With nearly 65,000 followers on her YouTube channel, A Catholic Mom’s Life, Heather Johnson is making a faith-and-food impact on many peoples’ life. But she has transitioned her Catholic message as well to her own new website, ACatholicMomsLife. There followers can click on links to prayers, devotions, a basement tour video and even to some scrumptious recipes — imagine enjoying immense Oreo truffle balls for dessert.

A native Minnesotan and presently living in Virginia with her husband and five children, Heather was raised by a devout Catholic mother. “My mom had a reversion (deeper conversion in the Catholic faith) before I was born,” she said. “She taught my siblings and me about Catholicism as we were growing up. We prayed a lot of Rosaries and I wanted to be just like my mom. I prayed the Rosary with her most days, and it was my sole desire to please God. Thanks to my mom’s influence.”

That maternal influence also shaped young Heather in a culinary way — and that explains why Heather as an adult has a passion for kitchen creations and posting them online. “When I was growing up,” she said, “my mom would teach us recipes here and there. I loved it and liked trying new things and making my own recipes. … I would spend hours in the kitchen cooking.”

Her favorite recipe is creamy Dijon Chicken with cheese ravioli and grilled chicken. “It is my favorite meal I’ve ever had,” she said. “It is not my recipe but I love making it. My first recipe I ever created was my chili dish that I came up with. It’s the perfect amount of spices so it is not too hot; it’s full of veggies; and it has a tablespoon of brown sugar. It is really healthy for the most part.” She noted that her children like Mexican and Tex/Mex dishes and even some Italian ones. “They are not too picky,” she added.

When back in Minnesota visiting family and friends, they eat meat-and-potatoes Midwestern meals. However, visiting different parts of the world has been a very eye-opening culinary experience. “It’s neat to try different foods from different areas. My favorite food to try is Asian foods like Vietnamese.”

About five years ago, Heather decided to start her YouTube channel for Catholic moms and new Catholics. It started when she asked her local parish at the time if she could start a Catholic mommy group, but was turned down. Heather asked God what he wanted her to do and almost immediately she felt God tell her to start a YouTube channel for Catholic moms. The next day she started her channel and there has been a great zeal for the YouTube channel ever since that day.

She admitted that she didn’t know what she was doing when making the first video, but she really did enjoy that effort. “It really does help me be creative and to teach the faith,” she said. “The videos are geared to the domestic church and to basic Catholicism. I do basic things such as chatting while doing laundry or talk about my favorite Catholic prayers. I have been forming relationships through this ministry, and it is something I can take with me if I move. I also started adding cooking videos because my main genre is mothers and since I am always looking for good, easy recipes to cook for my family I thought other mothers might enjoy having them too.

And as she added, “It’s easy to see God’s hand in what I am doing. I post a new video on my YouTube channel every Wednesday. My dream is to do more, but my vocation, family, comes first.”

 

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Sausage and Rice Casserole

As Heather Johnson notes, “This is a crowd pleaser! Every time I make this my family eats it so fast and always ask for me to make it again. I hope you enjoy it!”

Serves 6

• One pound sausage meat
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 14 ounces chicken broth
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brown and crumble the sausage in a skillet and once it starts to brown, add the onion and celery and cook until the sausage is no longer pink.

In a separate bowl, mix together the broth, cream of celery soup, rice and cheese. Pour sausage, onion, and celery into the broth mixture. Pour everything in a casserole dish, and cover tightly with foil.

Bake for one hour. Remove from the oven, remove the cover, and let sit 10 minutes. Enjoy.