The Nessy Kitchen

Growing up in Alberta, Canada, Janessa Heck’s childhood home was a place where cooking was a life skill learned early.

"When I was about nine or ten," she remembers, "my parents assigned my sister and me each a night of the week where we were in charge of dinner."

What started as family fun around the stovetop eventually turned into a lifelong embrace of cooking. As Janessa grew up and moved out on her own, she continued experimenting with new recipes, often texting photos of her latest dishes to share with her family.

She also leaned heavily on food blogs for inspiration. "I’d always thought it would be kind of cool to start one," she said.

And so, in December 2020, The Nessy Kitchen was born. Named after her childhood nickname (“Messy Nessy") from her own cooking/baking messes (which she always cleaned up afterward, mind you), the blog began as a humble collection of recipes that came with grainy food photos, having been snapped in dim Canadian winter light.

"The first year and a half, I had almost no visitors to my site,” she says. "I didn’t know anything about SEO or how content even got found."

But instead of giving up, Janessa kept at it. She taught herself food photography. She learned the ropes of digital publishing. And slowly, the audience came.

The Nessy Kitchen now draws tens of thousands of monthly readers. And while Janessa posts a variety of dishes, one thing has struck a chord with folks: oat flour.

Funny enough, that particular niche (originally stemming from a digestive health issue Janessa had) has become one of her blog’s defining features.

Her most popular recipes? Oat flour standouts like her applesauce muffins and her chocolate cookies.

These days, Janessa still manages everything at The Nessy Kitchen herself, from developing and testing recipes to photographing them, writing posts, and connecting with readers through her newsletter. And it’s all thanks to the ads running on her site.

"Ad revenue is what makes it all possible," she says. "Without it, I couldn’t afford to keep sharing these recipes for free."

But for Janessa, the most rewarding part isn’t the traffic itself. “I hear from people who appreciate that the recipes are flexible and not too fussy,” she says. “And a lot of people are especially into the oat flour recipes. I think it’s because it feels approachable. It’s just oats, and you can make the flour at home in a blender.”

As she gazes into the future, Janessa hopes to continue growing her audience and expanding her library of wholesome recipes. She’s even launched a second blog called Busy Morning Breakfast that focuses entirely on, you guessed it: breakfast recipes.

“Breakfast is one of my favorite meals to cook,” she says. “So it felt like a natural next step.” The new site gives her room to explore even more of the cozy, yet practical recipes that readers have come to enjoy; this time featuring such breakfast staples as eggs and toast — but, of course, there’s still oats as well.

And no matter what happens next, she remains committed to her original goal: to help people feel comfortable in the kitchen.

“My goal is to make cooking feel a little less intimidating,” she says. “If someone walks away from my site with a meal idea and a bit more confidence, then I’ve done what I set out to do.”