Catherine Richey - It All Starts at the Table

08/27/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I want to use everything I’ve learned over the years—as a chef, teacher, coach, mom, and someone who has spent a whole lot of her life around tables.

And instead of sitting here trying to guess what people need, I thought I’d just ask you.

Where could I actually make your life easier?

When it comes to food, cooking, getting dinner on the table, feeding yourself or the people you love, eating well, gathering people together, or creating more connection around the table—what feels harder than it should?

What do you wish someone could simply teach you, show you, organize for you, or help you figure out?

Maybe it’s something practical. Maybe it’s something you’ve been struggling with for years. Maybe it’s something I haven’t thought of at all.

If you could sit down at my kitchen table with me and say, “Catherine, I need help with THIS,” what would this be?

I’m genuinely asking—and genuinely listening.

Because after a lifetime spent around tables, I have a feeling the next chapter of my work might be less about deciding what I want to teach and more about listening to what people actually need.

So tell me. What’s hard? What do you wish were easier?

Leave me a comment, or if you’d rather answer privately, send me a message. I really do want to hear what you have to say.

It All Starts At The Table™.

08/23/2026

Tonight’s lessons from the kitchen: Good things take time. Also, you never know until you try.

Today I wanted pizza.

I momentarily forgot that it was 103°F outside. And noon. And that the pizza dough recipe I know and trust takes 12–24 hours because good dough needs time to ferment—to become soft, supple, pliable, and full of flavor.

But I wanted pizza today. 😂

So I decided I could surely outsmart fermentation. I had some sourdough discard, instant yeast, and about five hours. What could go wrong?

I even consulted ChatGPT for a quick sourdough-discard dough recipe.

Turns out, time still matters.

The dough fought me. It tore. It didn’t stretch beautifully. And while the finished pizza wasn’t terrible, I definitely wouldn’t serve it to guests.

Billy, being a good sport, ate it anyway. One slice each, and we were perfectly content to call it dinner.

Whenever I teach cooking classes, I remind people not to be afraid to try something new. I always ask:

“What’s the worst that can happen?”

Most of the time the answer is:

“You throw it in the trash and order a pizza.”

Which is particularly funny when the thing you might need to throw in the trash is the pizza. 😂

But we didn’t.

We tried it. We ate it. We learned something.

And next time? I’m giving the dough the time it deserves.

Funny how often the lessons we learn in the kitchen have absolutely nothing to do with food.

Good things take time. And you never know until you try.

It All Starts At The Table™

08/19/2026

Back-to-school week can feel like controlled chaos.

Forms. Supplies. New schedules. Earlier alarms. Tired parents. Grouchy kids. And somehow every piece of paper in the house has migrated to the kitchen table. 😂

Here’s one thing you can do tonight that doesn’t require adding anything to your to-do list.

Grab a laundry basket. Clear the table. Put something on a plate. Put the phones away.

And give each other 20 minutes.

Don’t worry about making the perfect family dinner. Use the time to find out what’s actually happening in the lives of those people sitting across from you.

Swipe through for three questions I used around our table when my kids were growing up—and one little tradition I brought home from my first-grade classroom. ❤️

Save this one for a particularly crazy school night.

It All Starts At The Table™
Real food. Real connection. Real joy.

08/14/2026

Billy and I returned from an 8-night, all-inclusive cruise this week. The morning after we got home, we both stepped on the scale.

We each lost a pound.

And trust me, we ate on this vacation.

The food was delicious. We had ice cream almost every afternoon. We enjoyed cocktails in the evenings while listening to live music. We tried the desserts. We shared tapas and small plates and ate wonderful meals in beautiful restaurants.

We didn’t count calories. We didn’t track macros. We didn’t “earn” our food or try to make up for it the next day.

But we also moved. A lot.

Our average daily step count was well into the 12,000s. Our room was on Deck 13, and we took the stairs almost every time we went up to the galley or down to the restaurants and entertainment areas. In port, we walked everywhere.

We shared small plates as entrées. When we wanted a main course, we often asked for a half portion. We ate slowly, talked, and actually tasted and enjoyed our food. We stopped when we were satisfied.

And we prioritized sleep — which honestly wasn’t difficult after spending our days exploring new places on foot. By the end of the day, we were tired!

This is what I wish more women understood about health and food:

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

You can eat the ice cream.
You can have the cocktail.
You can order dessert.

You can thoroughly enjoy your vacation without coming home feeling like you need to “get back on track.”

Because maybe there doesn’t need to be a track.

Maybe it’s about learning how to eat in a way that lets you enjoy your life while taking good care of yourself at the same time.

It all starts at the table. ™
Real food. Real connection. Real joy.

07/18/2026

Has a complete stranger ever reminded you that kindness still exists?

A trip to the grocery store became an unexpected lesson about trust, connection, and why the most meaningful conversations often happen in the most ordinary places.

06/11/2026

Tonight, it all started at the table. 🌿

I hosted my very first Women’s Wednesdays dinner, and my heart is so full.

Seven women. One table. A plant-forward meal — Sicilian baked cod with cherry tomatoes and castelvetrano olives, white bean & kale skordalia, jewelled farro and forbidden black rice with roasted beets and pomegranate, roasted cauliflower with chickpea chermoula, roasted rainbow vegetables, and a frozen berry nice cream with 85% dark chocolate and walnuts for dessert. Oh — and a cold brew hibiscus tea that I think just became a signature. 🫖

“Real food, shared with others, is one of the most powerful steps toward wellness, and a longer, more joyful life.”

This is exactly what I built Women’s Wednesdays to be — not a class, not a lecture. Just women gathered around a beautiful table, eating food that loves them back, and talking about what really matters.

If you’d like to be the first to know when the next dinner is announced, send me a DM or drop your email below. Space is intentionally limited to 8 — and these seats fill up fast. 💛

It All Starts at the Table.

05/23/2026

Tonight Billy said he had a hankering for pizza.

We’ve both been making big changes lately and trying to be more intentional about what we eat—not dieting ourselves into misery, just being more mindful and choosy about what earns a place on the plate.

He went back into his office and I thought:

“I have sourdough starter in the fridge… pepperoni… cheese… let’s see what happens.”

So “Stella” (my/Laura’s sourdough starter discard) became pizza night.

Discard on a hot mini pizza stone. Bake. Passata. Pepperoni. Cheese. Back in the oven.

Was it perfect? Nope.

Did it satisfy the craving and create a little moment around the table? Absolutely.

Healthy eating isn’t perfection. Sometimes it’s just making pizza from sourdough discard and not ordering takeout.

05/02/2026

Sneaky food marketing is out of control.

Tonight we just wanted easy tacos, so I scanned three taco shell boxes with my Yuka app…

The one labeled “Carb Advantage”?

🚫 Worst score.
🚫 More additives.
🚫 More processed.

The plain, basic corn shells?

✅ Best choice.

This is why people feel overwhelmed trying to eat “healthy.”

Because the packaging is selling you one thing…
and the ingredients are telling a completely different story.

I don’t get paid to say this—I just care.

Start flipping boxes over.
Start questioning labels.
Start choosing simpler.

Your body will thank you.