Hello! I'm Layla. The one on the right.
I grew up in the middle of the Midwest on a farm. I had one of those childhoods that Netflix makes 80's nostalgia movies about today. Headgear, tube socks, and deep love of Cabbage Patch Dolls. Because I grew up on a farm, my sisters and I did everything together. There were no other kids within 5 miles of our house. A lot of cows. Not so many kids.
I figured out when I was young that food was the thing that brought people together during all of our important moments. Every family event, birthday, holiday, and graduation was spent surrounded by people I loved and dinner rolls. So many dinner rolls. After college I branched out a bit, lived in new locations, made new friends, and tried new foods. While working in film and tv production in NYC, I learned to cook in my own kitchen. I took classes at the Institute of Culinary Education and Miette Culinary Studio both in New York City. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work in the kitchen with Chef Vandewoude at Miette for private events before making the move back to the Midwest. It was here that I met my husband and found the place we wanted to raise our family. We live in the suburbs of Chicago with two awesome kids and two lunatic Goldendoodles.
Getting a variety of fruits and vegetables into my family is really important to me and most of my recipes reflect that. My husband is gluten-free. He fixes all the things I break (I break a shocking number of things) and I really like him so I adapt as many recipes as possible with a GF version.
I save complicated cooking for the weekend meals and maintain sanity during the week with easy meals that are (mostly) healthy and always family-friendly. I'm excited to have this space to share my recipes and love of cooking with you!