About
becoming traditional
comfort food meets great company
Becoming Traditional started in a 700-sq-ft apartment in early 2022 after discovering blogging. This was how I could share alllllll the things my husband & I had learned about self-sufficient living, especially in small spaces with other women.
But blogging doesn’t exactly work that way. And there was so much to cover under “apartmentsteading” that I soon narrowed it down to food & the kitchen.
But even that was too big.
Because food is big.
And it doesn’t matter if your kitchen is massive or tiny.
After years of trial & error (which is still ongoing btw), I finally got to my center of the cinnamon roll.
The best part about food isn’t just what we eat.
It’s who we share it with.
Every meal has a recipe & a story. So whether you have family recipes passed down to you or you’re building your own such collection like me, I wanna help you tell your story. Period.
Here you’ll find recipes, systems & tips to gather, celebrate and feed your people. Authentic, delicious & sometimes healthy comfort foods. Some are slow cooked for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Others can go straight from the freezer to the oven without defrosting. (I see you girl! 😎✌🏽)
but let’s talk about you girl.
Maybe you’re here because you’re hungry & don’t know what to make for dinner…again. Or maybe you know me IRL & just wanna support (thanks!).
Either way, you’ve got people to feed. And maybe you stumbled across this lil blog & think it’s just *another* food blog. Well…in some ways you’re right.
*GASP* 🫢 I know. I know. I’m not supposed to say that.
My site’s like the others. Here you’ll find:
- recipes divided into categories like batch cooking, preserving, seasonal meals & ofc …decadent desserts
- recipe cards with tips & my subs
- a “jump to recipe” button because…let’s be real. Who really has time to read all that anyway?
Now, don’t mind me but if the “jump to recipe” button is all you’re here for, fine!
Peep some of my most popular recipes right ‘chea 👇🏽
BUT…if you really wanna learn how to make meal times less stressful & more meaningful, keep reading…
Becoming Traditional is different. Period.
Because we’re about more than just the plate at the table. We plate up a healthy serving of connection too.
You’ve been craving some belonging for so long, you thought it didn’t exist. But girl, it’s never been closer than the people around your table. Whether you haven’t thought to look there or just don’t know how to unlock it, we can help!
So if you’ve been searching for a way to streamline your kitchen so making food is less stressful than sourdough, say no more.
And if you’re ready to finally take on cooking ya Grandmama’s greens for Thanksgiving, say even less.
You belong at this table if…
- comfort food speaks to your soul like no other cuisine, but you don’t actually know how to make it…
- you value self-sufficiency (like preserving your own food), but you don’t have anyone IRL to show you…
- creating memories through meals is important to you, even if you can’t find the family recipe card anymore…
- you just love food & love loving others through food
& having a sweet tooth never hurt either!
where it all started
Food often starts in the kitchen; the pantry (including the fridge or freezer) to be exact.
But here, you’ll find that food really starts with tradition. The way you’ve always enjoyed Saturday morning breakfast spreads with the cousins.
It starts with a person or a story. Mom’s knack for making spaghetti just so that felt like more than a basic pasta dish.
Food starts with a memory. The quick feeling of excitement when Uncle Joe brings his fam famous chili over whenever he comes by.
Lemme just tell you like this for free: if your kitchen, your pantry & your table aren’t telling stories – you’re doing it all wrong.
Whether you know it or not, the heritage behind your everyday meals is meant to get closer to your family.
This isn’t about slow cooked meats from a crockpot. It’s not even about 1-pan or 30-min meals for two, though they are helpful.
It’s about putting systems in place that create space for everyone to truly gather at the table & enjoy each other just as much as what’s on the plate.
behind the name
Becoming traditional
Just like our favorite meals have come to us from other cultures & past generations, the name of this site reflects the journey my family is on to becoming more self-sufficient. We’re running backwards to a simpler time & place where family was central to life.
What We Value
FAMILY & CONNECTION
Family is everything. It’s important to spend time nurturing the bonds we have.
This looks like inviting my toddlers into the kitchen knowing things will take twice as long or not go as planned.
It also looks like having healthy systems in place like batch cooking so we can still enjoy family time at the table around home cooked meals even on busy nights. Or creating seasonal traditions, like canning fruit into jam, so the family is ultra-involved in their food.
Whether it’s meal planning, dinner prep, quick lunches on the go or full-on Thanksgiving-like spreads with the whole extended family,
food is a gateway to deeper, more meaningful connections with the people we love.
Food this good just has to be shared.
AUTHENTICITY
Girl, I’m not here to fake the funk. All our meals aren’t 100% homemade. We eat out more than I’d like sometimes. And yeah, sometimes I eat a great big Jethro bowl of cereal & call it dinner because I just don’t wanna cook.
We still occasionally buy store-bought ingredients for convenience instead of making them from scratch even when I know how & I really, truly can’t be bothered with sourdough anything. I said what I said.
I’m not a recipe developer or a food photographer. Most everything you find on this blog has come from someone else, somewhere else & we’ve tweaked it to be our own. I’ve saved countless pins to countless boards & don’t have a family recipe card to save my life other than what I’m creating now in my own kitchen.
Grace. Yes, there’s a gold standard but sometimes you just wanna get to the table. (Or cuddle up with a big gooey bowl of homemade mac & nothin’ else.)
Do the best you can with what you have. And as you learn & know better, do better.
FLAVOR
Don’t skip the salt. Don’t put a cap on my butter. And there’s never too much garlic in the savory or too much vanilla in the sweet.
Food should nourish, but it should also excite! And the best flavors come from eating with the seasons like our ancestors used to.
If there’s no flavor…it’s not worth putting on the table.
(And that’s that on that hello.)
CULTURE
There’s nothing better than comfort food & great company. But not everyone is fortunate enough to have an Auntie who can throw down in the kitchen or a Grandmama who taught them to cook.
I want you to know if that’s you – that’s me too, girl.
So when your own family heritage is lacking in the “passed down” zone, you get to fill up your plate with foods from around the world!
Go out & find you that Auntie in a great cookbook at your local library! In our kitchen we love exploring ethnic foods. (Hence why we eat out when we do). So, I’m learning to make some of our favorites by finding other women who share their heritage recipes in books & blogs online.
And one day, those meals will be second nature to me in the kitchen & part of the food culture I pass down to my kids.
Free Download
Get the step by step checklist on how to start batch cooking meals today!
Recipe Basics:
Each recipe on this blog has to meet a few pre-reqs though, c’mon now:
- Big flavor & well-seasoned food. We believe in flavor (see “values” above!) That said, if you aren’t familiar (or comfortable) with salting your food, start with reading Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat!
- Simple & cultural ingredients. I hate a one-off ingredient, don’t you? So I strive to cook foods where I’ll use those special ingredients more than once & when I can’t, I learn the proper way to store or preserve them. No more oxidized tomato paste here! Living in Ohio, I shop local farms for bulk meats, milk & eggs. In season, we shop farm stands. Conventionally, I’m in our local international markets, Kroger, Trader Joe’s or Meijer. Occasionally, we hit Aldi.
- Very limited use of prepackaged & heavily processed ingredients. I’m a sucker for a good DIY so you’ll find my pantry crammed with tiny jars of spices, rubs, sauces, marinades & mixes we make ourself. A lot of which I often forget to write out 🤦🏽♀️
- Basic kitchen tools. You probably already have most of the basics. Ngl, I do love a good kitchen gadget, but I really try to keep things simple here. After all, everyone’s not kitchen-obsessed like me. Could you use a Kitchen Aid to make pizza dough? Yes. But you could also do it by hand. And in the end, that way probably has more lovin’ in it anyway.
About Claire
Claire is a big family & kitchen-loving foodie who shows women how to turn everyday meals into their family’s most cherished memories – because the comfort we truly crave is found in the connections we make at the table sharing the stories behind the meals that made us.