One of the most endearing qualities of Alex Snodgrass is that you’d never guess she’s a New York Times bestselling author with more than half-a-million social media followers and a second cookbook, Comfortable Kitchen, on the horizon.
Despite her immense popularity and burgeoning successes, Alex remains the down-to-earth, relatable Celina girl with the lilting laugh whom social media fell in love with seven years ago.
In 2014, Alex and her sister, Madison Lavey, daughters of locals Rex and Sherese Glendenning of REX Real Estate, began the popular Defined Dish blog, which offered food and fitness advice. Two years later, Alex transitioned The Defined Dish into a full-time career.
“So for the first two years, The Defined Dish was merely a fun hobby that I fell in love with and soon wanted to pursue as a career and really focus on making it into a business,” Alex says. “I rebranded my site – still keeping the name – worked consistently, studied food photography and went all in to make my dream come to life.”
More than 600,000 followers and two cookbooks later, you could say Alex’s venture was a resounding success.
“One of the things I was a little hesitant about when I started The Defined Dish was that I was not a professionally trained chef and perhaps my recipes were a little too, uh … I guess simple? Maybe not impressive enough? But I really do think that is what The Defined Dish community loves so much and continues to come back to me for,” Alex says. “My recipes are easy enough to follow so that all levels of cooks can enjoy, but just because they’re simple doesn’t mean they aren’t impressive! With festive, bold flavors you can make the simplest one-pan dinner or sheet-pan dinner come to life.”
Many of Alex’s recipes are paleo and Whole30 inspired. But she also incorporates decadent dishes into her day-to-day. And her husband, Clayton, has reached Instagram rockstar status with his famous margarita recipe (IYKYK).
Alex’s first cookbook The Defined Dish: Healthy and Wholesome Weeknight Recipes, published in 2019, quickly reached New York Timesbestseller status proving that her accessible and fun cooking style was exactly what home cooks were craving. Her upcoming Comfortable Kitchen cookbook is sure to garner the same success.
“Comfortable Kitchen is definitely a continuation of my first book as far as healthful, weeknight recipes go, but it is also a continuation of food freedom and how I eat,” Alex says. “There are plenty of paleo, Whole30, dairy-free and gluten-free recipes, but then there are recipes like a Fried Mortadella Sandwich, which is a nod to my Italian roots and by no means paleo because sometimes you just need a cheesy, greasy meal.”
Alex says the goal of Comfortable Kitchen is to help take the guesswork out of cooking and make it an enjoyable experience.
“With the fast-paced nature of today’s society, cooking has become a stressor. ‘What do we cook? I don’t want to clean. I don’t have time,’ are all the things we hear so often when asked about cooking. But when you do take the time to cook – even if it’s a 20-minute, one-pot dinner – there is just something magical about sitting around the table together. And that magic is what inspired the Comfortable Kitchen,” Alex says. “I wanted to remind people that the kitchen should not only provide a comforting, healthful meal, but you should feel comfortable and confident in the kitchen.”
As a busy wife and mother, Alex is informed by her own experiences. “The older my kids get, the more I have realized the art of a home-cooked meal,” she says.
“My family inspires me to do what I do best and bring people around my table to connect more. To turn off the screens, take a deep breath, look around the table and realize what you have around it and the value of that moment at the end of the day," she says. "I hope to inspire others to see the value that a simple, home-cooked meal can provide.”
Through her blog and books, Alex strives to encourage her readers and followers to use food as a love language.
“Food is a powerful way of expressing love and forming deeper connections, and my hope is that as you cook your way through my books and blog, you’ll take the time to appreciate the way that food brings us all together.”
For recipe inspiration and to order Alex’s cookbooks, visit TheDefinedDish.com.