About Me

Welcome to Comfort + Thyme!

Hey there, I’m Carole Lombardi, the recipe developer and content creator behind Comfort +Thyme. I live here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with my amazing daughter and two crazy cats, Sid Vicious and Steve Jones aka Jonsey. My son is a strapping young man with two boys of his own that are sweet, mischievous, and adorable!

Here at Comfort + Thyme, I’ll share gluten-free comfort food recipes that are made with the freshest ingredients. These fun-to-make recipes have been tried and tested to make sure they’re consistently successful, mouth-watering, healthy (for the most part), and easy to prepare.

Why gluten-free?

In 2016, just before Thanksgiving, my daughter, Christian, was diagnosed with lupus. She was living and working in Miami at the time. This was a scary diagnosis since we knew nothing about lupus or what to expect. After learning more about lupus, we found that along with medication, you could help keep the symptoms at bay by eating a healthy diet and limiting exposure to sunlight. In spring 2017, Christian decided to move home to be closer to family and learn how to cook delicious food that was fresh and healthy. Through allergy testing, Christian learned she had a gluten sensitivity which could cause inflammation. It was at that point when we embarked on our gluten-free journey. I decided to make it my mission to teach us both how to make all the wonderful dishes we loved gluten-free and fabulous!

Comfort food is everywhere…

Comfort foods are different for everyone. They’re a global affair. People from every walk of life have foods they love, that trigger memories of home, childhood, or somewhere they visited and shared a memorable meal. For some, it might be a mashed potato crowned Shepherd’s pie and for others, it might be a colossal bowl of fragrant Thai red curry.

The recipes developed at Comfort + Thyme are influenced by many cuisines. I love to experiment with ingredients and techniques from around the world. Using fresh, seasonal ingredients when foods are at their peak is the way to get the maximum flavor punch from your fruits and veggies and is a way of life that I strive to accomplish. I also like to switch things up a bit and slip in an unexpected ingredient here and there – just to keep things interesting. The main ingredient in all of my dishes is love and, of course, some smashing good tunes for inspo!

Comfort + Thyme recipes are my own with influences from favorite restaurants, family, friends, cookbooks, and other blogs. I’m also pretty sure that when I get into the zone, I’m channeling one of the dead chefs from long ago that wants to come forward and cook again. I will give a shout-out where it’s due – dead or alive.

Going back in time…

As a kid, I spent many weekends at my grandparent’s house, where I would drift in and out of Grandma Lombardi’s fragrant kitchen of magically delicious food wonders. Giovanna “Jenny” was a 4’9″ Italian-American powerhouse! She would wake at the crack of dawn to begin making the daily feast for our family. She’d make fresh pizzas (at least two), a vat of mashed potatoes (yes – Italians eat mashed potatoes), a velvety batch of the clearest chicken soup, a mixed grill (baby lamb chops, chicken legs, sometimes frog legs (not for me), pork chops, and steak). She beautifully executed Italian dishes like a perfectly balanced meat sauce that included chicken, pork, and beef, homemade pasta, tender meatballs, and delicate gnocchi, which were like feathery pillows from the food gods. I’d soak up as much as I could while sitting at the kitchen counter grating Romano cheese into a pie tin and sneaking bites when grandma wasn’t looking.

Growing up in LA in the late ’70s and early ’80s was phenomenal! It was intoxicating, a little dangerous, and bursting with excitement! As a young, budding sound engineer who had a ravenous appetite for killer food and punk, it was the perfect place to be at the perfect time! The Sunset Strip was a madhouse! The punk scene was in full swing, and The Whisky was the place to be. Any night of the week, you could catch life-changing shows like Devo, The Screamers, Fear, The Bags, The Weirdos, or X. After clubbing, we’d hit up Canter’s on Fairfax for late-night breakfast and matzo ball soup. Though I’m no longer a sound engineer or run around the streets of Hollywood, the punk rebel spirit is still with me and flows through to my attitude and cooking.

Great restaurants were everywhere, and big booths were king! From Santa Monica to Hollywood, you could find just about every type of restaurant and bar to satiate your mood and appetite. I loved everything from hole-in-the-wall to fine dining. I can’t say enough about the incredible local Mexican food! Some of the most memorable and satisfying meals were from the casual diners and the Jewish delis that dot the west side of LA – think matzo ball soup, crunchy homemade pickles, and classic French dips!

In addition to grandma’s kitchen and dining around LA, I attended culinary school in ’93 and then again in ’06, where I graduated with honors from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland. For the past decade, I’ve worked in hotel catering sales that came to an abrupt end in March 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. While searching for a new pandemic-proof career, I decided to put my time to good use and start Comfort + Thyme to share my recipes, photos, and thoughts.

I’m new to writing, food styling, and photography so it may be a little slow going at first while I build content, hone my skills, and work my way through building a website.

Thanks so much for stopping by Comfort + Thyme! Let’s stay in touch. If you make a recipe, I would love to get your comments.