About Laura

Hi, I’m Laura, the voice behind Family Spice. I’m the recipe developer, food stylist and photographer behind this food blog

Here you will find all amazing recipes that are tested and perfected before publishing. You’ll find modern Persian recipes, terrific family friendly meals, fabulous desserts that look like you slaved away in the kitchen, and campfire meals you can prepare in your backyard or on a camping trip.

Whether you want to learn how to make Persian kabob koobideh (ground beef kebab), a barbie cake or a Dutch oven chili to make over the campfire, I give you detailed instructions and pictures to make them easy to prepare and insure success.

Getting creative in the kitchen, combining fresh ingredients, contrasting flavors, exotic spices and multiple cooking techniques from all over the world continues to be my passion today.

My philosophy to cooking is: Make it fresh, make it pretty, make it delicious. But more importantly, if you can read, you can read a recipe. And if you can read a recipe, you can cook.

Kinda like in the movie, Ratatouille.

“Anyone can cook”.~ Auguste Gusteau

A little about me

I am the proud mom to three adult children and one grumpy dog. We live in mostly sunny San Diego and we love our life here!

I have been cooking since I was a kid. My idea of fun was to read my mom’s cookbooks and make a meal from scratch using recipes from Paul Prudhomme. My mother is Persian, my father is American. I quickly began cooking Persian recipes on my own, sharing them with friends.

I received my undergraduate degree in Marketing from the University of Arizona. After college, I worked in advertising. When I was single and working full time, I still enjoyed relaxing in the kitchen with a home cooked meal. I would bring in whole wheat banana bread and make strawberry preserves to share with my coworkers.

I left my career in advertising as an account executive and graphic designer to stay home and raise my kidlets. I started blogging in 2008 as a way to express myself creatively.

I create the recipes, photograph them, video them, write the blog posts, study SEO and pretty much do it all for this blog of mine! (learn how to work with me here).

My top recipes

Certifications and affiliations

I have completed the Rouxbe’s Professional Cook Certification. The course was an intensive immersion in culinary skill and knowledge development. I have used the skills I learned in class, as well as my 30+ year experience as an avid home cook to create unique and delicious recipes.

I have also completed the University of California Davis’ Sensory Evaluation of Olive Oil Certificate Course and became and expert olive oil taster. Learn more about my passion for olive oil below.

I am the current president of the San Diego Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier. We are a philanthropic organization of women leaders in the fields of food, beverage and hospitality. I have been an active member of this wonderful group since 2014.

Second Cookbook

Both of my boys are Eagle Scouts. Because of all the camping my family and I enjoyed, I found myself cooking outdoors all the time. I decided if we eat well at home, why not outdoors? So I brought gourmet meals to our campfire cooking, as well as to our scouting families.

This passion for preparing fabulous meals over the fire inspired my second cookbook, The Camp and Cabin Cookbook (May 2018 Countryman Press). I created and photographed 100 recipes that you can prepare outdoors over fire using a number of different techniques: grilling, foil cooking, ash cooking, Dutch oven cooking…

The recipes feature my cooking philosophy of using fresh ingredients to create beautiful and delicious food.

First Cookbook

 

For my first cookbook, I collaborated with fellow food blogger, Mary Platis (California Greek Girl), to design, write and photograph Cooking Techniques with Olive Oil. Our ebook received the Gold medal winner of the Global Ebook Award from Dan Poynter.

We both took University of California Davis’ Sensory Evaluation of Olive Oil Certificate Course and became expert olive oil tasters.

The response to our cookbook was so positive that we were encouraged to bring our book to print. And we did. Mary and I have self-published our own 132-page hardback cookbook.

We added more information, more recipes and more photographs! My graphic design background came in handy as I did all the photography and book design myself.

Educating the world about extra virgin olive oil has grown into another passion of mine. We are so extraordinarily careful about the ingredients we cook with and put into our bodies yet so many of you are cooking with rancid, poor quality oils.

And with all of the myths out there about cooking with extra virgin olive oil, Mary and I tackle them all. To learn more, you can purchase our cookbook here.

You can also find a lot of olive oil recipes here on my blog, too. I especially love to bake with olive oil and make a large variety of delicious olive oil cakes.

Food photographer

My passion for photography began at a young age, way before digital photography. My father gave me my first camera, a Pentax, and he also gave me the photography bug. I took classes, joined my high school newspaper, developed my own film and photographs in the dark room, and began shooting sports events for my community newspaper.

In 1988, I was an intern at The Houston Chronicle where I learned all about photo-journalism. But my very science oriented family convinced me to not pursue a fine arts degree in college. I graduated from the University of Arizona with a business degree.

And here I am, some years later, doing what I still love the most: photography. But this time, food photography. I not only do all of the photography on my blog and my cookbooks, but I also do free-lance food photography for companies, too, like Sun-Maid Raisins and Harris Ranch Beef. You can see my photography portfolio here.

My photos and recipes have been featured in a number of publications and cookbooks in the US an worldwide. I do NOT use AI or computer generated photographs.

My family and I were recently featured in Woman’s Day Magazine (March 2023) where I shared our nowruz traditions and recipes.

For advertising and PR requests, you can learn more about working with me here or just email me at Laura AT familyspice DOT com.

Avid miniature lover

In 2021 I started a second blog, Life In Mini, where I share my love for miniatures. From making mini foods with polymer clay to rehabbing my dollhouse with popsicle stick flooring, I share my passion and dollhouse tutorials on dollhouse diy tutorials.