It’s funny a first blog post. You feel it should be pretty damn significant in some way – so much so, it’s taken me a week of procrastinating to get to this point! But really, I’m all about keeping things simple so that’s how this will be.

To begin with then, a little about me. I’m a New Zealand mum living in Auckland with my husband, two kids, rescue dog, rescue cat, and rescue rabbit. (My son is keen to rescue a turtle too – but after learning they live for 40 years that isn’t happening!). Oh, and I LOVE to bake!

Like many mums, I’m constantly juggling work – housework – playing with the kids – social life (huh?). The nickname One Handed Baker came about after I pretty much baked a cake with one hand while helping with homework with the other.

I love creating new recipes and playing with old favourites. Baking in the kitchen really is my happy place. I’ve suffered a range of serious health problems for many years, and was having difficulty doing my ‘proper’ job. I underwent major spine surgery in June 2018 (more on that another time) and knew I’d face months unable to work. I’m not very good at keeping still and relaxing and knew I’d need something to keep me focused and busy during the long recovery. So I decided to film lots of recipe videos beforehand which I could then edit from bed.

I had no idea whether anyone would like my recipes or watch the videos – so was pretty chuffed when they did! After 12 months I’d reached 11,000 followers on social media, which continues to grow.

The One Handed theme continued as every recipe is made with one hand, while filming with my iPhone in the other. No tripods, no fancy equipment, no helpers. That’s why all my recipes are simple!