Hello !

Welcome to With A Blast! I’m Cheri Nortje, Linda’s daughter, and I am now the person behind With A Blast.

If you’ve been visiting this blog for years, you may already know my mom, Linda Nortje. If you’re new here, I’m so happy you’re here — and I’d love to share a little of the story behind this food blog and how I came to be carrying it forward.

Taking over something my mom created and poured so much love into is incredibly special to me. My goal is to continue sharing the recipes that made With A Blast what it is, while gradually bringing my own recipes, ideas and voice to the blog.

So, before I tell you where With A Blast is going, here’s where it all began.

The Story of With A Blast

With A Blast was founded by my mom, Linda Nortje, in 2012.

Linda lived in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, with her husband, Roy. She was a mom of two and a proud grandmother to two granddaughters and a grandson.

Linda studied Criminal Profiling, but due to a chronic illness, she had to end her studies midway.

Her love for experimenting with recipes, both old and new, began after she left the corporate world in 2002. Some years later, when both of her children had left school and she had more time to invest in something she had come to love, she started blogging.

And With A Blast was born.

Linda created the blog as a place to share quick and easy recipes without giving up on taste and nutrition. Over the years, With A Blast grew into a wonderful collection of recipes and reached readers all around the world.

Her recipes and work were featured on Mr. Food, RecipeLion, MSN, BuzzFeed, Parade’s Community Table, The Rachael Ray Show, HGTV and HomeTalk.

What started as Linda’s love of cooking eventually became a part of our family’s story.

Continuing What She Started

Today, I’m honoured to continue that story.

I want to preserve the recipes and memories my mom created here, while also slowly making With A Blast my own. You’ll see new recipes, new ideas and my own voice becoming part of the blog, while many of the recipes that have been here for years will remain.

For those of you who have been following With A Blast since my mom’s days, thank you for being here and for supporting what she created.

And if you’re new here, welcome. I hope you’ll stay, cook with me, and become part of the next chapter of With A Blast.

The name may be the same, the recipes may continue, but there’s a new person behind the scenes — and I’m so excited to continue what my mom started.

— Cheri ❤️