If you enjoy sharing a delicious meal with your loved ones, especially during the holiday seasons, you must meet Tiffany Dahle, an imaginative food blogger and cookbook author who helps busy families make time to connect over family dinner.
Her blog, Peanut Blossom, started as a naptime hobby when she took time off to be a stay-at-home mom for her children. Over the last 15 years her online community has flourished into a helpful resource for overwhelmed parents trying to make dinnertime a little more delicious and a lot less stressful.
Tiffany, a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, grew up in a Catholic family with both of her parents and her grandparents guiding her along in her Catholic faith. She followed in her parents’ footsteps and attended Catholic school from kindergarten through high school.
After graduation, she studied journalism and advertising at the University of Wisconsin, where she met and fell in love with her husband, Tim. While he was not Catholic at the time, they married in a Catholic church and he eventually felt called to become Catholic.
Tiffany and Tim have two daughters, one who is currently attending a Catholic high school and the other who will be confirmed in May and join her sister at the same school in the fall. Being an active member of the Catholic faith was never an obligation for Tiffany, her husband, or their children. “We were each called to join the Catholic church for our own reasons but it is something that definitely connects us as a family as well,” she said.
So how did a new wife who could barely boil water become a popular family cookbook author?
“When we were first married, my husband had to travel a ton for work. I spent many evenings alone watching hours of cooking shows. I spent the first five years of our marriage testing out recipe after recipe on my husband who patiently suffered through more than his share of dinner flops,” Tiffany says. “But practice makes progress and by the time we had kids, my cooking skills had begun to flourish.”
After years working for interactive marketing firms, when Tiffany became a stay-at-home mom she launched her blog as a way to “keep her foot in the door” in an industry that changes at lightning speed. She quickly discovered the joy of creating recipe-related content for her fellow parents and was eager to help them learn to love feeding their families as she had discovered for herself.
Eventually Tiffany’s friendly and relatable voice gained notice from the editorial team at Page Street Publishing. They worked with her to publish a series of cookbooks for families which includes The Ultimate Kids’ Baking Book, The Totally Awesome Ultimate Kids’ Cookbook, and The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook.
“My first two cookbooks are technically written for children but are unique because they are intended to get the parents in the kitchen as the kids’ helpers. By putting the kid in charge, the parents, or grandparents, can relax and just focus on the fun that comes with spending time cooking with kids. And at the end of their cooking session? They’ll have a meal that everyone at the table will be excited to eat.”
So how does a bread machine cookbook fit in with her family cookbook library? “During the pandemic, my editor reached out and asked if I’d be interested in writing a book about bread machine baking. It was a super-popular hobby people took up during their time at home in 2020. I’d been baking with a bread machine since the early days of our marriage and it was something my whole family loved. I was hesitant to take on such a big project with my family at home at the time but it was my husband who stepped up and eagerly said Yes.”
She continued, “That cookbook was truly a whole-family project with all four of us recipe testing every day for months. While it is written for adults, the instructions are kid-tested and anyone in the family can learn to bake warm, fresh bread to share with loved ones.”
The connection between bread and her Catholic faith is not lost on Tiffany. “I just love the idea that I am helping families to literally break bread together. In today’s busy world, helping them to just slow down and bake something so special and simple makes my heart warm.”
Over the last few years, Tiffany has found meaningful ways to incorporate her Catholic faith into her food blog. She knows not all of her readers are Catholic so she tries to share simple, practical tips around Catholic food traditions that anyone could find helpful or enjoy.
“I started with an article that listed 40 meatless meals for Lent that kids would actually eat. My readers were so thankful because I included not only seafood recipes but popular kid dinners like mac and cheese and cheese pizza. Coming up with a new meatless meal every Friday in Lent can be a challenge, that list helps a tired parent get dinner on the table just a little faster.”
Peanut Blossom highlights recipes for holidays all throughout the year. “One of my favorite things my mom did for us as kids was to celebrate even the little holidays with a special family dinner. We’d come home for Valentine’s Day to find flowers and treats on the table and she’d make something simple like spaghetti because it felt festive with the red sauce. I’ve tried to do the same for my own children and it makes them feel so special. I’m alway on the lookout for new holidays to plan a little family dinner fun.”
That love of holidays led Tiffany to write dinner tips for St. Joseph’s Feast Day with tons of lemon and fish recipes as the holiday dictates, easy ideas for St. Patrick’s Day with delicious Irish dishes anyone could make, and even an introduction to St. Nicholas Day, which is one of her kids’ all-time favorite family traditions.
Tiffany hopes that her work helping families will truly make a difference. “I just love that quote from Mother Teresa: ‘If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.’ Studies have shown that family dinner makes all the difference in raising strong kids. I believe only good can come from helping more parents to love their children at the table. Strong families can then turn and share that love with their neighbors and the positive ripple effect only spreads.”
You can read more about her thoughts on how to love your neighbor through food in her post on Christian hospitality here.
And how about Tiffany’s favorite food? “Asking me to pick my favorite recipe is a lot like asking me to pick my favorite child. I just love trying new things, it’s impossible to pick a favorite. But, right now ... my current obsession is this easy eggs in purgatory recipe.”
Recipe: Eggs in Purgatory
Easy shakshuka, or “eggs in purgatory,” is a quick skillet recipe featuring soft-cooked eggs in a spicy tomato sauce. Serve with crusty bread for dunking in the runny egg yolks.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 1/2 (24 oz) jar of arrabbiata tomato sauce — any brand you love will work; we enjoyed Rao's
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 4 eggs
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 large slices of crusty bread toasted, optional
Instructions:
- Set a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pour half of the jar of tomato sauce into the skillet. If using Rao's tomato sauce, stir in 1/2 cup water to thin the sauce out just slightly. Other brands may have a thinner consistency so add the water at your own discretion. It should be smooth but not soupy.
- Add the dried rosemary and crushed red pepper flakes to the sauce and stir them in. Bring the sauce to a bubble and then reduce the heat to medium.
- Crack one egg into a small cup or bowl. Gently turn the egg into the tomato sauce while slightly pressing down with the lip of the cup to form a well in the sauce for the egg to land. Repeat quickly with the remaining eggs.
- Place a lid over the skillet and cook the eggs for 4 to 5 minutes or until the whites of the eggs are just cooked through. Do not overcook the eggs, you want the yolks to be soft and runny.
- Remove the lid and sprinkle the sandwich hero seasoning over the top. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the top and serve immediately with toasted crusty bread for dunking. You'll find it easiest to use a large cooking spoon to transfer one egg at a time to a serving bowl. Then spoon the warm sauce around the egg before serving.