I'm Lisa Golden Schroeder, a long-time professional food stylist for commercial photography and a culinary consultant. I've worked as a food editor, recipe developer, cooking teacher, and culinary journalist--strategically tracking what home cooks want (and need) to know. I consider myself a cheerleader, drumming up enthusiasm for real cooking and real food, helping make what can be a daily chore into, if nothing else, a respite from the craziness of everyday life. My cooking stories & recipes are for home cooks—reliable, no-fail, and family-friendly.

EXPLORING...if you’re looking for a dynamic creative collaboration to boost social content for your food brand (s), leap over to 2fish1dish.com, where I partner with award-winning food photographer Dennis Becker.

As a team, we’ve spent years working professionally, but in our spare time we’ve played & learned about stuff that interests us. How to keep bees, make maple syrup, or forage for wild foods that won't kill us, we like to think there are fascinating stories in just about anybody's backyard. One of our stories about winter sourdough baking outdoors in a wood burning oven was a finalist for an International Association of Culinary Professionals writing award in 2019 and another post led us to writing a beautiful hybrid guide book/cookbook about wild mushrooms a few years ago. Untamed Mushrooms, From Field to Table took top honors for best book design (which included photography) in the 2018 Midwest Book Awards.

My Story

I'm the kid that couldn't stop stirring any pot that sat on the stove top. The one who badgered an already harried mom, pressed with money worries, for stuff at the grocery store that wasn't on the list. The one who baked brownies, gingerbread, or anything that her dad would happily eat--even the disasters. The kid who eventually won a ribbon at the county fair for her loaves of "perfect" bread. And eventually the frustrated chemistry student who couldn't decide what to do with her life, despite catering little cocktail parties for her parent's friends and driving her mom nuts (and out of her kitchen) every time she had a gig. That same mom set her on a better course ("...go see what's happening in the home ec department") & eventually to Minneapolis (once a Betty Crocker, always a Betty Crocker) and Paris, France. Leading to a lunch with Julia (yes, that Julia), which is another story for another page.

As a journal-keeper and secret doodler, trifling with food is just an accounting of some of my favorite kitchen experiments, food ideas I've been passionate about for years, or passing food fancies. I guess I've had a history of being a bit of a culinary dilettante (albeit well trained), leading to a fairly wide knowledge of lots of food history and cooking styles, but wisdom that's not always as deep as it probably should be. So I never stop learning.