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Making Home Feel Easier: A Conversation with Natalie Johnson

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Podcast Episode Description

Natalie Johnson of Home Begins With Love is back on the podcast! Since her first appearance in December 2025, she's been busy with exciting brand collaborations, creating practical recipes for busy families, and continuing her mission of making dinnertime less stressful and more meaningful.

In this conversation, Natalie shares what she's learned over the past year—from partnering with major brands like Allrecipes to her game-changing concept of "Dinner Insurance" that helps families stay prepared for hectic weeks. We also talk about her popular vacation meal ideas, teaching kids valuable kitchen skills, common misconceptions about cooking protein, balancing life while her husband travels for work, and what it's like parenting children in very different stages of life—including having a teenage driver!

Whether you're looking for simple meal inspiration, encouragement in your parenting journey, or just a refreshing reminder that family life doesn't have to be perfect, this episode is packed with practical wisdom and relatable stories.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • What’s new since Natalie's last visit to the podcast
  • Her recent collaborations, and work with brands
  • The "Dinner Insurance" strategy every busy family should know
  • Easy vacation meal ideas that save time and money
  • How to confidently teach kids to cook
  • Protein prep myths—and how to simplify healthy meals
  • Parenting through every season, from toddlers to teenage drivers

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend who could use a little extra encouragement around the dinner table.


You can find Natalie on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and her own website! 

Main Home - Home Begins With Love

https://www.instagram.com/homebeginswithlove?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==


I'd love and appreciate a 5 star review, and sharing my content with a friend who might love to listen!

Find me on Instagram for daily life, tips and fun content: @wellness.with.virginia

Helpful Links:

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SPEAKER_01

Well, good morning and welcome back. I'm so excited to welcome back my very first podcast guest, Natalie Johnson, is back with us today from Home Begins with Love. The last time she joined us was actually December of 2025. And since then, she's had an exciting year of new opportunities, growing her brand, helping families simplify dinner and navigating new seasons of motherhood. So today I wanted to catch up on everything that's happened since we last talked. You've had, I think, a couple brand collaborations, or at least a couple brands that you've been working with, some meal planning, teaching kids how to cook, parenting teenagers, reimagining your basement and what life really looks like when your spouse travels for work. And those are just a few of my favorite things that you talk about. If you've ever wondered how to make family meals less stressful while creating meaningful moments around the table, this conversation and Natalie's account is full of practical encouragement. Natalie, welcome back and thank you. Thank you for having me. This is so fun. Oh, good. I feel like I watch your account like every day and I'm like, what's she making? What are we prepping? What's going on? What are we learning in homeschool? Like, I feel you are honestly one of my favorite storytellers on Instagram. And I am so excited to talk with you today.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much. That that actually is a huge compliment because everyone talks about how storytelling is like the big thing. And I I can see that because it does pull you in. Yeah, you're you're not just telling someone something, you're showing them and taking them on the journey. So that's that I I love that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, you're welcome. And I feel like authentic storytelling is even a better way to describe your account. I never feel like I'm being sold. If I'm being sold anything, it's I need to have a fully stocked refrigerator. Oh yeah. Um, we don't have a basement in California, but I feel like I'm needing one now too. Um, so let's talk about what has been going on since December of 2025. Like what's been the biggest sort of change in your life or in your business?

SPEAKER_00

Oh gosh, so many things. Um, excuse me. Um, let's see. Well, we went through the cold season, now we're into the hot season, and that just naturally changes things with family, you know, because we were skiing back then and now it's like summertime, and I'm bringing food places and I'm feeding people at different times of the day. You know, it's light outside, so that that does change a lot for our family. Um, I launched my website, Home Me is with Love, and I started a kitchen log. So I actually started the kitchen log on Patreon, only because at the time I didn't have a website and I wanted a place to put it. And then I found I was able to keep in momentum going. I do it every single night. And I'm a routine person though. So for me, like doing it and saying I'm gonna do it every single day, that makes it sometimes part of my schedule, like it's a non-negotiable, just like posting on Instagram. I do it every day because I've said to myself or told myself it's something I'm gonna do and prioritize. Um, so then I switched over, my husband helps me make a website, and we actually already have plans to like hire someone to make the website better. But, you know, I've always said progress over perfection, like you got to start something sometimes and then realize, okay, yes, it's gonna work. Let's invest our more money or more time or more energy into that project. So um the kitchen log basically it documents something that people were asking for on Instagram or on all of my social media, saying, I understand to cook the protein or I understand to like have this stocked or to do this, but then how are you using it? Like, take me on the journey. And I've tried to do that in reels and in carousels often, and I think it's it is successful that way, but it's even better to see it in real time as I'm doing it. So it's not a blog so much as a kitchen log because it's like a you know, captain's log. I'm documenting exactly what we did breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks throughout every single day of the week. And then it shows, you know, I had this leftover from this protein, and then I cooked it in this way. I try to put recipes in there, and I think it fits that um need that I wasn't really able to communicate in a 90-second reel, you know?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So that brings me to an interesting question. What's your most frequent DM or your most frequent question that you get? Because I'm always curious, like, what are I know what I'm wondering about. What are other people asking you to?

SPEAKER_00

Um, it really depends on what I'm posting about, probably more recently. More recently, a lot of people have been asking about my workout routine. Oh. I don't really talk much about any of that. It's it's funny. I I've never, I was just telling my husband, I've never commented on someone like the way they look. I don't know, like unless they've asked for it. Um it's not mean things, it's very very very complimentary and friendly. You know, they they want to know what I'm doing, but it's like I'm not the go-to person for like makeup or skincare, you know. I think I'm letting them down when I say, here's the three things I buy at the drugstore, you know. Right. Um, but people in terms of food, a lot of people ask me about like how to keep things safe and how long I keep things in my fridge. Because I they've noticed in my kitchen log, I'm fine with chicken four days out because I know when I cooked it, I know how I cooked it, I know how I stored it. And so I think four days later it's still fine. No, five, six, I'm that's pushing it from in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00

But I don't mind sharing those kind of details because I think a lot of people just they don't know. They don't know that if you've cooked something the right way, if you've stored it the right way, it's fine to still eat, especially if you reheat it the right way.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and I think too, like I'm an expiration date panic person. Like I do not I do not eat food past the expiration date. And if it's like bumping up and maybe it's like milk or dairy, I'm like, it's a no, right? But I thought it was very interesting. I saw you the other day put a thermometer. Did you put it in your cooler? Yes. Yeah. Okay, so talk about that. Because I was like, what, what tell me about that? Is that something I should be worried about?

SPEAKER_00

Well, here's the thing. Let me paint a picture. Let's say you pack your cooler, and in my opinion, there's a right way to pack a cooler. You want to put a big cooler, like an ice pack in there, and then you want to layer food with coolers, with um ice packs, because you don't want all the coldness just to be in one. Think about your refrigerator. It's constantly circulating cold air. And so you want to circulate that cold air around your food. And if you put a thermometer in there, when you get home, you will know if your food is still good to save. You know what I mean? Imagine you brought a bunch of cheesesteaks to the park and maybe some squeeze yogurts. You know, I think you can guess a little bit about apple slice, but I'm not gonna guess with a squeeze yogurt. I want to know if it was the right temp or if we're just gonna pitch it because it got too warm sitting in the sun. So to me, like you throw a refrigerator thermometer, you're gonna know.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So it's more like food safety, but also reducing food waste, which I think is important with a big family or any family, really. Like groceries are expensive. Those cheese sticks. It's so interesting because I'm always telling my kids like the pre-packaged food is so much more expensive than like buying, you know, in bulk and then sort of packaging it yourself. But things like cheese sticks and squeeze yogurt, it's like we're not gonna make that ourselves, right? Like I can't break down cheese sticks and squeeze yogurt.

SPEAKER_00

But I guess you could, but I'm not.

SPEAKER_01

Right, right. I feel like there's other people who do that much better than I could. Yes. So let's talk about some exciting opportunities lately. And these are the ones that I've observed. So all recipes and then Tom's, right? And then did the avocado salsa, did they send you something? Let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_00

I'd say my biggest collect the all recipes, I really wasn't part of that. They she made that recipe and then tagged me. So um, but it was funny. The recipe they she made in the reel the correct recipe, but then in the comment, it was the wrong recipe. Like they had waterless. So I but but I contacted them, they changed it, and then I accepted the collab because I'm not gonna post a recipe that's wrong in a very they're very nice to work with. Um yeah, so that was nice. And then I've actually worked with Food Saver, um, which I if you don't have a food saver, even if you're a small family, I've had so many people, you ask about DMs, DM me about the saying they own a food saver, but they're intimidated to use the food saver. And I'm like, you really just need to use it a couple times, and then it just becomes part of your routine, but it cannot be in your basement or it can't be on some shelf far away getting dust. Like it's gotta be accessible because you're gonna use it in that moment when you make something and you're like, oh, I have too much. Put it in a food saver, put it in your freezer.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. I don't have a food saver. I don't know if I've ever even thought about one. So walk us through what's a what's a food saver.

SPEAKER_00

So a food saver basically it is it's this plastic roll in there, and you pull it out, you cut it to whatever length you want, and then it makes you you basically make a big freezer bag, if you if you will. Um, and then you can put in anything you want to put it in your freezer. And actually, I've seen people use it for the pantry as well. So it can it basically pulls all the air out, it sucks all the air out. And then it's a better way to store product versus, you know, when you put in something into a gallon bag and you zip it close, you try to get the air out, but it's not a hundred percent. I've seen people use a straw and suck the air. Um but this actually vacuum seals. Okay. So when you then pull it out of your freezer, I literally just pulled one out of my freezer just now of ground beef because I made taco meat for lunch for the kids for my husband. Um, there's no freezer burn. Like it is it's impressive. So, but I've seen people use this for all kinds of applications, and I I think to me, it's just it's one of those tools. I actually don't own a toaster, I don't own a tea kettle, but I own a food saver.

SPEAKER_01

Let's see, I own a toaster but no tea kettle.

SPEAKER_00

So and no food saver. I just put a pot on the stove with water and I boil water. I microwave it in a mug. Yeah, I did that too. I've done that too. Yeah, if I'm if I just want like one mug, I do that. Um so I've done food saver. I've I've did something with the air fryer with T Fall. They have this XXL air fryer that is massive. And I've owned other air fryers that are like small capacity, but they're just too small for my family. And this XXL one, it is literally you could fit a frozen pizza in it. It's that big. And I gave away two of them. I gave away two of them last week when I launched my website and because they're at Costco. So of course I sent them from Costco because you get the distance. Um, but if it it's the only air fryer I could personally recommend because of the capacity, and it also has a clear window so you can see in it. So you like you can watch what's happening. It's like basically having an oven on your counter.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I feel like I use my air fryer. I mean, we probably use it at least once a day for something. Yeah. But especially like in the summer in Northern California, it's dry, but it's still hot, right? Like it's still 90 to 100 degrees in summertime. I don't want to heat up my entire house, right? With my kitchen. Um, so I I love using an air fryer. Oh, that's a good tip.

SPEAKER_00

I'll have to I will say I don't put the air fryer, like I was talking about this on stories. It only earns a space on my counter when you're saying like when it's super hot, because it does take up a decent amount of space. Yeah. So I'll bring it out. I'll plan to use it a lot that week, and then I'll actually put it away because it's just too big for me to have year-round on my counter. So I say that with a little disclaimer that is I do recommend it, but it is big.

SPEAKER_01

That's true. It do it does take up counter space for sure. Um, what about Tom's shoes? Tell us about Tom's.

SPEAKER_00

I bought a pair myself. It was my own investment, and I because I've always, I don't know, you know, like when you get older and I want to look cute, but also I don't want my feet to hurt, you know. And so I had heard about these sandals. I think I heard about them from the car mom. I think she had posted about it. And so I bought a pair, loved them. I tagged them, and I use ShopMai for my affiliate links. And so typically the way it works, people love seeing behind the scenes. Like when if you post about a brand and then you tag them, and then if you link it through ShopMai, they will see that and then will contact you and offer you like gifting typically, or like a higher percentage commission should someone purchase through your links. I'm very picky about what I would accept. I really try not to do anything that I haven't personally already bought myself, or something that I'm like, I really want this and I'm no I'm gonna use it, or I'll even say I need to try it before I can recommend it. Because in my opinion, especially on social media, one of the biggest things you have is your integrity. And like the second that you, I don't know, I guess the word is sell out, I think you lose some of that um authenticity like you were talking about. I don't want to be the kind of person, you know, like the Nordstrom sale is happening right now, and I see all these people posting, you know, these huge lookbooks, and I'm like, I mean, I might I might buy one or two things because I genuinely want them, but I would never presume to be like, here's the 20 things you should buy in the Nordstrom sale. Because number one, who has the money for that? And number two, like, most things still fit me from last fall. So I mean, I might refresh a few things. So that's how with Tom's, that's how that worked. And they um they sent me some sandals and I get a higher commission should you purchase through it. But I 100%, I mean, I wore that pair, I think it's called the Eloise sandal, this black pair. I wore it to a children's museum. Like I would never in a million years have thought I could wear a heeled sandal, but it was comfortable. Like, yeah, cute.

SPEAKER_01

I I feel that way, you know, like in my sort of space on the internet, I I literally use three supplements or four supplements, and that's it. And I really hesitate because supplements, I mean, you're putting something in your body. Everybody's body is different, everybody reacts differently. You know, I I wouldn't recommend something to someone who's got low thyroid function if it's going to, you know, mess with theirs because that's what I have to watch, right? I know you um have Hashimoto's. I mean, I just feel like we have to be, like you said, our integrity is so important. And to me, it's not worth it. I don't, I don't want to sell out for something that I would never use or recommend. And I have such, I I actually worked at Nordstrom through high school and college, but I have such Nordstrom sale fatigue right now. Even I am like, I I just can't do it. Right. Like it feels so disingenuous to say I went and bought, you know, $8,000 worth of things like and tried them all on. I'm just, I'm so over it, right? Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

I don't I am I'm sure I get people contact me about supplement stuff all the time. So I'm sure you especially get tons of even more than me.

SPEAKER_01

Right. It's insane and and they're so like it's the weirdest accounts, right? We could probably talk about all the weirdness out there.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah. But if you want to see behind the scenes, literally 90% of my emails are just they're they're junk, you know, they're junk emails. This is my my like professional account, my professional email, like it's junk. And so I filter through looking for actual humans that have emailed me a legit email.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly. And those usually I feel like they get lost, right? It's all the junk and the spam that like rises to the top, and then it's like the actual person, you're like, oh my god, how did I miss this? It's a human. Um, so one of the things that I think is so important is your topic of dinner insurance. Yeah. So it's funny because I, for my professional career, was in the insurance industry and I'm still kind of in a sector of that. And so this to me always it makes me chuckle, right? I'm always like, oh ha ha ha ha, insurance. So let's walk people through if they've never heard of dinner insurance, like where did the idea come from? Give us some examples, and then maybe just like a common pitfall that you have made in the past about, you know, meal planning and and what didn't work.

SPEAKER_00

So dinner insurance came about several months ago. I was, you know, I'm always I do have some of my best thinking when just when I'm walking or exercising or just, you know, not even trying to think of an idea. You know, it's hard when you're trying to think of an idea, so your mind's just like blank. And I kept getting back to the going back to the fact that people were talking about, they desired to have a plan at dinner time, but things would fail at dinner time because they hadn't made a plan. And I kept getting back to the word insurance. I don't, I don't know why. I I'd never heard someone use the phrase dinner insurance. I've since found out Campbell Soup in like I think five or six years ago, they used it one time on an ad campaign because I was Googling it because someone told me I should trademark it. But no one else has ever talked about it. Anyway, so to me, dinner insurance is the idea that you know, we have insurance for our life insurance, our car insurance, our home insurance, so that when things don't go well, you have a plan. So that's where I got the idea for dinner insurance. And I use the dinner insurance phrase for it could be snack or lunch. I actually just deployed dinner insurance 20 minutes ago when I pulled ground beef from my freezer and turned it into taco meat so my family could eat lunch right now, but we have a chat. So it's the concept of putting something off for the future you so that you can pull that out at a time of need, so that you're not always working just in time, just in time to get something ready. You actually have a plan for the future and you don't know when you're gonna use it, but it's gonna come in clutch when you do use it. So um, one of my favorite dinner insurances for my family is meatloaf because number one, my whole family likes the meatloaf. The best dinner insurance policy is something your whole family's gonna like. If you don't all like meatloaf, it's not for you.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But it's also something I can store in my freezer. It's typically a fully cooked option because it's something that you want to pull out quickly, it's not something that's gonna take two hours to defrost and then cook. You need to eat. You know, it's five o'clock, you want to eat at 5 15.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Or whenever the time is. And then I like to show how to actually cook it from frozen instead of thinking you have to defrost it. Because oftentimes, again, insurance is for the emergency. It's for when things have happened and you need to be able to execute something quickly. So that and so I've done some proteins, I've done some frozen sides I like to do, but I actually rely on dinner insurance probably at least twice a week, whether it's lunches or dinners, because I've already planned that into my routine. You know, you go shopping at Costco on a weekend, the fresh protein, like we talked about, the grill, if I grill chicken on Monday, I'm not probably gonna eat it on Saturday. So like I need something I can pull out on Saturday before I go back to Costco on Sunday or Monday, you know? And so I don't want to be running off to the grocery store on, you know, on an emergency situation because I can pull, you know, fall back on the insurance policy that I've prepared.

SPEAKER_01

I loved that when you I think you shared a story, and we'll we'll talk about your little vacation that you took and all the cooking. Um, when you came back from your trip, I think you used your dinner insurance that night, right? So can you share with everyone how that worked out?

SPEAKER_00

Oh my gosh. We we went to Charleston and we drove back, and we live in uh Cincinnati, Ohio area, and you know, 12, 13 hour driving day. We got a flat tire like nine minutes from our house. Thankfully, my parents lived by nearby. So they came and picked up myself and the children. My husband stayed back to get the tire repaired. You know, we came home, everyone's hangry. I threw, I found some frozen bagels in the freezer, got those warmed up for the kids because they'd had like a you know a 4 p.m. Chick-fil-A road stop visit, so they weren't starving. But then by the time my husband got home, we were both starving. So I pulled out, I did the meatloaf. I pulled meatloaf out of the freezer, I pulled frozen vegetables out of the freezer, and I pulled some frozen potatoes. And we were feasting within 15 minutes because we got the dinner insurance policy.

SPEAKER_01

Um I think, you know, like we recently drove to San Diego, which can be an eight-ish hour car ride for us. And, you know, it's funny, my daughter is also a teenage driver now, so she kind of drove the last leg home. And first of all, I was like, I can't even believe this is happening, but this is amazing because we have three drivers. Yeah. But then, you know, you land home and you have no food, right? And so you're either doing a grocery order, but everyone wants to eat real food because you've been having like chomps and pringles the whole ride. And so I was thinking, you know, having something like a meatloaf or whatever that is for your family is great when you come back actually from a vacation because you don't have food in your house, right? Because you didn't want it to rot. I I think that's so smart.

SPEAKER_00

So I saw someone talk about even having like always thinking this is the meal we eat when we get home from vacation. Right. And that and that way you don't eat it while you're on trip, too.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, right. We we had a lot of tacos on this trip. And I I mean tacos are the easiest thing. And I was like, how about tacos? And everyone was like, How about not, right? Exactly. Or over tacos. Yeah. Um, so when you plan your emergency meals, are you thinking of this is what my whole family will eat, or do you kind of mix and match with like the kids versus you and your husband, or how does that work?

SPEAKER_00

Typically, I'm trying to most proteins I try to do for the whole family. And so I try to make it adaptable. Like we could add a sauce, um, we could do different sides with it, but most proteins are gonna be the whole family because I keep it so adaptable. And then sides is where I kind of mix and choose and sauces, that type of thing. So, for example, if I do like loaf pan chicken, that's something I do often. I put it in my freezer and I have it as from a dinner insurance because you always want to think what's gonna reheat well. You know, I wouldn't want to put like if grilled chicken, in my opinion, I would not probably freeze that because it's gonna be kind of people already struggle to eat that when it's just been cooked fresh. Right. If you freeze it and then go to reheat it from frozen, it's probably not gonna be super successful. So loaf pan chicken has lots of juices. It's gonna be really easy to reheat. And I can serve that plain to a kiddo who just wants like the plain chicken. But then those of us who want to do like if I do a Mediterranean, we could have, you know, some hummus on the side and maybe some olives and a little bit of red onion along with all of that. So it makes it adaptable, but like we're all eating the same concept of a meal, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. I think, you know, again, it's just having those things on hand so you don't either make decisions where you're just eating a bunch of crackers and salami and cheese while you figure out what you want to eat. Or you run to the grocery store and you just grab whatever's available and you spend fifty six dollars on, you know, a couple of things. I I think this is super smart. How often do you go to Costco? Is it once a week?

SPEAKER_00

I go weekly. I go weekly to Costco. And then I get Walmart delivered. So I have Walmart delivery. And then I have we have Kroger, right? I don't know if that's a grocery store where you guys are, but um, they have they have a delivery option for like that you pay for, but if you choose like a 9 p.m. or a 6 a.m. delivery, it's like 95 cents. So I'll get delivery from there about once a month to stock up on things that I can't get at either Walmart or Costco.

SPEAKER_01

Right. And then of course trader, Trader Joe's when they have your ice cream.

SPEAKER_00

When I when I'm that's like it's just far enough from my house that I don't go there often. But like if I have a doctor's appointment over there or for going somewhere, I'm like, oh, let's let's hit up Trader Joe's.

SPEAKER_01

I I live, there are probably five Trader Joe's within 10 minutes. I know jealous. I can walk to one from work. Like I can literally walk to one. And so I my Trader Joe's is probably your Costco, right? And they're I'm gonna leave there and go this morning.

SPEAKER_00

Well, they have to me, Trader Joe's is like they are so different than a regular grocery because they have such great pricing and quality. Like their dare to me, their dairy-free chocolate is hands down the best flavor, and the price, you just can't beat it. So I stock up. Like every time I go to Trader Joe's and I buy the chocolate, without fail, the checkout person is like, oh, I see we're stocking up today. And I'm like, yeah, it'll last us like two weeks.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Um, let's chat about your vacation meal series. So is this something that you did just for this trip, or do you always take vacations this way? Kind of walk people through what that looks like in case they didn't follow along on Instagram.

SPEAKER_00

Sure. So we it depends on where we're going and what we're doing. But my family, I mean, we pretty much always drive just because there's seven of us, it's financially hard to fly somewhere with seven people. And you know, the stuff you need, I like having our things. Um, this so it every year kind of changes where we're going, what we're doing. But this past May we went to Charleston. I said it's a long drive. Um, I always, if possible, I always try to bring food because I'd rather do work on the front end so that I can enjoy the trip more. And especially, you know, I'm not opposed to eating out. We definitely we we do a Chick-fil-A stop on the drive at some point. We go out to eat dinner sometime, but depending on the trip, I want to have flexibility that if we want to be at the hotel or at the house rental, that we can and just chill out, take a shower, eat some food. I don't have to go source food. Like that's a whole nother thing. Even if it was just me and my husband, I'd bring food because I just want to be able to eat when we want to eat and not feel like we have to go find food, if that makes sense. And also I like being able to adapt and have flexibility. Like breakfast to me, I want my family to feel good. So if possible, I like making breakfast in the hotel or at a house rental because then I know we're gonna eat a solid meal. We're not just eating a donut. I'm not opposed to a donut, but like let's have that maybe for a snack in an hour because I want everyone to have like some solid protein so we're not like running on fumes.

SPEAKER_01

Right. So when you what did you prepare for this trip? Like, what did you take in your cooler? Because you said it's a 12-hour ride, right? So what did you have in advance that you took?

SPEAKER_00

So I do a two-cooler system when we're doing a long road trip. I have the my big cooler in the trunk, and then this trip I knew we were gonna go to the beach. So I knew that would be also our beach cooler, like a big hard-sided cooler. And then in the car, I've got like my car cooler for things we're gonna use while we're driving. And in the big cooler in the trunk, I had prepped my loaf pan chicken that was, you know, vacuum sealed. I had ground beef that was vacuum sealed. I had rice that was cooked because it's just like a little shortcut, so I'm not having to cook that. I can just reheat it. Um, I had some dairy-free, gluten-free cookies that I knew we'd want to eat on the trip. Uh, my daughter had made some breakfast muffins we like. And oh, I brought along uh cooked breakfast sausage because I knew we'd like that, and cooked bacon because again, you can just reheat all that so much faster. And actually, when we got to our hotel, I thought we'd have an oven. We did not, but thankfully I brought along my big electric skillet with a lid and I cooked everything on that. So I would reheat bacon. I would kind of go in waves of breakfast. I'd do the bacon first. I did eggs last for my husband because I have some kiddos who are allergic to eggs, so that way it wouldn't cross-contaminate. Um, and then in the cooler in the car was just like the stuff we were gonna use that day. So it was like the produce and sandwiches. I brought at a thermos. We didn't talk about thermoses, but I'm I'm slightly obsessed with thermoses this. Let's talk about thermoses, the chicken nuggets. Yes, I know I have a problem with thermoses. I own like six of them now, but we do use them. So um for for me, I like the convenience of being able to bring something hot. You know, you go on these long road trips and I don't mind a sandwich, but like after six, seven, eight hours, I'm kind of tired of eating cold stuff. And so what I've done is this summer, especially, I've started using these thermoses where I'll bring hot food and we'll eat that for like our morning lunch. And then you dip into like the cold stuff later in the day. And if you pack a thermos properly, I mean, it is hot. It actually, on one of the trips, we all had to wait for it to cool down because it was the food was still too hot to eat. Um, so in my opinion, that's just another option and that it gives you more flexibility. And then I use those thermoses while on the trip. And you'll notice most of the things I'm packing are like proteins or sides because they're things I don't want to deal with at a house or or a hotel. And then we do a big grocery order when we get there. And of course, I'm bringing my thermometer because I never trust a refrigerator at a hotel or a rental because those refrigerators, I mean, they're either freezing your lettuce or they're like on the verge of being too warm. It's like, I want to know that all this money I just spent, I probably spent $200 on groceries, that they're not gonna go to waste.

SPEAKER_01

We went to, we stayed in Pismo Beach like right before spring break at a place we'd never stayed at before. And it was like a travel zoo deal, and it was just like a hotel room, but it was like right on the beach. Yeah. And I was like, oh, they have a little fridge. So I kind of brought like hummus and things like that. I had no idea that the power to the room, including the mini fridge, shut off when you left because it had like in Europe when you put the carbon to work the electricity. So, and I'm like, why didn't they tell? Like, I knew the lights did it, but the refrigerator like gross. So I come in and I'm we're so excited to have like a few things and I pull out the hummus and it's literally like soup.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's that's awful they would do that to you.

SPEAKER_01

That's so gross. But and I haven't had that happen ever in the US, but I was like, that's definitely something you should have warned me about. But seriously. I think to your point, like I love to just have something so you don't come back from the pool or the beach and everyone's starving. But I'm very interested in the thermos system because I wish I would have known this when my kids were little, taking like they could have taken so much more in their lunch for school. So talk us through how does the thermos work because I'm fascinated.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so my number one tip with a thermos is you gotta buy a good brand. I think I've seen people, I I cannot speak to other I I have thermos brand thermoses, and I think it did makes a difference in like the the depth of the wall, you know, and how the product is made, how well it's going to store heat. So, um, and also I think you have to pack it properly. So you take your thermos, you load it with boiling water, not hot water, boiling water, and then you close it, like fill it up all the way, and then let it sit there for like 10-15 minutes. This is your preheat time. Okay. And you dump out the water, and meanwhile, you have reheated whatever food you're putting in, and you get that also blazing hot, like too hot to eat right now. Then you fill your thermos to the top with that food. You do not air is your enemy here because air circulates. Um, the way the science works, if you have air in the top of your thermos between your food and the lid, that's gonna take some of the heat away from your food. So you want your thermos totally filled to the top, then you close it right away. And then if you want to be even more uptight like me, you you get uh an empty cooler and it becomes your heater. So then it's like another layer of heat protection so that you put your you put all your warm thermoses inside of a cooler, close that. It'll stay high for hours.

SPEAKER_01

So if you're doing like chicken nuggets, do you do some like do you dry it out?

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so for chicken nuggets, I have a reel about that. You you do the same preheat, but then when before you put the hot chicken nuggets in, you I I reach in and you gotta watch your hands gets it a little bit hot. You'd wipe it out and then put a clean, dry paper towel on the bottom, put your nuggets in and close it, and because that that paper towel will absorb any moisture. I will say the nuggets don't stay like perfectly crisp, but like my discerning kids still ate the nuggets on the beach, you know.

SPEAKER_01

So well, and I feel like too, at least here in California, a meal out for a family of four, like I'm not talking appetizers or alcohol, just a meal at like a sit-down restaurant is probably $120 to $150. I mean, my kids are teenagers, so they're eating off the adult menu. Yep. And, you know, we're not going crazy, but it's expensive. And so, like, at least for me, I'm like, if we can eat two meals in our room and then splurge at the pool or go out to dinner or eat our favorite breakfast, you it is worth the extra money that it costs here to get a room with a kitchenette than it would ever be to eat out. And I just I purely feel like garbage if I eat out 24-7 for a whole trip.

SPEAKER_00

It's so expensive. Yeah. And you'll see, I mean, I talk about putting nuggets in a thermos. It's not as though we're eating five, you know, it's still kid food, but the way it's just so convenient to bring that with you somewhere. And I mean, think about you if you're going on a beach trip and you're going, you get everything set up and then everyone's hungry. You can do, I mean, I bring the cooler, I have the cold food, but what a treat to have something warm, like a chicken nugget. And I don't have to go schlep across town back to go get stuff for my family because it's right there, you know?

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

So, I mean, our favorite is taco bowls. I bring that to the pool all the time. I I fill like two thermoses with rice, two thermoses with the taco meat, and then I I portion it out into bowls, and it's like the easiest, breeziest dinner, and like it's just simple, but having the right way to bring it makes a huge difference.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and especially if that's what they would order anyway. If they're gonna go and get chicken nuggets, you might as well eat your chicken nuggets that you prefer, right? And however you you do that. I I think it's super smart. I love it. And again, these are those practical things. They're so relatable that I think you just bring to the table very effortlessly and you're like, I could totally do that. It's it's I think like what they call like you're either creating like that curiosity loop or that mirror, right? Where people are seeing themselves in you. Um maybe not, I definitely learned a lot about a thermos today, which I'm like, I don't even know if I own a thermos, but now I just feel very compelled. I think it would work well for my lunches at work for sure.

SPEAKER_00

It would work really well. My husband likes it.

SPEAKER_01

So let's talk about raising kids who can cook. So I, you know, when my kids were very little, they loved to be in the kitchen. And I actually never baby proofed my entire house. I was just like, well, I just won't put the knives where they can reach them, right? But everything else, I feel like you have, at least for my kids, I had to teach them how to sort of navigate in the kitchen and they love to cook. But I think you're taking this to another level with like raising kids who can cook, right? So you're in the kitchen now, but is your goal that maybe someday you're not in the kitchen and they're cooking alone? Or walk us through how this is gonna work.

SPEAKER_00

I I I have a phrase I somehow I landed on saying I'm not trying to raise a chef, um, but I'm trying to dot, dot, dot. And I think that resonated with people because oftentimes we think we have to, we have to look at, we want this big end goal. And I'm like, I just want my kids to be functioning adults. Like when they leave home, I want them to know how to do laundry, I want them to know how to properly clean a bathroom, and I want them to be able to feed themselves without having to go to Chipotle every day, you know? Right. Um, so I I've been trying to show how I do that. And and the biggest way is just letting them be in the kitchen, but also making things they want to make. So I like my son a couple weeks ago, he wanted to make chipwheelies. You know, we call them chipwheel. It's like a basically it's like an ice cream sandwich made out of chocolate chip cookies. Got it. And but think about it, you learn so much when you make a cookie recipe, you make homemade ice cream, you have to like put it together the right way. You know, there's a lot of steps to that and involved, especially with baking, because you have to have the right ratios of things. Um, and then my daughter, my teen, she likes to make lunches because people have seen my teen making food and they're like, well, my son, he doesn't want to cook anything. I said, Well, I'd be curious to know what is his favorite food. What's some kind of like maybe you should you could try and make homemade Cheetos, why not? Like it probably won't work, but you could try. Yeah. And it's gonna get them in the kitchen and it's gonna have the have them have a positive experience associated with the process of cooking. And I get it, there are times when I'm like, I don't want someone bothering me in the kitchen. Like, I just need to get dinner on the table. That is obviously not the time to like try and go on a culinary adventure with your 13-year-old son. So you have to pick and choose the right time. I do think summertime probably is more approachable for some families because they're they might have a little more time at home, or maybe it's like during the day when it's not like 5 p.m. we need to get dinner on the table. Um, but I've also I think it could be fun too to say, like, what's the dinner you'd love to make? And like, let's get the ingredients and let's cook it. You know, I I think it can be as simple as that. It doesn't have to be, you know, some chipwheel thing. It could just be like, what's a dinner you like? Maybe you want to recreate kava or chipotle at home and like go do it together.

SPEAKER_01

Also, I find with my kids too, it's a way to maybe get them to branch out into something that maybe they haven't, maybe they've been wanting to try. Like, you know, at restaurants, I try to encourage them, like, let's order one thing that you haven't tried before, one thing you're curious about, right? I want to build up that like curiosity around food so that they know how to order in a restaurant. They're not afraid to try something new. But I think the same translates into the kitchen. I don't want my kids to be afraid to cook because it might flop. Like, not every meal I make is great. Sometimes it flops, right? Sometimes it doesn't work out. But that's how you're learning, right? At that point, it's so funny because I love to cook, but I hate to bake. And it's probably the reason why you might love to bake is I hate the precision. I do love baking, yeah. It's my my sister is an engineer and my son was like, does she has she always liked math? And she was like, always, my whole life, right? And I'm like, I I could live without math forever. That's funny. But I do think that, you know, finding what they want to do, whether it's baking or cooking or trying the Cheetos. Now, do you guys cook as part of homeschool too? Or is this just cooking just to cook?

SPEAKER_00

It's just really, I mean, everything I I I don't think I've ever made something for Instagram that we weren't actually just live doing. I've never gone out of my way and thought, I'm going to cook this because it's gonna look really good on Instagram. Like everything I cook is because we're actually eating dinner. Because I think people don't understand. Like, I have seven, well, six. My husband's at work during the day, but there's six of us home literally the whole day eating snacks and lunches. I mean, that's just a lot of food is being turned over in my kitchen. You'll see it in the kitchen log. Like, I'm constantly making, cooking, prepping, doing food. Like, it's just it's part of life.

SPEAKER_01

And do your kids like, do they ever want to eat out? Are they like, I don't want another frozen meatloaf, like I want to eat out tonight? Like, how does that work?

SPEAKER_00

Um, no, they're not. It's funny, they're not. I and actually just last night I was talking about this on stories. We had we had gone to our parish festival and it started raining, so we did end up eating eating there. And so on the way home, we actually picked up Chick-fil-A and Kava, and it was this whole 45-minute adventure because you know it takes time to do all that, and like it was fun. So we do eat out sometimes, um, and we get takeout, and there's a local restaurant we like to go to called Silver Spring House, and it's like a fun vibe outside. So we we do go out to eat, but my kids don't really they might say, I want you to make this, like something they'll make at least once a week. They're like, Can we make focaccia pizza? Like we, you know, like it's been three days, but um, so they will make requests for certain meals. But I think because we eat so much at home, I'm constantly turning over things, so it's not as though um I know some families they a lot of them just eat dinners at home. And so maybe they get into like a rut of eating the same five or six dinners. But I think since we're so we're eating so much at home, that doesn't really happen in our household, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01

It does. What's the fastest you've ever made that focaccia pizza? Because I watch that and I'm like, oh god, that looks so good. I don't have that kind of time in my life.

SPEAKER_00

Four hours. Four hours is my fastest. You can do it in four hours. And I've I I filmed it and posted it. I'm trying to make a gluten-free version right now. Oh, please. I have, I know. I have I've tried a couple variations with like Xanthem gum. It's just not I like kind of like I said, I don't want to put something out there unless I can really put my stamp of approval behind it. Um, so it's not there yet, but I I think I'm close.

SPEAKER_01

And I love your after dark series. Like, but then I'm always like, she eats this late at night, and then she gets up and works out. I mean, like, what does that look like? I mean, I also am with you, like, you're not filming the after dark series at three o'clock in the afternoon pretending it's nighttime. That is like you literally after dark, like filming something. So walk us through how did that happen?

SPEAKER_00

Um, it was just an idea I had like several months ago, and I on a whim filmed it, and it was really fun because I don't have a lot of opportunity, shockingly, to like talk to camera in one take because there's so much happening in my kitchen all the time. Like all these food content creators who have who don't have kids around them all the time. I I mean, I'm so jealous because they could probably just take their time. Like it's sometimes if I'm doing talk to camera during the day, I get like one shot because someone's probably gonna come bother me, you know. Um, but the after dark series started, and then I filmed one and people liked it. So I just anytime I make a snack and it's late and it's dark, I film it. And it I actually some of them have not made it to the Instagram because they didn't turn out very good. I like getting creative, you know. Um, but it's been fun. I I often I often do have a snack typically not quite as late right now because it doesn't get dark here till like 9:30. Right. So I haven't been able to film those till like much later at night. Wintertime I can do it at like 7 p.m.

SPEAKER_01

You know, yesterday I was filming a reel and I was like doing shrimp. And if people saw the whole, because I just hit record and then I edit it out, right? So my daughter's walking through one segment, my husband's talking to me in another, my dog is barking, the cat is tearing like it the commotion, and then you're like one second clips. All I need is 11 seconds, right? But it's like a six-minute whole recording that you had to chop up, right? I it's funny. If I could, if I showed what really happened, people would be like, How do you how do you function? Like it's so much going on.

SPEAKER_00

I've often thought I should do like a blooper series. I've been toying with that idea because there's just so much one time I was piping something and you can hear my three-year-old say, Oh, mommy, what's your frosting? Oh, that's adorable.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. But I do think it's like those moments where you're like, at least my reels, it's the things that I spent the least amount of time on that I was like, I'm with you. I gotta post every day, be consistent, whatever. And it's something you just throw out there, and then you're like, oh my God, that did so well. How could I recreate it? And then you have 400 views, right?

SPEAKER_00

Like you never can't. It's like the that secret sauce. It's like it had to come together in that perfect moment, and you know.

SPEAKER_01

Right?

SPEAKER_00

That's what you do every day. You put in the reps.

SPEAKER_01

Yep, yep. Um, let's talk about protein myths. So I know people hear a lot about protein and all of these things, but I think people view like a healthy protein as expensive or complicated. Like, what are your favorite shortcuts around protein? So let's do like beef and chicken. What are your favorite shortcuts?

SPEAKER_00

Well, that's a great question. So for beef, I mean a ground beef is gonna be your cheapest. I uh you can't you can't beat the price. Um, but after that, I always try to look at what I could get for a quantity that could be used in different ways. So, for example, I love to grill flank steak. Um, and I find of all the steak options, flank steak tends to be the cheaper option. And again, my family all likes flank steak. No, no protein, however the price, if your family's not going to eat it willingly, it's not worth it because it's not worth spending that money and then having that battle. Um, so I like to buy flank steak because I know my family will eat it. I can get a lot of it. Again, there's seven of us for the you know price per pound. And then probably chuck roast would be my other beef option because again, I can get a lot of it, I can cook it, and then I can use that in a lot of different ways. My some of my kids like just the plain cooked chuck roast, you know, it's falling apart, it's really juicy and salty. And then I like to do a barbacoa. I posted that last week, another one of those last week. Um, you can just do so much with a chuck roast. So those would probably probably my top beef options. And then for chicken, you know, chicken breasts, chicken thighs. I love to do a loaf pan chicken because I think it is quick and you get it, it's really foolproof. You know, you're like layering it, you're cooking it, you're slicing it. There's not, you're not temperature probing on the grill. I think grilling, I I've been talking more about grilling because people have asked me, but I am not a grill master. I'm just, I say I'm just a girl who grills, but I've been doing it, you know, for many, many years. And I've kind of figured out the ways my family likes to eat it. Um thankfully, I don't have a lot of picky protein eaters. I know some people are like, I don't like chicken thighs, or I don't like chicken breast. You know, I I um while I do have some more selective eaters, I can normally make it so that they'll eat it. In whatever capacity of chicken I'm making, you know.

SPEAKER_01

It's funny with the grill, like I used to be so intimidated, I never used it. And then we put in a pool and I was like, well, I have to make these kids something while I'm watching them swim. So I better figure out this whole barbecue thing. And the first thing I did, Trader Joe's has like a scratch cock chicken. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I'm gonna try that. And my husband was like, Have you ever made a whole chicken? I was like, no, never. So, but I did it like on the grill and it like dripped through onto the potato. I mean, it was fabulous. And just the other day, my husband was like, When are you gonna make that again? I was like, I don't know, it's too much work, but but I do think with the grill, just like with the kitchen, you've just gotta try it, right? And as long as it's not raw, I I mean, there will be some flops or make burgers, whatever you're comfortable with. But I do think, again, in the summer, it's so nice to kind of have those mix and match sort of options. I'm with you. Definitely. Um, okay, let's see. Let's talk about reimagining that basement of yours. So I said, no basement here, but envious of all that space. It I know looks massive.

SPEAKER_00

It's it's huge. And I I when we moved in, it's it's all, you know, they're all excuses, but we dump things down there, you'd clean a little area and then feel good about it, and then moored things get dumped down there because it's where things go to die, you know, it's your Monica closet. And um, I just I feel like I'm at a place where I can, you know, backstory, it's a huge basement and we just have stuff, you know, you have stuff down there, and I want it to be more functional for my family. I want to have a nicer, we do exercise down there, but it's not um, it's not the way I would like it to be organized. And then we have like a workbench area. I'd love to make that nicer for my husband, for me, so we can easily find things. And then since it's unfinished, I don't have the money to make it finished right now. So I've thought, you know, let's make it, let's embrace that it's unfinished. It's a cement floor. My kids can rollerblade down there. We have spent some time clearing out just even a little space, and they're already just making this little loop with rollerblades because it's in the, you know, you said it's hot. It's very hot where we are too, and no one wants to be outside rollerblading in a hundred degree weather. So they're just having the best time rollerblading down there during the day or even at nighttime, like after dinner. Um, so I can see it. I can see what it can, the potential. I'm just not, I you know, it's like right now we're in the slog of decluttering, getting rid of stuff, and you gotta make those decisions like, oh, are we actually gonna ever use this? Are we not? You know, it's like every single item you have to go through that.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like too, it could be it has like this potential. And, you know, when I think about like my daughter, you know, is gonna be a senior in high school, and then pretty soon she won't be living at home. And she's like, Are you gonna turn my room into like a jit like and I'm like, no, it'll still be your bedroom. But that basement that has a lot of potential, even when your kids grow up. So um, let's talk about you have five children, yes, and what are their ages?

SPEAKER_00

Um, well, my three year olds about she's gonna be four next week. So I say she's four, and then a seven-year-old son, eleven daughter, thirteen boy, sixteen-year-old.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Um, my son is going into eighth grade, and so we're not as many kids, but in similar age ranges. Yeah. What's it like having a teenage driver and an almost four-year-old? Like, what's that spam?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I will, I I've said this on Instagram. I would rather potty train a hundred toddlers than teach someone to drive because it's just it's not that she's a great driver. It's not that, it's my anxiety. I am just, I am clenched the whole time we are on the road. And of course, you know, my husband does drive with her, but she's with me 90% of the time. So it makes sense that she gets her reps in driving when we are as a family. So um, so we're doing it, but it is it is a big mental sacrifice for me to just get over it and be like, okay, we're gonna do it. So um I would say it's it's been fun. I I really think that having a widespan keeps our family young because we're still going to playgrounds, you know, we still go and do those kinds of things, which I don't think I would do with like a 16 and a 13-year-old. Yeah. Um, we go to the pool and so they get to splash around with the little kids because it's, you know, because we have the little kids and um it's it's fun. It definitely it definitely doesn't come without its challenges. I mean, even last night we were at that church festival and my the the three or four-year-old, she was sweaty, she was hot, and she was done. You know, I I think we would have stayed longer even though it was raining, but it would not have been fun because she was losing her mind. So it was time to abort and go get that Chick-fil-A and Kava. And, you know, there will be a season when we don't have to do that, but sometimes you gotta go with like what the neediest person needs.

SPEAKER_01

What would you say with the with the span of kids that you have, what's the parenting challenge you that surprised you the most this year?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's a good question. The parenting challenge, it probably would be do with homeschooling, just because for me, I have to have the time to put in with the younger kids because I'm actually teaching a lot more with younger children who can't read yet and write. And then the older kids, it is figuring out what they're doing. So I'm always sourcing and figuring out the right pro uh the right like curriculum for a kid and what they need next. And we do year-round of schooling, so we're schooling right now. Um, I it's just figuring that out. Like, I especially when you have older kids. So my 16-year-old, she's doing pre-calculus, and I had to figure out like we had just finished, there's something called Saxon Math, and we just finished their advanced mathematics book. And then you're like, okay, what is next then? You know, because I wanted to make sure she was lined up because I'd love her to take an in-person calc class next year at our local um UC campus has a local option. And so it's like figuring out what that's gonna be and like where you want to put your money. I have to pay for it. So, like, what do I want to do for money for finding that thing for her? So it's just such a disconnect because since I'm doing like I'm literally teaching the alphabet to one kid and then finding pre-calculus for another kid.

SPEAKER_01

All while doing all of your other life things and all the cooking and the planning and the mental load list that I think all of us carry, right? Oh, yeah. What do you think you're looking most forward to in your next season of family life? So, what's something maybe that you guys are really looking forward to?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I I I would love to do more travel. I um we we did a lot of travel to family when we were younger, a younger family. It was always to go visit family, but just in the last couple of years, we've started doing more like just our core family trips. And those are really fun. I really like you could probably guess by my personality, I love the planning and the executing and you know, organizing and I love being in charge of that. And my husband's just great to go along with the journey. You know, I joke that it's like a big surprise party for him because he shows up and he's like, What are we doing?

SPEAKER_01

Right. Where are we going?

SPEAKER_00

Where are we going? But um all jokes aside, I I enjoy that part of it. So for me, um, I'm looking forward to being able to do more of that and and just exploring and and doing those things, especially with having, you know, my 16-year-old daughter, she'll probably go off to college in two years. And so that that journey is gonna be a whole thing, figuring that out. I'm sure you're deep in that, and just like, what are we doing? Where's it gonna be? How much is it gonna cost?

SPEAKER_01

We recently went when we were in San Diego, we went to Balboa Park and they had this museum called the Museum of Us. And it was the first time that my son just kind of started wandering around the museum by himself. And it was actually a very cool museum. It has the California Tower, it just had a lot of history, but it was really more like anthropology focused and sociology. It was fascinating and it was such an unassuming place, but I feel like as your kids get older, you can really see what their interests are when they just sort of roam around and walk around. I I with you that travel really kind of exposes them to a lot. Yeah. Did your daughter come back from Europe and she was like, I'm gonna go study abroad my whole life, I'm gonna live in France.

SPEAKER_00

She has always wanted she's always said she wants to study abroad. And so I was so curious, and she loved it. She loved being there and doing, but I will say she was with a group of like 45 other kids. And so in that situation, it's like you're limited, you know, they they they take you to the lube and they're like, You have two hours, yeah, you know, do it. So I think she now realizes she's like, oh, I want to go back and be with, you know, just you guys or a small group and really be able to take our time, which I mean, who doesn't want to do that in Europe, right? Right, right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, slow travel is everyone's dream, I feel like. I know, yeah. Uh, I I have loved this so much, but I want to be respectful of your time, especially on a Sunday. But if listeners wanted to know what was next for you, without giving away, you know, any sort of secrets and what's coming up next, what's next for you for Home Begins with Love, do you think?

SPEAKER_00

Well, you know, I love to overshare on the internet, so I have no secrets. Um, next, probably like I said, I've got so I've got the Home Begins with Love website, it's just homebeginswithlove.com. Um, I will continue updating that, but we're really working with someone else to like make it even better. We kind of have hit our um max tech ability on WordPress. So there's you know all kinds of wonderful people online that can help you with those types of things. So we're looking to hire someone to really just make it even better and more um streamlined so it's easy to use. And um, so that's probably the next thing with Home Bing is with love. And I'm excited to work on the basement and share more about that. I think coming up in the fall, I will definitely do my How to Be Happy at the Holiday series again. I did that last winter and it was so much fun. It was all about, you know, tell people what you want, bonus points if you know what you want. And I love sharing like the practical things that I personally would want to get for the holidays. It's it's just a fun. So I'll definitely do that in the fall.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. And where, if people wanted like three of your Instagram reels that I could link here, what are your top three reels that you would want someone to watch if they're feeling overwhelmed with life or food prep or you know, mom life or parenting? What are your top three?

SPEAKER_00

That's a good question. I post every day. I have to think about this. Um, definitely the Pacaccha pizza because to me that's a crowd pleaser. If you want a home run dinner, especially if you have people coming over, hands down, because you can do it in one day. And I've filmed, I have when I filmed it, I've shown myself leaving the house and like going to do stuff because it's not like I'm home babysitting this recipe the whole day long. No, absolutely not. Who has time for that? Um, I probably do my homemade beef summer sausage because that one is just as another home run recipe. People love it, and it's surprisingly easy. It's every time someone DMs me, I get you asked about people DMing, I get DMs about that at least daily saying, I cannot believe this. How in the world does this happen with seven ingredients? And I never thought you could make this from scratch. So that, and then probably one of my um come along and make dinner reels, just because I think there's so much content out there showing families eating like the same dinner plate. They all look the same and everyone's having this perfectly plated dinner. And I don't think that's reality. I really don't think most families are eating that way because they need adaptability, whether it's food allergies or food preferences or even different dinner times. Maybe you know, you have sports or something. And I think adaptable cooking is just so much more approachable. And I want people to know that like you can totally do it. It is not, it doesn't have to be this culinary adventure to be adaptable and to like meet people where they're at or what their needs are. And I just want the world to know you can do that.

SPEAKER_01

I agree. You know, we mostly eat one common protein, but someone might have butter noodles and someone might have quinoa, and then someone might have vegetables, right? But exactly, and I think with that adaptability, like you hit the nail on the head. I don't think everybody eats perfectly plated salmon and broccoli. Like no, there's one person in my family who would eat that, and it's actually my son, right? So but I do think when you have that adaptability, you have a lot more options and it's less stressful.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, it's so much less stressful. I spent years with one of my kiddos in feeding therapy, and it was really hard to go eat at someone else's house because I would feel like they were judging me, you know, because I was not giving them the exact food everyone was eating. And it just made me realize that there is so there are so many people in the world who might need to have the permission to think it's okay to have an adaptable dinner. And and to feel like you're not doing this wrong if not everyone's having the exact same food at the exact same time.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And it's doable. It's not like I'm I'm not over here making 20 different options, you know. That's what I try to show in those meals when I say come along as I make an adaptable meal for my family of seven. You can do that.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. And if you can, we can too, right? Okay, so where can people find you? Your website, your Instagram, are you on TikTok?

SPEAKER_00

I'm on everything. I'm on the YouTubes, I'm on the TikTok on Pinterest now. I just started Pinterest. Oh my gosh, you're busy. Yes, well, thankfully my husband's helping. Um, it's called Home Begins with Love. I have that on everything. So I got thehomebeginswithlove.com, Home Begins with Love on YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, whatever else, whatever the new one is, I'll get on that too.

SPEAKER_01

Right, whatever's next. Oh, thank you so much. I have loved, truly loved this conversation and catching up. And I really again, I love how relatable you are, how adaptable you are. And it's just I always look forward to your stories or your reels. And I I very much appreciate you taking the time to chat today. Thank you.