Ambitious Kitchen founder Monique Volz was always close to her parents. She has many vivid memories of her childhood, and even though her parents split up when she was young, she remembers times full of joy, love, and laughter. One thing in particular was a seemingly constant source of connection: food. Both of Monique's parents, even though they were no longer together, enjoyed cooking, and used food as a way to nurture their two children and bond with them.
While she didn't know it at the time, that special connection to home-cooked food that her parents fostered during her childhood would one day become not just a source of comfort for Monique, but her livelihood. We recently had the chance to chat with Monique about how she transitioned her passion for cooking (and eating) into a full-blown career, how she feeds her own three sons, and of course, her debut cookbook, The Ambitious Kitchen Cookbook, and well … now we're feeling a bit ambitious ourselves.
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Monique originally launched Ambitious Kitchen as an emotional outlet for herself
In 2011, while she was still in college and mourning the unexpected loss of her father, Monique launched a blog she titled Ambitious Kitchen. It was a time when food blogs were really taking off and also coincided with the rise of Instagram and the social media platform's popularity as a place to share all those luscious food photos. Within a year, Monique already had a steady following. But to Monique, Ambitious Kitchen was much more than a food blog.
"My dad had passed away a few years prior and I was sort of going through this phase of processing the grief and having an eating disorder because of that grief at the same time, and sort of working through that," Monique shared.
She started Ambitious Kitchen as a way to not only grieve in a healthier way, but also to help repair her relationship with food.
"I had a lot of beautiful memories that tied back to my parents when I was a kid. And so I just wanted a place to share those recipes online and use it as a place to just sort of heal and rediscover myself," she said. "And so that is how Ambitious Kitchen was born, kind of in a dark place, but it's really brought a lot of light to my life."
Monique's career in food was practically inevitable
Monique studied marketing in college and ended up working at General Mills for several years after graduation before she was able to turn Ambitious Kitchen into her full-time job. But her culinary roots were planted at home.
"It was just always a passion for me. I mean, grew up, my parents were just always cooking," she said. "My dad loved to bake. My mom was in the kitchen, always experimenting, and so I feel like I was just always surrounded by that creativity activity, and so it became a passion for me and I just loved doing it. I always knew I wanted to work in food."
Still, it took a 'leap of faith'
As many women with successful careers can attest, finding that success often involves taking risks. For Monique, it was no different. While careers as bloggers and social media influencers seem fairly commonplace in 2024, they weren't 12 years ago.
"It took me three years from start to finish until I left my corporate job. So I was working for three years at General Mills, and then I sort of left in 2014 and started [Ambitious Kitchen] full time and moved to Chicago," Monique explained. "But it was funny because back then a lot of people weren't doing blogs full time or content creation wasn't really a big thing, so it was a giant leap of faith, but it worked out."
Now, Monique is a married mom of three, successful entrepreneur, and is releasing her first cookbook
Monique, who has spent the past decade building her brand, is now well-known for her nourishing yet indulgent recipes, which not only taste and look amazing, but are also fun to eat and prepare. And on September 17, 2024, she released her first cookbook, The Ambitious Kitchen Cookbook, featuring 125 of her favorite recipes.
"It's a cookbook that when you open up, you're going to actually want to cook from it because it just draws you in. And there are a ton of kid-friendly recipes," Monique shared.
Speaking of kids, Monique has managed to grow not just her business over the past several years, but her family as well. She's now a mom of three little boys, ages, 4, 3, and 1. And yes, she sometimes has just as much trouble feeding them as the rest of us do with our kids. But, she does cook for a living and we had to ask … how does she tackle feeding her three boys?
First off, she still draws inspiration from her own mom's commitment to her and her brother
Monique recalls that when she and her brother were growing up, her mom, who is originally from Puerto Rico, would work multiple jobs at a time to make ends meet as a single mother. But she always made time to prepare homemade meals for her kids. It was how she bonded with them, and it's still an inspiration for Monique.
"And so just really seeing her work those two to three jobs and yet still come home and be willing to cook us a beautiful meal, I think was just a true testament to how wonderful of a mother she was," Monique shared, noting that even though she was close to her dad, he was in and out of their lives for several years.
"Even if we didn't get a ton of quality time with her, or the quantity of the time wasn't a lot, it was so much more about the quality of it. And so I think since becoming a mother, I really look back at that," she continued.
Now as a working mom herself, her mom is still her inspiration. "Even for myself, even being a culinary professional and having a cookbook, it's like sometimes I don't have the time to put a meal on the table," Monique said. "Sometimes I'm making my kids mac and cheese, and I feel like my mom is just always cooking from scratch," she continued.
"So she has inspired me in so many different ways, and I don't think I would be doing this without her."
She's accepted that there's no perfect way to do it, especially as a busy working mother
"The meals that I make are a lot quicker. A lot of times 30-minute meals — at least the cook time. I try to make it 30-minute meals, just simplifying things," Monique said.
"I feel like every single one of my kids eats a little bit differently and has their own sensory preferences and all that sort of stuff. So I think just doing what works best for the kid," she shared, adding that she makes family meals (no short-order cooking!) and tries to include at least one food on the plate she knows each kid will eat.
Monique also makes sure to include vegetables in every meal, even if she sneaks them in by blending them into smoothies or other dishes in which they'll be less detectable. She also boosts nutrition by adding things like chia seeds and hemp hearts into family favorites like pancakes and muffins, and she doesn't feel bad about it.
As a mom, she realizes exposure is key, and she tries to get her kids involved in the kitchen so they become familiar with the textures, colors, aromas, and flavors over time.
"I feel like there's this phase from 18 months till about 2½ or 3 where they go through this picky sort of phase and they end up, I think, kind of trying some things after it and get back into it," she said. "But I always remind myself, I'm like, 'You know what? When I was a kid, I probably didn't love Brussels sprouts either, and that's OK."
She's thrilled to share some of her hacks with other moms going through the same experience
In fact, I discovered Ambitious Kitchen way back when it first launched, while looking for healthier cookie recipes to make for my then-toddler. He's 12 now, and an amazing eater, who also absolutely loves cooking. And yes, I'll be buying him his own copy of The Ambitious Kitchen Cookbook.
One thing I, too, have learned as a mom is that kids truly do love to be by your side, even if it's doing the tasks we sometimes feel are mundane — you know, like cooking dinner every single night. And making Ambitious Kitchen recipes together feels like a full-circle thing for us.
The way Monique describes her cookbook gives me every confidence that my son will be able to make and enjoy tons of recipes from it, too, and this time around, I can let him take the lead occasionally.
"This is a really, really flavorful, vibrant cookbook that you can feel excited about," Monique explained. "There's corn flake-crusted chicken tenders with tons of different dipping sauces … lots of good kid stuff. And it's really fun because a lot of these recipes you can make with what you have in your pantry," she continued, explaining that there's also a "Make It Your Way," section of the book that features suggestions for healthy swaps for various recipes that you can use, depending on what you have on hand and your own dietary needs and preferences.
"So I think there is a little bit of something for everybody in this cookbook, and I hope it just helps mom feel a little bit more ambitious in their kitchen."
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