Welcome

Hi, I’m Megan

I’m a food lover (obviously), health nut, recipe creator, and serial entrepreneur who has been running this site for over 5 years. In college I barely knew how to boil water, and now I can whip up just about anything (including homemade crackers, tortillas, bread, sauces, salad dressings, and more) from scratch with no trouble.

I started this blog to provide help people see the power of real food. Simple, delicious, and nourishing food.

Fun Facts About Me

I’d rather be

at a mountain lake

Listening to

country music

grateful for

you!

Favorite place

with my family

my weekends

relaxing & laughing

best snuggle buddies

my three girls

Where this all began

I wasn’t always into cooking and creating recipes. In fact, I have a Bachelors Degree AND Master’s Degree in Mathematics. (This is where I get the head tilt….huh?). I’m a self-taught cook, and prioritize simple family friendly recipes that are adaptable to any diet, because I’ve been through pretty much all of them by now.

Several years ago, I started a health journey that opened my eyes to an even deeper level of awareness of food and how to nourish our bodies in the best way possible. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and learned which foods feel best in my body, and which foods make it angry.

There’s nothing I love more than providing a simple solution to someone who feels overwhelmed with life / health / food. My recipes on Scratch to Basics are always gluten-free, most of them are also dairy-free and refined sugar free.

My Health Journey

Through hours and hours of nutrition and health research, along with several iterations of what diet works for me and what doesn’t, and I’ve learned that every body works differently. I’m here to share what I’ve learned through my own research as well as working with nutritionists and functional medicine practitioners on my journey. In the end, I’ve learned how to trust my intuition with food and cooking, and I want everyone to feel ease, freedom, and power when it comes to cooking dinner.

I’m a firm believer that food doesn’t have to be complicated to be delicious.

Here at Scratch To Basics, you’ll find simple recipesreal food ingredients, and food packed with flavor. Healthy food should taste good, and it doesn’t need to take all day to get it ready. Plus, you have my word that every recipe you see here on the site has been tested and fine tuned at least 3 times.

How Scratch to Basics Came to Be

When I met my (now) husband, we would pick a cookbook and work our way through it, testing and trying each of the recipes. Through those early cooking dates, I learned that experimentation is okay in cooking (and all things, really).

I learned how to cook with my intuition. I learned how to make food taste GOOD – the way I wanted it to taste.

And eventually, with more experimentation, I became the cook of the family. I did the meal planning, the grocery shopping, and the cooking. I started paying closer attention to the ingredient labels on foods, and learned there is a LOT of ingredients in most foods that are only there to keep them shelf-stable at the store.

If you make the same thing at home, you can shorten the ingredient list significantly, thereby making it healthier, simpler, and BETTER. All in your own kitchen. A spark was lit inside of me.

I started making anything and everything I could from scratch:

…and so much more.

I made my own bread (sourdough and not), pizza crust, hamburger buns, and even ground my own wheat berries into whole wheat flour.

I fermented milk into yogurt, we made kombucha, kimchi, and sauerkraut. We moved to a mini-farm and milked our goats and turned the goat milk into cheese and soap. You name it. We’ve made it in our kitchen.

What You’ll Find Here on Scratch to Basics

Scratch Recipes

I’m all about simple recipes from scratch. You’ll find gluten free recipes, dairy free recipes, Paleo, and Vegan recipes here on Scratch to Basics. From sauces and salad dressings to desserts and snacks, you’ll find something for everyone here.

Meal Planning Help

Meal planning not only saves time and money, but it also prevents those stressful, “Oh shoot what’s for dinner?” last minute conversations as you stare into the empty fridge. Here on STB, you’ll find reviews and roundups of meal planning apps, meal kit delivery services, and other helpful meal planning information (including free meal planning templates you can get when you join my email list).

Healthy Living Resources

Plant powders from Juice Plus, clean beauty products from Beautycounter, and tried & tested supplements are among the resources I love sharing with my readers here on Scratch to Basics. Not to mention roundups with the best of the best healthy living products and resources.

more healthy living resources

Product Reviews

From Butcher Box and Crowd Cow to the best online grocery stores and produce box delivery services, I love testing products and services for my audience, so you don’t have to wonder and guess what you’ll get when you purchase from a new company.