About Us

At Live Bake Love, our philosophy is Live life to the fullest, always Bake with Love and our secret ingredient really is love. Yvonne and I both love to cook and bake, but we especially love sharing this love with others. Ok, how many times did I just say the word love???

Faye

I started baking when I was kid, mainly out of necessity. My Mom, who is an amazing home cook, didn't buy many store-bought baked goods and usually only baked on special occassions. Usually if I wanted something sweet, I would have to bake it myself. I started off making Chocolate Chip cookies from the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse Chocolate Chip bag and graduated from there. I began trying recipes wherever I could find them, in the magazines my Mom suscribed to, in the Food section of the newspaper, on the back of boxes and bags. Back then, we didn't have the internet with all of the amazing Food Blogs. But it wasn't until I got married and had kids of my home that I truly developed my passion for cooking and baking. I love creating delicious meals for them, especially desserts.

Believe it or not, my specialty is Cheesecake and the reason I say "believe it or not" is because I can't even eat them! I've been cursed by the Dairy Gods and can't eat any dairy otherwise I become violently ill. I remember baking my first cheesecake over 20 years ago. It was a disaster! Over baked, cracked and ugly. But I didn't give up. I kept at it and now I bake over 15 varieties of cheesecakes. I believe any dessert/candy can be made into a cheesecake with a little creativity. So how do you trust a cheesecake baked by someone who can't even eat one? Because of the rave reviews I have received from family, friends, friends of friends, co-workers etc. I have even been told my Cheesecakes are better than that famous chain restaurant...you know the one...I like to say my Cheesecakes are "world famous". I baked an incredible amount of them when we lived in Spain. People ordered them from me for birthdays, special occassions or just because. Any Event or Party I went to, people insisted I bring a Cheesecake. Now those people have moved on and live all over the world, hence "world famous".

Well enough about me, let's talk about the Blog and our reason for starting it. Over the years, I have brought plenty of food and baked goods to parties, potlucks, events and to work to share with friends and co-workers. When those friends and co-workers move on, they say they miss my cooking/baking so I wanted to find a way to still be able to reach them even though we no longer see each other on a regular basis.

It is my sincere hope that this Blog will become your Go-To recipe Blog. That you will try the recipes posted here and love them as much as we do. That we will be your first (or next to first) source for delicious baked goods. That you will get to know us as you read our posts each week and that we become friends sharing a mutual passion for good food just like Yvonne and I do.

Yvonne

The first time i actually can remember cooking a meal i was probably around 12 years old.  I was making dinner for my Dad since my mom was working. I still picture myself in that small kitchen figuring out how much salt to put on the meat!  Food and how to prepare it has alway been part of my heritage.   I learned because i had to, but I continue doing it because I love it.   I grew up one of 4 girls in a hispanic home.  The basic staples in our household were rice, beans, cheese and thin sliced steak.  I can honestly say we ate meat almost every night!  Bad by today's standards, but back then we didnt know any different.  I think i was about 8-9 years old when I came home to tell my mom that we needed to eat more chicken and fish. (We learned it at school :-) ). My mom was always and still is willing to give everything a try. So she learned to cook chicken and fish that we would like.

As for my love for sweets, I picked that up from my Mom pleasing my Dad. My Dad is like me, loves them.  Mom always whipped up some sweet at the end of each dinner since my Dad was always asking for something "dulce", the word for sweet in spanish. Mom had a varity of basic sweets she would come up, nothing fancy but always flavorful! Simple puddings, lemon breads, fruit filled empanadas and her famous strawberry pie that I still do not forgive her for losing the original recipe!  Since Mom was not familar with American desserts, i started asking for cookbooks and taught myself to make chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, carrort cake and cheesecakes.   Everytime I would go to the store with my Mom I would pick up a copy of Woman's Day or Better Homes and Gardens.  If it had food on the cover, I wanted the magazine!

I think we all have the heart to cook. Your skills are tuned with time.  Mistakes are ok, you just make it better next time.  You need to approach it as a fun task with a good end result.  During a dark time in my life (after my divorce) i remember not wanting to do much when it came to baking, my love.  But as we all know time begins to heal all wounds.  I remember my sister saying after one Thankgiving a few years ago, Yvonne has found her flavor again.   I remember those words everytime I cook.  Your cooking reflects your mood.  So enjoy it, love it, learn from it!  Really, its not that hard. It just takes a little time and some patience.

i hope you enjoy our blog as much as Faye and i do.  We welcome your comments and feed back. Thanks again, and Happy cooking!