Hiiiii! Yes, you’re in the right place. We’re rebooting!

“Ciao Veggie” is now “Happy Veggie Kitchen”.

What’s going on?

Lots! In the last couple of years I have been super quiet on here, focusing for a while on my pregnancy and then on my beautiful little babe. In November I was supposed to go back to my job after a year’s maternity leave, but I decided to stay home with Odette full time and seek out freelance work instead. So I am ready to bring some structure back to my blogging as a way to keep up my skills and generate some income through advertising, sponsorships, and freelance recipe writing. Basically, this is part of my new career plan. YAY!

Why a new name?

With things evolving behind the scenes here, I felt like a fresh start. When I chose the name Ciao Veggie I imagined doing a lot of international and Italian vegetarian recipes, but now I have a slightly different angle. I still love all of the same things but I can’t tackle the kinds of projects I used to. I am basically trying to get a quick dinner on the table without losing my sense of adventure, and keeping the kitchen as my happy place amongst the chaos of our new routine!

I also have a new project in the works, and I put on my marketing hat and decided I wanted to be able to create an overarching brand that with room for sub-brands. More on that later…

What’s cooking?

A little less of the dishes that require 3 different pans, a little more of the one pot wonders and the “under 30 minute” category, but the vibe is exactly the same. I will still do things like add brie to my pesto and wine to my potatoes. My 1 year old has eaten more than one dish with truffle oil. Because that’s how I roll.

What’s next?

Look out for my new baby and toddler section, Happy Veggie Tots, which will be launching soon with it’s own area on the site and it’s own Facebook page. I am SO excited about this. When we first started Odette on solids, I never would have thought I’d end up blogging baby food recipes. She did not eat well for a long time, and I was super stressed about it. We’re on the other side of that now, and she loves her food, albiet with some remaining texture issues. Our rough start has made it all the more rewarding when I see her gobble up her dinners now and I love creating recipes for her. That said, we mostly eat together – so these are not all “baby food” recipes. They are designed around babies’ needs, but good enough for anyone to eat.

Tots recipes will be in their own area and on their own newsletter, so if you are a current subscriber without little people to feed, don’t worry, you won’t be overwhelmed by it.

I have a couple of recipe videos being made to share in February / March! We’ll see how they do and then maybe there will be more.

I am going to TRY to post twice per week – one recipe on Happy Veggie Kitchen and one recipe on Happy Veggie Tots. I won’t always manage it, especially if freelance jobs come up, but that’s my goal for now.

So there we have it. I think 2018 is going to be fun!

See you ’round!

Christine