Meet Jennifer

Welcome to Take Two Tapas! I’m so glad you’re here.

I’m Jennifer, a Florida girl at heart who’s called Georgia home for 20 years, and I’ve been creating and sharing recipes on this site since 2013. After leaving my first career to raise our two boys, I turned my favorite hobbies (cooking and throwing parties) into a full-time job. What started as a party food and appetizer site now covers everything from small bites to real dinners. That’s more than 900 recipes to help you entertain like a boss and still get your family fed without a ton of fuss.

All my recipes live right here, but you can also follow along on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and X.

My Culinary Roots

Everyone says they love food. You have to eat, right? But not everyone loves making it. The kitchen is my happy place (along with the tennis court), and it’s where my favorite memories happen. I get my love of cooking from the incredible women in my family.

My “Ma” made the most amazing cakes and could pull off a fancy meal with practically nothing. She made and decorated hundreds of wedding cakes, including mine, and she loved watching people’s faces when they took that first bite.

My mom somehow put delicious, hearty meals on the table even after working long hours. Nobody ever went hungry at our house. She cooked for an army, even if it was an army of one! That habit only got stronger after my parents owned and ran an Italian restaurant when I was in elementary school.

That’s where my love of pasta and feeding people comes from. I’m not Italian, but I am part Bahamian, and those flavors still shape a lot of my favorite dishes.

From Science Lab to Kitchen Lab

I didn’t consider a career in food until later in life. I went to college planning to be a doctor, then changed course fast after my first microbiology class. I love science and figuring things out, and cooking is basically science. Anyone who’s ever baked knows this.

After graduating, I worked in labs from Mayo Clinic to the Wells Center for Pediatric Medicine. I loved it, but after our second son was born, I knew I wanted to be home while the boys were little. Around the same time, my husband changed jobs and started traveling more (Monday through Friday for a while), and we moved to Waycross, GA. Small town. Family close by.

Just as the boys started school full time, our church lost its head chef. The ministers knew I had experience feeding people and asked if I’d take the job.

I planned fresh menus, played with scratch techniques, and even started catering on the side once word about my recipes got out. Making friends with local restaurant owners brought in new clients, and I’d help out in their kitchens when they needed an extra hand. (The lunch rush gets hectic!)

After writing out my mom’s chicken pot pie recipe for the hundredth time, I discovered food blogs, and that changed everything. The site gave me somewhere to try all the recipe ideas in my head (and test kid-friendly ones) while still showing up for field trips with the boys.

What You’ll Find on Take Two Tapas

Appetizers, party foods, finger foods, and cocktails that taste great and are easy to make. Still the heart of what we do!
Hearty main dishes, fresh salads, and casseroles for weeknights and family gatherings.
Side dishes and breakfast recipes to round out the menu.
Easy-to-find ingredients. Nothing too fancy, and always budget friendly.
Hosting and party planning tips that make entertaining easier. Having a party should be fun, and you shouldn’t be stuck in the kitchen the whole time.
Recipes for everyone at your table, including vegetarian, gluten-free, and paleo options.

Big party or plain old Tuesday dinner, there’s something here to get people around the table.

What You Won’t Find on Take Two Tapas

Nutritional guidance or judgment. Most of my recipes involve bacon and cheese. I don’t eat to live, I live to eat!

Recipes that take 100 steps or 100 hours to make a bite or two.

Boring food. I’m a nerd at heart, so I experiment and test recipes over and over until they’re right. I even have my tennis team over to eat when I’m testing new recipes. They love not cooking, not doing dishes, and taking the leftovers home.

Why is it Called Take Two Tapas?

I love the idea of eating nothing but appetizers. Tasting a bunch of different dishes without stuffing yourself is a dream come true. I don’t think every meal needs to end in a food coma, so I make food with big flavor in smaller portions.

The “take two” part comes from my love of movies. Think about shooting a scene with multiple takes. Take two! When I first started posting recipes, I was remaking Southern classics into new versions. Once I focused on party food, it morphed into “take two pieces,” because with small bites, you can always have more than one.

Now the name has taken on another meaning, one that doesn’t come without tears and heavy emotions.

In 2017, shortly after our move to Arizona, we lost our oldest son Braxton to suicide. Devastated, our family threw ourselves into working with local parents and legislators to bring about change, so no other family would have to deal with the aftermath of such a tragic loss. We have since moved to the Atlanta area of Georgia, where we continue to work with other families and young people to combat the epidemic of teen suicide that our country is facing.

So we’ve come full circle with the original meaning of “take two.” But this time, it’s a second take on life. After losing Braxton, I didn’t want to entertain or be around other people, much less feed them. But slowly, we’ve learned that Braxton wouldn’t have wanted us to grieve like this forever.

We’ve had to redefine what “living” means to us, and we’ve discovered that being around others, sharing our story of life and loss, and letting others know that it’s OK to entertain, enjoy life and hobbies, is the best way to honor our son’s light that was extinguished far too soon.

You never know what tomorrow brings, so live a full life, eat those extra finger foods, tell more jokes and laugh, and most importantly, tell those close to you how much you love and value them, and that the world is a brighter place with them in it.💜

Where You Can Find Me

If I’m not on the tennis court, you can find me in Alpharetta, just outside Atlanta. I’m the one in the kitchen testing new recipes, listening to audiobooks, true crime podcasts, or ’90s hip-hop, and making a sink full of dishes for my husband, Brooks, to wash. He has to do a little work after getting to taste everything first!

Jennifer, Braxton, and Connor in Seattle

Culinary Journey

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to be part of some fun food events and kitchens.

Mediavine Publishers Conferences – I’ve gone every year since joining. A great place to network with other publishers, creators, and top brands (and eat great food).
Fish To Fork – Three days of top chefs, challenges, and plated dinners.
West Palm Food Tours – The inspiration for this Pan Con Tomate recipe.
Waycross Garden Club – Taught a cooking class in 2015. Recipe → Gyoza.
First Baptist Church – Head chef for all the family night dinners from 2008 to 2017. I cooked for roughly 120 people every Wednesday and handled private events like bridal and baby showers, teacher luncheons, senior citizen programs, and Holy Week services.
Chub Cheeks – Started in 2006 as a hair bow business and grew into small boutique catering.
Everything Food Conference – A fun conference for networking with top brands and other food creators.

Jennifer at a tennis match holding a glass

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Biology – Maryville College – Maryville, TN

Professional Career

1997 – Lab Technician, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL
2002 – Lab Manager, Health Research Institute, Orlando, FL
2004 – 2005 – Lab Supervisor, Wells Center for Pediatric Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
2006 – 2015 – Chub Cheeks, Chief Creative Officer
2008 – 2017 – Head of Kitchen, First Baptist Church, Waycross
2013 – present – CEO (Chief Eating Officer) at TakeTwoTapas.com, LeftoversThenBreakfast.com (2020), BestCasseroleRecipes.com (2022)

Fun fact: When we moved to Waycross after Connor was born, I was a stay-at-home mom. But I don’t do idle, so I started a little business making hair bows (hello, Chub Cheeks). I sold them on eBay and to local high schools for cheerleading. Being the mom of two boys, I guess I needed some girl time, LOL!

Brand Partnerships

I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the best brands in the food industry!

Featured In

You don’t have to take my word for it. These recipes have been featured in some pretty well-known places.

From Party Planning to Meal Planning

Over the years, you’ve asked for more than party food. You want weeknight dinners, family meals, and everything in between. I’ve been sharing those across a few different sites, and now I’m bringing them all together right here. From appetizers to casseroles, it’s all in one place to feed your family and entertain your friends, with the same focus on easy recipes that actually work.

Happy Hosting (and Happy Eating!),

Jennifer

As Seen In