Christina Musgrave Brings Joy to Everyday Cooking Through Her Debut Cookbook, ‘Tasting Every Day’

For Christina Musgrave, food has always meant connection. Growing up in a large family, she learned early on that good meals bring people together. That sense of community and comfort now drives her work as the founder of Tasting With Tina, a popular food blog known for easy, flavorful weeknight recipes.

After leaving her career in tech consulting during the pandemic to pursue cooking full time, Musgrave built a brand centered around making home cooking joyful and accessible. Her debut cookbook, Tasting Every Day, continues that mission with 50 Italian-inspired, Midwest-comfort recipes that make everyday dinners something to look forward to. From family favorites to quick, satisfying meals, Musgrave’s recipes remind readers that even a Tuesday night dinner can feel special.

Q: You’ve said one of your earliest food memories is waking up early to make breakfast for your parents. Looking back, are there other early memories that made you realize food could bring people together?
A: I have 40 first cousins. ... Every single weekend, it felt like we got together with our extended family. A lot of those gatherings were just naturally centered around food. I feel like I grew up just knowing that food equals people.

Q: You started your project Tasting with Tina while working in tech consulting. What inspired you to start documenting your home-cooked meals, and how did that hobby turn into a career?
A: I went to school for engineering, and then got — on paper — my dream job in tech consulting. After a couple of years, I just realized … I don't know how I can do this for the rest of my career. So, the thing that brought me the most joy was making dinner every night. I wanted to create, basically, a digital recipe book for everything that I was cooking so I could refer to it. ... And as I kept going, I saw other people that were being successful with their food blogs, leaving their corporate jobs and doing it.

Q: When did the idea for Tasting Every Day start to take shape? Was there a particular moment when you knew you wanted to create a cookbook?
A: Tasting Every Day is a natural extension of my blog and my website. Over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed my audience has just really enjoyed weeknight dinners. I had my daughter in 2023, so when I became a mom, weeknight meals were even more important; to be able to get something on the table that was delicious but that was also really easy. It was kind of a natural next step for my brand to create a tangible cooking guide.

Q: How would you describe the theme or message of the book? Past the recipes, what do you hope readers take away from it?
A: The book is full of 50 weeknight recipes. I would say that it is kind of Italian-inspired with a Midwest comfort. That is kind of my personal spin on the style. What I want is for anyone to feel confident making a really delicious meal, even if that’s on a Tuesday night because I firmly believe that we shouldn’t just look forward to our meals on the weekends because then most of our week, we’re not excited about our food, and I think that’s sad.

Q: Do you have a favorite recipe in the book or a recipe that feels especially tied to a memory for you?
A: I have two recipes in the book that are family recipes. One of them is my uncle Bill’s quesadillas. It’s a sausage and spinach quesadilla that’s flavored with some sherry [and] some cream cheese. It’s just really delicious and savory and one of my favorite things to eat, so I had to include that in the book. The other one is my aunt Sue’s rice, which was a recipe from my grandmother that my aunt Sue adapted. I grew up eating that at a lot of my family parties and events.

Q: Did writing Tasting Every Day teach you anything new about yourself or your relationship with food and storytelling?
A: Writing a cookbook is definitely a difficult process. There’s a lot of things that are involved, from getting inspiration for the recipes to testing the recipes, reworking things, working with recipe testers, but I think the biggest thing that I learned is just that I can do it. It was a lot of work that I put into taking my blog and business full time, leaving my corporate job, and so this was kind of like the next big thing that I challenged myself to do.

For more information, visit tastingwithtina.com.

For more Ohio food and drink inspiration, sign up for our Ohio Magazine newsletters. 

Ohio Magazine is available in a beautifully designed print issue that is published 7 times a year, along with Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter editions of LongWeekends magazine. Subscribe to Ohio Magazine and stay connected to beauty, adventure and fun across our state.