Nice to Meet You
I’m Tessa, chief blogger and chef at Natural Comfort Kitchen. I’m a midwest girl with a serious love for my Minnesota home, particularly the Twin Cities–you cannot beat the food (hello, State Fair), the lakes, all there is to do, and the weather nine months out of the year. But in 2011, I thought I’d see how the east coast stacked up, and I headed to Connecticut (basically the ‘burbs of NYC) to, um, secure a husband? Well, long story short, that’s how it went. In the process, I also dove deeper into my love for cooking and my hatred for my office jobs as a CPA. After my first blog, quitting accounting, the birth of NCK, one wedding, a house, two pugs, and the birth of an actual human, and to my great rejoicing, we made the move from Connecticut back to Minnesota (and my husband’s first record-cold winter) in 2018.
I really love cooking in general, and even with a toddler appetite now in the house, I’m so lucky to cook for a growing family. Whether I blog it or not, cooking is my passion. When I’m not in the kitchen, I have a few other loves:
- hikes with Clarence, the world’s strongest pug
- snuggles with Nuggy, the world’s squishiest pug
- family outings to the zoo, park, beach or our favorite restaurant (basically just getting out of the house!)
- attempting to cook with a toddler
- wine and coffee
- cooking for a crowd (less common these days)
- exercise! I really love to stay fit, even better when I can do it outdoors. I love a family hike just as much as a killer strength session.
- dreaming of the day we will travel again for fun
- moving (jk, but we seem to do it a lot)
Whatever brings you here, thanks for checking out Natural Comfort Kitchen. My goal here is really not to lose sight of the homemade family meal, in a time when hacks, fast food, and empty calories are EVERYWHERE to be found. I have nothing against a GOOD 15-minute homemade meal, and you will totally find boxed mac and cheese in my pantry, but I firmly believe that finding the time to enjoy cooking and food is powerful stuff. As for my Happy-Healthy-Homemade motto? Corny but true. Almost all the recipes on this site tend toward meat free cooking, but I’m not strictly vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free…or keto or paleo or whatever the latest diet trend is. A diet of mostly whole, often plant-based, foods is timeless. I believe in cooking with the best ingredients we can find at an affordable price, but I DON’T always have time to go to the farmer’s market. If you love comfort food, love veggies, try not to eat meat at every meal, and believe in indulging at times, chances are there’s something here for you and your crew. If you need to get in touch, go here.
Happy cooking!
Tessa
*Family photos by the talented North Photo Collective.
Note: This page contains affiliate links. It does NOT contain sponsored content. Affiliate links (to products I recommend, on Amazon) offset my ingredient and website maintenance costs, so I can keep bringing you happy, healthy, homemade recipes and meals. Thanks!
