Hi, I'm Jenna!
I'm Jenna Brooks, a mom of three, a wife, a part-time bookkeeper and the full-time cook for five hungry people in Columbus, Ohio.
I learned to cook from my Grandma Ruth. She raised four kids on a farm outside Zanesville and fed a crowd every night without ever looking at a recipe. She had one cast-iron skillet, a cupboard full of basics, and a rule that dinner was on the table at six o'clock sharp. I spent a lot of my childhood on a step stool next to her stove, and almost everything I know about feeding a family started there.
Fast forward a few decades, and I have my own crew: my husband Dave, Maddie (12), Owen (9) and Lucy (5). Between soccer, piano, homework and my job, weeknights are a sprint. I started this blog in 2019 to keep track of the dinners that actually worked on those nights, the ones that my kids ate, that used what I had in the pantry, and that didn't leave a sink full of dishes.
What you'll find here
- One-pan and sheet-pan dinners, because nobody wants to scrub five pots on a Tuesday.
- Pantry-friendly ingredients you can find at any grocery store in Ohio.
- Recipes tested on real kids, including the picky ones.
- Dinner by six. Most recipes take under 45 minutes, start to finish.
A few fun facts
- I still use Grandma Ruth's cast-iron skillet. It is older than my mother.
- My guilty pleasure is gas station coffee on the drive to soccer practice.
- I have never once successfully made a soufflé, and I've made peace with that.
- Our family's most requested dinner is Baked Ranch Chicken.
Say hello
I love hearing from you! Leave a comment on any recipe, or write to me at hello@jennas-kitchen.example. For brand partnerships, please email partners@jennas-kitchen.example.