Monica Lensink is the founder, recipe writer, and photographer behind Nourish and Fete, a website with fresh, fast, everyday recipes tailored for home cooks and busy families.

Monica is a former diplomat and intelligence analyst who began blogging as a hobby in 2016. As her career evolved and her family grew, Monica transitioned her website from a casual "mom blog" to its present focus on food -- and got more serious about making it a professional source of income.

The recipes at Nourish and Fete are designed for home cooks who value convenience and time, yet still want to create high-quality meals and love making things from scratch. One of Monica's core beliefs is that home cooking can be easy and rewarding, despite or even because of the crazy pace of modern life. Her goal for Nourish and Fete is to be a resource and inspiration for readers to eat well and celebrate the everyday.

Born and raised near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Monica currently lives outside of Washington, DC, with her husband, two young children, and their beloved dog, Cookie. Her two grown step-children live nearby and are pescatarians, which explains the growing collection of plant-based and seafood recipes on her site.