Welcome to Whole Made Living and thanks for checking us out!
The Whole Made Living Journey started part-time in 2014. I (Katia) started this site as a way to share recipes with family and then took it a step further, going full-time in January of 2022. I do all of the photography, videos, editing and writing on my own. I do not have assistants or other writers contributing, except for my husband, Josh’s occasional input with his grilling and also delicious cooking. He also is my IT guy when I have technical issues, as he’s a self-taught computer programmer now.
What to expect from Whole Made Living
Here you’ll see scratch recipes from various walks of life. There are no boxed mixes used in the making of our recipes. We just try to cook and create recipes from the heart and with real ingredients. When my husband and I became a family, it seemed our surroundings have always come together as a whole, even through tough times. We started cooking more together, enjoying our time in the kitchen together and creating fantastic meals together.
Our Kids’ Influence
When our family started growing, with our 1st child; we knew immediately we wanted to feed him the best food we possibly could. We knew that unless we made most of his meals, he would eat a lot of processed foods and we didn’t want that for him. Then we had the surprise of twins on the way and we had 2 more precious mouths to feed. We wanted to keep our boys as healthy as we could from the start, just with the food we put into their bodies.
Real Life, Real Family, Real Food
Life is busy, life is hard, BOY do we get it?! 3 boys for us to be exact. Our family grew from 2 to 5 very quickly. In a flash, our simple foodie dreams of cooking, traveling, enjoying fancy meals out became a thing of the past and a rarity. We didn’t think it should end though, so that’s kind of how Whole Made Living came about. I thought while I was a stay at home mom, why not keep creating good food and share it online? All the recipes would be there always for family and friends to enjoy and then maybe others will enjoy them as well?
Whole Made/Home Made
We do our best to use whole ingredients that are as natural and organic as possible. Our recipes vary from meat lover to vegetarian, vegan or gluten free with no emphasis on any particular diet. Just homemade and from scratch. We try to keep our recipes straightforward and as simple as possible.
Because we enjoy cooking and experimenting with food so much, we enjoy trying out different kitchen gizmos and gadgets so we’ll recommend those that work best for us. We also share everything from grilling tips, to gardening and canning and other tips that might help in busy family households.
Whole Real Food
Whole Made Living is about getting back to basics with food. Processed food is what is making society unhealthy and obese. We try to cook from scratch and eat real whole food about 90% of the time, but we do allow ourselves to indulge and enjoy unhealthier options once in a while as we’re feeding a busy family of 5. That being said, you will see comfort foods mixed in with some rich ethnic food. We try to be smart about eating, reading labels, and care about what goes into our bodies. We try to use organic ingredients whenever possible, but it’s not always feasible.
Something needs to change with food labeling and the choices we’re given. We all have a right to know exactly what is in the food we purchase in stores, but we get what we get and don’t question it. It’s an everyday struggle to find truly natural ingredients to use in our cooking, but we’re here to try to help inspire others to take a similar path to a healthier life.
Keeping Whole Made Living Going
We started this site in the fall of 2014. This site is our attempt to share with friends, family and anyone else (i.e. You….reading this…) who’s curious to see how even a chaotic family of 5 can can cook whole real food and leave processed food by the wayside. They say you are what you eat. We feel it when we eat more processed foods on days we’re too tired to cook. It’s not an easy feat, but little changes can make a difference, one meal at a time.
This site is a big part of my life now and my full-time business. I take all the cooking photos myself and my husband helps with me with the technical aspects of this site. I’m a self-taught home cook, no formal training. I just have a love for food. To me, a home cooked meal can be one of the greatest gifts you can give to your family. Sitting down to a meal together with loved ones at a table can help create some of the best memories.
Affiliate Links
When you see ads on this site, it’s the only way I am able to keep going with this business. Without the help of ads, I could not keep writing, editing, creating and using my time to make it all happen. So, just remember, this all takes a lot of time and I’m doing my best to keep my followers happy. If you like what you see, please help me grow with a “follow” or a comment to let me know what you like.
Who We Are
We are a husband and wife team on this site. Josh is a contributing writer on the site with his wisdom and knack for aspects that I, the wife don’t have. He’s the tech guy and designer on the site. He also likes to cook, grill, garden and brew beer when time allows. I like to cook, bake, walk/run, come up with recipes, experiment with food, find time saving options and great deals. My love of food probably started after traveling a bit when I was younger, as did my husband’s. He worked and lived in Europe before we met and that sparked his interest in better food, not just frozen one man meals.
Our love of good food helped bring us together as a couple. We enjoy the social aspect of it, critiquing it when we go out and the trial and error part of cooking at home. We’re big fans of some professional cooks and love to imitate or try techniques they use.
Our family consists of 5, with our 3 boys. We also have a schnoodle named, Wolfy and a few chickens. There is never a quiet moment in our home and we do struggle to find time to make everything we want happen, including this site, but through it all we still do our best to keep everything real and our life as whole as possible.
Fun Facts about me/Katia
- Language– I’m bilingual. I grew up speaking Russian with my family as well as English. My parents migrated with their parents after WWII from Odessa, Ukraine (Mother’s family) and Belarus (My Father’s family). The mutual language both families spoke was Russian.
- My Name– My parents named me “Katia” which is a very common Russian name, but officially on my birth certificate is “Katherine.” My parents did that so that I wouldn’t be teased for a different name. For short, I also go by “Kat” now sometimes.
- Travel– I was born in the United States, but caught the travel bug way back when I was 16 years old. I was in the former Soviet Union on a trip in 1991 (during the coop) and when I returned home it was Russia. It was an exciting trip to say the least and amazing to be a part of that history. I also lived and worked on and off in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia between 1997 & 2004 (About 6-8 extended trips, lost count). In Moscow I worked as a dental assistant and translator for an American dentist. Fun stuff!
- Former Work– I worked as a dental assistant for about 11 years, some of that time doubling as a Russian translator for multiple dentists and doctors. I also worked as a bartender and occasional server at 2 hotels while going to school in San Diego, CA.
- School- Graduated from ASU with a Bachelors degree. Also attended Cal State, Long Beach and some Community Colleges in San Diego.
- Animals– We’ve had multiple pets, but currently our little kitchen side kick is Wolfy (a schnoodle), sort of named after one of our favorite chefs, Wolfgang Puck! We also have about 10 backyard hens.
- Spouse– I met Josh of all places….online! That’s right! Josh is my partner in crime, love and best friend. He is the primary reason I even have this site. He’s the brains behind all the techy computer related stuff I don’t know how to do.
- Places we’ve Lived– Josh and I met in Southern California, then after marrying moved to Phoenix, AZ, then Colorado Springs, CO, briefly in San Antonio, TX and are now settled in the Cincinnati area on the KY side/Northern Kentucky!
You can check out our YouTube Channel to see more
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Support the Whole Made Living Family
This site is an attempt to help supplement income for our family so you’ll see ads on the side and affiliate links. This site does take quite a bit of time to keep up as a constant work in progress, so we truly appreciate you looking. If you click on an affiliate link, just know that you won’t be charged any extra if you buy something.
Take a peek and browse around Whole Made Living, please share your thoughts on here with your friends and family if you like what you read.
Social Media Sharing
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We’re primarily on these Social Media Platforms. Give us a follow & Say Hello!
Roundups
You are allowed to share my recipes or posts on Roundups, as long as you link directly back to my site, https://wholemadeliving.com/ and provide photo/recipe credit to “Whole Made Living.” You may also include one of my photos in the in a collage for social media. If you email us a link to the post or Tag us @WholeMadeLiving we’ll be sure to share your post as well.
Contact Info:
Need to contact me? Shoot me an email at: katia@wholemadeliving.com
Thanks for stopping by! 😊
Comments are welcome & encouraged, however we have the right to refuse to publish it if it is hateful in nature and not constructive criticism. We ask that they be polite & stay on topic as well.