Hello and welcome! I’m Lisa, the cook, photographer and executive dishwasher behind Garlic & Zest. I’m a home cook with no formal culinary training beyond a weekend catering gig when I was in college and a lifetime of cooking for my friends and family.
Where some people look at cooking as a chore, I see it as a fun, creative diversion from our work-a-day lives. That’s why I took the plunge in 2013 to start my own cooking and recipe website and I’ve never looked back.
My cooking style is a hybrid of my diverse family background. My Mom was a Julia Child devotee and avid reader of Gourmet magazine. Her adventurous attitude towards cooking and eating set me on my path.
Her parents, who migrated to the U.S. from the French West Indies brought their own style of cooking which was both classic French and Caribbean. Their influence is obvious in many of my dishes from their spicy poached mahi mahi to my grandmother’s chicken liver pâté.
Cooking with my paternal grandmother (a.k.a. Myne) was a focus on simple, delicious Southern cuisine and plenty of the local seafood from the Chesapeake Bay. Her angel flake biscuits with country ham are a wonder.
You’ll find those family recipes here as well as many of my own creation that are inspired by the tropical region of South Florida I call home.
A huge thanks to my husband, Scott, daughter, Emily and my entire family for their support and love… and for happily accepting countless casseroles, cakes and quiches that are missing a slice, so that I could photograph them for you.
If you have a comment or question about a recipe, it’s best to leave it on that specific recipe page. If you have a question not related to a recipe, you can comment here, or send an e-mail to lisa@garlicandzest.com.
