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Welcome!

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 21:15:50 GMT

I made my first cookbook purchase sometime in high school at an ornate bookstore in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

The bookstore was posh, decorated with a huge rainbow and a yellow brick road, and located right beside a real coffee shop, which was so fancy for my newly-independent teenaged self. The cookbook was Vineyard Seasons by Susan Branch. It taught me to make the most intensely chocolatey cake I’d ever tasted. It taught me to roast garlic to be spread on little olive-oil toasts for “Girl Talk” Hors D’Oeuvre, it showed me that cooking could be sophisticated, and seasonal, and simple. Before Susan Branch there had been 4-H cookbooks, recipes clipped from magazines - Better Homes and Garden, Family Circle and Harper’s Bazaar - the red plaid Betty Crocker, church cookbooks, my grandmother’s binder of clippings and typed recipes, my mom’s recipe box.

I’ve somewhere around 70 cookbooks in my collection now. I’ve been reading food blogs and subscribing to Epicurious, America’s Test Kitchen, and NYTimes Cooking since they started popping up over 25 years ago. I still always don’t know what to make for dinner.

Until now.

In this weekly Substack Publication - Dinner Simplified - I’ll be posting 3 weeknight dinner recipes that you can make this week. Not complicated recipes, not recipes with ingredients that need to be ordered from far-flung internet lands. Tasty recipes that will be new to you, but familiar enough to satisfy those whom you share meals with. I’ll also be posting a weekend challenge recipe that will take some more time, but the results will be worth it.

In the coming weeks we’ll be adding some exciting new elements to our business for those who are local and want to join in. Plans are in the works. Things are happening. Let’s Go!

Where This Business is Going

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:47:51 GMT

October 29th, 2025, a cool and drizzly day, I met with a business lawyer in Kingston to file paperwork for my brand new LLC...

And nearly 7 months later I am sitting here typing to you to introduce Inspired Community Collective and all that I hope it will be. The form of the business changed quite a bit in these past six months and I’m ready for it to keep evolving as things work, don’t work, grow and change.

I feel the biggest enemy of community is scarcity of time. So many people feel they must be self-sufficient, juggling all things all the time and hesitant to ask for help - we lack the space for connection. If Inspired Community Collective can ease some stress by sharing a couple of recipes for the week or by shopping for and putting together some ready to make meal kits — that’s awesome. If you’d let me suggest that you and a friend prepare your meal kits together, maybe while your kids are hanging out playing quietly (haha) in the next room, that’s even better. And it could be the start of stronger community.

If you have been hesitating on expanding your repertoire in the kitchen because you need more confidence on the basics, let’s work on that. If you need to add to your skills in order to tackle more complicated dishes, we can work on that also.

Community activities are also high on my wish list. Perhaps to start - a monthly community meal. At first I was thinking to cater the whole shebang myself, and while I’d still find that fun... I’m think it's a better idea to alleviate a bit of my own load and just organize the thing - place, time, theme, who’s bringing what, maybe add some entertainment and then whoever is interested, can come and bring a dish, or some music or… we’ll figure it out.

Stick with me.

Up First! Coming Soon!!

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 07:02:17 GMT

Home Delivery of Meal Prep Kits!!! (for families within a 20 minute drive of New Paltz)

Life gets busy, and figuring out dinner every night can feel like too much.

Inspired Community Collective Meal Prep Delivery Kits are coming soon to make it simpler, without taking away the joyful parts - discovering new ingredients, introducing more variety of dishes and that feeling of accomplishment when your whole family sits down together to a meal. One weekly delivery of all ingredients (fresh! local! organic!) and instructions needed to make 2 family meals, on a sliding scale.

How It Will Work:

There will be a link with a form below detailing the week you would like to start receiving delivery.
Then you will receive pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step instructions.
Cook when it works for you: Same day or later in the week.

A Few Things to Know:

Pricing is sliding scale. The lowest price listed reflects the cost of ingredients and some basic operational costs. Higher pricing helps to subsidize the business making it sure we can continue to operate and grow.
These recipes are designed for real life: flexible, approachable, and family-friendly.
The recipes are great for weeknights, make-ahead meals, or sharing with someone else.
Allergy and preference notes can be added when you sign up.

(Note: Full details and weekly menus coming soon.)