Hi! I’m Ali, and I am so happy that you found your way here.
I created Gimme Some Oven to celebrate life around the table, with recipes that are simple, fresh, and full of flavor. With two littles underfoot these days, I know how relentless the dinner grind can feel. My hope is that this space can offer a bit of inspiration for everyone — and make everyday cooking feel a bit more fun.
So whether you’re throwing together a quick weeknight dinner, hosting a cozy brunch with friends, or just craving a warm batch of cookies, I hope you’ll find recipes here that feel doable and delicious.
Cheers!
About Ali
About Me
When I began Gimme Some Oven back in 2009, I was working full-time as a musician by day and spending my evenings cooking, photographing, and sharing recipes just for fun. Over time, that creative outlet grew into a full-time career — and for more than a decade now, I’ve had the absolute joy of writing and developing recipes here on Gimme Some Oven.
Even after all these years, it still feels like magic to create a recipe in my kitchen and see it come to life on tables all around the world! Your trust in my recipes means the world to me, and I work hard to make sure each one is thoughtfully developed, thoroughly tested, and truly worth making — the kind of recipe you’ll want to return to again and again.
Beyond the blog, my husband and I are now settling back into life in Kansas City with our two young boys after spending six wonderful years living in Barcelona. My favorite things include sunny days, an excellent plate of nachos, lingering around tables with good friends, and always dreaming up our next adventure. I occasionally share more about life behind the scenes here if you’d like to follow along.
About Gimme Some Oven
So what kinds of recipes will you find here?
Short answer: a bit of everything.
The recipes I share here are the ones we’re actually making and eating in our home. My husband is pescetarian, our boys are still a bit veggie-suspicious, and I enjoy a wide range of foods — so our meals reflect that mix. We do our best to cook seasonally, and most weeknights are all about quick, flavorful recipes that come together in 30 minutes or less. But I also love slowing down on the weekends with a cozy cup of coffee and baking our favorite 1-Hour Cinnamon Rolls, or inviting friends over for a big pot of chili with homemade guac and margaritas.
You’ll notice here that we’ve got a soft spot for Mexican food, big bowls of soup, noodles in all forms, and cookies of just about every variety. While most of my recipes lean fresh and lighter, you’ll also find your fair share of fun treats and comfort food favorites — we’re all about balance!
My hope is that you’ll find recipes here that work well for real life, whatever that looks like for you right now. And if there’s ever a recipe you’re craving, I’d love to hear from you!
My Favorite Recipes
FAQs
I can’t take the credit. 😉 The name actually came from my former bandmate, Jay, who tossed it out during a rehearsal years ago when I mentioned I was thinking about starting a food blog. It made us all laugh — and it stuck! Now it feels like a fun little reminder of my past life as a full-time musician.
You bet! Every single one of the 2000+ recipes on this site has been developed and tested in my own kitchen. I now have a team of recipe testers who join me each week to test old and new recipes to help ensure they are as clear, reliable, and delicious as possible. We want each recipe to be the best it can be when it reaches your table!
The best way to ask about substitutions is to leave a comment on that specific recipe post. That way, we’ll be sure to see it, and other readers can benefit from the answer too.
Yes! We’re constantly retesting, updating and rephotographing older recipes to make sure they’re as reliable and delicious as possible. Whenever we make a significant change, we do our best to note it clearly in the recipe notes so that you know what’s been updated.
No. We made the decision back in 2018 to stop publishing sponsored content on Gimme Some Oven. While we were grateful to partner with brands we genuinely loved in the past, it’s important to us that readers know all product mentions are now completely unpaid — just things we personally use and recommend.
This is probably the most-asked question we receive. Sorry, not yet! I keep putting it off, but someday I look forward to finally writing one. 💛
Giving Back
While we love creating and sharing recipes here, we also recognize what a profound privilege it is to have consistent access to fresh food, clean water, and a safe place to gather around the table. Not everyone has that — the statistics are sobering, and they remind us how important it is to keep working toward change.
That’s why we donate a portion of our profits to support three organizations working to fight food insecurity and expand access to nutritious food and clean water around the world. Every time you visit this site, your pageviews directly help support that work too, and we’re so grateful. We’d love for you to learn more about these incredible organizations and consider supporting them in whatever ways you can too.
It’s our hope that this space not only inspires delicious meals, but also plays a small part in supporting communities far beyond our own kitchens.
TWP is a community-led initiative in Mali focused on developing economic opportunities for women through organic food production, access to clean water, and a commitment to environmental stewardship.
Cultivate Kansas City is a locally-grown nonprofit working to grow food, farms, and community in support of an equitable, sustainable and healthy local food system for all.
World Central Kitchen is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises.
I LOVE this recipe… and I have made it twice (in the past 2 weeks) but would love to make a usability suggestion.
I have this recipe on my phone…and the ingredients are listed separately from the directions. It would be helpful to those (who like me, use their phone for recipes) to add the ingredients into the directions.
For example.
2. In a small saucepan, heat 3/4 cup of butter and the 6 oz of dark chocolate….
Just a thought.
Thanks for having amazing recipes!
Hi, this is Birgit, your upstairs neighbor. Just to thank you for your lovely “corona bag”!!! It was so funny (two rolls of toilet paper, hahaha…), and so thoughtful ! We will be shut inside for quite some time, probably, so if you ever need anything, just ask!! No real hugs allowed right no, so please take a virtual one! Keep healthy, everybody, and lots of patience!
Love to try your foods!! Going to make the baked eggplant parmesan soon!! :-)
I’ve been looking for a tasty, quick and reproducible recipe for oriental stir fried rice with lots of room for experimental and creativity. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I just wanted to thank you for your blog I mostly watch you in bloglovin and then go back in do some of your other recipes that I’ve seem to miss or decide that’s not what I wanted that day of the week did not know you had a YouTube channel I will be looking for that what I’m interested in right now is the cabbage egg drop soup and I think I you have given me an idea what they use for the soup base at my favorite Chinese restaurant for a Chinese vegetable soup lot of it is Napa cabbage has a couple of pea pods thrown in usually quite a few mushrooms bamboo shoots occasionally some carrots or bean sprouts and lots of onion and celery has a wonderful flavor but I could never figure out what to do as starters this gives me a good idea where to go to start figuring this out I am older about to turn 66 but cooking for 6 for adults and two teenage girls so I get my cooking experience you give me ideas sometimes I don’t use the whole thing sometimes I use it spot-on take care and keep the good stuff coming
I have been following you for several years now, and I admire your upbeat attitude toward and enjoyment of life. You have my favorite recipes for the Mexican food I miss here in Washington State, where I can pull them up and share the marvelous food, true to the tastes I know with some exciting and interesting additions, I so enjoy with the People of the Great Northwest. It is marvelous that you are able now to devote your time to a job you love as well as a husband (and pups). May God continue to bless you and your endeavors and your family! Thank you!
Love the Thai Cucumber Salad. Approximately how many servings are in the recipe?
Hey Guys. I was just referencing your jambalaya recipe for a prepared item at Local Pig and recognized your photo. Small internet.
I want to make your candied pecan chex mix, but I can’t find the recipe. I’ve gone to the chex.com website. N
Dear Ali –
I have told SO many people about your blog over the years. So happy to see you achieving a well-deserved success. And BTW – I really appreciate that so many of your recipes are plant-based. <3
Keep it up!