Hi y’all, I’m Carly and I created Your Daily Chew to celebrate my love for food and to pursue my dream of becoming a chef. This blog is all about trying exciting food and making sure you never get bored with what you’re eating. In addition to recipes, I’ll be sharing my favorite appliances, cookbooks, and some insider secrets I’ve learned from different classes I’ve taken. Since I’m so intrigued about testing out different flavor combinations, you’ll find recipes from a variety of cuisines. I’m all for cooking with different spices and herbs since I love a good kick! I get super excited about cooking new foods I’ve never tried so feel free to send suggestions so we can craft the perfect recipe!

A little bit more about me…

I was born and raised in Palm Springs, CA then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma with my family when I was 11 years old…this is when my love for comfort food developed, along with a lil’ chunk in my gut. Two of my favorite things to eat to this day are mac and cheese & chicken fingers, and I blame this on Oklahoma!

I discovered my passion for cooking when I was very young. Having two working parents with full-time jobs pretty much guaranteed that we would be eating frozen dinners with canned green beans, or take out. I constantly found myself asking my mom if I could cook dinner for us, which I later realized was because I was traumatized from eating Hamburger Helper 3 nights a week. I began to experiment in the kitchen by using anything I could find in the fridge or pantry and attempting to make a meal out of it. Looking back, it was almost like I was competing on Chopped with random basket ingredients for the majority of my childhood.

When I started college at the University of San Diego (USD) I quickly learned that living in the dorms was going to be quite difficult since I only had a microwave and mini-fridge. Luckily, my older sister also went to USD, and we worked out an agreement where I could come cook her dinner if she bought the groceries (win-win!). I was once again in my happy place with the creative freedom to cook any and everything…and I didn’t even have to pay for the ingredients!

Being on my own in college and having the freedom to buy my own ingredients allowed me to further my cooking skills and teach myself how to craft some amazing recipes. Prior to being in college and buying my own ingredients, I wouldn’t have even been able to identify the majority of vegetables in a Whole Foods store. Now, I’ve gotten to the point where if I go to the grocery store and have never heard or seen a specific ingredient on the shelf, I immediately buy it so I can become more familiar with foods that are unfamiliar to me.

When I’m not flipping through cookbooks, searching Pinterest to plan my next meal, in the kitchen making my next meal or stuck on my couch in a food coma from a recent meal, I’m either working or playing. I’m a freelance social media marketer who loves traveling, petting random dogs, enjoying the beach, going on bike rides, going on spontaneous adventures, and trying new things.

If you’ve tried one of my recipes, let me know! And feel free to share my recipes, posts or photos, but PLEASE don’t forget to credit my blog and mention where you found it 🙂

If you want to stay connected and find out when new recipes are available, all ya gotta do is follow my blog!

Now let’s get cookin’!