Food, family, and faith are top of mind for many during the holiday season, but for award-winning home cook, content creator, and television personality Dina Deleasa-Gonsar, they are the driving force behind every day. Through her brand, DishItGirl, Deleasa-Gonsar is recognized for her honest and simple approach to everyday food and celebrations, sharing her relatable journey through motherhood, and encouraging others through spirituality.
Yet “none of it was super intentional,” she tells LittleThings on her rise to verified social media status.
Deleasa-Gonsar has been named Best Home Cook by Hallmark Channel Home & Family, and she has contributed her recipes and on-air talent to the Today show, The Good Dish, Guy’s Grocery Games on the Food Network, Inside Edition, GMA Online, Rachael Ray Online, and Real Simple, to name a few.
It all began when she started sharing recipes and restaurant recommendations on her blog and social media. From there came recipe requests from followers and collaboration gigs with leading brands. Over time, Deleasa-Gonsar pivoted her career path (she earned a BA in communication and a master's degree in education with a concentration in counseling and was working as a school counselor) toward entrepreneurship. But she believes every step along the way played an intentional role.
“I see how God has used, or is using, each twist and turn,” she shares. “As a school counselor, I saw many kids come into my office that wanted a bit more family time. I think that is part of where my heart for family dinner came from.”
As she started blogging, Deleasa-Gonsar says, “I really picked up on the relation between food and family. How family dinner seemed to be a rare occurrence although people longed for the connection. Encouraging others to get their family and friends together is what originally fueled me.”
Now raising a 5-year-old daughter named Siena, she’s passing down traditions that started during her childhood. “Growing up, I was always watching my mother cook dinner every night, pushing a chair up to the kitchen island and getting involved. She would do Sunday dinners, and always had gatherings at our house. Watching her and my grandmother prepping and planning was where I learned the most.”
Fans of her popular Instagram account are familiar with her frequent sous chef. “Siena has been my sidekick in the kitchen since day one,” she says. “She went from the rocker next to the kitchen island to the seat on top of the island to now pushing up the chair to the island. Whatever ingredients I am working with, I would pass her a small portion to create with — as long they were safe; I am not talking raw chicken or cayenne pepper. I would let her measure and pour (not over a stove). At times, I will ask her what she thinks about an ingredient or combination. Involving kids can happen even before you hit the kitchen. When we food shop or go to the farmers market, I will let her pick out some ingredients.”
In college, Deleasa-Gonsar began hosting dinner parties. "My friends must have thought I was crazy, especially when I served this lamb dish I had learned at a cooking class," she explains. "I would also make Sunday-like dinners in my dorm-room kitchen. I was making sauce and chicken parm. It just hasn’t stopped from there!"
She draws inspiration from watching food travel shows and embarking on her own adventures with her husband, Brian: "I would take a cooking class most places we went or visit food markets. It always resulted in new dishes or techniques."
Naturally, she frequently hosts holidays and other gatherings. “I want to make sure that my friends and family never lose the reflex of being together,” she admits. “I see the work my mom put into hosting and doing Sunday dinner was not in vain. Our family (featured on the E! series Married to Jonas) still does their best to get together on Sunday. I want Siena to have some of the same memories that I hold so dear. Watching me prep with her grandmother before holidays. Waking up from a nap or walking in the door from school smelling what’s for dinner. Is it always so poetic? No way! But the intention is there, which creates tradition. I know that is what helps keep families and communities together.”
Recalling one of her favorite holiday memories, she says, “I have this very vivid picture of a long dining room table that my parents had. It seemed to go on for a mile. It was filled with extended family and friends who dropped in. My dad would often sit at the end. There was always so much talking, laughing, and yes, even arguing.”
The magic of Christmas overrides the stress and chaos of the season for Deleasa-Gonsar. “It’s not about the gifts; it’s the intention behind everything,” she says. “You are thinking of others, people gather a little bit more, open their homes a bit more. There is more community and tradition during this time, which is very comforting and nostalgic.”
She jokes that moms should stay off Pinterest and suggests parents focus more on what can realistically be achieved: “So often we try to do it all. However, sometimes we miss out on it ourselves. I started noticing that I was so busy prepping and planning, that I was too tired or stressed to be present. So now I do not say ‘yes’ to every single party or event. And I find myself having a free night to sit and watch a Christmas movie with Brian and Siena. I do not bake 100 cookies, just pick our favorite three. That allows me time to try a new recipe. Holiday stress will always be there, but your family is grateful for all the work you put into it and even more so when you are there for it.”
Being able to enjoy the small things is especially important for Deleasa-Gonsar, who has been very open about her postpartum struggles.
“What I went through with Siena was extraordinary and difficult,” she shares. “In the hospital, after three days of confusion, and failed tests, the doctors told me that they would have to deliver her. Siena arrived two months early, through an emergency C-section, and went through a couple of rounds of blood transfusions. She was in the NICU for a month. I would go every morning, until the evening, often alone for hours.”
She’s transparent about what happened next: “We brought her home, and things seemed ‘fine’; however, I was not. I could hear myself talk in circles; I had lost interest in holding conversations with people. I didn’t want to leave the house much. I knew something was going on deeper than baby blues or being hormonal. It had been almost five months, and I felt even heavier. I loved Siena and I was so grateful she was here and doing well, but my brain and my heart were not matching up. I went through two panic attacks over the holidays. I knew something was wrong, and I didn’t want it to go on longer than it had to. I did seek out help and was diagnosed with PPD/PPA (postpartum depression/postpartum anxiety) with PTSD. I was so embarrassed, guilty, and just disappointed in myself.”
At the time, Deleasa-Gonsar was trying to juggle life as a new mother along with running DishItGirl. She recalls, “Other people in my work realm had babies around the same time I did. They seemed to be thriving. All over Instagram, I saw pictures and stories of people bringing their 3-month-old on trips to their TV appearances. Pictures of moms so 'tired,' but yet glowing. Smiling as they took 'me' time for a solo coffee trip and workout class. Meanwhile, I was panicked about spending too long in the grocery store, should I get the chance to go. I couldn’t understand what had happened to me. I berated myself for having poor time management skills, not enough drive, and just not being good at 'this.' Never once considering the type of help they had.”
She points out, “On social media, you do not see the behind-the-scenes all the time, and we know how that goes. I did not have the energy to cover up what I was going through. So I decided to share it. I never wanted someone to wander over to my feed and be left with the same feelings. I wanted people to see the journey. There were moments of recovery, moments of victory. However, it took some painful moments and some difficult times. It still does!”
That’s what sparked her #notaninstamom series of posts: “I want a Pinterest-board perfect house, and tablescape. But this is not the season for it. Sometimes I can achieve it. Other times, not so much. And that is OK! The moments that are not IG worthy are to be celebrated too. Your everyday service to your family is more important than any of your business ventures. I find women, especially moms, downgrade the significance of their roles all the time. Myself included! We say things like, ‘I just served snacks all day,’ or ‘All I do is drive kids around.’ Let’s reframe that: ‘I fed my family, which makes them feel loved and cared for.’ Or, ‘I want my children to have a chance at doing something they love, so I spent time making sure they safely got to where they needed to go.’ That may sound silly, but my point is we need to start realizing how important our ‘mundane’ really is. It truly is a service to take care of your family, friends, and community. It may not be celebrated as much as a promotion at work, or having a large social media following, but it should be.”
Followers recently watched her contrast between filming a Today show segment and, later, cleaning her toilets at home. She posts these to show other moms that “there is real life going on behind Instagrammable moments.”
And while many of those social-media-worthy moments happen as the camera rolls, there’s also a special magic that happens that’s just for her. Like when she makes a good dish — “I can usually feel this flutter in my heart” — and the pure comfort of simply sautéing garlic and oil — “It instantly calms me down, sends me back to being in the kitchen with my mom or grandma.”
Things aren’t just cooking in the kitchen for Deleasa-Gonsar. Coming up, she’ll be hosting the Cookie-Thon for Christmas Flix, benefiting Skip 1, an organization that helps build kitchens and pantries all over the globe, where needed. Next year, she’s slated to speak at the She Lives Fearless conferences in various cities and will continue hosting the platform’s podcast. And she just signed with a literary agent.
Drawing on her faith, she says, “As I walk with [God], I can’t wait to see what he has next. I know more trials will be up ahead, but as he proves to me time and again, he walks with me. That is a tremendous amount of hope that I can carry with me in the face of everything.”
One thing is also for certain: “Even if my family has a rough week, all of us different circumstances or maybe sharing a common one, we still come back to the table.”
