About me

Kelsey BanfieldHi, I am Kelsey, The Naptime Chef

I am a Mom and a foodie. And I don’t think these two things should ever be mutually exclusive. On this site I share everything from family-friendly recipes, to travel articles, to my favorite lifestyle tips.

I am the author of two cookbooks, The Naptime Chef: Fitting Great Food Into Family Life (Running Press, 2012), and the upcoming Family Calendar Cookbook: From Birthdays to Bake Sales, Good Food to Get You Through the Year (March 31, 2015).

I grew up in Cooperstown New York, a town famous for baseball and cornfields. I first learned about food from the best home cooks in the world, my parents. My earliest memories include being in charge of the ice bath for my father’s famous Bread & Butter Pickles and snipping rosemary from my mother’s herb garden. I currently live in Southern Connecticut with my husband and two young children.

Affiliate Disclosure

Occasionally I work with brands to feature new recipes and products that mesh with my values and this website. My personal mission is to share recipes and tips that are family-friendly and help you feed your family wholesome, healthy food. I always disclose if a post is sponsored at the bottom of the article. I am paid for writing these articles but rest assured that the content is wholly my own opinion. The compensation is one of the many ways I keep my site up and running and help support my family. You can always contact me privately with any concerns or questions.

How The Naptime Chef Started

Before my daughter was born my husband and I enjoyed our time cooking and eating. My life as a foodie was in top form and time was on my side. There was nothing I couldn’t or wouldn’t make, and nobody to tell me how to prioritize my time in the kitchen. Then my daughter was born. People had warned me that a baby would put a crimp in my cooking style but I didn’t really believe them. My vision of maternity leave was me in the kitchen with a sleeping baby in the swing, whipping up dinner as usual. Boy, was I wrong about that.

At first I tried cooking while my daughter sat, wide-awake, in her swing. But she wouldn’t have it. By the time she was bathed and in bed – usually somewhere around eight – I was too exhausted.

When my daughter was about five months old she got into a normal nap routine and began sleeping through the night. At that point I started cooking during naptime, almost by accident, and realized that it was a potentially great solution to my cooking dilemma. Once I figured out this new routine I became dead set on marrying my lives as a foodie and a Mom. I started telling all of my friends, most of who were struggling with cooking on a daily basis, and I started my blog, The Naptime Chef®. All of the parenting food blogs seemed to discuss ways to making meal time “fast, quick, easy” but I wanted to write about the pleasure of cooking and eating great food, and how all of it can be fit into family life. Hence my tag line, “Fitting Great Food Into Family Life.”

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