I’m Kellie, the cook and blogger at Blackboard Kitchen. I live in Denver, Colorado along with my husband Jason and our German Shepherd Ava, who both do fabulous jobs of cleaning up after my messes in the kitchen.
I’m a high school Humanities teacher (that’s both English and Social Studies) and I’ve been teaching for six years now. I love to teach – this is where the idea for Blackboard Kitchen came from. I figured that I could combine two things I love – cooking and teaching – and use them to help others around me experience success in the kitchen.
My journey into the kitchen began about 5 years ago, when I considered chips and salsa to be an acceptable dinner. Soon after Jason and I started dating, however, I realized the nutritional fallacies of my ways and started making an attempt at cooking.
The cooking began slowly – we ate pasta with jarred sauce, or quesadillas for dinner at first. But soon I became interested in trying new meals and exploring different recipes. Never one to ease into anything, I jumped into my new culinary interests with enthusiasm. We were soon eating fabulous, exciting meals three times a week! And our grocery bill was as much as our monthly rent payment. Delicious – and ridiculously expensive.
I knew this was not sustainable and so – about a year ago, right after Jason and I got married – we went on a strict food budget. My challenge had presented itself: I had to figure out a way for Jason and I to continue to eat well (that means tasty and fresh meals), all on no more than $350 per month.
It’s been challenging, but more than that it’s been fun to figure out how to prepare 5 dinners (we get one night off), 7 lunches, 7 breakfasts, and snacks for the whole week, and stay within our tight food budget. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve been creative, but most of all I’ve realized my passion for food and good eating.
I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned (and am continuing to learn!) with you here on Blackboard Kitchen!
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Love you cook Kellie!! Can’t wait to follow along!
Thank you, Sar! Love you too.
clever. i like it
This is sooo cool – maybe you can come and make one of these infamous meals at our place sometime and hang out with your God-daughter….
Thanks, Marnie! I would love to come over and see you guys and Brynley.
I like your blog, Kellie! Your mom gave me the site info this morning. I have some pork chops in the fridge and plan on trying your recipe for them this week.
Hi Linda! Thank you for checking out Blackboard Kitchen. I hope your pork is wonderful; I would love to know what you think!
Hello Kellie! I just discovered your blog through Foodbuzz. I love the name and your philosophy behind it! It’s a great idea to breakdown your weekly menu and budget like that and I will certainly follow you to pick up some tips – I’m not so good at budgeting my grocery store visits but I sure would benefit from it! I wish you the best of luck with Project Food Blog and hope we’ll keep in touch through our blogs. Cheers!
Hi Marie – thank you for coming by to check out Blackboard Kitchen! I hope to see you around here again and good luck to you in the competition as well! (I just read your lemon meringue pie post – YUM!)
I just love it! I can’t wait to have my own house and follow your weekly recipes. I think this is a brillant idea for teachers! Especially being on a budget and all the time we don’t have.
I have passed your site along for others to enjoy!
Thank you so much Catrina! I’m truly glad that you love it and thank you for passing it on!
Kellie – you are my hero! I love to cook and while I will follow an occasional recipe, I usually just make stuff up. I am also lucky that I have a husband that loves food as much as I do so everything I make he enjoys….I don’t have to make any adjustments based on his likes and dislikes. I look forward to trying your recipes – thanks for putting together such a great site!
Kellie! You are an inspiration. I am a cook and surely old enough to be your mother but I am so jazzed to find your site! You have done an amazing job and I am going to follow you and do a weeks recipes…will check back in. Thanks for this very valuable site and blog!!!! Holly
Thank you so much, Holly! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your kind words. I hope your week of recipe-making goes well!
Woops, forgot some info. By the way, the budget thing is priceless! Way cool that you learned that so young, I’ve never had a food budget but am so happy to find one!
Hi Kellie! My boyfriend, Chad, works with your dad and he has been telling me to check your blog out. Well I did and I love it! I couldn’t cook much at all a year ago and slowly have been creating in the kitchen and can say I am pretty good now! I am obsessed with healthy tasty food and I love your meal plans and food. Good job on this blog I have gotten my co-workers to make some meals too!
-Brittany
Brittany, this made my day. It is so awesome to hear all of this – and I am glad that you and your co-workers have had success with some of my meals. Thanks for reading BK!!
Your website is gorgeous!!! Nice work – when do we get to see you next? We have a week and a half until we head back to school…