenever I’m thrift shopping (which is a LOT these days) I’m struck by the sheer volume of cookbooks for sale. Sometimes entire boxes of them. Often barely used.(And always a copious number of those Taste of Home compilation volumes. Remember those??) So when I wrote The …
September 29, 2026
I am about to say something I’ve never said before: I have been too chill. Which is… not generally a problem I have. But between the major life changes, the new house, the soda fountain, kids, and 47 other things happening at any given moment, launching my new cookbook has taken a backseat. However, now pub day (October 6th!) is staring me in the face, and I realized: I have been way too casual about something I am …
September 15, 2026
As I’ve matured in my cooking journey, I’ve developed some hard boundaries. I don't do fussy. I don't do tedious. And if I can't make it on a weeknight with minimal brainpower, it's probably not gonna happen. Surprisingly, these homemade chicken nuggets pass the test-- I just had to modify the typical technique a little. They’re made with simple pantry ingredients, baked instead of fried, and then breaded with a highly sophisticated …
