Welcome to Easy As Cookies! I'm Leona Konkel, home cook and baker. I'm a Midwesterner living in southern New Jersey, with my husband, daughter, and dog.
I love cookies, brownies, cakes, and other sweets made from scratch with minimal effort, as well as easy-to-make meals featuring whole ingredients. Cooking shouldn't be a chore - it should be fun! Making cookies shouldn't be difficult, and I'm here to help you. And making dinner should be just as easy as making cookies!
I've enjoyed baking for as long as I can remember, and my mother kept the flour and sugar canisters full because I always wanted to make cookies and brownies. Even though I've been cooking for years, there's always more to learn and explore.
I began this blog (formerly known as Foods I Like, or foodsilike.net) to chronicle my attempts to try 365 new recipes in 2010 to make up for a lackluster previous year. I'd gotten out of the habit of cooking. I was tired of uninspired cooking and collecting recipes I didn't make. That year, I succeeded at making and reviewing 367 new-to-me recipes! You can see my progress at this recipe archive from 2010.
I found that I loved blogging about recipes, so I continued! I shifted away from reviewing recipes, and now work to perfect and share my favorite recipes with you. I use whole ingredients, and not much that's premade or from a mix. Recipes are either simple, low-effort, or quick. For anything more complicated, the effort is absolutely worth it.
Before starting this blog, I obtained a Masters' degree in Japanese language and literature, and worked behind-the-scenes in a counseling center in central Illinois and a medical fellowship program in St. Louis, Missouri. I read voraciously, mainly fiction that is character-driven, not plot-driven. When I'm not cooking, blogging, and spending time (possibly playing classic Final Fantasies) with my family, I dabble in plotting my yard and flower beds and other earth-saving activities.