Notes from the Kitchen
Hi friends!
Welcome to Notes from the Kitchen. This is a new feature I am experimenting with here at nutfreepantry.com.
I ‘m not sure if you know this, but in addition to being a mom, recipe creator, and home baker with a penchant for all things dark chocolate, I am also a writer.
Don’t quit your day job (unless you want to)
My “real job” is Director of Content for a small education company: Not So Wimpy Teacher. We create resources and professional development for teachers in grades 2-5 to make teaching and learning easier, more effective, and a heck of a lot more fun!
I LOVE my job! Each week I get to write blog posts, emails, product descriptions, professional development and more and think up creative strategies to help increase our reach so we can help more teachers and students. It’s such rewarding work.
I work with the most amazing people. Seriously, my current coworkers are the Beyoncé of team members. Not just rock stars at what they do, but incredible business people who aren’t afraid to shake things up. They are brilliant, hardworking, creative, multi-talented, fun, funny, and helpful. It’s no surprise that a bunch of former teachers brings so much to the table. Do I have any former teachers reading?
As amazing as the work and the people are, I also love that I am finally doing what I love.
Childhood dreams can come true
I wanted to be a writer way back in elementary school. I just took a really long road to get here: lawyer, professor, consultant, elementary school teacher . . . I have no regrets. All of those experiences shaped me and made me a better writer for sure. But it is satisfying to know that I am finally following my heart and being successful at it.
This is especially important to me as my daughter goes out into the world. She’s a high school senior and trying to make those big life-impacting decisions that are nearly impossible when you are seventeen. I haven’t always managed all my responsibilities with grace. But right now I feel like I am showing her you can live out your own dreams and still be a great mom. (At least I hope so.)
When I’m not working, which honestly is a lot of the time, because we only work about 25 hours per week (another amazing job perk), I’m usually still writing. From this blog to articles on parenting teens and midlife motherhood, to short stories (I’ve won a few contests and had a ghost story published in an anthology), to my debut novel that is getting so close to publication, my laptop is sort of like an extra appendage.
That’s one of the reasons I love baking so much. It is a hobby completely unrelated to writing. At least that’s what I’ve been telling myself for the last year or so.
Notes from the kitchen
When I first started blogging, I had a mommy blog. Food, crafts, thoughts, mom life, etc . . . That continued up until about five years ago. As my kids got older I no longer wanted to feature them so much, so I gave up blogging.
Instead, I put my energy into Medium and focused on my writing career–which was great! But I missed having my own little piece of the Internet. So I created two new blogs. This one and my writing blog. Unfortunately, maintaining two blogs in addition to everything else is not sustainable. And I stopped posting on both.
Finally, while out for a run (I do my best thinking while running) I had an epiphany. What if I merged my blogs onto one site? And what if it was Nut Free Pantry?
I’m not a published author. Yet. I don’t have readers who really care about me. And my attempts to find appealing topics for blog posts always seemed a bit forced over on my writing website. The things I wanted to write about weren’t necessarily associated with writing in any way. So I wrote of lot of essays that never made it out into the world and the blog remained stagnant. (I am thinking of rebranding that as a book blog because I love books as much as baking and can definitely write about those. But one step at a time . . .)
But the entire reason this blog is called Nut Free Pantry is because of my own experience with food allergies. Or, I should say, my son’s. Although I have allergies of my own which might be getting worse (I’ll write about that soon), it was my experience as a food allergy mom that propelled me to start this website. Therefore, the idea of making this blog the home base not just for delicious, nut-free food and recipes, but also for my thoughts on raising teens and young adults, makes sense. (At least I hope so.) Enter Notes from the Kitchen.
Why Notes from the Kitchen?
That’s easy. Most of my writing takes place in the kitchen. Actually, most of my life takes place in the kitchen. #truth
When I got my first remote job I painstaking set up a beautiful home-office. Sure it was multifunctional, but it was designed around my workspace. Spoiler alert . . . I never used it.
I write from my couch, my bed, the coffee shop. And most often from my kitchen counter. So, if I’m typing up an essay I’m most likely in the kitchen. That’s why Notes from the Kitchen just made sense.
What you can expect:
My plan is to post recipes every Monday and Notes from the Kitchen every Friday. Eventually I’d like to post twice a week. And I just signed p for a video course because I know I need to up my Instagram game with reels and stories. But you guys (sorry, I know that’s not PC anymore but I grew up in NJ in the 80s. Those words just come out of my mouth, er I mean fingers, sometimes), food video is hard. So I’ve got a lot of learning to do in that area.
You can find all. my recipes on the main page. The Notes you can find in the top menu under the Notes from the Kitchen tab. We’ll see how it goes.
You can follow me over on Instagram. Or sign up to get my FREE Nut Free Cookie Guide (perfect for the holidays, which are fast-approaching.) It includes seven safe and delicious cookie recipes free from peanuts and nuts. These cookies are all easy to bake and sure to be a hit with any crowd. From drop cookies to bar cookies I know you’ll find a new favorite today.
And if you like cookies, definitely check out one of my favorite recipes Black and White cookies.
Off we go!
