This time of year is full of noise around “New Year’s resolutions”— promises of unpleasant, restrictive diets, punishing workouts, and just generally less. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Just ask Kathleen Ashmore.
Kat is a Southport-based chef, content creator, and the author of the new cookbook Big Bites: Time to Eat (January 27, Rodale Books). On Instagram and TikTok, she shares her food philosophy with more than a million followers, where her “Hungry Lady Salads” and the eponymous big bites have gone viral. (Big Bites: Time to Eat is the follow-up to her New York Times-bestselling debut cookbook, Big Bites.) “The big bites philosophy of enjoying your food and your life—no diets, just good food—is very much a way of living,” Kat tells Westport Lifestyle. “There is a beautiful gray area where enjoying a vegetable frittata and enjoying a big piece of chocolate cake coexist. Too many of us think that dieting is the only way to get healthier, and when we don’t stick with something restrictive, we feel like a failure.” Kat’s food philosophy takes issue with approach. “No,” she says, “maybe we just like food!”
Her career is proof that indeed she does. Her food-world pedigree dates back to her late 20s, when she went to culinary school, but “I didn’t really know that this could be a career,” she says. “I knew I didn’t have a desire to work in or own a restaurant, but I didn’t envision all of this.” After culinary school, she went to work for former Westporter Martha Stewart (“the original influencer,” Kat says). Thanks to Martha, “I saw how valuable and fun ‘influencing’ can be,” Kat explains. “It wasn’t just supplying people with recipes and tutorials, it was helping to create a life one is proud of.”
In 2020, with two young kids at home, Kat launched her own business in the form of her channels, @katcancook. “I was inspired by my time [working for Martha Stewart] to create in a way that feels inspiring and useful,” she says, and that has meant showcasing “seasonal cooking and real food over diets” as well as realistic family meals and home life. “Unlike Martha I’m a bit less polished—I might use canned beans and I may have salad dressing in my hair!” she says with a laugh. But that authenticity—and genuine love for food— helped Kat’s brand take off, getting her over the one million follower mark on TikTok in just the first year, a happy side-effect of sharing the content she loves making. “I don’t do trendy recipes,” she says. “I just make food that feels good to make, good to eat, and is delicious—I hope! I’m not here for the clicks, I’m here to empower women at home to cook more and have fun doing it.”
She took that attitude offline with her first collection of recipes, Big Bites in early 2024. “My books are a diary, they are filled with the recipes I make for my family, rather than those I batch cook for the camera,” she explains. “I’m a mom of two, and I don’t make multiple meals for my family.” That busy-mom mentality is even more present in Big Bites: Time to Eat, which exclusively features recipes you can make in an hour or less. (For an example, see Kat's Pizza Party Salad on page TK.)
Eating is about so much more than what’s on our plates: it’s about connection, creativity, family, and nourishment of all kinds, something Kat knows well. “Self-love can begin in the kitchen—I believe this wholeheartedly,” she says. “When I hear from people who are making the same recipes I genuinely make for my family, it becomes a way for us to personally connect. Food really is the common denominator. It’s a total pleasure to be a part of it.”
Big Bites: Time to Eat is available on January 27 wherever books are sold. For more about Kat, visit kathleenashmore.com or follow @katcancook
Pizza Party Salad
15 minutes
1 large garlic clove, grated
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts packed in water, drained and patted dry
2 hearts of romaine, sliced into thin ribbons (3 to 4 cups)
1 small radicchio, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced
1/3 c. pepperoncini peppers, finely chopped
1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red onion, minced
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
Parmesan cheese for serving
In a large bowl, combine the garlic, oregano, basil, mustard, vinegar, and olive oil, and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
Roughly chop the artichoke hearts. Pat them extra dry with paper towels to prevent the salad from becoming watery. Add them to the large bowl with the dressing, then add the romaine, radicchio, fennel, pepperoncini, cherry tomatoes, red onion, salt, and pepper. Toss to fully combine and to ensure the salad is evenly coated with the dressing.
Divide the salad among serving plates. Use a vegetable peeler or mandoline to shave slices of the Parmesan on each serving and enjoy.
Excerpted from BIG BITES: TIME TO EAT!: Nourishing Family Recipes That Cook in an Hour or Less by Kat Ashmore. Copyright © 2026 by Kat Ashmore. Photographs by Christine Han. Used by permission of Rodale Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.