Hi, I’m Susan Bennett
Wanna know about me? I grew up in a small beachside town just south of Los Angeles, the kind of place where summer smelled like salt and backyard barbecues. My earliest memory of cooking is standing on a wooden chair beside my grandmother’s stove, clutching an oversized spoon and begging to “stir the magic.” She let me taste sauces, sprinkle herbs, and—most important—celebrate every tiny win with a high-five that always made me feel like a culinary superhero.
By grade school I was hustling lemonade and cookie stands, constantly tweaking flavors to see how a squeeze of citrus or a pinch of cinnamon could crank up the taste dial. While other kids were collecting baseball cards, I kept a notebook of recipe experiments—some brilliant, some disastrous, all proudly documented in rainbow ink.
College called me into communications and later into a fast-paced marketing career, but food never stopped tugging at my apron strings. Between client meetings I devoured cookbooks, tested one-pot dinners on coworkers, and hosted Sunday feasts that turned my apartment into a miniature test kitchen. Friends dubbed me “Chef Sunshine” because no matter how hectic the week got, I lit up when someone asked, “What’s for dinner?”
Then came a crossroads: three growing kids, a husband who travels, and a calendar packed tighter than a stuffed bell pepper. I realized the joy I felt in the kitchen far outweighed any boardroom buzz. So I traded corporate deadlines for family life and poured my energy into turning home cooking into a daily celebration for anyone willing to grab a spatula.
I enrolled in night classes at a local culinary institute to sharpen my knife skills and deepen my food-science know-how. By day I was whipping up five-ingredient lunches for PTA fundraisers; by night I was mastering classic techniques and redesigning them to suit real-world schedules. When I graduated, my chef’s coat held more flour smudges than buttons, but it also carried every lesson learned from burnt roux to show-stopping soufflés.
That training—and the endless feedback loop of hungry teenagers—formed the backbone of I Love Recipes. Here I merge chef-tested methods with the breezy confidence that comes from years of improvising weeknight dinners. My goal is simple: help you cook boldly without fretting over perfection. Whether you’re flipping pancakes for the first time or plating a holiday roast, I’ll be right beside you shouting, “Kitchen high-five!”
Today my studio kitchen is a sunlit corner of our LA home where photography lights mingle with the aroma of sizzling garlic. Each recipe I publish carries a hint of my grandmother’s magic, a splash of California brightness, and the promise that you, too, can master flavor on your own terms. So pull up a stool, grab your favorite spoon, and let’s crank up that flavor dial together—one joyful dish at a time.
Kitchen high-five—let’s crank up that flavor dial!
