About Me

Bringing you the best recipes that have earned my seal of approval.

Hi there! I’m Christina, the chief cook and bottle washer behind It Is a Keeper. I share tried and true recipes that anyone can make.

Everything I share has been thoroughly tested and has received my seal of approval as “keepers”.  

As a kid, I loved helping in the kitchen.  Whether I was helping my grandma make homemade ravioli or baking dozens of Christmas cookies with my siblings, I loved being in the kitchen. 

Cooking is very cathartic to me. I’m truly in my element in the kitchen. Maybe it’s that I’m using all of my senses – the feel of the dough, the smell of the sauce or the sound of the vegetables being chopped. Whether I’m making an old favorite that I know by heart or trying a new recipe, it’s exciting to see it all come together.

About It Is a Keeper

I started It Is a Keeper in 2010.  At the time, I was working full-time and my website was a hobby.  One weekend, I was cleaning my house, getting everything organized after the holidays. I found several piles of recipes I had stashed that I wanted to try. There were hundreds of them – ripped from magazines, clipped from pasta boxes, printed from websites, even written on paper plates.

I popped in a movie, Julie and Julia, and started organizing my piles of recipes. If you’ve never seen the move, the main character, Julie, decides she’s going to cook her way through Julia Child’s cookbook and blog about it.

A light bulb went off. That’s what I’m going to do! Cook my way through my pile of recipes and blog about it! The only problem was…I didn’t know what a blog was. I grabbed my laptop, did some Googling and by the end of the weekend, I had a website.

Today, blogging is my job.  I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to work from home doing what I love.  Some days, it’s crazy busy, like the running-my-dishwasher-three-times-in-a-single-afternoon kind of busy.  But I love every minute of it. 

Whether you’re watching me on YouTube or television or printing out one of my recipes, It Is a Keeper is a look into my kitchen. The food you see is what we are really eating. Most of the things I cook are not fancy and I don’t use hard to find ingredients. They are everyday recipes for everyday life.

You Might Have Seen Me

You might have seen me on TV – I’ve done quite a few television cooking segment.  Or, maybe you came across me in a magazine, like Taste of Home. Or, you might have stumbled on It is a Keeper from another website, such as BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, Woman’s Day or Reader’s Digest.  

Check out all of my media features.  

About My Family

I live in gorgeous northeastern, PA with my husband, teenage son and our cat, Bo.  When I started It is a Keeper, my son was only 4 years old.  Somehow, I blinked and he turned into a young man.  

These two are my taste-testers.  They’re always up for trying something new and offering their feedback.  Some are spot on. others…not so much.  

They’ve also become used to eating luke warm food that needs to be photographed before they can eat it. 

A Little More About Me

 Here are 21 things about me that you probably don’t know…

1. I read cook books cover to cover like most people read novels. 📚
2. I am named after two of my great-grandmothers.
3. My middle name has a letter that is not in our alphabet.
4. I graduated from Penn State with a BS in Management Science and Information Systems and a minor in Operations Management.
5. I am a HUGE Penn State football fan! 🏈
6. I’m the proud mom of an Eagle Scout. 🦅
7. We live in the Scranton, PA area — you know, the city from The Office.
8. I’m an Aries and I pretty much fit the profile to a T.
9. Toast is on my list of top 5 favorite foods.
10.  My favorite song of all time is Convoy by CW McCall (most people have never heard of it).
11. My favorite movie is a tie between Footloose (it’s also my second favorite song) and Spaceballs.
12. I am obsessed with true crime podcasts and TV shows.
13. I have never had a mosquito bite. Or, if they do bite me (I don’t know 🤷‍♀️), I don’t get the itchy, red bumps. Weird, I know. But my mom and maternal grandmother were the same.
14. My favorite flowers are hydrangeas.
15. I am petrified of snakes.
16. I am fascinated by all things Southern – I think I was born on the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon line.
17. I’m very clumsy – I once fell off the end of Norway.
18. I’m a huge spreadsheet nerd!
19. My dad was like a walking GPS, however, I didn’t inherit that skill. I am ALWAYS getting lost. 
20. I live with not one, but two drummers – my house is loud! 🥁
21. I have a soft spot for veterans – they are true heroes. 🇺🇲

I hope this helped you get to know me a little better.  

Let’s Connect

I would love to hear from you. Feel free to send me your feedback and questions.  You can leave me a comment or you connect with me here:

• Email me at hello@itisakeeper.com
• Check out what’s going on on YouTube
• Take a look behind the scenes on Instagram
• Follow me on Facebook
• See what’s inspiring me on Pinterest