Top

The Raw and The Cooked

Simple Meals + Honest Book Reviews + Practical Living

What I’m Studying in 2026: Healing, Faith, and Growth

One of my favorite things about a new year is deciding what I want to learn. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed something interesting: the books I’m drawn to often reveal more about my season of life than I realize. It’s a reflection of where I am and where I hope to grow. Looking at my non-fiction stack for 2026, a clear theme emerged: Healing.

Healing the body, the mind, relationships, and my nervous system. And perhaps most importantly, deepening my connection with God through all this said healing.

…

View the Post

Numbers 16:1 – 18:32 | Korach | “Korach”

Last week was officially the first week of summer, Camp Mommy. Where we had all four children at home, and it went pretty smoothly, all things considered. Though two out of our three mornings of swim lessons got cut short – long story. We celebrated our oldest son turning six, we had a class birthday party at the park, a second family birthday dinner + cake at home, and celebratory baseball game — the Cards got crushed by the Padres, but we did end up with a foul ball for the birthday boy! A visit from my sister-in-law as well. It was a pretty great week. For those who don’t know, yesterday was the 2026 summer solstice, which means it’s officially summer, but the days will slowly grow shorter from here on out.

…

View the Post

Numbers 13:1 – 15:41 | Sh’lach | “Send for Yourself”

So, I got my weeks confused, and accidentally wrote this post last week. With holidays and double parsha’s it’s a lot to keep straight. I wrote about how we’d been blessed with the most perfect humidity-free early summer days, and for Missouri, that’s a gift in of itself. All last week, we enjoyed morning coffees, lunches, popsicles, cocktails, and dinners outdoors, while the girls did their chicken business around us – it was absolutely magical ✨ And then this week, we had the most oppressive three-day heatwave, the humidity alone was enough to choke you. It’s interesting how quickly things can change. And more than that, how it takes a terrible heat-wave to make you truly appreciate humidity-free summer weather. You can’t have one, at least the appreciation, without the other. Similar to this weeks parsha: you can’t have faith without experiencing a little fear…

…

View the Post

Creamy Lemon Pasta 🍋

This creamy lemon pasta cost less than $15 to make, takes less than thirty minutes to come to life, and it feeds my family of six with leftovers for lunch the next day. This creamy lemon parmesan pasta has become my favorite warm-weather switch-up from the heavy tomato sauces I lean on all winter. The sauce is ridiculously simple to throw together: 1 cup half and half, 6 tablespoons of butter, lemon zest, grated parmesan, and fresh lemon juice at the end. Throw in whatever veggies you have on hand, and the real surprise? Sweet apple chicken sausage. Bonus points for the protein, but It also adds a subtle sweetness that really ties everything together. 

…

View the Post

Three Ingredient Pasta Sauce

Naomi, our seven year old, came home from school this past week, hell-bent on cooking a pasta recipe she ‘invented’. And it actually happened to coincide perfectly with a viral three-ingredient pasta sauce recipe the internet keeps showing me. So I figured, sure! Let’s give it a go. It was a really simple, and with a small tweak, and a handful of fresh toppings – like parsley, grated Parmesan, and red pepper flakes – it turned out delicious.

…

View the Post