Recipe Development: The job I want and FREE recipes you get while I look!
If you follow me on here, you probably already know a few things about me:
- Like many (millions of) people in America right now - I have lost my business/job due to COVID financial reasons. Relief was too little/too late. For me, this means I have had to close my business, move thousands of miles from my home which I could no longer afford, and move in with some family until my husband and I are back on our feet.
- I'm a chef not because I have an exhaustive knowledge of EVERY food, but I'm a chef instructor because I LOVE showing people HOW to cook and researching for custom client needs.
- Over the past decade, I have honed my skills as a recipe writer/food stylist. Getting the steps as simple as possible, finding innovative ways to show critical steps in recipes, introducing seldom used flavors into classic recipes, or tweaking a method to make it easier for the home cook.
- I was privileged enough to be able to collaborate with a Seattle-based company to produce my first, beautiful, data-driven, food-science based cannabis cookbook.
Since late December, after the long trek from Seattle, WA to Louisville, KY, I have been looking for new employment after 10 years of self-employment.
This is teaching me a few things: patience, frustration...wondering why I have to fill out ALL my information that is the same exact thing found on my resume...and a bit of soul searching. What is it that I REALLY want to do (self-employment is out of the question for the moment)? Where can I utilize my already highly developed skills? After applying for a variety of career pivoting positions (with either no response or auto-rejection emails) I found a possibility about a week ago. A glimmer of hope in finding happiness in a job. I ran across a posting by Simple Feast (they do plant-based meal boxes, all sustainable) for a culinary developer. As I read the post I realized this is what I would love. A chance to show people, on a much larger scale than when I had my own business, good food made simply. I actually felt EXCITED tweaking my resume and cover letter to send it in. Then I found more like these with places like Food52 and Bon Appetit. So my new journey begins and the applications go out.
Follow me on this journey and join me in these articles as I write about what I love, FOOD! I will share not just recipes but the process behind the development. What went wrong, what went right, what factors was I considering and why? Some will be short (today's since you've already endured reading about my life), some will be longer...but they will ALL have a free recipe to grab at the end to try for yourself at home. If you enjoy them and like my process? Maybe you know someone you can recommend me to and allow me to do what I love for a living while you get the chance to up your cooking knowledge!
Today's (short) share: Hemp Scones (pictured above). About 6 months before leaving Seattle I partnered with a local Hemp company to develop tasty, easy recipes that could incorporate hemp products as a boost in nutritional value. One of the first recipes I designed was based on a popular brunch staple from my business - scones. I wanted a buttery-rich scone, moist and flavorful, that didn't feel weighed down or terribly altered by hemp seeds. While I have never called these scones "health foods", they do add a bit more fiber and nutrients to a pastry known for being mostly butter and sugar.
Download your photo-heavy "fancy" copy for tablets or PCs or a printer-friendly version. Both are interactive recipes with QR codes and live links to help you through critical steps or methods. If you make this at home I'd love to hear about it on my feed or in a private message. Happy baking and be sure to join me in future articles.