Today we’d like to introduce you to Nora Schlesinger.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Nora. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As far back as I can remember, I’ve loved to bake. I started as a kid, baking cookies to satisfy a perpetual sweets craving, since my parents refused to buy Oreos or the other packaged, processed sweets very often. Having started so young, baking was just something I always did. It was never daunting and always fun. I soon learned to adjust the recipes to my preferences, began to understand baking chemistry, and eventually started to come up with my own recipes and post them a blog.
However, when, about 6 years ago, I experienced some mysterious digestive and other health issues, everything changed. Part of the standard treatment protocol was a very restrictive elimination diet that prohibited (wheat) flour, refined sugar, dairy/butter, and many of the other standard ingredients in conventional baking. I was unwilling to give up sweets indefinitely, but unable to find recipes that met my complicated dietary parameters, so I started making them up! I had had enough practice creating recipes that I saw this diet as a new challenge, rather than the end of the road for my baking adventures.
Since I was already putting my recipes out there on a conventional baking blog, I launched a new site and called it acleanbake.com, to distinguish my “clean” eating recipes from the conventional baked goods. Honestly, I thought it would be temporary and that, after a few months of treatment, I’d be back to normal and baking with flour and sugar again. But I ended up abandoning my old blog as A Clean Bake attracted more and more readers, and captured more and more of my interest. I’ve since expanded the business to recipe development and freelance photography for other food brands and, after my son was born at the end of 2016, I finally left my day job and took my blog and freelance business full time. I’m so grateful that I get to help people enjoy eating, despite food allergies and dietary restrictions, and I can’t believe I get to call this my job!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The biggest challenge I encountered was also the biggest turning point for the better. When I finally started to address my health issues and was told that an elimination diet was a non-negotiable part of the treatment process, I was devastated. I loved baking and blogging, and thought I would have to give that up. When it finally occurred to me to just use the opportunity to help others in the same boat, I finally felt like my work had a purpose beyond my own enjoyment, which made it that much more satisfying and, I think, gave me the motivation to continue to work hard to grow the site into what it is today.
For most of the life of the business, however, it was my side hustle. The sheer number of hours in the day has been the greatest consistent challenge to growth over the years, and I’ve done all of the work in the evening after work and on weekends. I won’t lie and say it’s all been easy and not at all exhausting. Because it certainly has. But I wouldn’t continue to do it if I didn’t love it, and it wasn’t all worth it.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with A Clean Bake – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
A Clean Bake (www.acleanbake.com) is a web-based dynamic cookbook. What does that mean? Basically, it’s like if your cookbooks were constantly getting new recipes added to them! Ok, fine, it’s a food blog. Same thing!
A Clean Bake is a site that specializes in “clean eating” sweet (and some savory) recipes, all of which are gluten free, and most of them are also grain free (paleo). The site is organized by dietary need, so visitors can also find recipes that are free of dairy, eggs, sugar and soy, and compliant with several other tough-to-navigate diets. All of the recipes are provided completely free of charge.
A Clean Bake is known for better-for-you and allergen-free desserts that are so good that everyone (even you Duncan Hines fans out there) loves them. Socializing around the table is such an important part of life, and I know what it’s like to feel like a weirdo as the only person eating a salad when everyone else is having pasta, or sitting in front of an empty plate while everyone chows down on cake. So I try, with every recipe, to save someone else from that awkward moment. The purpose of all of the recipes, sweet and savory, is for everyone at the table to enjoy digging in, regardless of whether or not they have dietary restrictions.
There may be many gluten free or paleo recipes out there, but mine are at the same time simple, straightforward, user-friendly and totally irresistible. My proudest moments as an entrepreneur are when someone tells me “I was able to enjoy my birthday cake for the first time in years” or “I didn’t think I’d ever get to eat this again” or, best yet “I didn’t think my gluten-loving husband would enjoy this, but he went back for seconds!”
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My plan for the near future is to just keep doing what I’m doing! I’m always working to add more recipes so that everyone can find what they’re looking for. In the longer term, I’d love to write a cookbook (hey publishers out there: call me! ;-)) and I’ve always toyed with the idea of expanding into a bakery or catering company, but I have no plans to do that in the foreseeable future.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.acleanbake.com
- Email: nora@acleanbake.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/nora_acleanbake
- Facebook: facebook.com/acleanbake
- Twitter: twitter.com/acleanbake
Image Credit:
Food images courtesy of Nora Schlesinger (ACleanBake.com). Photos of Nora courtesy of Christy Tyler Photography (christytylerphotography.com).
