Hello!
Welcome to Together as Family: Recipes from my family's kitchen to yours. I am so happy you are here. I am Jessica and I love to bake, cook, create recipes, photograph food, and browse recipes online. Here you will find all the food that I make for my own family. The favorite part of my home is the kitchen. Food shows love and that's why cooking, baking, creating, and sitting at the table Together as Family for dinner is so very important to me. I am very passionate about families, however that looks like for you, sitting together at the table and eating dinner! It can be takeout (which we do plenty) or a homecooked meal. Just eat together! I truly hope I can help you find some recipes that your family will love just as much as mine does.Â
I started this blog in April of 2015 as an outlet for me. A hobby. A way to feel connected to my own extended family who we lived across the country from. I dealt with postpartum depression & anxiety after I gave birth to our daughter in November of 2014. We had just moved across the country after my husband and I both gradated from BYU. I was alone. I felt lost. I had no family here in Maryland. I was pregnant. It was a very hard time of my life which brought about depression and anxiety.
It may sound weird but this blog saved me. Being able to connect with so many other moms & women, and also feeling more connected to my own family and support system that we had just left behind when we moved to Maryland. This blog has grown more than I could have ever imagined. I still remember when I hit 50 page views a day. It was a big deal! I could not have even dreamt that this little old blog of mine would be seen by more than 2 million people each month. I have to pinch myself just thinking about it! I love this family food community and I truly wish I could know each of you in real life and bake cookies for you ♥♥
Our days are stressful. I have mom guilt more times each day than I care to admit. Sometimes I let my kids eat way too much sugar. I have an eternal laundry pile on our couch just begging to be folded each day. I am always trying to lose the "baby weight". My house is a mess. I have to put 'take a shower' on my to-do list. But, the stresses of the day can easily be undone by gathering my family together at the table and eating a home cooked meal. That is my happy place.
My husband, Matt, is an Engineer for a large commercial construction company here in Utah (we have since moved back to Utah from Maryland in the summer of 2018). I stay home with our 4 kids; Carson (10), Ella (8), Madison (5), and Aiden (3). And I cook, bake, write about food, think about food, and photograph food. Family & food is basically my life 🙂
I truly hope you find your own family favorite recipes here on this blog. Here are our all-time personal favorites to get you started. I have made each of these recipe more times than I could even start to count. Enjoy friends ♥ ♥
{baked} Honey Lime Chicken Taquitos
Pineapple Chicken Salad - I serve these with croissants
{no flour} Monster Cookie Bars- These bars alone have been visited millions of times on the blog. Everyone loves them!!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars- I have the recipe memorized by now. These are made all. the. time!
Sugar Cookie Bars- My kids have been known to ask for these for their birthday cake 🙂
No Bake Black Forest Cheesecake Pie- It's a showstopper dessert that I make for dinner guests, bbq's, and potlucks. So easy but looks like a million bucks!
Perfect Instant Pot Baked Ziti - I'll be honest, I struggle with the IP at times because of the that burn notice! But I tell you what, this recipe literally turns out perfect each time. Just check all the 5 star reviews.Â
Oreo Cream Pie - Between the sugar cookie bars and this pie, these are the two things that my kids always request as their 'birthday cake'. It's so yummy and every Oreo lovers favorite.Â
Creamy Parmesan Chicken - This is always a hit for dinner!
Tomato Hamburger Vegetable Soup - Serve with some rolls and it's probably my favorite dinner ever. Nearly perfect reviews from readers on this one so check it out.