In Coppell High School senior Devika Kohli’s kitchen, banana bread and blueberry muffins are certified – tried and true recipes for the family.

When the pandemic closed schools in March 2020, Kohli found more time to expand her baking repertoire and the will to explore. After learning recipes online and teaching herself how to bake, Kohli started her food blog, “On Today’s Table,” (www.ontodaystable.com) to document the process.

“Baking was always a thing I did on the side, but I finally found the time to explore it and try new things,” Kohli said. “I wanted to create that food blog format in order to promote easy vegetarian and vegan food, and it became my outlet.”

Kohli typically begins a blog post by finding a new recipe, then making it once to see what twists she can put on it to make it healthier, more fun or unique to her cooking. After reaching a point where she is happy, she creates the final product, writes the recipe, photographs it for the blog and creates a post.

“[When] all of us [were] at home, we weren’t eating out at restaurants or anything, so we were like ‘whatever you make, we’ll eat it as long as it’s edible,’” Kohli’s sister and 2018 CHS graduate Maydha Kohli said. “We all thought ‘you could totally turn this into a food blog, there’s a ton out there, why not add one with your own twist on things.’ That turned into Devika wanting to document what she learned and what she thinks the best approach is, and [now] it [has] turned into something a lot bigger.”

As a vegetarian herself, vegan and vegetarian recipes are a no-brainer for Devika. After researching the environmental effects of the dairy and egg industries, the idea was concrete. Health is another key aspect in her recipes.

During India’s second wave of COVID-19 this summer, Devika took notice of Asha for Education, a nonprofit organization that seeks to bring social and economic change in India through the education of underprivileged children. Seeing the organization’s COVID-19 response chapter, Kohli combined her love for baking and her desire to help others. The summer provided her with the perfect opportunity to organize a fundraiser for Asha for Education, where she sold her baked goods to raise money.

“I felt my year of baking and making my food blog during the pandemic prepared me for a way to give back and use all that I’d learned and my passion for baking to make an impact on other people’s lives,” Devika said. “Education is a pretty important thing in anyone’s life, it does unlock a lot of potential and it’s pretty hard to progress the cause. I knew this was a mission that aligned with what I wanted to promote.”

Working with her family and friends, Devika organized the fundraiser, including things such as menus, ingredients, presentation and transportation. The fundraiser ran from June to Sept., raising $529.

“[Devika’s friends] were not at all surprised that she got this up and running and everything organized,” CHS senior Kashvi Singh said. “She tries to make [her recipes] healthy, so they’re not just total treats. They were delicious and very well-made.”

Follow Anjali (@anjalikrishna_) and @CHSCampusNews.