Family Favorites How this Gilbert mom went from food blogger to published cookbook author. BY NIKKI MICHELLE CHARNSTROM F or Lauren Allen, Saturday mornings growing up were often spent in the kitchen with her twin sister. Together, they’d flip through cookbooks to find the perfect recipe to make on their own — often surprising the rest of the family with a homemade breakfast. sharing Since sharing her first online recipe in 2009, the Gilbert-based cook, entrepreneur, and founder of the food blog Tastes Better from Scratch has built her brand and website, which now garners millions of pageviews every month. The support from her readers encouraged Allen to hand-pick a collection of recipes from beloved family favorites to her own unique creations and compile them into her upcoming cookbook, Tastes Better from Scratch, which was released in late September. as wher “The kitchen was where you wanted to be in my house… A huge reason I love to cook is that I was just surrounded by great cooks,” Allen says. “From a very young age, I was exposed to all different types of food and a mom who cooked, and she cooked from scratch, so good food was just a part of my upbringing.” ou w It wasn’t until she attended Brighamhe attended Brigham Young University in Utah that she realized growing up in a family that cooked every- thing from scratch was rare. Between mediocre cafeteria food to roommates that barely knew how to boil water, Allen’s world quickly turned upside down. After making several phone calls home to ask her mom about particular recipes, Allen decided it was time to create a space where her family’s dishes could live on. eniently y that cook Conveniently, she was majoring in jour- nalism and learning about website devel- opment at the time. Allen’s desperate attempt to share easy, homemade recipes with her classmates led to the creation of the original Tastes Better . When she started the blog in ate attempt to from Scratch. When she started the blog in her junior year, she focused on publishing her family’s favorite recipes for things like chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, and banana bread. Slowly, she began to experiment and try new ideas and recipes of her own. es for things lik “It finally became a place where I could write down all my ideas and write down the things I was testing, but then also document our t finally became a place wher Lauren Allen, founder of the food blog Tastes Better from Scratch, released her first cookbook in September. 34 family recipes,” Allen says. “I think I was just kind of on this mission of educating people. It’s cheaper, it’s more affordable,dable, it’s better for you, and it tastes way better.” I w From Side Hustle to Successful Business After college, Allen and her husband moved to St. Louis, Missouri. She already had a job lined up but decided to follow her passion instead and pursue cooking full-time. One camera lens and website rebuild later and astes Better from Scratch skyrocketed. What once was a hobby that could provide Allen’s family with an extra paycheck to pay for groceries turned into a stable income and successful business. “I really value my parents’ opinions and my husband’s, so it was just nice to also have the support from other people really cheering me on,” Allen says. “My dad has always kind of given me that confidence of like if someone else is doing it, you can do it too.” Tastes Better from S atch When asked what she’s most proud of, Allen reflects on how she employs other women and offers them a flex- ible work-from-home opportunity that complements their lifestyles and fami- lies. Tastes Bettertes Better from Scratch is a completely women-run business. ed what she’ when she first started her blog, asking for help However,ve n she firs asking wasn’t always the easiest for Allen, she says. As a small business owner and mother of four, she had to learn when to let go and allow others to support her. “What’s allowed me to be successful is really having to make eally ha decisions about hiring things out and relin- quishing control, because it’s really hard when this is my baby and I’m so opinion- ated about the recipes and the photog- raphy. In order to grow, you have to let some of that go,” Allen says. y bab cipes and the photog der to gr Flash forward over a decade since the inception of Tastes Better from Scratch and Allen is on the cusp of accomplishing a childhood dream — publishing her very own cookbook. tes Better from S n is on the wn cookbook kitchen as a y tate to On those SaturOn those Saturday mornings in the kitchen as a young girl, she would gravi- Better Homes y mornings in th ng girl, she w cookbook with the r er. Little e the direction of the time that this vi- tate towards the popular Better Homes and Gardens cookbook with the red plaid, vintage cover. Little did she know at the time that this cookbook would inspire the direction of Tastes Better from Scratch.atch. s the book ould i wanted it to have all the best of the basics and just my favorite recipes for everyday life. I wanted it to be like someone’s cooking bible that they would just turn to for every meal of the da meal of the day,” Allen says. After exploring the idea of partnering with a number of publishers, she felt it wouldn’t be a true reflection of the Tastes Better from Scratch brand. Self- “That’s the book I wanted. I anted it to ha ldn’t be a publishing her cookbook was key to achieving the look and feel the look and feel Allen knew she wanted for her Allen kne anted for her first book, she says. For Allen, the Tastes Better fr Better from Scratch cook- book is more than just a that she hopes will be passed down for generations. recipes. It’s the beginning of a family legacy that she hopes collection of ecipes. 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