This post was created in partnership with Sonja Overhiser of A Couple Cooks as part of our Guest Editor series.
Sonja Overhiser is one part of the blogger/author duo “A Couple Cooks.” The Indianapolis resident is a longtime champion of the local food scene and a founding member of the organization Indy Women in Food. On October 15, Overhiser’s second cookbook, created with her husband, Alex, will be released. We sat down with the mom of two to talk about the new book, her journey here, what it’s like to work with her husband (God BLESS), and more.
Your new cookbook, “A Couple Cooks 100 Recipes to Cook Together,” is a collection of your best recipes and is focused on the joy of cooking together. How did the idea come about?
It’s funny because our brand and passion is all about cooking together, but we had avoided a book on this topic for a long time because it seemed too obvious! We started our food blog ACoupleCooks.com in 2010, sharing recipes out of pure passion—we had just learned to cook together and were so inspired by the joy we found in doing it with each other and people we love.
In 2017, writing recipes for our website became a full-time business for both of us. But during the pandemic, we decided we’ve been so recipe-focused that it would be fun to delve into what drew us to food in the first place: people! What drives us most is not just delicious recipes but relationships and experiencing food together. It was a dream to be able to write a book centered around that, and we created 100 mostly all-new recipes to illustrate that (including some reader favorites from the website!).
Tell us more about the “Cooking Together” element and symbols throughout the book and why?
The book is all about grabbing a partner: a friend, family member, romantic partner, roommate—whoever, and making a recipe together. But we didn’t want to make it so specialized that you had to cook it with someone else.
We wrote all the recipes to work for a solo cook, and our publisher had the idea of using circle and square icons to signify Cook 1 and Cook 2 to give an idea of how to break it down. It’s not a perfect science, but it’s a fun way to graphically show it without affecting the recipe itself.
Your first cookbook, “Pretty Simple Cooking,” was all vegetarian, as were most of your recipes at the time. What inspired you to branch beyond vegetarian?
Great question! The short answer is that we wanted to make this book for everyone, but it also mirrors our personal journey.
When we started the website, we ate mostly vegetarian and vegan. Gradually, we started eating a little more seafood and started adding seafood recipes to the website about 5 years ago. Then, after I was pregnant with our daughter Britta, we started eating more chicken, and we introduced chicken recipes on the site about 2 years ago.
We wanted to make the book work for all eaters, so it includes recipes for all diets. But at its core, it’s still built around a majority of vegetarian and vegan recipes. There are notes on each page with the dietary categories it fits and notes for swaps to make things gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and vegan.
How has life changed personally and professionally since your first cookbook?
Wow, so much! We started our website in 2010, went full-time in 2017, and published our first cookbook in 2018. Since then, we’ve grown our website to reach millions of readers each month and offer around 3,000 recipes (insane, we know!). We’ve begun freelance writing recipes for The Washington Post and have focused on really honing our craft of recipe development and food photography.
On the personal side, we’ve added another member to our family—our daughter! Unintentionally, the timing of our cookbook deals happened around the same time as the birth of two miracle babies Larson (7) and Britta (1 1/2). I could share a whole other essay on that part of the story, but the long story short is that I’m a cancer survivor and got permission to go off of my medication to give birth to our daughter. With a baby and a book idea that both happened around the same time, I feel so incredibly fortunate to be blessed with both of these miracles at once! It’s been truly unimaginable.
As a husband and wife team, and with this new cookbook focusing on partnerships, can you tell us what it’s like to work together?
We absolutely love working together, though we have so many people tell us they’d never be able to work with their spouse! We are lucky to have met when we were pretty young (in college at IU Bloomington), and I think it’s helped us to grow together in understanding and our ability to collaborate on creative projects.
We’ve had a lot of practice disappointing each other and navigating conflicts, which is so helpful for running a business together! There is a lot of negotiation and humility and letting go required, but it’s so worth it when we both believe in the end goal. It is extremely fulfilling to do something like this with your spouse. Of course, we have our fair share of arguments in the process, just like any working team, but we’ve learned to resolve them and stay focused on our passion for the end result.
What’s it like to work now in general, and on a project of this scale, with two little kids at home (vs the first cookbook)?
Yes, we have seen a big difference in two kids versus one (ha!). Honestly, most days I don’t know how anyone manages work and parenting! It is truly a balancing act. I love my work and hustling, whereas Alex loves it but needs a bit more downtime. We’ve learned how to balance it out and respect each other’s needs, which has taken a long time to figure out — but somehow we’ve struck a sort of balance (though parenting is by far the hardest work of all!).
Did you work with any local talent to create the new cookbook?
We did, local to Indiana at least! For the photography in this book, we worked with our friend Shelly Westerhausen Worcel of Vegetarian Ventures, who is based in Bloomington and author and photographer of several beautiful cookbooks with the same publisher. We’ve been friends for years and always dreamed of collaborating on something. This book was the perfect project and she did an incredible job. I cannot wait for everyone to experience her photos!
Sorry to make you do this, buuuuuuut what are each of your personal favorite recipes from the new book?
Oh gosh, yes, this is like choosing your favorite child. For me (Sonja) there are so many: some faves are the Mediterranean Chicken Skillet, Shrimp and Grits, Grilled Eggplant Parmesan, Harvest Veggie Bowl, Artisan Bread, Applesauce Cake, and Chocolate Tart. (I literally can’t pick!)
Alex says it’s too hard! But if he had to pick, it might be the Risotto with Asparagus, Peas, and Pine Nuts.
From both of you, what do you think is the most *underrated* recipe – your “don’t sleep on this one!” pick?
For me, I really love the Crunchy Green Panzanella. The crunchy veggies, the bright pop of lemony dressing, and garlicky bread cubes are so addicting.
Alex says check out the Tiramisu Sundaes! They’re so easy to put together and capture so many great flavors like coffee and amaretto.
The cookbook A Couple Cooks: 100 Recipes to Cook Together is available for purchase anywhere books are sold. If you order before October 15, you can download our free Fall Mini-Cookbook!
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