Sep 7, 2023 - Food and Drink

Half Baked Harvest's Tieghan Gerard is bringing her recipes directly to doorsteps

Tieghan Gerard, the founder of Half Baked Harvest. Photo: Courtesy of Half Baked Harvest and Home Chef

Tieghan Gerard — Colorado's famous food blogger behind Half Baked Harvest — is cooking up new adventures.

What's happening: The Silverthorne-based best-selling author is launching a limited-time partnership Thursday with meal kit brand Home Chef to easily bring ingredients for her recipes directly into people's homes.

What she's saying: The new partnership "takes the thinking out of cooking" and delivers "something that my community has really been missing," Gerard, who has gained over 5 million followers on Instagram, tells Axios Denver.

  • The timing is intentional, too. "Everything is so crazy busy in the fall … There's a lot of entertaining, people are back to work, back to school … so to really be able to come home and seamlessly create a delicious recipe without much prep or anything is so nice," she adds.

How it works: The four-week collab — which runs through Oct. 6 — will offer two family-friendly dishes each week with pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step instructions.

  • Items on the menu include crispy chipotle beef tacos with jalapeno cilantro lime crema (her dad's favorite) and creamy whole bean lemon orzo soup with parmesan and pesto.

What's next: Gerard tells us she plans to take some time away from Colorado next year and live elsewhere for a while.

  • She landed in the Centennial State because of her family, she says (her brother is Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Red Gerard), but now she's ready to "see what else is out there."

What to watch: More projects are brewing, including "some really great product launches" on the horizon, she tells us.

Zoom in: We also caught up with Colorado's culinary queen to discuss her favorite fall essentials.

🥫 Pantry staples: Canned pumpkin, apple butter, apple cider, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. "A dry spice can add so much to a recipe," she says.

😋 Must-have veggies: Spaghetti squash and butternut squash. (Try her four cheese roasted garlic alfredo stuffed spaghetti squash — it's ridiculous.)

🍸 Seasonal cocktail: Her smoky apple cider margarita is a "go-to every single fall," as well as her Thanksgiving cider punch.

🏠 Top tips for hosting: "Take the stress out," because "everybody feels a stressful host," she says. Help yourself out by creating a "very simple" menu you plan in advance and buying pre-made appetizers or desserts.

  • Another way to make guests feel warm and welcomed? She suggests lighting some candles or baking something in the oven that smells scrumptious, like chocolate chip cookies.

Go deeper: Half Baked Harvest advice: How to host the holidays

avatar

Get more local stories in your inbox with Axios Denver.

🌱

Support local journalism by becoming a member.

Learn more

More Denver stories

No stories could be found

Denverpostcard

Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Denver.

🌱

Support local journalism by becoming a member.

Learn more