Subscribe in iTunes Listen in Stitcher
Natasha Red grew up loving food and hospitality. But when she married and started a family of her own, as Natasha says, “It was like everything I knew about feeding myself and my family just blew up.” Natasha found it impossible to create the beautiful, healthy dinners she once did and care for a fussy newborn. She noticed other moms were as overwhelmed as she was, and she knew she had to do something about it. Out of that need, Natasha created the Seasonal Meal Planner, an adaptable system to help women organize meals and create an intentional plan for hospitality. You’ll love meeting Natasha and hearing all about how she plans meals for her family. You’ll be encouraged by all the great things she has to say about feeding ourselves and our loved ones, and why it’s so important to have people over, even in the season of temper tantrums at Target and crushed Cheerios in the carpet. And you’ll definitely want to make her easy chili and delicious paleo cornbread, perfect for game days and chilly fall nights ahead.
Show Summary:
Natasha Red grew up loving food and hospitality. Her dad prepared delicious things in their family’s kitchen, and they’d often have neighbors and friends over for dinner. When she got a place of her own, Natasha followed suit, preparing gorgeous meals to share with her friends and the girls she mentored in her church’s college ministry.
After she married her husband Jordan and had her first baby, as Natasha says, “Then it was like everything I knew about feeding myself and my family just blew up.”
Natasha would get to the end of the day with nothing prepared for dinner, and no way to fix it, thanks to an empty fridge, a fussy newborn, and a bucket of overwhelm. She noticed other moms were as frustrated as she was, and she knew she had to do something about it.
Natasha talked to her mother-in-law, who had a genius recipe card system she’d been using to meal plan for decades. Jordan’s mom would write down family-favorite dishes and arranged them by season. That way, she’d only have to sit down once a quarter to think about what their family was going to eat.
Natasha took that idea and came up with the Seasonal Meal Planner, an adaptable system to help women organize meals and create an intentional plan for hospitality.
You’ll love meeting Natasha and hearing all about the ways she plans meals for her family. You’ll be encouraged by all the great things she has to say about feeding ourselves and our loved ones, and why it’s so important to have people over, even in the season of temper tantrums at Target and crushed Cheerios in the carpet. And you’ll definitely want to make her easy chili and delicious paleo cornbread, perfect for game days and chilly fall nights ahead.
Kitchen Segment: Paleo Chili
Links/Products/Recipes Discussed:
Kristin’s Mountain Strong Chili
Kristin’s Gluten Free Cornbread
Interview Quotes:
“Motherhood sort of thrust me into that reality of, If I don’t get this aspect organized, then I’m not going to have the mental energy or the physical energy to pour myself out into other people.”– Natasha Red
“I was like, ‘Well, here’s the trick: for me, if dinner isn’t made before noon, it’s not going to happen.’ That was sort of my thing. It was like, Okay, I’m making toast or waffles, and I’m spreading peanut butter on bread for kindergarten lunches. I might as well sauté some onions and throw some meat in the skillet all there and get it all done. And it was life changing for me to just say, ‘I’m going to make dinner now.’”
– Kristin Schell, on cooking when she had littles
“Who told you that you have to make that outlandish meal? You don’t. If it’s a meat and a vegetable and a cup of applesauce for your kids, great.”
– Natasha Red“We have to acknowledge and give respect, if you will, to the season that we’re in. And one season in my life where I was able to make a four-course meal and that was worship to me, to be able to create something beautiful and serve it to someone, that’s not my season right now. And I have to live and respect the season I’m in right now and say, It’s okay.”
– Natasha Red
“It’s the rhythm of the seasons. That’s how God created us, to follow those patterns.”
– Kristin Schell
“Putting in the effort to say, ‘Come into my home, my most sacred domain, my most precious place that is very private. I’m allowing you into this space.’ That communicates so much love that I think,honestly, our world is starving for.”
– Natasha Red“We make the time for what we value.”
– Natasha Red
Connect with Natasha:
