Sonja Overhiser

At A Glance

• Expertise: Mediterranean diet, vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, and gluten-free recipe development since 2010. Food writing, recipe testing, and food styling. Author of three cookbooks, food stylist for two. Certified mixologist.
• Education: BA in Music and a Certificate in Journalism from Indiana University. Certificate in Lifestyle and Wellness Coaching through Harvard Medical School’s Executive Education division, focused on lifestyle medicine and evidence-based behavior change.
• Based in: Indianapolis, Indiana.

How I Got Here

I spent more than a decade as a technical writer before any of this — which ironically is actually useful experience for writing a recipe someone can actually follow!

Alex and I started A Couple Cooks in 2010 after we got married to document our attempt at learning to cook together. At the time, we were eating frozen and packaged foods. The change we felt (in our health, our energy, the way we connected with other people) was big enough that we started writing it down. By 2017 it had become a full-time career for both of us, and today our website reaches millions of readers a month.

Eventually I realized the way we’d been eating all along had a name: the Mediterranean diet. Not a diet in the restrictive, calorie-counting way, but simply eating vegetables and herbs, olive oil, beans and grains, seafood and chicken, with room for some treats and lots of meals shared with people you love. That is the heart of my third cookbook, Mediterranean Every Night (2027), and my substack, The Every Night Kitchen.

What I Cook & Write About

I write recipes that are both nourishing and delicious, with an emphasis on being simple enough for most home cooks to master: 

• Mediterranean diet recipes, healthy dinners and easy weeknight meals
• Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free recipes
• Pescatarian and seafood dinners, from salmon to shrimp
• Breakfast, lunch, salads, and side dishes
• Homemade bread, pizza, desserts, and craft cocktails
• Healthy eating and living, the Mediterranean diet, and lifestyle medicine

Plus a full library of cooking basics: knife skills, substitutions, and more. 

How My Recipes Are Made

Every recipe on A Couple Cooks is created in my own kitchen in Indianapolis, Indiana. It’s written by me in collaboration with my husband Alex, and tested multiple times before it’s published so that it works the first time you make it. 

I include the substitutions, make-ahead notes, and small refinements in the Notes, with an emphasis on user experience (a hold over from my days of technical writing!). 

None of the recipes or photos you’ll see here are AI-generated: every dish is written by us, and every photo is the real finished plate, shot by Alex in our home kitchen. (Even though it’s pretty: I promise!)

The Every Night Kitchen

The Every Night Kitchen is my newsletter and community, where I share how to cook healthy meals without the stress, eat what’s in season, and live a little more delicious and connected, every night of the week. I explore my interests in the Mediterranean diet, Blue Zones, lifestyle medicine and longevity with a community of likeminded people.

Press & Recognition

A Couple Cooks was named Best Individual Blog by the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) in 2019. Our work has been featured by the TODAY Show, The Washington Post, Food & Wine, CNN, Oprah, US News & World Report, Epicurious, and Bon Appétit, among others.

I’ve also contributed freelance writing to Food & Wine and The Washington Post, including the Voraciously: Plant Powered recipe series on cooking plant-based and vegetarian meals.

A Little More About Me

I live in Indianapolis with Alex and our kids Larson and Britta (our most honest recipe testers) and a very fluffy Pomeranian named Clover. I studied as a classical musician (piano and French horn) growing up and in college, and I fell in love with food when I realized it could be art and not just a chore. 

I believe how we eat is tied to the health of our communities and our planet. I’m a co-founder of the Food + Wellness Equity Collective, a group of food and wellness professionals committed to equity, diversity, and anti-racism in our industry, and of Indy Women in Food, which champions women in the Indianapolis food world.

In addition to being interested in the “world’s healthiest diet” (named by US News & World Report 8 years in a row), I’ve also recently fallen in love with the “world’s healthiest sport”: tennis! I love playing and spectating at the French Open. 

Finally, I absolutely love to travel (especially throughout the Mediterranean), including trips to Italy, Greece, Croatia, Spain, and France. 

A Few Favorites To Start With

• 60 Easy Mediterranean Diet Recipes
• 60 Best Salad Recipes
• 40 Best Cocktail Recipes
• 60 Easy Vegan Recipes
• 50 Best Vegetarian Recipes