I was the very first (and only for the first 12 years!) recipe developer, photographer, and founder behind The Novice Chef. I’m a self-taught home cook, two-time cookbook author, and a Florida mom of three very honest taste testers. I’ve been sharing tested family recipes from my kitchen since 2008.
My goal is simple! I want to share recipes you can actually trust. Recipes that use ingredients you already have, instructions a beginner can follow, and results your whole family will ask for again and again. I never want to waste your time, effort, or costly ingredients.
I grew up in Texas with a big food-loving family that always cooked. My mom had dinner on the table every single night and a homemade dessert on the counter almost every weekend. However, she rarely ever let us kids help. Instead, she would chase us out of her kitchen to enjoy her peace and quiet.
Once I got married, I started taking cooking more seriously. I took classes with local chefs at their restaurants, signed up for everything Sur La Table offered, and often called home to my mom and granny for advice. And in 2008, I launched The Novice Chef as a way to keep track of my recipes and share what I was learning with anyone who wanted to follow along.
I called it The Novice Chef because that’s exactly what I was. I wasn’t a trained chef by any means… I was a newly married home cook with a Razr flip phone for a camera, figuring it out one recipe at a time — and writing for other home cooks who wanted to do the same.
I eventually started teaching cooking classes and even did a few cooking segments on the morning news shows. I then started writing my cookbooks and had a feature written about me and my recipe blog in the Tampa Bay Times. A few of my recipes unexpectedly took off and went viral… And suddenly my little recipe journal had real readers, real comments, and a real community.
Nearly two decades later, I’m still here. Still testing. Still learning. And still writing for the home cook who wants real food on the table without all the fuss.
I live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida with my husband Jorge and our three kids — twins Ellie and Lyla and our little guy Milo. Jorge is Puerto Rican. He was born on the island and moved stateside by the time he reached elementary school. His family’s cooking has shaped a lot of what you see on the blog and he’s also a big part of our test kitchen team!
Outside the kitchen, I’m a mom first. My kids grew up with their hands in cookie dough and their faces in muffin batter, and all three of them love to cook with me — which means they’re also my toughest critics. If a recipe doesn’t pass the kid test, it doesn’t go on the site.
I started The Novice Chef because I believed home cooking should feel possible for anyone. Almost twenty years later, I still believe that — and I hope every recipe you find here makes cooking feel a little easier, a little more joyful, and a whole lot more delicious. Thank you for being here. It really does mean the world.
Jam-packed with gooey jellies, oozing with rich custards and creams, and covered with mouthwatering toppings, these mini donuts are bursting with big flavor.
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Satisfy sweet-tooth cravings by turning these sugary little bits of crunchy heaven into desserts and snacks featuring bars, cakes, cupcakes, muffins, candies, cookies, and frozen treats.
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