Why hello there! I’m Casey.
Glad to have you here 🙂
From the very beginning, I’ve had a bit of a passion for food. My parents joke that ever since I was a baby, I always had food of some sort in hand. Case in point, as a toddler, I remember hiding under the table eating a stick of butter (that counts as food, right?!). I promise my taste buds have evolved since then…;)
Food Connects
Growing up, my family ate dinner together every single night. It didn’t matter how busy my parents were at work, or what after-school activities my brother and I had—we would all make time to sit at the table and share a meal together. These are some of my fondest memories, and to this day, I still love and appreciate how food can bring families and people together.
This idea behind food being a connecting, sacred experience was only furthered after I studied abroad in Paris. Parisien culture valued food *almost* as much as me! They centered their day around meal times, ate slowly and intentionally, and reconnected with their families over delicious food. Oh, and their foodie markets? I fell in love. I stuck around for an intensive cooking course at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, and you can say, the rest was sort of history.
Ever since my time in France, I’ve stayed in the food industry, from a server to a catering coordinator to a catering & wholesale manager at a co-op. And finally, after moving to Dallas (where we currently reside!) with my personal recipe taste-tester/dishwasher/support-system/husband Andy and our pup Theo (who makes plenty of appearances on my Instagram and just so happens to love my banana pupcakes!), I decided to try my hand at something food-focused that was all my own: a food blog! I found my foodie sweet spot, you could say, and actually made more money working for myself after the first year alone than any of my previous jobs.
What I’ve created with Mindful Hapa has this idea at its core: that everyone has a seat at the table and that food is truly a sacred experience. It unites people, brings families together, and lets the craziness of the day subside into a connecting experience.
Always trying out quick and easy, healthy, and tasty recipes, I hope to be a resource for other people searching for the same thing. I focus on gluten-free, low carb, and refined sugar-free recipes because that’s what I’ve found makes me feel my best. This means a lot of veggies, but also tons of healthified twists on classics because food should never be boring and always delicious. I’m constantly searching for the perfect combo where easy meets healthy meets tasty.
As The Mindful Hapa continues to grow and evolve (we just hired our first PT employee—yay!), we hope to continue to work with brands to develop recipes, create inspiring food photography and videography, and of course, provide you with delicious recipes to try on your own. I hope you’ll stick around and that my blog will inspire you to connect with your friends, family, and community. You’ll get to eat some tasty food along the way, and I promise your taste buds will thank me!
