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 is set to be released on September 27, 2022.
“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.”
It wasn’t until she went to college at Brigham Young University in Utah that she realized growing up in a family that cooked everything 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. Conveniently, she was majoring in journalism and learning about website development at the time.
Allen’s desperate attempt to share easy, homemade recipes with her classmates led to the creation of the original Tastes Better from Scratch blog. When she started the website 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.
“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 family recipes,” Allen says. “I think I was just kind of on this mission of educating people. It’s cheaper, it’s more affordable, it’s better for you, and it tastes way better.”
Allen grew up cooking in her childhood kitchen where her mother shared family recipes including German Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Chip Cookies — both of which can be found in her upcoming cookbook, Tastes Better from Scratch.
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“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.”
When asked what she’s most proud of, Allen reflects on how she employs other women and offers them a flexible work-from-home opportunity that complements their lifestyles and families. Tastes Better from Scratch is a completely women-run business.
However, when she first started her blog, asking for help 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 decisions about hiring things out and relinquishing control, because it’s really hard when this is my baby and I’m so opinionated about the recipes and the photography. In order to grow, you have to let some of that go,” Allen says.
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.
On those Saturday mornings in the kitchen as a young girl, she would gravitate 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.
“That’s the book I wanted. 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 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-publishing her cookbook was key to achieving the look and feel Allen knew she wanted for her first book, she says. For Allen, the Tastes Better from Scratch cookbook is more than just a collection of recipes. It’s the beginning of a family legacy that she hopes will be passed down for generations.
The new book is now available for pre-order on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble. It will be officially released on September 27.
