Hello! My name is Carli Christiansen, the face behind Gracious Cooking. I am the mother of three beautiful and busy young daughters, and I know what a struggle it can be to get dinner on the table. I want to help you cook a delicious homemade dinner for your family in an hour or less.
Who Am I?
I grew up in Georgia and had a grandmother (Nana) who was a great Southern cook. Her biscuits and cinnamon rolls were legendary, and she made a mean chicken soup. My Chicken Soup With Lemon And Rice recipe is based off of memories from her kitchen.
Even with this delicious heritage, I didn't cook much growing up. I was busy being a musician. I studied voice from the time I was eight years old (thanks Mom and Dad!), and just knew I was going to be a singer.
I started at Brigham Young University in 2007 and majored in Vocal Performance. This was the experience of a lifetime. I worked with incredible people, made lifelong friends, and was able to fulfill so many of my creative goals. I performed in operas, and got the opportunity to play Dorabella (a lead role) in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at BYU in the fall of 2012.
During college I also was blessed with the opportunity to study in Vienna, Austria in 2009. This was a life changing experience and opened my eyes to a whole new culture and food tradition. I also served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Austria and southern Germany in 2010 and 2011.
I graduated from BYU in 2013, taught music for a few years, and then married Mark, the love of my life, on August 5th, 2014. We now have 3 daughters, one cat, three snakes and a silly lizard.
Why Did I Start Cooking?
Once I went away to school, I quickly figured out that you had to cook in order to eat. After my freshman year, I started watching the Food Network and trying to make some of their recipes. I lived in an apartment where I paid $99 a month (it was crazy then, but it's unbelievably cheap now!). The pipes in the ceiling burst, my window faced directly into a parking space so headlights would blind you through the curtains in the middle of the night, and I had a roommate who would leave half rotten packages of strawberries all over the tiny kitchen.
However, this tiny, dilapidated apartment had a brand new gas stove. There was something about making halfway decent (to me at that point anyway) food on that new stove that was kind of magical. I could take seemingly random ingredients and turn them into something totally different. Thus began my love affair with cooking.
Food Insecurity
After my mission, I had a really hard time finding a job. I was still in school, and was really busy with two operas I was in that year. It took me six months to find a job in a college town where every other student needed a flexible job, too. During that six months I ran out of resources. I was relieved to finally have a job at a department store, but it only paid $8.50 an hour, and I was no longer living in that $99 apartment.
Hard things were happening in my family, so I was determined to make it on my own. I fell into food insecurity. I lost a scary amount of weight and was constantly thinking about how I was going to get calories into my body next, all while trying to finish school and trying to figure out grad school. Not to mention performing in shows.
I tried so many things. I tried to get on a government food assistance program, but did not work enough hours, even though I was a full time student. In hindsight I should have either gone to my church or my parents for help, but for some reason those just didn't feel like options at the time.
Creativity
In February 2013, my friend asked if I could come help her film skits for a German class she was teaching at a local private school. I said I'd be glad to, and over I went. After filming, I helped her out another time, and my friend talked to the principal about any job openings they might have. Later that afternoon, I was in an interview and had a new job.
I worked the front desk and taught some music classes. My new job did not pay a lot, but it paid enough for me to eat, which was a huge deal. I will never forget going to the grocery store and swiping my card without having to calculate every single cent.
After I got this job, I cooked for two weeks straight. People noticed, haha.
As some of my financial pressure lessened, I found that cooking became a significant creative outlet for me. I will always love music, but cooking is a much more low pressure way to express myself and show the people around me that I care about them. I loved learning about different techniques and ingredients and stretching my little culinary wings.
The Pandemic
Fast forward seven years. I have graduated from college Mark and I are married and have two daughters. Then we all know what happened in March of 2020. Covid hit and everything came crashing down around everyone.
During the summer of 2020 I started having trouble with my mental health. I was sad, having intrusive thoughts, and not sleeping. I found a therapist and got on medication, which helped tremendously.
During one session, my therapist said to me "I think motherhood has eaten you alive and you don't know who you are or what you want anymore." Rude, but annoyingly true. I love my kids more than anything, but I was struggling. My therapist challenged me to make one of my dreams happen.
I went back and forth about what I would try to do. Maybe a Master's in music? Culinary school? I always thought I would go to culinary school after my kids were bigger, but thought maybe I'd look into it now. It couldn't hurt, right?
Culinary School
After some googling, I found a program for online culinary school. Maybe this could work! The program looked great, and I could pay my sister to watch my kids while I was in class. Online culinary school was brand new (again, Covid), but I had a really great feeling about it. I prayed so hard that it would work out.
I gave the school a call, and just about cried when they told me that the course of study that I was interested was deeply discounted. It was the exact same culinary program they usually run, but again, online culinary school was the wild west. I signed up immediately.
I loved every second of school. Class was held 5 days a week for 3 hours, and I spent more time grocery shopping and prepping for each class. It was the happiest I had been in a long time. The chef would be on a zoom call with me and the one other student in the class. He would instruct and watch us cook, and guide us through tasting and evaluating our dishes. It was absolutely what I needed. I graduated from Park City Culinary Institute's culinary program in January 2021.
A Blog Is Born
A food blog had been bouncing around in the back of my brain for years, but I didn't feel confident enough to develop my own recipes. Culinary school changed that for me. I knew I now had enough knowledge about technique and flavor development to be able to write recipes that other people could follow and enjoy.
I pulled the trigger one night after listening to Priya Krishna talk about food writing on Instagram. I just really felt like now was the time. I had my first post up by the end of that night.
Since that night Gracious Cooking has been through significant changes. I had the extraordinary privilege of studying food photography with Andrew Scrivani in the fall of 2021. His mentorship is a huge blessing in my life that I will always be grateful for. I've also had the opportunity to appear on ABC4's Good Things Utah several times, and hope to continue to appear regularly in the future.
Why One Hour Dinners?
I want you to be able to make a delicious, homemade meal for yourself and those you care about in a reasonable amount of time. We all love a 30 minute meal, and I have plenty of those on the site, like this baked Dijon salmon recipe, but I want you to experience the magical flavors and textures that you can create in just a little more time. We're not going to rush, just make culinary magic together.
I want you to experience the power of searing, sautéing, and simmering a meal until the texture is perfect. Your palate and mind will open as you bloom spices and use flavor powerhouses like Dijon mustard, soy sauce, and vinegars to take your cooking to the next level.
I'm so glad you're a part of this community.
Happy cooking!
Carli Christiansen
